Comparative Benchmarking Report

VOICE
Chennai Cluster 21
4th November & 6th November

Table of Contents
1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................................. 4
2 COVERAGE STATISTICS (IDLE MODE) ......................................................................................................... 5
2.1

COVERAGE PLOTS ....................................................................................................................................... 6

3 RX QUALITY STATISTICS (DEDICATED MODE)...........................................................................................11

3.1

DOWNLINK RX Q UALITY PLOTS (DEDICATED MODE) .......................................................................................12

4 CALL SETUP TIME.........................................................................................................................................17

5 RETAINABILITY PERFORMANCE .................................................................................................................18
5.1

VOICE CALL PERFORMANCE PLOT ................................................................................................................19

6 HANDOVER PERFORMANCE........................................................................................................................20
7 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................21
8 ANALYSIS & RECOMMENDATIONS..............................................................................................................22
8.1

AREAS FOR SCOPE OF IMPROVEMENT ............................................................................................................22

9 GLOSSARY ....................................................................................................................................................24

Index of Figures
FIGURE 1.
FIGURE 2.
FIGURE 3.
FIGURE 4.
FIGURE 5.
FIGURE 6.
FIGURE 7.
FIGURE 8.
FIGURE 9.
FIGURE 10.
FIGURE 11.
FIGURE 12.
FIGURE 13.
FIGURE 14.
FIGURE 15.
FIGURE 16.
FIGURE 17.
FIGURE 18.
FIGURE 19.
FIGURE 20.
FIGURE 21.
FIGURE 22.
FIGURE 23.
FIGURE 24.
FIGURE 25.
FIGURE 26.
FIGURE 27.
FIGURE 28.

COVERAGE DISTRIBUTION .................................................................................................................... 5

IDEA: IDLE MODE ............................................................................................................................... 6
AIRCEL: IDLE MODE .......................................................................................................................... 6
AIRTEL: IDLE MODE ........................................................................................................................... 7
DOCOMO: IDLE MODE ....................................................................................................................... 7
RTL: IDLE MODE ................................................................................................................................ 8
UNINOR: IDLE MODE ......................................................................................................................... 8
VIDEOCON: IDLE MODE ..................................................................................................................... 9
VODAFONE: IDLE MODE ................................................................................................................... 9
COVERAGE PERFORMANCE .............................................................................................................. 10
RX QUALITY (SUB) DISTRIBUTION...................................................................................................... 11
IDEA: RXQUAL SUB ....................................................................................................................... 12
AIRCEL: RXQUAL SUB................................................................................................................... 13
AIRTEL: RXQUAL SUB ................................................................................................................... 13
DOCOMO: RXQUAL SUB................................................................................................................ 14
RTL: RXQUAL SUB ......................................................................................................................... 14
UNINOR: RXQUAL SUB .................................................................................................................. 15
VIDEOCON: IDLE MODE ................................................................................................................. 15
VODAFONE: IDLE MODE................................................................................................................ 16
RX QUAL (SUB) PERFORMANCE ....................................................................................................... 16
AVERAGE CALL SETUP T IME ............................................................................................................ 17
RETAINABILITY PERFORMANCE ......................................................................................................... 18
DROP CALL PERFORMANCE STATISTICS ............................................................................................ 18
DROPPED CALL PLOT ...................................................................................................................... 19
HANDOVER SUCCESS RATE ............................................................................................................. 20
HANDOVER PERFORMANCE .............................................................................................................. 20
RXQUAL PLOT - AREAS FOR SCOPE OF IMPROVEMENT FOR IDEA......................................................... 22
SAMPLE ZOOMED VIEW OF THE RXQ UAL PLOT AREA WITH POOR RF CONDITION .................................... 23

Index of Tables
T ABLE 1.
T ABLE 2.
T ABLE 3.
T ABLE 4.
T ABLE 5.
T ABLE 6.

IDLE MODE COVERAGE SAMPLES.......................................................................................................... 5

IDLE MODE COVERAGE PERFORMANCE ................................................................................................. 5
RX QUALITY (SUB) SAMPLES ..............................................................................................................11
RX QUALITY (SUB) PERFORMANCE ......................................................................................................11
CALL PERFORMANCE: CCSR & DROP CALL RATE ...............................................................................19
CLUSTER LEVEL STATISTIC .................................................................................................................21

INTRODUCTION

A comparative analysis of wireless network performance was conducted on 4th and 6th November 2010.
The goal was to develop an objective view of competitive advantage or disadvantage of competing wireless
operators in the area.
TEMS wireless network drive test system was used in the execution of this benchmarking survey. The version used
here is 9.1.3. TEMS allows wireless network operators to view their service KPI performance. It provides the
objective means for network operators to assess and improve service levels and utilization of key resources.

