IDT Report TRAI 1

Comparative Analysis of Network Performance of the Telecom Service Providers in Mumbai and Delhi

Background 1. TRAI is regularly monitoring the performance of Telecom Service Providers (TSP) against the benchmarks for the various Quality of Service (QoS) parameters laid down by the Authority. TSPs submit Performance Monitoring Reports to TRAI every quarter. 2. TRAI also undertakes audit and assessment of Quality of Service through independent agencies to verify the Quality of Service claimed. The Audit agencies conduct sample ‘Drive tests’ across various cities all over the country as part of audit and assessment of the TSPs’ performance. The audit reports of these agencies are published on the website of TRAI. 3. In view of complaints on call drops and other network issues, on behalf of TRAI, an independent Drive Test (IDT) was conducted and uploaded in the website, on

a. 23rd and 24th June 2015 covering various locations in South and Central Mumbai. The performance of Idea, Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance (GSM), Aircel & Tata(GSM) was monitored;

b. 9th to 11th July 2015 covering various locations in South Delhi, Central Delhi and West Delhi. The performance of Idea, Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance (GSM), Aircel & Tata (CDMA) was monitored.

4. Subsequently another independent drive test was conducted in the same route on 27th and 28th September 2015 to assess the improvements in the network quality. The route was defined on the basis of several factors that include - areas from where call drop complaints are commonly received; areas of heavy usage; residential areas away from arterial roads; office areas; areas where previous Drive tests showed network issues; etc. 5. A team from the TRAI HQ was present for these Drive tests during these days. For the purpose of these tests, only 2G BTS were covered. 6. The test results obtained from these drive tests were conducted to assess the network condition more specifically in terms of Radio Frequency (RF) Coverage; Rx Quality; Call setup success rate; call drop rate, voice quality; blocked call and Carrier to Interference ratio. However some of the important parameters are compared below.

IDT Report TRAI 2

Target Network in Mumbai: 1. Total 6 Operators were benchmarked which is shown as below: General information about the network of the cellular mobile service providers:

Operator Technology Band (MHz) BTS Count Subscribers* (Prepaid + Postpaid)

Subscribers / BTS

Idea GSM 1800 3477 4010062 1153

Airtel GSM 900 & 1800 4025 4700857 1168

Vodafone GSM 900 & 1800 4543 8609116 1895

Reliance (GSM) GSM 1800 2178 2780944 1277

Aircel GSM 1800 1869 2536925 1357

Tata(GSM) GSM 1800 2887 2851020 988 *Subscriber and BTS count details of Mumbai circle are taken from QoS audit data (QE June 2015).

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Drive Test Route 2. The total Drive test route covered over the two days was approximately 300 kms. Major areas covered included Colaba, Churchgate, Andheri, Malad, Ghatkopar, Lokhandwala & Juhu. The map below depicts the route that was followed during the Mumbai Drive test.

A. RF Coverage rate 3. Radio Frequency (RF) Coverage relates to the geographical footprint within an area that has sufficient RF signal strength to allow for a call/data session. The RF Coverage rate of an operator is calculated on the basis of % of samples in which the receive level (Rx) is better than -85 dbm at street level. The test results obtained in Mumbai on the drive test route (approx. 300 km) are as follows:

KPI Aircel Idea Vodafone Airtel Reliance(GSM) Tata (GSM)

Coverage % (Sep-15) 90.02% 95.00% 88.65% 91.10% 87.30% 94.92%

Coverage % (Jun-15) 93.63% 95.40% 91.08% 95.13% 89.49% 97.07%

Ghatkopar

Govandi Station Rd Peddar Road

Navy Nagar Colaba

Malabar Hill

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4. As per the drive test report, the coverage along the selected route of all the operators dropped during this period, but was found to be satisfactory. B. Accessibility 5. Accessibility is the ability of a user to obtain the requested service from the network. 6. Accessibility is monitored by measuring the Call Setup Success Rate (CSSR). The CSSR is defined as the ratio of Established Calls to number of Call Attempts. When a user “A” initiates a call to user “B” in the same network, a Stand Alone Dedicated Control Channel (SDCCH) is allocated for setting up the call. Once the call is setup, a Traffic Channel (TCH) is allocated for the call. Non availability of control channel or traffic channel will lead to congestion which is measured through the SDCCH congestion and the TCH congestion. The SDCCH congestion and TCH congestion are monitored through the ‘Blocked Call rate’ parameter in the Drive test.

