Findings on the Performance of the Mobile Services

(Voice and Data) based on the Network’s Key

Performance Indicators.

འབྲུག་བརྡ་དོན་བརྒྱུད་འབྲེལ་དང་བརྡ་བརྒྱུད་དབང་འཛིན། Bhutan InfoComm and Media Authority

Royal Government of Bhutan

Contents

1. Objective of the study ................................................................................................................................. 1

2. Limitation ........................................................................................................................................................ 1

3. Summary of the report ............................................................................................................................... 2

4. Background ..................................................................................................................................................... 2

5. Methodology used for the study ............................................................................................................. 3

6. Observation .................................................................................................................................................... 4

5.1. Bhutan Telecom Limited (B-Mobile) .................................................................................... 5

5.2 Tashi InfoCom Ltd ( TashiCell) ............................................................................................... 8

7. General Remark ......................................................................................................................................... 10

8. Recommendation ...................................................................................................................................... 11

Annexure A: Area wise Network Performance ....................................................................... 12

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1. Objective of the study

This study has been initiated to understand the performance of the two mobile services

providers based on the complaints received by the Authority in terms of poor network

performance, especially 3G internet services.

The Authority will henceforth conduct monthly analysis of the network performance of the

two service providers to regularly monitor the quality of their service, which will be shared

with the public through the media and also be posted on the BICMA website. Sharing of the

results of the quality of their service will mandate the two service providers to improve

their service and will also provide BICMA with documentary evidence to demand the

service providers for better provision of their services.

2. Limitation

This study is based on the raw-data obtained from the two service providers - Bhutan

Telecom Ltd and Tashi InfoComm Ltd. In other words, the Authority did not autonomously

obtain primary data due to lack of professional monitoring equipment. The analysis is

purely based on data set generated from the system of the service providers. The

authenticity of the data, therefore, can be questioned, and the analysis may not provide the

truest picture of performance. Further, the data was analysed manually using Microsoft

Excel and some margin of error can be expected. However, this analysis can provide a

generic sense of the performance of the service providers.

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3. Summary of the report

This report has been prepared based on the in-put (raw-data) from the two service

providers in terms of their network performance.

The observation made from this study clearly demonstrates that the over-all performance

of the Voice network is much better than that of Data network. Besides areas, the quality of

service of voice network is much below the threshold (acceptable) level.

The Data network performance is still erratic. When compared between two service

providers, TashiCell seems to show improvement of its Data network performance. Though

it suffered majored performance issue in May and June, its performance has improved

quite significantly in July and August month.

The Bhutan Telecom still seems to have problem with its Data network performance. No

significant improvement has been observed rather it performance seems to be

deteriorating.

4. Background

With the growth of mobile cellular subscribers in the country, the mobile cellular service

providers are grappling with the issue of deterioration of the network’s quality of services.

The number of mobile subscribers are grappling with the issue of frequent call

disconnections or “call drop”, thus affecting the quality of service experience (QoSE) of the

subscribers.

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After noticing the deterioration of the quality of mobile cellular services towards the latter

half of 2015, the Bhutan InfoComm and Media Authority (“the Authority”) initiated a

survey on the Quality of Service Experience (QoSE) in few selected Thromdes and

Dzongkhags Headquarters. The main objective of the survey was to find out the mobile

users’ experience of the mobile communications services (voice and data).

Further to validate the findings of the survey as well as to understand the mobile network

performance of the two licensed service providers, the Authority began to collect the Key

Performance Indicator (KPI) of the individual Base Transceiver Station (BTS)1 under

Thimphu Thromde( municipality). The data on call drop for both circuit switch (voice) and

package switch (data) was collected to understand and find out the performance statues

during the peak hours2. For the purpose of this study, the peak hours have been defined as

time period of 8 and 9 am, and 6 to 10 pm.

The Authority studied the mobile network performance of Bhutan Telecom Ltd (BTL) and

Tashi InfoComm Ltd ( TICL) for the last three months; April, May and June.

5. Methodology used for the study

Amongst many parameters used for determining the Quality of Service (QoS), the Authority

has used Call establishment and Call Maintenance parameters for finding out the mobile

network performance.

