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Issue: Draft for Consultation
Technical Quality of
Service
And
Key Performance
Indicators
Guidelines
July 3th, 2007

Telecommunications Regulatory Authority Technical Quality of Service & Key Performance Indicators
CONTENTS
1 PURPOSE OF THE GUIDELINES ........................................................................................... 3

1.1 BACKGROUND ................................................................................................................................. 3
1.2 OBJECTIVE OF THE QOS & KPI GUIDELINES .................................................................................. 3
1.3 LEGAL BASIS .................................................................................................................................. 3
1.4 TRA TECHNICAL QO S AND KPI GUIDELINES ................................................................................. 4
1.5 REVIEW PROCESS ............................................................................................................................ 5
1.6 INTERPRETATION ............................................................................................................................ 5
1.7 TRA REGULATORY PRINCIPLES...................................................................................................... 5
1.8 STRUCTURE OF THE TECHNICAL QOS AND KPI GUIDELINES.......................................................... 5
2 DEFINITIONS.............................................................................................................................. 6
3. TECHNICAL QUALITY OF SERVICE............................................................................................. 9
3.1. THEORY FOR QUALITY OF SERVICE (QO S) MEASUREMENTS ............................................................ 9
3.2. QUALITY OF SERVICE REGULATION .................................................................................................. 9
3.3. GRADE OF SERVICE............................................................................................................................ 9
3.4. OVERALL PERFORMANCE ................................................................................................................. 11
3.5. REFERENCE CONFIGURATIONS ........................................................................................................ 11
3.6. FIXED TELEPHONY QO S .................................................................................................................. 13
3.7. MOBILE TELEPHONY QO S ............................................................................................................... 13
3.8. PACKET SWITCHED NETWORKS QO S ............................................................................................... 14
3.9. QUALITY OF SERVICE AND NETWORK PERFORMANCE .................................................................... 16
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.................................................................................................................. 19
APPENDIX A ........................................................................................................................................... 20
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1 Purpose of the Guidelines
1.1 Background
1. The Technical Quality of Service (QoS) & Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) form part
of the Regulations issued by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) of
Lebanon in accordance with the Telecommunications Law (the Law). These Guidelines
are designed to serve potential and current market participants in this sector by
providing clear and concise explanations concerning all elements of the Technical QoS
and KPI.
2. The Government of Lebanon has embarked upon the process of transforming the state
controlled monopoly operator to privately control competitive service provider.
3. The Government has established TRA to monitor the sector, respond to service
provider abuse and to enforce the Law.
4. The Law gives TRA specifically the responsibility for consumer affairs, related to
telecommunications, in order to provide consumers with adequate levels of protection
against service provider abuse, information regarding service prices, quality levels for
services, available choices and redress.
5. By outlining the rights and obligations of service providers and consumers as it
concerns public telecommunications services, the Consumer Guidelines will detail the
specific objectives that the TRA is setting for itself, as well as the telecommunications
industry.
1.2 Objective of the QoS and KPI Guidelines
6. The objective of the Guidelines is to identify a meaningful set of KPIs for the mobile,
fixed, data and ISP services. It will be the objective of the TRA to ensure these KPIs
are regularly published to assist users to make informed decisions as to their service
provider(s).
7. The objective of the indicator list is to have an agreed set of QoS indicators. They
should allow easier external and internal benchmarking.
8. The chosen indicators should be considered to be of a high relevance to the end-user.
9. The Guidelines have been drafted as part of the introduction of competition in the
telecommunications sector in Lebanon
10. .The Guidelines aim to encourage good practice by providers and to promote the
provision of universal service and high quality service to end-users.
11. The Guidelines aim to assure consumers of quality service, fairness in tariffs,
transparency in billing, and the opportunity of redress for service provider malfeasance.
1.3 Legal Basis
1.3.1 The Telecommunications Law
12. The main legal basis setting the duties and responsibilities for the TRA is the Law,
especially Article 5.
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13. Articles 25, 26 of the Law address specific responsibilities given to the TRA in matters
that are related to Technical QoS and Key Performance Indicators of
telecommunications services.
14. Article 5.1, of the Law, outlines the duties and powers of the Authority, which includes in
its various, articles the authority to issue guidelines for the protection of consumers.
15. Article 5.3 of the Law states that “the Authority shall commit to the principle of
developing the services regulations of the Telecommunications Sector according to the
most modern technical means and regulatory requirements”. For this purpose, the
Authority is empowered to establish rules for collecting and considering the comments
and suggestions from sector stakeholders when necessary.
16. Article 31 of the Law delegates to TRA the a uthority to manage the numbering plan in a
non-discriminatory manner.
17. The Law in Article 25 (2) – “Provisions applicable to Public Telecommunications
Services Providers” directs the TRA to ensure that
· The Public Telecommunications Services Licence includes mandatory and
optional infrastructure targets that are related to the scope of expansion1,
and imposes standards that ensure high quality of service.
· The quality of service standards include, but are not limited to requirements
related the period of the service provision, call completion rates, fault rates,
fault repair times, dial tone delays, and dialling errors.
· The procedures for measuring, reporting and monitoring compliance with the
infrastructure, the targets of the expansion and quality of service standards
are put in place.
· The Licence include explicit conditions to ensure continuity of service upon
the expiry of the Licence
1.4 TRA Technical QoS and KPI Guidelines
18. The Technical QoS and KPI Guidelines apply to all Providers and End Users of
Telecommunications Services in Lebanon. They do not apply to users of Private
Telecommunications Services.
19. TRA may engage in public consultations regarding Technical QoS prior to the
implementation of the Technical QoS and KPI Guidelines.
20. These Guidelines become effective upon completion of the approval and promulgation
process set forth in the TRA Code of Practice, including a public consultation and the
approval of these Guidelines by the TRA Board. TRA may publish these Guidelines in
the Official Gazette and/or on the TRA website.
21. TRA is cognisant that full implementation of the Technical QoS and KPI Guidelines will
necessitate existing Providers of Telecommunication Service to undertake a number of
changes to internal systems and processes. As a result, TRA will consult with the
affected parties and to reach agreement with all parties on individual or generally
applicable schedules for compliance with these Guidelines within twelve (12) months
from publication, the effective date of the Guidelines. However, unless and until some
interim implementation arrangement has been granted to a particular Provider or group
of Providers, the present Guidelines will apply in full as of the date of the effective date.
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Scope related to either number of services or coverage.
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22. The Telecommunications Technology Unit (TTU) within the TRA has the responsibility
to:
· Determine parameters for performance (Quality and Network).
· Monitor the quality of services offered by service providers designated as
SMPs;
· Assists ICAU and the Legal and Licensing unit (LLU) with the establishment
of quality of service measures and standards and with annual reviews and
other periodic reports provided by licensees.
1.5 Review Process
23. The Technical QoS and KPI Guidelines will be subject to periodic review and may be
amended following consultation with interested parties in the light of their experience in
the telecommunications sector, as well as ongoing developments in
telecommunications markets, and of any changes to Lebanese national law.
1.6 Interpretation
24. Individual clauses and/or guidelines containing the word ‘shall’ are mandatory requirements
and are binding on licensed Providers of Telecommunications Services.
25. Individual guidelines containing the word ‘should’ are recommendations to Providers but are
not mandatory in and of themselves.
26. Individual guidelines containing the word ‘may’ are permissions to Providers.
27. Individual guidelines containing the word “will” are obligations that the TRA are setting for its
own actions.
1.7 TRA Regulatory Principles
28. The TRA outlines the principles pertaining to Technical QoS and KPI in “Developing a
Competitive Environment: TRA Regulatory Principles”
29. Specifically, TRA will ensure that all Licensees shall take measure to ensure:
a) Billing accuracy;
b) Itemised and per service billing;
c) Procedures are in place for resolution of customer disputes.
30. TRA will ensure that all Licensees include requirements applicable to the Services
provided by providers with designated SMP status concerning:
a) Affordability of services;
b) Quality of services;
c) Network Performance;
1.8 Structure of the Technical QoS and KPI Guidelines
31. The Guidelines are structured as follows and comprise the following items:
Section 2 - Definitions
Section 3 – Technical Quality of Service
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2 Definitions
32. In the event of conflict or ambiguity between the terms defined herein and the terms
defined in the Licence or in the Law then the following order of precedence shall apply:
a) Telecommunications Law
b) The Consumer Affairs Guidelines
c) Service Provider Licence
33. For the purposes of use in these Guidelines, the following terms will have the ascribed
meanings:
Authority / TRA means the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority in Lebanon