7. TRAI has laid down the QoS benchmarks for CSSR >95%; SDCCH congestion at 1% and TCH congestion at 2% respectively [the blocked call rate at 3%].The test results obtained are as follows:

Operator Blocked Call Rate (%) [June

2015]

CSSR (%) [June 2015]

Blocked Call Rate (%) [Sept

2015]

CSSR (%) [Sept 2015]

Aircel 4.36% 95.64% 4.63% 95.37% Airtel 3.02% 96.98% 3.02% 96.98% Idea 10.00% 90.00% 2.19% 97.81% Reliance (GSM) 31.13% 68.87% 7.44% 92.56% Tata(GSM) 4.58% 95.42% 4.84% 95.16% Vodafone 3.93% 96.07% 2.61% 97.39%

8. As per the drive test report, most of the operators have shown improvement in QoS benchmark for blocked call rate. M/s Reliance, M/s Tata and M/s Aircel are having relatively higher blocked call rate. C. Retainability 9. Retainability is the ability of a service, once obtained, to continue to be provided under given conditions for a requested duration. During the Drive test, Retainability is measured by making a call from user A to user B and after the call is successfully setup,

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holding the call for a duration of 90 sec/ 120 sec. If the call drops during this period it is considered to be a dropped call. The Call Drop Rate (CDR) parameter gives a reliable measure of the ability of the mobile network to maintain a call once it has been correctly established. TRAI has laid down the QoS benchmarks for call drop rate to be less than 2%. The test results obtained for this parameter are:

Operator Call Drop Rate% [June 2015]

Call Drop Rate% [Sept 2015]

Aircel 3.19% 2.94% Airtel 0.97% 2.68% Idea 5.56% 2.64%

Reliance (GSM) 2.29% 3.24% Tata (GSM) 5.51% 5.47% Vodafone 4.83% 5.51%

10. As per the drive test report, no operator is meeting the prescribed benchmark. However there is marginal improvement in the performance of some of the operators. D. Rx Quality 11. For measuring voice quality, Rx Qual samples on a scale from 0 to 7 for GSM operators are measured. As per the TRAI QoS norms, Rx Qual between 0- 5 for GSM operators is considered to be good, whereas Rx Qual beyond this benchmark is considered to be poor. TRAI has set down the QoS norm requiring connections with good voice quality to be >95%. Accordingly the Rx Quality is determined and as can be seen from the table below:

Operator Rx Quality Samples

(0-5)% [June 2015] Rx Quality Samples

(0-5)% [Sept 2015] Aircel 85.60% 91.34% Airtel 91.11% 95.13% Idea 86.46% 94.22%

Reliance (GSM) 85.53% 91.68% Tata (GSM) 89.50% 93.95% Vodafone 89.56% 94.13%

12. As per the drive test report, all the operators have improved their performance during this quarter.

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Overall Operator Analysis

KPI Aircel Idea Vodafone Airtel Reliance (GSM) Tata (GSM) Call Attempt (Sep-15) 497 502 498 464 497 455 Call Attempt (Jun-15) 550 570 535 529 575 546

Blocked Call Rate (Sep-15) 4.63% 2.19% 2.61% 3.02% 7.44% 4.84%

Blocked Call Rate (Jun-15) 4.36% 10.00% 3.93% 3.02% 31.13% 4.58%

Call Setup Success Rate – Sep 15 (95%) 95.37% 97.81% 97.39% 96.98% 92.56% 95.16%

Call Setup Success Rate – Jun 15 (95%) 95.64% 90.00% 96.07% 96.98% 68.88% 95.43%

Call Drop Rate – Sep 15 (2%) 2.94% 2.64% 5.51% 2.68% 3.24% 5.47%

Call Drop Rate – Jun 15 (2%) 3.19% 5.56% 4.83% 0.97% 2.29% 5.51%

Rx Quality (0-5) – Sep 15 (95%) 91.34% 94.22% 94.13% 95.13% 91.68% 93.95%

Rx Quality (0-5) – Jun 15 (95%) 85.60% 86.46% 89.56% 91.11% 85.53% 89.50%

13. The comparison of the Drive test results revealed that most of the operators have marginally improved the network quality.