Once the call is established, the maintenance of the call i.e. Connection Maintenance

becomes crucial for customer satisfaction. The Call establishment and Call Maintenance are

monitored through -Call Drop Rate (CDR) parameters. The CDR is defined as the ratio of

1 A base transceiver station (BTS) is a piece of equipment that facilitates wireless communication between user equipment (UE) and a network. UEs are devices like mobile phones (handsets), WLL phones, and computers with wireless Internet connectivity. 2 A peak hour is defined as the part of the day during which mobile traffic congestion is at its highest. In

other word, it is the period where majority of the mobile users will be using mobile services.

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abnormal disconnect of calls to total calls established. The performance of a licensed

Service Providers relating to call drop is assessed through this parameter. The benchmark

set for CDR is <2%. Anything above 2 percent (>2%) will be considered as worst affected

BTS (cells). Therefore threshold for call drop is set at 2 %.

The call drop measurement is done via an automatic data collection system, based on the

network counters which register the real traffic of the network. The counter is available on

the switch and records 24 hours a day for every day of the year. However, for the purpose

of this study, the measurements have to be taken during the Busy Hour of the day (8 and 9

am and 6 to 10 pm).

6. Observation

The observation is made purely based on the inputs (raw-data) from the two service

providers and has its own limitation as spelled out above. However based on their input,

the Authority made the following observation.

For the last five months (April to August), it is observed that the over-all performance of

mobile network for voice service is much better than the data service. The Voice Call Data

Record (CRD) shows that the performance of most of the BTS under Thimphu Thromde is

below two (2) percent mark, except in few locations.

However in terms of data service, the quality of services of both the service providers is

quite erratic. Most of the areas under Thimphu Thromde still face significant Data call drop

significantly.

The detail area-wise call drop for both Voice and Data network can be found in Annexure A

of this report.

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5.1. Bhutan Telecom Limited (B-Mobile)

a. Voice network

The B-Mobile’s Call Voice Data Record (CRD) for the past five months is shows that the

performance of most of its BTS under Thimphu Thromde is satisfactory, under two (2)

percent threshold as shown below:

Table 1: Average Voice Call Drop (area wise) – Bhutan Telecom Ltd

Month

Call Drop: 3G mobile (Voice) ( Area wise)- Bhutan Telecom Ltd Dechen choling Taba

Dechen phodrang

Langjo phaka

Chuba chu

Main town

Chang Gangkha

Moti thang NPPF

Chang Bangdue

Chang zamtok

Chang jiji Olakha

Simto kha Babesa

April 0.44 0.33 0.34 0.6 0.45 1.3 0.5 0.50 0.91 1.48 1.4 0.7 0.76 0.52 0.65

May 0.54 0.48 0.42 0.83 0.4 0.93 0.5 0.44 1.01 10.85 0.99 0.8 23.95 1.1 0.6

June 1 0.88 0.42 1.33 0.5 0.66 0.5 0.42 0.8 1 0.85 0.72 0.82 0.84 0.58

July 0.47 1.5 0.45 0.98 0.71 1.25 0.66 0.45 0.61 0.85 0.81 0.73 4.45 0.91 0.53

August 0.24 0.27 0.23 0.36 0.4 0.39 0.62 0.22 0.52 0.67 0.37 0.36 0.51 0.53 0.35

Figure 1: Average Voice Call Drop (Area-wise)-BTL

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With regard to B-Mobile’s voice network, it is observed that:

The figure above shows that, except for few locations in the month of May and June,

the overall quality of voice call is maintained below the threshold (2%).

Changbangdue (10.85 %) must have suffered reasonable voice call drop in

the month of May.

The residents of Olakha (23.95%) must have suffered significant voice call

drop in the May Month. The call drop has improved in May ( 0.82% ) but

again increased in July (4.45%) months.

In the remaining location, the voice call drop is much below the threshold

(2%).

b. Data Network

The B-Mobile’s Data call drop rate for the past five months do not show any improvement.

It has remained almost same throughout the months as shown by the Table 2 below.