established by virtue of the Telecommunications Law.
Basic Telephony Services are Public Telecommunications Services limited to two-way

real-time voice transmission within all of Lebanon offered as a Fixed Telecommunications
Service over a Self-operated Network. Basic Telephony Services are classified for licensing
purposes as requiring a Public Fixed Network licence.
Consumer means any natural or judicial person other than a Provider of

Telecommunications Services. See also End User.
Consumer Affairs means any regulation related to consumers and Telecommunications

Equipment and Telecommunications Services.
Customer means the Person who receives Telecommunications Services and pays the
corresponding fees for a period of time by virtue of an agreement with or pursuant to terms
established by the Service Provider.
Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) means any technical devices, including wiring that
are suitable for connecting to the Network Termination Interface that is owned or controlled
by an End User within his or her private premises without commercial purpose and which
may be used to originate, route, terminate, store or convert any communication over the
network. Importation, sale and use of such CPE may be subject to equipment standards
specified in the Radio and Telecommunications Terminal Equipment (RTTE) Type Approval
Guidelines but is not subject to licensing under the present Guidelines
Emergency Services are services given to the Public free of charge as defined from time
to time by the regulator in consultation with the licensed Service Provider(s).
End User (or User) means any natural or judicial person, excluding Providers of
Telecommunications Services, purchasing, consuming or using Telecommunications
Services solely for their own consumption. Irrespective of whether an End User is an
individual, household, or institutions of any kind, such End User may not provide access to
Telecommunications Services to persons outside their respective Defined User Group, nor
provide access on a commercial scale or for profit. End users are Consumers.
Facility means a physical component of a telecommunications network, other than CPE,

including wires, lines, terrestrial and submarine cables, wave guides, optics or other
equipment or object connected therewith, used for the purpose of telecommunications and
includes any post, pole, tower, standard, bracket, stay, strut, insulator, pipe, conduit, or
similar thing used for carrying, suspending, supporting or protecting the structure.
Information means signs, signals, writings, sounds and other data.
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Interconnection means the physical and logical linking of telecommunications networks

used by one or more Service Provider in order to enable the Users or Subscribers of the
same or another provider to communicate, and linking any service to another one across
Networks, be it locally or internationally.
International Telecommunications Services means Telecommunications Services

provided between Lebanon an abroad.
Network means a system of interconnected facilities designed to carry traffic including any
Telecommunications Service. Network here includes both the physical components
(Infrastructure) and the various traffic networks, each representing a particular
interconnection of infrastructures for certain Telecommunications Services.
Network Performance means the ability of a network portion to provide the functions
related to communication between users (ITU-T Rec. E.800).
Non-discrimination means supplying the same product/service to different consumers on

the same financial, technical and service terms.
Price Cap - A method of setting prices whereby the SMP Provider is given a limit on the
average per usage (or per consumer) revenue it may collect, but within that is given
flexibility on how to set the prices, and is permitted to recover profits above those cost-of-
service regulation would consider reasonable, up to some limit, as an incentive to be more
efficient
Private Telecommunications Services means a Restricted Telecommunications Service

provided to some Defined User Group or Groups:
· within or between contiguous premises or between premises utilising any means
appropriate for transmission and reception within such limited geographic area, or
· Between any number of non-contiguous locations or premises where these are
connected by transport or transport segments obtained from another Provider,
including on a leased capacity basis. Within these locations or premises, the
provisions of the above clause apply.
Service Provider means any individual or legal person providing Telecommunications

