Quality of Service (Qos) Parameters

8/3/2019 Quality of Service (Qos) Parameters

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QUALITY OF SERVICE (QoS) PARAMETERS

1 Background

The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) is the regulatory body of the

communications sector in Uganda. UCC was established in 1998 to implement the

provisions of the Uganda Communications Act (Cap 106 Laws of Uganda). The mandate

of UCC includes licensing, monitoring, inspecting, regulating and ensuring general

improvement and equitable distribution of communications services in Uganda in

accordance with the Act.

One of the functions of the Commission, as spelt out in Section 5 (m) of the

Communication Act, is to promote the interests of consumers and operators as regardsthe quality of communication services and equipment. In addition, Sections 3(i) and 3(m)

of the Telecommunications (Licensing) Regulations 2005 outline the importance of

Quality of Service (QoS) as:-

To adopt a consumer-oriented approach that focuses on delivery of quality

services at reasonable and affordable costs; and

To facilitate the introduction of new modern services and the expansion of


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To facilitate the introduction of new modern services and the expansion of

Under this new licensing regime, UCC focuses on regulation of QoS as perceived by the

customer as well as QoS offered (planned/targeted) by the service provider. According

to the ITU-T Recommendation G.1000, QoS offered by a service provider is the

statement of the level of quality offered to the customer by the service provider. This is

stated in contracts and Service Level Agreements (SLAs). UCC also does recognise

standards set by international standardisation organisations, like InternationalTelecommunications Union (ITU) and European Telecommunications Standards Institute

(ETSI) - just to mention a few. Service providers are expected to reflect in their SLAs,

QoS to be offered in line with UCC standards and QoS specific to deployed technology.

For any future reviews of the QoS parameters, UCC intends to have a two-level

approach. Level I will have a technology-neutral approach while Level II will be

technology-specific and mainly contributed to by the operator deploying the technology.

This means that in Level II, operators will be required to commit themselves (UCC will

have to agree to the commitment) to certain levels of QoS, relevant to the chosen

technology to be deployed. This will be in addition to the Level I, which will apply to all

operators in a general and technological-neutral way.


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Table 1: Quality of Service ParametersLicence Scope Parameters Targets

Billing performance: Levelof accuracy of bills and

timeliness in issuing anddelivery of bills and numberof billing complaints

Bills should be received on at most on amonthly basis for post paid customers

Billing complaintsishould not exceed 2% of

total bills issued during the billing periodii.

95% of billing complaints should beresolved within 20 working days of receiptof complaint

100% of the billing complaints should beresolved within 30 working days of receiptof the complaint

Upon receipt of a billing complaint, thesame should be resolved within a maximumof five (5) working days (120 hours).

Complaintiii

handling: ratioof complaints attended to in24hrs/number of complaintsreceived expressed as apercentage

90% of complaints should be resolvedwithin 24hrs

100% of the complaints should be resolvedwithin 120 hours

Public Service Provider -as per new licensing

regime

All telecommunicationsservices- e.g., voice and

data services, capacity resaleservices etc

ServiceActivation/provisioning:time taken to provideservice from time of requestor date of application totime service is activated

At least within seven (7) working days


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Licence Scope Parameters TargetsService Level Agreements

iv

(SLAs) withregard to QoS set forinfrastructure providers

-

No QoS for IP telephonywhere there is no use ofnumbering

-

Billing performance: Levelof accuracy of bills andtimeliness in issuing anddelivery of bills and numberof billing complaints


Billing complaintv vis should not exceed 2%of total bills issued during the billing period.



Upon receipt of a billing complaint, thesame should be resolved within a maximumof 120 hours.

Complaint handling: ratioof complaints attended to in24hrs/number of complaintsreceived expressed as a

percentage


100% of the complaints should be resolved

within 120 hours

Public InfrastructureProvider as per newinfrastructure licensingregime

Infrastructure services -bandwidth capacity, or theswitching, transmission, anddistribution facilities providedby a public infrastructureprovider to a public serviceprovider or to a privatenetwork holder.