Table 2: Average Data Call Drop (Area wise) –BTL

Month

Call Drop: 3G mobile (Data) ( Area wise) – Bhutan Telecom Ltd

Dechen- choling Taba

Dechen- phodrang

Langjo phaka

Chuba chu

Main town

Chang Gangkha

Moti thang NPPF

Chang Bangdue

Chang zamtok

Chang jiji Olakha Simtokha Babesa

April 2.4 2.16 1.27 1.65 2.1 4.03 1.8 1.20 2.4 3.2 2.5 2.3 2.61 2.1 2.4

May 3.6 3.57 1.81 3.29 2.1 2.73 2.2 1.75 2.1 2.3 2.4 3.2 3.38 2.85 2.63

June 3.53 3.5 1.81 2.97 1.68 2.44 1.75 1.75 1.63 1.47 1.59 2.27 2.78 2.21 2.13

July 3.3 4.2 2.1 3.23 1.89 2.85 2.49 2.27 1.99 2.24 2.23 2.97 3.08 3.34 3.28

August 3.6 2.6 1.9 3.7 2.1 2.44 2.06 5.8 2.3 2.6 2.4 2.9 4.3 3.06 2.3

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Figure 2: Average Data Call Drop (Area wise)- BTL

The observations on B-Mobile’s Data Network performance for the five months are:

There is no significant improvement in the performance of the Data network. In

fact, there has been deterioration of the performance in some areas such as

Dechencholing, Taba, Motithang, Olakha, Simtokha and Babesa.

On average, the Data call drop rate was above the threshold (2%) as indicated in

Figure 2 above.

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5.2 Tashi InfoCom Ltd ( TashiCell)

a. Voice Network

The over-all performance of the voice network performance of TICL is found to be

satisfactory.

Table 3: Average Voice Call Drop (area-wise) – TICL.

Call Drop: 3G mobile (Voice) ( Area wise)- Tashi InfoComm Ltd

Month Dechen choling

Jung shina

Chuba chu

Main town

Sabji Bazar

Chang Gangkha

Moti thang NPPF

Chang zamtok

Chang jiji Olakha Babesa

April 0.26 0.27 0.43 0.57 0.45 0.38 0.57 2.09 0.62 0 0.66 0.86

May 0.45 0.27 0.4 0.37 0.22 0.28 0.42 0.79 0.79 0 2.49 0.4

June 0.77 0.23 0.23 0.34 0.24 0.24 0.33 0.42 0.59 0.45 0.83 0.39

July 0.26 0.32 3.19 0.31 0.21 0.22 0.34 1.21 1.28 0.69 0.37 0.35

August 0.43 0.18 2.42 1.98 0.23 0.23 0.28 0.43 0.87 0.53 0.27 0.19

Figure 3: Average Data Call Drop (Area wise)- TICL

For the past five months, the following observations are made with regard to TICL’s voice

network:

The over-all performance of the voice network is satisfactory, much below the

threshold in most of the location.

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The call drop rate in NPPF Except is slightly above the threshold ( 2.09%) in

the month of April (2.09 %)

The call drop rate in Chubachu has been little higher than threshold in the

month of July (3.19%) and August (2.42%).

Olakha also suffered a slight higher call drop rate (2.49%) in the month of

May.

B. Data Network

The over-all performance of TICL’s Data network shows improvement when compared to

the month of May and June as indicated in the Table and figure below.

Figure 4: Average Data Call Drop (Area wise) -TICL

Month

Call Drop: 3G mobile (Data) ( Area wise)- Tashi InfoComm Ltd

Dechen choling Jungshina

Chuba chu

Main town Sabji Bazar

Chang Gangkha

Moti thang NPPF

Chang zamtok

Chang jiji Olakha Babesa

April 0.68 0.65 1.14 1.46 1.04 0.96 0.94 1.45 1.29 0 1.44 1.12

May 5.9 3.62 4.71 5.94 4.73 3.46 3.75 5.29 5.29 0 9.6 4.48

June 11.49 6.36 0.69 9.66 7.34 7.34 6.17 9.83 8.65 4.38 9.09 6.68

July 0.52 0.58 0.11 1.0 0.51 0.27 0.72 1.54 5.52 0.94 0.90 0.58

August 0.38 0.43 0.35 0.93 0.49 0.39 0.53 1.19 1.23 0.8 0.8 0.42

Figure 4: Average Data Call Drop ( area-wise)-TICL

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For the past five months, the following observations were made with regard to the

performance of the TICL’s Data network.