Services to others on a commercial scale or for profit. The TRA may by Guideline or
Decision set forth specific criteria concerning the scale of operations sufficient for a person
to be considered operating on a commercial scale.
Public Telecommunications Network means fully interconnected and integrated

telecommunications systems consisting of various means of transmission and switching,
used to provide Basic Telephone Service and other Public Telecommunications services.
Quality of Service means the collective effect of service performance which determine the
degree of satisfaction of a user of the service (ITU-T Rec. E.800). and the statement of the
level of quality required by the applications of consumers/users of a service, which may be
expressed non-technically (ITU-T Rec. G.1000).
Service Provider with Significant Market Power (SMP) means a Service Provider that
has the ability to practically affect the terms of the subscription relevant to the price and
supply in a specific market relevant to a telecommunications service due to controlling
essential facilities, or using its position in the market. Essential telecommunications facilities
means a Public Telecommunications Service or infrastructure that is exclusively or
predominantly provided by one or a few number of Providers and cannot feasibly be
substituted, economically or technically, in order to provide the service.
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Slamming occurs when a consumer’s service is switched from one provider to another
without the consumer’s permission.
Subscriber is another term for Customer (See definition above).
Telecommunications Services means the provision of services inclusive of the

transmission/reception and routing of information in a potentially interactive manner by any
technological means. Telecommunications Services also means the provision of
Infrastructure or elements thereof necessary for the provision of such services.
Telecommunications Services include specific service categories, including but not limited
to Network and End-User Services, Telephony, Value-Added Telecommunications
Services, and Telecommunications Services provided to the Public or Restricted groups of
persons (Defined User Groups or Licence Areas/Service Territories). The provision of any
Telecommunications Service in Lebanon comes under the jurisdiction of the TRA and is
subject to a Licence.
Universal Access (UA) describes the availability, within a defined reasonable travel time,
of shared access points to Universal Services (such as payphones, telecentres, etc.)
Universal Provision is defined here to include both Universal Service and Universal
Access.
Universal Service (US) describes availability of Telecommunications Service at the

consumer’s premises, or to him/her personally on a full-time basis.
Value Added Services are services which may or may not be Telecommunications
Services and are characterised by:
· Alteration in form, code, protocol, or any other feature of the consumer-
transmitted Information at the Network Termination Interface by means of
telecommunications.
· Information provision to a User or Consumer, including the re-composition at
the Network Termination Interface of Information originally transmitted by a
User or Consumer.
· Provision of stored Information for interaction with a User or Consumer,
including information stored on or off the network that enables the
Consumer to access the network or utilise any services provided over a
network.
Value-Added Services used by Consumers but provided entirely by Customer Premises
Equipment (CPE) of any kind on the Consumer side of the Network Termination
Interface are not subject to Licensing, nor will this type of Value Added Service be
considered as relating to or involving a Telecommunications Service.
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3. Technical Quality of Service
3.1. Theory for Quality of Service (QoS) Measurements
34. Like other services, telecommunications services have a quality component and a price
component. In theory, the price component should closely relate to the quality
component. But in telecommunications markets this may not always be true.
Telecommunications markets are regulated, and as a result, telephone operators could,
in theory, increase profit by lowering QoS, hence unbundling the price component from
the quality component.
35. The prospect of increasing profit by lowering QoS is of most concern when the
telephone operator is a monopolist, or is dominant so that its service levels are not
subject to effective competitive pressure from other operators. Regulators attempt to
counteract this propensity by mandating QoS targets.
36. Designing a service quality monitoring system and analysing the results is key to
effective consumer protections. Issues that need to be considered include factors that
a) Relate the quality of service to its costs and its value to the consumer;
b) Identify areas to be covered;
c) Identify information sources;
d) Establish a balance between outcomes, outputs and inputs;
e) Establish criteria for reliability, verifiability, and comparability of the available
information;
f) Assess the costs of providing and pro cessing the information; and
g) Identify the performance indicators that are to be made available for public
disclosure.
3.2. Quality of Service Regulation
37. There exist two generally accepted methods for a regulator to regulate QoS of a
telephone ope rator:
a) The traditional approach where QoS targets are set against which the telephone
operator performance is measured with a system of penalties and rewards based
on QoS targets; and
b) The innovative approach where the QoS variable is incorporated in the price cap
formula as the Q-factor where lower quality leads to lower consumer prices, while
higher quality may lead to higher prices.
3.3. Grade of Service
38. A network operator must decide what services the network should deliver to the end-
user and the level of service quality that the user should experience. This is true for any
telecommunications network, whether it is circuit- or packet-switched, wired or wireless,
optical or copper-based, and it is independent of the transmission technology applied.
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Further decisions to be made may include the type and layout of the network
infrastructure for supporting the services, and the choice of techniques to be used for
handling the information transport.
These further decisions may be different, depending on whether the operator is already
present in the market, or is starting service from a green field situation (i.e. a situation
where there is no legacy network in place to consider).
39. As for the Quality of Service (QoS) concept, it is defined in the ITU-T Recommendation
E.800 as: The collective effect of service performance, which determines the degree of
satisfaction of a user of the service. The QoS consists of a set of parameters that
pertain to the traffic performance of the network, but in addition to this, the QoS also
includes a lot of other concepts. They can be summarized as:
i) Service support performance
ii) Service operability performance
iii) servicibilty performance and
iv) Service security performance
40. The detailed definition of these terms is given in the E.800. The better service quality an
operator chooses to offer to the end user, the better is the chance to win customers and
to keep current customers. But a better service quality also means that the network will
most likely become more expensive to design, install, operate, and maintain and this
normally, also has a bearing to the price of the service.
41. When the quality decision is in place the planning of the network proper can start. This
includes the decision of a transport network technology and its topology as well as
reliability aspects in case one or more network elements become malfunctioning. It is
also at this stage where the routing strategy has to be determined.
42. This is the point in time where it is needed to consider the Grade of Service (GoS). It is
defined in the ITU-T Recommendation E.600. As: A number of traffic engineering
variables to provide a measure of adequacy of a group of resources under specified
conditions. These grade of service variables may be probability of loss, dial tone delay,
etc To this definition the recommendation furthermore supplies the following notes:
(1) The parameter values assigned for grade of service variables are called
grade of service standards.
(2) The values of grade of service parameters achieved under actual conditions
are called grade of s ervice results
43. The key point to solve in the determination of the GoS standards is to apportion
individual values to each network element in such a way that the target end-to-end QoS
is obtained.
44. Due to different views taken by GoS and QoS a solution to take care of the problem has
been proposed. This solution is called a Service Level Agreement (SLA). This is really a
contract between a user/network oeprator and a network operator. In this contract it is
defined what the parameters in question really mean. It is supposed to be done in such
a way, that it will be understood in the same manner by the customer and the network
operator. Furthermore, the SLA defines what is to happen in case the terms of the
contract are violated. Some operators have chosen to issue SLA for all customer
relationships they have (at least in principle), while others only do it for big customers,
who know what the terms in the SLA really means.
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3.4. Overall performance
45. As mentioned above the network performance concerns the ability of a network or
network portion to provide the functions related to communications between users. In
order to establish how a certain network performs, it is necessary to perform
measurements and the measurements have to cover all the aspects of the performance
parameters (i.e. trafficability, dependability, transmission and charging).
46. Furthermore, the network performance aspects in the GoS concept pertains only to the
factors related to trafficability performance in the QoS terminology. But in the QoS world
network performance also includes the following concepts:
a. Dependability
b. Transmission performance and
c. Charging correctness
It is not enough just to perform the measurements. It is also necessary to have an
organization that can do the proper surveillance and can take appropriate action
when problems arise. As the network complexity keeps growing so does the number
of parameters needed to consider. This means that automated tools will be required
in order to make it easier to get an overview of the most important parameters to
consider.
3.5. Reference Configurations
47. In order to obtain an overview of the network under consideration, it is often useful to
produce a so-called reference configuration. This consists of one or more simplified
drawing(s) of the path, a call or a connection can take in the network including
appropriate reference points, where the interfaces between entities are defined. In
some cases the reference points define an interface between two operators, and it is
therefore important to watch carefully what happens at this point. From a GoS
perspective the importance of the reference configuration is the partitioning of the GoS
as described below. Consider a telephone network with terminals, subscriber switches
and transit switches. In this example we ignore the signaling network. Suppose the call
can be routed in one of three ways:
d. Terminal à subscriber switch à terminal
e. Terminal à subscriber switch à transit switch à subscriber switch à