The wireless operators benchmarked are:

IDEA Idea Cellular (GSM 1800 MHz band)
AIRCEL Aircel Maxis (GSM 900 MHz band)
AIRTEL Bharti Tele-Ventures LTD (GSM 900 MHz band)
DOCOMO TATA DOCOMO (GSM - 1800 MHz band)
RTL - Reliance Telecom LTD (GSM 1800MHz band)
UNINOR Unitech-Telnor (GSM - 1800 MHz band)
VIDEOCON - Videocon Group (GSM - 1800 MHz band)
VODAFONE - Vodafone Essar Group (GSM - 1800 MHz band)

Coverage Statistics (Idle Mode)

The following figures illustrate the coverage performance comparison between the wireless operators.
Cluster 21 - Coverage Distribution
100.0%

11.3%

0.8%
0.0%
0.6%
0.4%
0.6%
0.4%
0.2%
0.6%

10.0%

2.2%
2.2%
3.3%
13.2%
9.8%
8.7%
6.9%

28.1%
24.0%
15.6%

20.0%

25.5%
15.4%
11.8%
15.1%
29.2%

50.7%

26.2%

30.0%

32.4%

40.0%

30.3%
23.3%
33.7%
29.1%
35.7%
33.5%

50.0%

27.9%
26.0%
33.6%

60.0%

62.1%

52.1%

70.0%

47.5%

80.0%

30.1%

% of Data Samples

90.0%

0.0%
0 to -65 dBm
IDEA

-65 to -75 dBm

AIRCEL

AIRTEL

-75 to -85 dBm

DOCOMO

Figure 1.

RTL

UNINOR

-85 to -95 dBm

VIDEOCON

-95 to -105 dBm

VODAFONE

Coverage Distribution

Table 1. Idle mode Coverage samples

Table 2. Idle mode Coverage Performance

2.1

Coverage Plots

Figure 2.

Figure 3.

IDEA: Idle Mode

AIRCEL: Idle Mode

6

Figure 4.

Figure 5.

AIRTEL: Idle Mode

DOCOMO: Idle Mode

7

Figure 6.

Figure 7.

RTL: Idle Mode

UNINOR: Idle Mode

8

Figure 8.

VIDEOCON: Idle Mode

Figure 9.

VODAFONE: Idle Mode

9

Cluster 21 - Coverage Performance

100.0%

80.0%

83.9%

78.3%

75.4%

74.1%

40.0%

84.9%

50.0%

88.8%

60.0%

86.5%

70.0%
75.9%

% of Data Samples

90.0%

30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
IDEA

AIRTEL

RTL

VIDEOCON

Figure 10. Coverage Performance

Note: Coverage performance has been calculated as per the formula mentioned in the glossary section.

10

Rx Quality Statistics (Dedicated Mode)

92.3%

94.3%

92.7%

87.6%
87.9%

Cluster 21 - RxQual_Sub Distribution

80.0%
70.0%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%

0.0%
RxQual_Sub: <5
IDEA

>= 5 to <6
AIRCEL

AIRTEL

DOCOMO

>=6 to <7
RTL

UNINOR

VIDEOCON

>=7
VODAFONE

Figure 11. Rx Quality (Sub) distribution

Table 3. Rx Quality (Sub) samples

Table 4. Rx Quality (Sub) performance

11

1.3%

2.6%

0.8%
1.4%

2.8%
2.0%

3.1%

1.8%

2.8%
2.3%

1.8%

3.7%
4.4%

4.8%

4.0%
4.6%

4.1%

3.1%
3.1%

10.0%

6.6%

20.0%

5.1%

6.4%

30.0%
4.4%
6.5%

% of Data Samples

90.0%

89.8%
86.1%

100.0%

85.6%

The following figures illustrate the Rx Quality (Sub) performance comparison between the wireless operators.

3.1

Downlink Rx Quality Plots (Dedicated Mode)

Figure 12. IDEA: RxQual Sub

12

Figure 13. AIRCEL: RxQual Sub

Figure 14. AIRTEL: RxQual Sub

13

Figure 15. DOCOMO: RxQual Sub

Figure 16. RTL: RxQual Sub

14

Figure 17. UNINOR: RxQual Sub

Figure 18. VIDEOCON: Idle Mode

15

Figure 19. VODAFONE: Idle Mode

The following figures illustrate the Rx Quality (Sub) performance comparison between the wireless operators.
Cluster 21 - RxQual_Sub Performance

100.0%

80.0%

92.3%

92.7%

94.3%

AIRTEL

87.9%

AIRCEL

87.6%

50.0%

86.1%

60.0%

89.8%

70.0%
85.6%

% of Data Samples

90.0%

40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
IDEA

DOCOMO

RTL

UNINOR

VIDEOCON VODAFONE

Figure 20. Rx Qual (Sub) Performance

16

Call Setup Time

The following chart and table summarizes the Call Setup Time of the wireless operators.