ServiceActivation/provisioningtime: time taken to provideservice from time of request



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Licence Scope Parameters Targetsor date of application totime service is activated

Service Restoration: timetaken to restore the servicefrom the time the fault isreported by the customer tothe time of restoration

80% of all service restoration requestsshould be fulfilled within 24 hours


Service level agreementswithregard to QoS set for PublicService Providers (PSPs)

Maximum Connectiontime ( based on areas

declared by operators):time taken for a customer toaccess network after payingthe connection fee orrelevant fees for connection

Five (5) working days within areaswhere the Public infrastructure Provider has

declared to provide services.

Network Availability/percentage up time:measure of degree to whichthe access network isoperable and point in timeand/or time that networkresources are valuable tothe customer and/or the

percentage uptime of thelink where bandwidth isaccessed from the operatorby the customer

Greater than 99%

National OperatorCellular

Cellular Network-mobilevoice services

Congestion: probability ofnot accessing a traffic

Less than 0.5%


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Licence Scope Parameters TargetsChannel-TCH congestion

Call Drop rate: percentagenumber of calls that are

dropped after connection tothe system or networkduring the call duration.

Less than 2%

Call Block rate:Percentage number of callsthat are blocked after callset up.

Less than 2%

Percentage of goodquality calls: Calls withingood quality range

Greater than 95% of all the calls madewithin one hour of the day or night

Success call rate:Success call is one whichterminates with no answeron voice mail service,announcement thatsubscriber is not available,with a busy signal, with anannouncement that wrongnumber has been dialled,and in conversation

For the intra network the success call rateshould greater than 99%

TelecommunicationsOperator

Network Availability; timethat the network resources

are available to theconsumer (including thebase stations, basetransceiver stations( BTS)and the Mobile Switchingcentres ( MSCs)

Greater than 99% for MSCs and BSS andgreater than 95% for BTS


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Licence Scope Parameters TargetsFault recovery: minimumpercentage of faults on thenetwork cleared within24hrs or 72 hrs for every

year

Greater than 90% faults should be clearedwithin 24hrs

Greater than 96% of faults should be

cleared within 72 hrs

100% of faults should be cleared within amaximum of five (5) working days

Call completion rates:ratio of successful callattempts to total callattempts

Atleast 95%

Grade of service;Probability that a call willnot be connected to asystem because all trunks

are busy: carriedtraffic/offered traffic

Less than 0.015

Public Switched TelephoneNetwork- Fixed voiceservices

Maximum ConnectionTime: time taken for asubscriber to accessnetwork after paying theconnection fee or relevantfees for connection

Wired terminals: Seven (7) working days forrural

viiand urban

viiiwhere there is network

presence as declared by the operator andverified by UCC

Wireless Terminals: Two (2) working daysfor wireless terminals for rural and urban asdeclared by the operator and verified byUCC

National Operator

Billing performance: Level

of accuracy of bills andtimeliness in issuing anddelivery of bills and numberof billing complaints

Bills should be received on at most on a

monthly basis for post paid customers

Billing complaintix

xs should not exceed 2%of total bills issued during the billing period.

95% of billing complaints should be


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Licence Scope Parameters Targetsresolved within 20 working days of receiptof complaint

100% of the billing complaints should be

resolved within 30 working days of receiptof the complaint

Upon receipt of a billing complaint, thesame should be resolved within a maximumof 120 hours

Complaint Handling: ratioof complaints attended to in24hrs/number of complaintsreceived expressed as apercentage



Percentage up time:

measure of degree to whichthe access network isoperable and point in timeand/or time that networkresources are valuable tothe customer and/or thepercentage uptime of thelink where bandwidth isaccessed from the operatorby the customer

Greater than 99.9%- percentage time the

link is available

Serviceactivation/provision time:time taken to provide

service from time of requestor date of application totime service is activated

At least within seven (7) working daysexcept for wireless modes this should bewithin one working day.