terminal
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f. Terminal à subscriber switch à transit switch à transit switch à

subscriber switch à terminal
48. Based on a given set of QoS requirements, a set of GoS parameters are selected and
defined on an end-to-end basis within the network boundary, for each major service
category provided by a network. The selected GoS parameters are specified in such a
way that the GoS can be derived at well defined reference points, i.e. traffic significant
points. This is to allow the partitioning of end-to-end GoS objectives to obtain the GoS
objectives for each network stage or component, on the basis of some well-defined
reference connections.
49. As defined in Recommendation E.600. for traffic engineering purposes, a connection is

an association of resources providing means for communication between two or more
devices in, or attached to, a telecommunication network. There can be different types of
connections as the number and types of resources in a connection may vary.
Therefore, the concept of a reference connection is used to identify representative
cases of the different types of connections without involving the specifics of their actual
realizations by different physical means.
50. Typically, different network segments are involved in the path of a connection. For
example, a connection may be local, national, or international. The purposes of
reference connections are clarifying and specifying traffic performance issues at various
interfaces between different network domains. Each domain may consist of one or more
service provider networks. Recommenda tions I.380/Y.1540 defines performance
parameters for IP packet transfer; its companion Draft Recommendation Y.1541
specifies the corresponding allocations and performance objectives. Recommendation
E.651 specifies reference connections for IP-access networks. Other reference
connections are to be specified.
51. From the QoS objectives, a set of end-to-end GoS parameters and their objectives for
different reference connections are derived. For example, end-to-end connection
blocking probability and end-to-end packet transfer delay may be relevant GoS
parameters. The GoS objectives should be specified with reference to traffic load
conditions, such as under normal and high load conditions. The end-to-end GoS
objectives are then apportioned to individual resource components of the reference
connections for dimensioning purposes. In an operational network, to ensure that the
GoS objectives have been met, performance measurements and performance
monitoring are required.
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52. In IP-based networks, performance allocation is usually done on a cloud, i.e. the set of
routers and links under a single (or collaborative) jurisdictional responsibility, such as an
Internet Service Provider, ISP. A cloud is connected to another cloud by a link, i.e. a
gateway router in one cloud is connected via a link to a gateway router in another cloud.
End-to-End communication between hosts is conducted on a path consisting of a
sequence of clouds and interconnecting links. Such a sequence is referred to as a
hypothetical reference path for performance allocation purposes.
3.6. Fixed Telephony QoS
53. In the fields of telephony, the engineering term Quality of Service (QoS) comprises all
the aspects of a connection, such as time to provide service, voice quality, echo, loss,
reliability and so on. A subset of telephony QoS is Grade of Service (GoS), which
comprises aspects of a connection relating to the capacity of a network. In circuit-
switched networks, GoS is the probability of one party not being able to initiate a call to
another party, that is, a call attempt blocked and lost owing to congestion.
54. When looking at circuit-switched networks, QoS is affected by various factors, which
can be divided into "human" and "technical" factors. Human factors include: stability of
service, availability of service, delays, user information. Technical factors include:
reliability, scalability, effectiveness, maintainability, Grade of Service, etc. In circuit-
switched networks, the GoS expresses the blocking experienced owing to congestion
and can result in calls being lost. Thus it is the responsibility of the telecommunications
service provider to monitor and manage the GoS of all its services to ensure that the
GoS is maintained for every origin and destination pair.
3.7. Mobile Telephony QoS
55. Many factors affect the quality of service of a mobile network. It is correct to look at QoS
mainly from the customer's point of view, that is, QoS as judged by the user. There are
standard metrics of QoS to the user that can be measured to rate the QoS. These
metrics are: the coverage, accessibility (includes GoS), and the audio quality. In
coverage the strength of the signal is measured using test equipment and this can be
used to estimate the size of the cell. Accessibility is about determining the ability of the
network to handle successful calls from mobile-to-fixed networks and from mobile-to-
mobile networks. The audio quality considers monitoring a successful call for a period
of time for the clarity of the communication channel. All these indicators are used by the
telecommunications industry to rate the quality of service of a network.
56. The QoS in industry is also measured from the perspective of an expert (e.g. teletraffic
engineer). This involves assessing the network to see if it delivers the quality that the
network planner has been required to deliver. Certain tools and methods (protocol
analyzers, drive tests and Operation and Maintenance measurements), are used for
this QoS measurement:
a. Protocol analyzers are connected to BTSs, BSCs, and MSCs for a period of
time to check for problems in the cellular network. When a problem is
discovered the staff can record it and it can be analyzed.
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b. Drive tests allow the mobile network to be tested through the use of a team