Cluster 21 - Average Call Setuptime

2.00

2.81

2.78

2.83

2.50

3.17

3.12

3.00

2.85

Call Setup Time (secs)

3.50

3.32

5.09

4.00

1.50
1.00
0.50
0.00

IDEA

AIRTEL

RTL

VIDEOCON

Figure 21. Average Call Setup Time

17

Retainability Performance

The following chart depicts the Retainability performance and dropped call rating of the wireless operators.

No.of Calls

Cluster 21 - Drop Call Performance

1000
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0

597

668

587

664

10

IDEA

654

579 577

4
AIRCEL

AIRTEL

No. of Calls Setup

647

677

672
582 582

DOCOMO

RTL

No. of Calls Completed

623 622

646 642

UNINOR VIDEOCON VODAFONE

No. of Dropped Calls

Figure 22. Retainability Performance

Cluster 21 - Retainability
100.0%

1.5%

0.6%

98.5%

99.4%

0.8%
99.2%

98.9%

IDEA

AIRCEL

AIRTEL

DOCOMO

1.1%

0.4%
99.6%

0.0%
100.0%

RTL

UNINOR

0.2%
99.8%

99.4%

VIDEOCON

VODAFONE

0.6%

95.0%

90.0%

85.0%

80.0%

Call Completion Success Rate

Drop Call Rate

Figure 23. Drop Call Performance Statistics

18

Area

Cluster 21

Wireless
Operator

No. of Calls
Setup

No. of Calls
Completed

No. of Dropped
Calls

Call
Completion
Success Rate

Drop Call Rate

IDEA

596

587

98.5%

1.5%

AIRCEL

668

664

99.4%

0.6%

AIRTEL

631

626

99.2%

0.8%

DOCOMO

654

647

98.9%

1.1%

RTL

675

672

99.6%

0.4%

UNINOR

640

640

100.0%

0.0%

VIDEOCON

623

622

99.8%

0.2%

VODAFONE

647

643

99.4%

0.6%

Table 5. Call performance: CCSR & Drop Call Rate

5.1

Voice Call Performance Plot

This section shows the location of the dropped calls during the mobile originated voice call drive.

Figure 24. Dropped Call Plot

19

Handover Performance

The following chart depicts the Handover performance.

Cluster 21 - Handover Success Rate

0.3%

100.0%

3.9%

0.4%
2.1%

99.7%

6.3%

97.9%

95.0%

99.6%

1.2%

1.2%

98.8%

98.8%

15.3%

96.1%
93.7%

90.0%
85.0%
84.7%
80.0%
75.0%
70.0%
IDEA

AIRCEL

AIRTEL

DOCOMO

RTL

UNINOR

Success Rate

VIDEOCON VODAFONE

Failure Rate

Figure 25. Handover Success Rate

Cluster 21 - Handover Performance

2000

No. of Calls

1500
1027 1024
1000

758
488

570

469

710

558

439

500
19

12

551

549

372

339
67

48

335

344

340
4

IDEA

AIRCEL

AIRTEL

Handover Command

DOCOMO

RTL

UNINOR VIDEOCON VODAFONE

Handover Complete

Handover Failures

Figure 26. Handover Performance

20

Executive summary

The following table summarizes the Cluster performance of wireless operators.

Table 6. Cluster level statistic

21

ANALYSIS & RECOMMENDATIONS

8.1

Areas for scope of Improvement

Below provided plot shows the poor RxQual areas of IDEA. These areas need to be optimized to confirm the
hypothesis and address the issue. Optimization is recommended to improve the quality and other KPI in the market.

Figure 27. RxQual plot - Areas for scope of improvement for IDEA

22

Figure 28. Sample zoomed view of the RxQual plot area with poor RF condition

23

Glossary

This section provides the formulas to calculate the scores for various KPIs presented in the report.

a. Coverage
Coverage is categorized according to the list below
Coverage Category
Dense Urban (A)
Urban (B)
Sub Urban ( C )
Rural (D)
Outdoor (E)

Ranges in dB
Better than -65
-65 to -75
-75 to -85
-85 to -95
Less than -95

Weightage
10
8
6
4
2

Coverage metric is calculated by the formula,

Coverage = A %*10+ B%*8+C%*6+D%*4+ E%*2
10

b. Voice Quality
Through Rx Qual (Received DL Quality). The samples collected of Rx Qual are compared based on below
mentioned values:
i.
ii.

0 to 5
6 to 7

c. Call setup time:

Call set up time is the total time in sec till traffic channel allocation (Alerting).

d. Call Drop Rate

Call drop rate = Total no of calls dropped x 100
Total no of calls set up

e. Handover Success Rate

Handover success rate = Total no of successful handovers x 100
Total no of handovers attempted

24