TICL suffered a major Data network failure towards mid of May and June month. In

most of the areas under Thimphu Thromde, the Data call drop rates in the month of

May and June are very significant. The call drop rate ranges from 4.3 to 11.49 %.

However the Data call drop rate has improved significantly starting July months

onwards, except in Changzamtok. The call drop rates are kept much below the

threshold level as shown in the table and figure above.

The call drop rate is found to be much above the threshold level in

Changzamtok in the month of July. The average call drop rate is 5.52 %.

7. General Remark

In general the Voice network of both the service providers is much better when compared

to the performance of the Data network. Except in few location as mentioned above, the

voice call drop rates in most of the areas under Thimphu Thromde is satisfactory.

However, the same result is not shown with regard to the performance of the Data

network. In fact, the performance of the Data network is seen to be deteriorating, especially

with the B-Mobile network. There is no sign of any significant improvement of B-Mobile’s

Data network.

The performance of TashiCell’s Data network was pretty bad in the month of May and June.

However except in Changzamtok area, there has been a significant improvement in its Data

network performance starting July.

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8. Recommendation

With the limitation of the study, it is quite difficult to clearly demonstration the

improvement in network the performance of the two service providers. However, the raw-

data collected from the two service providers do indicate that the performance of Voice

networks of both the service providers is much better than that of Data network

performance.

In order to further understand and validate the network performance of the two service

providers, the following recommendations are made:

1. Continue the study: The Authority needs to continue with the study for few more

months and made comparison with the past performance. Such comparison may

provide certain clarity and can help in deriving certain result (findings) on the

network performance.

2. Building Capacity: The Authority lacks professional competency to carry out the

testing of the Quality of Service. At present, the Authority is very much dependent

on the raw-date shared by the service providers to make the determination. This

process has its own limitation and may not project the true result. Therefore, to

strengthen and to carry out independent testing and verification, there is a need to

procure and get train to use the Quality of Service Monitoring equipment.

3. Public domain: The Authority will share these findings with the two service

providers and also make this document public by putting it on the website. Such

steps will indirectly put pressure on service providers to improve their network

performance through exploring alternative solution to decongest their network.

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Annexure A: Area wise Network Performance

The area-wise network performance of both the service providers for both voice and data

services was carried out.

1. Voice Network

(i) Hospital

The hospital area, B-Mobile users have experienced major call drops during the

month of May and June. However significant improvement has been observed

during the month of July and August as shown below:

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(ii) Chubachu Area

In Chubachu area, the network performance of Tashi Cell was found to be pretty bad

in the month of July and August as shown below:

(iii) Begana

The TashiCell users at Begana had experienced significant voice call drop in the

Month of August, starting from 5th to 7th and 28th to 31st as shown in the figure

below.

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(iv) Taba

In Taba area, besides minor call drop problem in the month of July (10th to 15th),

most of the B-Mobile users enjoyed good network experience while using voice

services.

(v) Town

B-Mobile users had faced call drop in the May ( between 9th to 16th ) along the

Norzin lam and August ( between 10th to 20th ) in the main town area as shown

in the figure below. Besides few bad network experiences, the call drop rate of B-

mobile in the town areas are much below the threshold level.

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Almost through-out the whole of July month, the B-Mobile users had faced

significant call drop in Zantopeleri area.

(vi) NPPF Colony

Between 16th to 20th May, the B-Mobile users in and around NPPF colony had faced

significant voice call drop as indicated below. Rest of the time, the call drop rate is

much below the threshold level.

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In the same area, the Tashi Cell users had also faced call drop problem in the month

of April ( 24th to 29th) , May ( 1st to 8th ) , July( 1st to 4th) and in August ( 2nd to 4th ).

(Vii) Chanzamtok

The TashiCell users in Changzamtok had faced call drop during the beginning of July

month and August month while using voice services as shown below:

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(Viii) Lungtenphu

B-Mobile users in Lungtenphu area had experienced significant call drop in the

month of July as indicated by the figure below:

(ix) Olakha

The Tashi Cell users in Olakha had experienced significant call drop starting from

15th of May to 4th of June 2016 as shown below:

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(x) Simtokha

In the month of May and June, a significant network abruption is seen Simtokha by

B-Mobile users.