of people who take the role of users and take the QoS measures discussed
above to rate the QoS of the network. This test does not apply to the entire
network, so it is always a statistical sample.
c. In the Operation and Maintenance Centers (OMCs), counters are used in the
system for various events which provide the network operator with
information on the state and quality of the network.
d. Finally, customer complaints are a vital source of feedback on the QoS, and
must not be ignored.
57. In general, GoS is measured by looking at traffic carried, and traffic offered and by
calculating the traffic blocked and lost. The proportion of lost calls is the measure of
GOS. For cellular circuit groups an acceptable GOS is 0.02. This means that two users
of the circuit group out of a hundred will encounter a call refusal during the busy hour at
the end of the planning period. The grade of service standard is thus the acceptable
level of traffic that the network can lose. GOS is calculated from the Erlang-B Formula,
as a function of the number of channels required for the offered traffic intensity.
58. The audio quality of a cellular network depends on, among other factors, the modulation
scheme (e.g. FSK, QPSK) in use, matching to the channel characteristics and the
processing of the received signal at the receiver using DSP.
3.8. Packet switched Networks QoS
59. In the fields of packet-switched networks and computer networking, the traffic
engineering term Quality of Service refers to control mechanisms that can provide
different priority to different users or data flows, or guarantee a certain level of
performance to a data flow in accordance with requests from the application program.
Quality of Service guarantees are important if the network capacity is limited, especially
for real-time streaming multimedia applications, for example voice Over IP and IP-TV,
since these often require fixed bit rate and may be delay sensitive.
60. A network or protocol that supports Quality of Service may agree on a traffic contract
with the application software and reserve capacity in the network nodes during a
session establishment phase. During the session it may monitor the achieved level of
performance, for example the data rate and delay, and dynamically control scheduling
priorities in the network nodes. It may release the reserved capacity during a tear down
phase.
61. The term Quality of Service is sometimes used as a quality measure with many
alternative definitions, rather than referring to control mechanisms. In computer
networking, a good QoS may mean advanced QoS mechani sms, or high probability that
the network is able to provide the requested level of performance. High QoS is often
confused with a high level of performance, for example high bit rate, low latency and
low bit error probability.
62. Another widespread definition used especially in telephony and streaming videois "user
perceived performance" or "degree of satisfaction of the user". In this context, QoS is
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the cumulative effect on subscriber satisfaction of all imperfections affecting the service.
This definition includes the human in the assessment and demands an appropriate
subjective weighting of diverse defects such as response time, interrupts, noise, cross-
talk, loudness levels, frequency response, noticeable echoes, etc., and also includes
grade of service. This definition resembles the Mean Opinion Score (MOS) value, which
is a subjective quality measure that can be predicted based on objective performance
measures.
63. When the Internet was first deployed many years ago, it lacked the ability to provide
Quality of Service guarantees due to limits in router computing power. It therefore ran at
default QoS level, or "best effort". There were four "Type of Service" bits and three
"Precedence" bits provided in each message, but they were ignored. These bits were
later re-defined as Diffserv Code Points (DSCP) and are largely honored in peered links
on the modern Internet.
Many things can happen to pac kets as they travel from origin to destination, resulting in
the following problems as seen from the point of view of the sender and receiver:
a - Dropped packets
The routers might fail to deliver (drop) some packets if they arrive when their
buffers are already full. Some, none, or all of the packets might be dropped,
depending on the state of the network, and it is impossible to determine what
will happen i n advance. The receiving application may ask for this information to
be retransmitted, possibly causing severe delays in the overall transmission.
b - Delay
It might take a long time for a packet to reach its destination, because it gets
held up in long queues, or takes a less direct route to avoid congestion.
Alternatively, it might follow a fast, direct route. Thus delay is very unpredictable.
c - Jitter
Packets from source will reach the destination with different delays. This
variation in delay is known as jitter and can seriously affect the quality of
streaming audio and/or video.
d - Out-of-order delivery
When a collection of related packets is routed through the Internet, different
packets may take different routes, each resulting in a different delay. The result
is that the packets arrive in a different order than they were sent. This problem
necessitates special additional protocols responsible for rearranging out-of-order
packets to an isochronous state once they reach their destination. This is
especially important for video and VoIP streams where quality is dramatically
affected by both latency and lack of isochronicity.
e - Error
Sometimes packets are misdirected, or combined together, or corrupted, while
en route. The receiver has to detect this and, just as if the packet was dropped,
ask the sender to repeat it.
64. The problems encountered in a connection-less packet-switched network like Internet

