Benchmarking of mobile networks in Iceland

Benchmarking of mobile networks in Iceland

Last year, The Electronic Communications Office of Iceland (ECOI) decided to carry out for the first time a quality test, carried out by an independent external party, on the mobile network systems of the telecommunications companies in Iceland. 

The German specialist company Rohde & Schwarz was hired for the work. The company has been at the forefront when it comes to e.g. to wireless communications and measurements of their quality. The company, which was founded 90 years ago, is headquartered in Germany and has around 13,800 employees in 70 countries. 

The purpose of the quality test, which was carried out last September and October, was to get information about the quality of the service that the three largest mobile phone companies in Iceland provide to their customers when it comes to phone calls as well as data speed when using the internet, including streaming service. 

Emphasis was placed on three different areas, viz. the capital area, an urban area in the countryside with a population of over 1000 people, as well as main highways. The test covered more than 90% of the country's built-up areas and took place in such a way that around 9 thousand kilometers were driven and measurements were taken simultaneously. Over 17 thousand calls were made and over 160 thousand data tests were performed. The situation was also tested separately in the country's three main shopping centres, Kringlan, Smáralind and Glerártorg, but each of them was walked around for several hours and measurements were taken. 

On the attached map you can see how the areas were divided, the capital area (yellow), towns (green) and highways (blue). 

The measurement method used is harmonized and standardized by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), where grades/points are given according to the result of each element measured and its weight in the overall result, on the one hand when evaluating the quality of calls and on the other hand data transfer. During the measurements, the typical behaviour of users on the public mobile network (calls, internet browsing, etc.) was simulated. 

A quality test like this gives ECOI a valuable overview of the capabilities of each mobile network in this country, as well as enabling it to assess the quality of all mobile networks based on international standards and thus compare them to mobile networks abroad that have been tested in the same way. 

Key findings that directly impact the customer experience 

At the end, the telephone companies, Síminn, Nova and Vodafone were given an overall score/point on a scale of 0-1000, with a thousand being the highest score, when all aspects of the quality tests were weighed and summed up. The company that received the highest overall rating received 742 points, while the one that received the lowest rating received 712 points, the result is in line with the situation of other European telecommunications companies. A number of technical items were tested and their weight varied in the overall score. The telecommunications companies took some turns in coming out the best in this respect, and none of the companies was a clear leader in all the aspects tested. 

In general, the telecommunications companies performed particularly well when it came to calls from their customers in the capital area, towns and shopping centres. On the other hand, they can improve significantly on the highways, but there the calls would end, in exceptional cases though and in a few cases also no connection could be made, the main reason for this was the lack of connection to a mobile phone transmitter. 

When it comes to the time it takes to establish a connection and set up calls when customers call, the companies all have in common that they are considerably behind the best that happens in Europe. Although the reason for this is not exactly the same between the Icelandic companies, this is a technical implementation that the companies should all be able to improve. 

In general, the voice quality offered by the telecommunications companies was good during calls, and especially with two of them, which use a different type of technology than the third telecommunications company. 

The average speed of the telecommunications companies' internet connections when it came to downloading was very good for all three telecommunications companies in the capital area and in the towns, and there was not much difference between them. On the highways, on the other hand, the average download speed of Internet connections was only about a quarter to a third of what it was in the urban areas, and this applies to all the companies, and the explanation can be found, among others, in in that the highways generally do not yet have 5G transmitters. 

The average speed of Internet connections when it came to upload speed was good and comparable between the telecommunication companies in the urban areas and on highways. 

In the three shopping centres, the average download speed of internet connections was good for two of the three companies and comparable to that in the capital area and in the towns, but one company proved to have a much poorer download speed as well as upload speed, which can be explained by its lack of 5G transmitters. 

In addition to these factors that the customers of the telecommunications companies experience directly, i.e. the quality of calls and data transmission, various complex technical issues that affect this quality of service were measured, such as e.g. various settings, installation of system components, etc. 

The quality tests have confirmed that Icelandic telecommunications companies are performing well in an international comparison when it comes to the mobile network system, and especially when you take into account how sparsely populated the country is. 

However, there is room for improvement and such work is constantly underway at the telecommunications companies, and individual improvements have already been made based on the quality tests. ECOI also expects that the detailed information from Rohde & Schwarz's quality tests, which have been presented to the telecommunications companies, will make it easier for them to improve their level of service even further. 

Further analysis of the measurements from the quality test is being worked on with the telecommunications companies and Rohde & Schwarz, and ECOI will publish the results of the quality measurements in more detail later. ECOI will also continue its own quality measurements during the year and publish their results regularly. 

More information about this quality test is provided by Þorleifur Jónasson, head of the Infrastructure Department at ECOI.