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2. Data Network

The comparison of Network Performance Indicator of the two service providers clearly

reveals that TashiCell is much better than B-Mobile.

Except starting May and whole of June, the data call drop rate of TashiCell in Thimphu

Thromde is much below the threshold level (2%). However, the call drop rate of B-Mobile

in most of the areas under Thimphu Thromde is above threshold level thereby significantly

effecting performance of their data (Internet) services.

The details of the area-wise performance of data services of the two services providers are

given below:

(i) Bebesa

The B-Mobile had faced numerous Data call drop during the months of May, June and

July in Babesa area. The network performance for the month of August shows

improvement when compared to earlier months.

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TICL users in Babesa had also faced significant data call drop while trying to use

internet services starting middle of May to whole of June as show below.

(ii) Dechencholing area

The overall Data network performance of B-Mobile for the past five months in

Begana had been quite bad and no significant improvement has been observed

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The BTL’s data network at Kabesa also showed frequent disruption with significant

call drop in the Month of June, July and August.

The TashiCell users in Begana had also suffered major data network disruption

starting from the middle of May to whole of June month. However significant

improvement in the network performance was seen starting July month.

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(iii) Taba

The BTL’s data network performance in Taba pretty bad without any significant

improvement for the last five months. The call drop rates for the past five months

are much above the thresholds level ( 2 %).

(iv) LanjoPhaka

The B-Mobile data network performance in Lanjophaka clearly indicates huge

network disruption in Lanjophaka areas. For the past five months, the call drop rates

are much above the threshold level ( 2%) as shown below:

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(v) Chubachu

The BTL network performance in Chubachu area did not see any significant

improvement. Except few days in the month of June, the call drop rates are way above

threshold level as shown below:

Except for the month of May and June, the network performance of TashiCell is very

satisfactory as shown below:

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(vi) Main Town Area

BTL’s 4 BTS in the main town area do not show any significant network improvement

in the past five months.

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Except for the month of May and June, the performance of the Tashi Cell’s BTS in Main

town, Vegetable Market and TashiCell office shows good network performance.

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(vii) NPPF

BTL has 2 BTS to cover the NPPF and swimming Pool area; NPPF BTS and YDF BTS.

There are no significant changes in terms of each BTS performance as shown below.

Except for the month of May and June, the performance of TashiCell network in NPPF

area is pretty good.

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(viii) Changangkha

BTL’s BTS at Lower Motithang and Sunshine School areas indicates slight

improvement in terms of data network performance.

The Over-all performance of TICL’s BTS at Changangkha is good with negligible call

drop (data) except in the month of May and June.

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(ix) Motithang Area

The over-all performance of B-Mobile’s data network in Motithang and Upper

Motithang area is pretty good except in the month of July.

However, the network performance in the VIP Enclave area could have suffered major

call drop as shown below:

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The daily call drop rate of data network of TashiCell is much below threshold level ,

except in the month of May and June as shown below:

(x) Changbangdue

Except in June, the B-Mobile’s network performance in Changbangdue is not very

satisfactory.

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(xi) Chanzamtok

The over-all performance of B-Mobile’s data network in Changzamtok area is pretty

bad. Except in hospital area, there has not been any significant improvement in the

network performance.

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In Changzamtok area, the overall performance of Tashi Cell data network is pretty good

except for the Month of May and June.

(xii) ChangJiji

For the past five months, the B-Mobile e users at Changjiji area had faced daily call drop

while trying to connect to data ( internet) or while browsing data service below:

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TICL performance at Changjiji had been consistent and stable with insignificant call

drop for the last three months as shown below.

(xiii) Olakha

The B-Mobile users at Olakha area is served by the BTS located at Lungtenphu and its

performance for the last four months is not very satisfactory. The daily the call drop

rate is much higher than 2 % , reaching 8 % on 17th August as shown below:

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The TICL’s BTS at Olakha showed significant improvement and except for May and June

month, the call drop is way below the acceptable threshold ( 2%)

(xiv) Simtokha

The daily Performance of the B-Mobile’s BTS in Simtokha for the past five months

indicates that their users still face significant data call drop.

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The daily performance of TashiCell’s BTS at Simtokha shows stability and reliable.

Except in June, the call drop rate is much below the threshold. (2%).

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