can be insufficient throughput, packet loss, latency and jitter (variable delays) which
may cause different problems for different services. Insufficient throughput, latency and
jitter cause problems for real time video; latency and jitter are problematic in relation to
voice services; and packet loss may constitute a problem in connection with the
Page 15
transmission of data files. There are two basic solutions to these problems. One is to
have sufficient (or too much, i.e. over-provisioning) capacity in the network and the
other one is to prioritize communications so that, for instance, real time communication
is given priority over less time-dependent services. Such prioritization is, presently,
implemented in two different levels of quality, integrated services (IntServ) and
differentiated services (DiffServ), where IntServ is a finer grained prioritization while
DiffServ is coarser grained. The new IPv6 also includes functionalities allowing for
prioritization of different kinds of communication.
65. It is important to note that QoS mechanisms are simply prioritization (or rationing)
schemes for the available capacity. QoS mechanisms do not create any additional
capacity. The law of work conserving queues, from the field of Queuing Theory shows
that for a fixed network load, the sum total of disservices (Delay, Jitter, and Loss) is a
constant. QoS mechanisms allow some of this disservice to be shifted from one group
of users to another.
66. A defined Quality of Service may be required for certain types of network traffic, for
example:
a – streaming multimedia may require guaranteed throughput
b - IP telephony or Voice over IP (VOIP) may require strict limits on jitter and
delay
c - Video Teleconferencing (VTC) requires low jitter
d - Alarm signaling (e.g. Burglar alarm)
e - Dedicated link emulation requires both guaranteed throughput and
imposes limits on maximum delay and jitter
f – A safety-critical application, such as remote surgery may require a
guaranteed level of availability (this is also called hard QoS).
These types of service are called inelastic, meaning that they require a certain level
of bandwidth to function - any more than required is unused, and any less will
render the service non-functioning.
By contrast, elastic applications can take advantage of however much or little
bandwidth is available. For example, a remote system administrator may want to
prioritize variable, and usually small, amounts of SSH traffic to ensure a responsive
session even over a heavily-laden link.
3.9. Quality of Service and Network Performance
67. The TRA will publish on an annual basis target levels for a defined set of QoS and
network performance para meters. (Appendix A)
68. TRA has identified a set of key QOS indicators that are mandatory on all Service
Providers with SMP. TRA will be monitoring the compliance of Service Providers with
the mandatory QoS indicators and will request SMP Service Providers to regularly
report on these indicators.
69. The remainder of the QoS indicators are being provided to guide SPs and
consumers. Consumers will be able to use these indicators to inquire about the quality
Page 16
of service that they will be purchasing from SPs. It is understood that the list of
mandatory indicators may change as the TRA deems necessary to meet market and
consumer requirements.
70. The Target set of QoS and network performance parameters may change in scope from
year to year and the target parameters may vary in degree from time to time as TRA,
after due consultation, based on new telecommunications technology and/or research
performed by the Authority or any other recognised national or international technical
research institute. The parameters are to include, but shall not necessarily be limited
to, the:
i) supply time for connection;
ii) fault rate and fault repair time per access line;
iii) call set up time;
iv) response time for operator services and inquiries;
v) billing accuracy;
vi) unsuccessful call ratio;
vii) Proportion of public telephones out of service.
71. The Table in Appendix A indicates which of the parameters are mandatory for Providers
with designated SMP s tatus and thos e that are recommendations.
72. Targets will be set for each major category of service, which require a
Telecommunications Licence as detailed in the TRA Li censing Guidelines.
73. If test of the marketplace indicate that the market for the service is competitive as per
the SMP Guidelines, then the Qo S targets become recommendation.
74. The Service Quality targets that measures the key attributes of service quality based on
TRA developed baseline performance indicators may reflect either recent historical
performance or reflect standards to improve service quality where current performance
is not adequate.
75. During any regulatory period determined by TRA the service provider's performance
should be reviewed annually based on monthly reporting and compared to the baseline
performance standards for each QoS item. If service quality has deteriorated, the plan
must include pre-set penalties of two types: customer-specific credits and a reduction in
allowable earnings.
76. TRA may impose upon Telecommunications Service Providers with deteriorating QoS
indices mandatory QoS improvements and fines the Telecommunications Service
Providers for failure to meet the QoS requirements within the timeframe stipulated by
the Authority.
77. Telecommunications Service availability can be affected by disruptions consisting of:
Page 17
a) An inability to access the network; and

b) An inability to complete communications effectively once the network has been
accessed.
78. Providers of Telecommunications Services that provide communications whether

terrestrial, wireless or satellite shall be required to provide network outage reports to the
TRA whenever an outage:
a) affects an entire RSU, local switch, transit switch, or international switch , or trunk
cable, or E1 transmission link for 30 (thirty) minutes; and
b) lasts for more than 60 (sixty) minutes under any and all circumstances;
c) Affects the emergency service for thirty (30) minutes under all circumstances.
Page 18
List of Abbreviations
BTS Base Transceiver Station

BSC Base Station Controller
CPE Customer Premises Equipment
CPL Consumer Protection Law
GoS Grade of Service
ICAU Information and Cons umer Affairs Unit
LLU Legal and Licensing unit
KPI Key Performance Indicators
MSC Mobile Switching Center
QoS Quality of Service
RTTE Radio and Telecommunications Terminal Equipment
SMP Significant Market Power
TRA Telecommunications Regulatory Authority
TTU Telecommunications Technology Unit
UA Universal Access
US Universal Service
VPNs Virtual Private Networks
Page 19
Appendix A
Set of Quality of Service Indices
QoS/Network Performance Target Level Minimum Level Mandatory