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Target Network in New Delhi: 1. Drive tests were conducted for total 6 Operators as shown below: General information about the network of the cellular mobile service providers:

Operator Technology Band (MHz) BTS Count Subscribers* (Prepaid + Postpaid)

Subscribers / BTS

Idea GSM 1800 4804 6019476 1253

Airtel GSM 900 & 1800 5988 12548419 2096

Vodafone GSM 900 & 1800 6115 9688516 1584

Reliance GSM 1800 2494 5130967 2057

Aircel GSM 1800 3749 5306870 1416

Tata CDMA 800 1466 2658454 1813 *Subscriber and BTS count details of Delhi circle are taken from QoS audit data (QE June 2015). Drive Test Route 2. The total Drive test route covered was approximately 300 kms. Major areas covered included Connaught Place (CP) inner and outer circle, India gate, Lutyens Zone, Chankyapuri, South Campus, IIT, AIIMS, Delhi Cantt, Delhi Gate, Daryaganj and different parts of South and West Delhi. The map below depicts the route that was followed during the Delhi Drive test.

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Drive Test Schedule 3. The test was performed from 0900 hrs to 2030 hrs, to cover both peak as well as off-peak hours. In all about 3626 calls were made for all the 6 operators. RF Coverage rate 4. The test results obtained in Delhi on the drive test route (approx. 300 km) are as follows:

KPI Aircel Idea Vodafone Airtel Reliance (GSM) Tata (CDMA)

Coverage % (Sep-15) 85.97% 92.74% 84.35% 87.75% 51.53% 82.75%

Coverage % (Jul-15) 74.32% 87.42% 87.29% 91.26% 57.96% 58.07% 5. As per the drive test report, the coverage for some of the operators have improved.

Drive test route of New Delhi

Sadar Bazar

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B. Accessibility 6. The test results obtained are as follows:

Operator Blocked Call Rate (%) [Jul 2015]

CSSR (%) [Jul 2015]

Blocked Call Rate (%) [Sept

2015]

CSSR (%) [Sept 2015]

Aircel 2.95% 97.05% 5.45% 94.55% Airtel 8.18% 91.82% 3.53% 96.47% Idea 26.09% 73.91% 3.65% 96.35%

Reliance 10.45% 89.55% 4.08% 95.92% Tata(CDMA) 1.11% 98.89% 2.28% 97.72%

Vodafone 4.69% 95.31% 2.60% 97.40% 7. As per the drive test report, some of the operators have shown improvement. C. Retainability 8. The test results obtained for this parameter are:

Operator Call Drop

Rate (%) [Jul 2015]

Call Drop Rate (%) [Sept 2015]

Aircel 5.18% 9.13% Airtel 8.04% 6.58% Idea 2.84% 0.94%

Reliance 17.29% 1.75% Tata(CDMA) 0.84% 1.50%

Vodafone 4.28% 4.74% 9. As per the drive test report, some of the operators have shown improvements. E. Rx Quality 10. The Rx Quality for the operators are as shown in the table below:

Operator Rx Quality Samples (0-5) % [Jul 2015]

Rx Quality Samples (0-5) % [Sept. 2015]

Aircel 82.69% 89.14% Airtel 84.32% 87.59% Idea 91.12% 94.33%

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Reliance 85.36% 88.53% Tata (CDMA) 99.68% 98.59%

Vodafone 90.67% 92.89% 11. As per the drive test report, except one, none of the operators are meeting the prescribed benchmark, though there is a marginal improvement in voice quality. Overall Operator Analysis 12. The results of the Key Performance Indicators are summarised in the table below:-

KPI Aircel Idea Vodafone Airtel Reliance (GSM) Tata (CDMA) Call Attempt (Sep-15) 459 548 576 566 515 613

Call Attempt (Jul-15) 441 782 490 587 603 723

Blocked Call Rate (Sep-15) 5.45% 3.65% 2.60% 3.53% 4.08% 2.28%

Blocked Call Rate (Jul-15) 2.95% 26.09% 4.69% 8.18% 10.45% 1.11%

Call Setup Success Rate – Sep 15 (95%) 94.55% 96.35% 97.40% 96.47% 95.92% 97.72%

Call Setup Success Rate – Jul 15 (95%) 97.05% 73.91% 95.31% 91.82% 89.55% 98.89%

Call Drop Rate – Sep 15 (2%) 9.13% 0.94% 4.74% 6.58% 1.75% 1.50%

Call Drop Rate – Jul 15 (2%) 5.18% 2.84% 4.28% 8.04% 17.29% 0.84% Rx Quality (0-5) – Sep 15

(95%) 89.14% 94.33% 92.89% 87.59% 88.53% 98.59% Rx Quality (0-5) – Jul 15

(95%) 82.69% 91.12% 90.67% 84.32% 85.36% 99.68% 13. The Drive test results revealed that most of the operators have marginally improved.