National Operator

CellularTelecommunicationsOperator

Internet Access ServiceProvider

Internet Access Services

Complaint handling: ratio 90% of complaints should be resolved


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Licence Scope Parameters Targetsof complaints attended to in24hrs/number of complaintsreceived expressed as apercentage

within 24hrs




Billing complaintxi xiis should not exceed 2%of total bills issued during the billing period.





iB i l li n g co m p l a i n t is when an end user complains about the bill received, the accuracy of the information on the bill, its format,

frequency, timeliness, content or other billing matters. Service and infrastructure providers should maintain proper billing

mechanisms and/or systems.

iiBi l l ing Period means the time period within which a bill is issued by the service provider and sent to the customer

iii C o m p l a i n t shall mean expression of dissatisfaction by a user or consumer or of a service provided by the infrastructure or

service provider. A complaint shall be deemed as resolved once the operator takes the final action with established and known


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procedures to UCC and there is evidence of that action (including notifying the affected party of the final action to be taken).

Operators are required to put in place complaint handling mechanisms). Resolution will be interpreted by UCC as compliance by

the operator with the Act, Licence Agreement, UCC regulations, service level agreement and other provisions for complaint

resolution.

ivS er v i ce L evel A g r eem en t means a formal written agreement made between two parties: the service provider and the service

recipient which defines the basis of understanding between the two parties for delivery of the service itself. It may, among others,

contain a specified level of service, support options, etc. The Committed Information Rate (CIR) shall be defined by the Licensee

within the service level agreement. Committed Information Rate means a specified amount of bandwidth guaranteed by the

bandwidth provider under normal operations, measured in bits per second.

In case of maintenance and upgrades on the network operators are required to give prior notice to the Commission and the consumers.Maintenance and upgrades should be done within specified periods as per the licence requirements or existing UCC regulations.

viiRural , in this context, refers to any area outside the recognised cities, municipalities and towns by the local government and

surrounding areas within a radius of 10km

viiiUrban , in this context, refers to the recognised cities, municipalities and towns by the local government and surrounding areas

within a radius of 10km.


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1 Background








Communication Act, is to promote the interests of consumers and operators as regards

the quality of communication services and equipment. In addition, Sections 3(i) and 3(m)





T f ilit t th i t d ti f d i d th i f


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standards set by international standardisation organisations, like InternationalTelecommunications Union (ITU) and European Telecommunications Standards Institute











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Billing complaintsi should not exceed 2% oftotal bills issued during the billing period

ii.



Upon receipt of a billing complaint, thesame should be resolved within a maximum

of five (5) working days (120 hours).

Complaintiii




Public Service Provider -as per new licensingregime

All telecommunicationsservices- e.g., voice anddata services, capacity resaleservices etc




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iv


-


-








percentage



within 120 hours






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Greater than 99%




Less than 0.5%


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Less than 2%


Less than 2%










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year






Atleast 95%



Less than 0.015




viiand urban




National Operator





Billing complaintix




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Percentage up time:



link is available

Serviceactivation/provision time:time taken to provide

service from time of requestor date of application totime service is activated


National Operator






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within 24hrs
















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resolution.












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1 Background








Communication Act, is to promote the interests of consumers and operators as regards

the quality of communication services and equipment. In addition, Sections 3(i) and 3(m)





T f ili h i d i f d i d h i f


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standards set by international standardisation organisations, like International

Telecommunications Union (ITU) and European Telecommunications Standards Institute











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Billing performance: Levelof accuracy of bills andtimeliness in issuing and

delivery of bills and numberof billing complaints


Billing complaintsi should not exceed 2% oftotal bills issued during the billing period

ii.



Upon receipt of a billing complaint, thesame should be resolved within a maximum

of five (5) working days (120 hours).

Complaintiii




Public Service Provider -as per new licensingregime

All telecommunicationsservices- e.g., voice anddata services, capacity resale

services etc




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iv


-


-








percentage



within 120 hours






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Greater than 99%




Less than 0.5%


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Less than 2%


Less than 2%










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year






Atleast 95%



Less than 0.015




viiand urban




National Operator





Billing complaintix




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Percentage up time:



link is available

Serviceactivation/provision time:time taken to provideservice from time of requestor date of application totime service is activated


National Operator






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within 24hrs
















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resolution.











Documents

Quality of Service (Qos) Parameters