Parameter below which for SMP
TRA may Operators*
impose (early period)
penalties
Fixed Network Licence
Supply Time for Connection 99% in 3 days NO
Fault Rate per Access Line 12 failures per 100 lines NO
per annum
Fault Repair Time 95% within 72 hours NO
Call Set Up Time (Post dialling 1.9 seconds national at YES
delay to ring tone) busy hour
3.9 seconds for
international at busy hour
Response Time for all Service 99% within 15 seconds NO
Provider Services (Time to
answer from last digit dialled)
Proportion of Public Pay- >=96% NO
Telephones in Working Order
Billing Accuracy 0.8 complaints per 1000 YES
bills
Unsuccessful Call Ratio (% of 0.6% National at busy YES
call attempts) hour
5% International at busy
hour
Dial up internet access Upstream 80% 19.6 NO
Kbit/s
Downstream 32 Kbit/s
Complaint handling 95% resolved within 10 NO
working days
Speech Quality Mean Opinion Score NO
MOS >=4.1
Echo Cancellers Usage at the 99.9% of each Central YES
Central Office Office is using Echo
Canceller for each
Speech connection.
Ratio of Speech Connections YES
experiencing Echo on ea ch <=0.1% of total speech
Central Office connections at busy hour
Switch Processor Load <=85% at busy hour NO
Resolution time of International Within 1 hour NO
Gateway fault impacting traffic
Resolution time of National Within 1 hour NO
Transit Switch fault impacting
traffic
Page 20
QoS/Network Performance Target Level Minimum Level Mandatory

Parameter below which for SMP
TRA may Operators*
impose (early period)
penalties
Resolution time of Switch fault Within 4 hours NO
impacting traffic
Resolution time of a Backbone Within 4 hours NO
Link fault impacting traffic
Load on Signalling Link 50% for each signalling NO
link at busy hour
Congestion level per Traffic <=1% at busy hour NO
ROUTE
Bill correctness complaints 0.8 complaints per 1000 NO
bills
Page 21
International Voice Network Licence

Call Set Up Time (Post dialling 3.9 seconds for YES
delay to ring tone) international
Echo Cancellers Usage at the 99.9% of each YES
Central Office International Gateway
Switch is using Echo
Canceller for each
Ratio of Speech Connections Speech connection.
experiencing Echo on each YES
Central Office <=0.5% of total speech
connections at busy hour
Congestion level per Traffic <=5% at busy hour YES
ROUTE
link at busy hour
Unsuccessful Call Ratio (% of 5% International at busy YES
call attempts) hour
Resolution time of a Within 4 hours NO
Backbone Link fault impacting
traffic
Resolution time of Within 1 hour NO
International Gateway fault
impacting traffic
Switch Processor Load <=85% at busy hour NO
Speech Quality MOS >=3 NO
Page 22
Leased Lines Domestic

Supply Time for Connection 90% completed on NO
agreed day
Consumer Fault Rate per 8 failures per 100 NO
leased line consumers per quarter
Fault Repair Time 92% within agreed repair YES
time
Page 23
Leased Lines International

Supply Time for Connection 75% completed on NO
agreed day
Consumer Fault Rate per 10 failures per 100 NO
leased line consumers per quarter
Resolution time of a Backbone Within 4 hours YES
Link fault impacting traffic
Fault Repair Time 90% within agreed repair YES
time
Page 24
Mobile Network License

Supply Time for Connection On demand for pre paid YES
and for post paid
Call Set Up Time (Post dialling 1.9 seconds national at YES
delay to ring tone) busy hour
3.9 seconds for
international at busy hour
Response Time for all Service 99% within 15 seconds NO
Provider Services. (Time to
answer from last digit dialled)
Bill correctness complaints 0.8 complaints per 1000 YES
bills
Unsuccessful Call Ratio (% of 0.6% National at busy YES
call attempts) hour
5% International at busy
hour
Successful call completion rate 95% at busy hour for NO
(Mobile initiated) calls within the Service
Provider GSM Mobile
Network.
95% at busy hour for
calls between the
Service Provider’s GSM
Mobile Network and the
GSM Mobile Network of
any other Mobile
Provider.
Successful call completion rate 95% at Busy Hour NO
(Incoming from another
network)
National Dropped call rate Less than 1% at busy YES
hour.
Dropped call rate in Greater Less than 1% at busy YES
Beirut Area hour
Successful network handovers Greater than 99% at NO
(HO successful + return to old busy hour
channel)
Success handovers at Cell Greater than or equal to NO
level (HO successful + return 90% at busy hour
to old channel)
Circuit Switched Data services Upstream 80% 14.4 NO
CDS Kbit/s at busy hour
Downstream 14.4 Kbit/s
at busy hour
Packet Switched Data Upstream 80% 14.4

Services PDS Mobile Station Kbits/s at busy hour
Configuration 4+1) Downstream 80% 38.4
Kbits/s at busy hour
Page 25
Internal Round Trip Delay RTT <=120 ms Internal NO

Network
<=600 ms End – to - End
Ratio of Base Stations with a >=95% at busy hour NO
Downlink Retransmission Rate
<=10%
Ratio of Base Stations with a >=95% at busy hour NO
Uplink Retransmission Rate
<=10%
Complaint handling 95% resolved within 5 NO

working days
Dropped calls Per Cell 1 dropped call per 100 YES
calls per Cell at busy
hour
2% Blocking Factor at Base 95% of all Cells at busy YES
Station level per Cell on hour
Traffic channel
0.5% Blocking Factor at Base 95% of all Cells at busy YES
Station level per Cell on hour
Signalling channel
link at busy hour
MSC / GMSC / BSC / HLR / <=85% at busy hour NO
AUC / SCP / STP / SGSN /
GGSN Processor Load
Congestion level per Traffic <=1% at busy hour NO
ROUTE
Resolution Time of BTS fault Within 8 hours NO
impacting 30% of Cell traffic
Resolution time of BSC or Within 4 hours NO
Backbone Link fault impacting
traffic
Resolution time of MSC fault Within 1 hour NO
impacting traffic
SMS Mobile Originated 95% Delivered with 24 YES
Delivered hours
SMS mobile Terminated 90% Delivered within 24 YES
Delivered hours
MMS Mobile Originated 95% Delivered with 24 NO
Delivered hours
MMS Mobile Terminated 95% Delivered with 24 NO

Delivered hours
Page 26
Data wireless Network Narrow Band (Below E1) License

Supply Time for 90% completed on agreed day YES
Connection
Customer Fault 10 failures per 100 customers per quarter NO
Rate per leased
line
Core Router <=85% NO
Processor Load
Resolution Within 1 hour NO
Time of Fault
impacting Core
Router
Resolution time Within 4 hours NO
of Backbone
Link fault
impacting traffic
Ratio of Packet <=5% Packet Loss per session YES
Loss
End-to-End <=150 milliseconds (ms)
budget Delay
assuming 50 YES
milliseconds
Jitter Buffer
Fault Repair 90% within agreed repair time YES
Time
Page 27
Data Wireless Network Broadband (>=E1) License
Supply Time for 95% completed on agreed day YES

Connection
Customer Fault 5 failures per 100 customers per quarter YES
Rate per leased
line
Core Router <=85% NO
Processor Load
Resolution Within 1 hour NO
Time of Fault
impacting Core
Router
Resolution time Within 4 hours NO
of Backbone
Link fault
impacting traffic
Ratio of Packet <=5% Packet Loss per session YES
Loss
End-to-End <=150 milliseconds (ms)
budget Delay
assuming 50 YES
milliseconds
Jitter Buffer
Fault Repair 95% within agreed repair time YES
Time
Page 28
Pre Paid Card Services

Service Fulfilment On demand NO
Number of Complaints NO
Complaint Handling 95% resolved within 5 NO
working days
Debit Accuracy 99.99 % YES
Page 29
Audiotext
Service Fulfilment 95% completed on day YES
Number of Complaints 5 complaints per 100 NO
consumers per quarter
working days
bills
Sound quality MOS >=4.1 NO
Page 30
Premium Charged services

Service Fulfilment On demand YES
Number of Complaints 5 complaints per 100 NO
consumers per quarter
working days
bills
Page 31
Free phone services

Fulfilment NO
Bill correctness complaints 0.8 complaints per 1000 NO
bills
Complaints NO
Page 32
ISP
Supply Time for Connection 95% in 14 days NO
Core Router Processor Load <=85% NO
Resolution Time of Fault Within 1 hour NO

impacting Core Router
Fault rate per 100 consumers 10 failures per 100 NO
consumers per month
Fault Repair Time 90% within agreed repair NO
time
Dial-Up Call Set Up Time 1.9 seconds national YES
(Post dialling delay to ring
tone)
ADSL Service Always Connected
Response Time for Support 99% within 15 seconds NO

enquiries
bills
Unsuccessful Connect Ratio 10 per 1000 attemp ts
YES
(Number of call attempts)
ADSL Throughput 128 Kbits Upstream 80% 32Kbit/s
YES
Downstream 80% 128
Kbit/s
YES
Downstream 80% 256
Kbit/s
NO
Downstream 80% 512
Kbit/s
NO
Downstream 80% 1024
Kbit/s
ADSL Throughput 2048 Kbit/s Upstream 80% 128Kbit/s
NO
Downstream 80% 2048
Kbit/s
SDSL Throughput 128 Kbits Upstream 95% 128Kbit/s
NO
Downstream 95% 128
Kbit/s
NO
Downstream 95% 256
Kbit/s
NO
Downstream 95% 512
Kbit/s
SDSL Throughput 1024 Kbits Upstream 95% 1024
NO
Kbit/s
Downstream 95% 1024
Kbit/s
SDSL Throughput 2048 Kbit/s Upstream 95% 2048
NO
Kbit/s
Downstream 95% 2048
Kbit/s
Page 33
Ratio of Packet Loss <=5% Packet Loss per

YES
session
End-to-End budget Delay 150 milliseconds (ms)
assuming 50 milliseconds
Jitter Buffer YES
- End of Technical Quality of Service & Key Performance Indicators Guidelines -
Page 34

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Issue: Draft for Consultation

July 3th, 2007

1 PURPOSE OF THE GUIDELINES ........................................................................................... 3

1 Purpose of the Guidelines

1.2 Objective of the QoS and KPI Guidelines

1.3 Legal Basis

1.3.1 The Telecommunications Law

1.4 TRA Technical QoS and KPI Guidelines

1.5 Review Process

1.7 TRA Regulatory Principles

1.8 Structure of the Technical QoS and KPI Guidelines

Authority / TRA means the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority in Lebanon

Basic Telephony Services are Public Telecommunications Services limited to two-way

Consumer means any natural or judicial person other than a Provider of

Consumer Affairs means any regulation related to consumers and Telecommunications

Facility means a physical component of a telecommunications network, other than CPE,

Information means signs, signals, writings, sounds and other data.

Interconnection means the physical and logical linking of telecommunications networks

International Telecommunications Services means Telecommunications Services

Non-discrimination means supplying the same product/service to different consumers on

Private Telecommunications Services means a Restricted Telecommunications Service

Service Provider means any individual or legal person providing Telecommunications

Public Telecommunications Network means fully interconnected and integrated

Subscriber is another term for Customer (See definition above).

Telecommunications Services means the provision of services inclusive of the

Universal Service (US) describes availability of Telecommunications Service at the

3. Technical Quality of Service

3.1. Theory for Quality of Service (QoS) Measurements

3.2. Quality of Service Regulation

3.3. Grade of Service

3.4. Overall performance

3.5. Reference Configurations

d. Terminal à subscriber switch à terminal

e. Terminal à subscriber switch à transit switch à subscriber switch à

f. Terminal à subscriber switch à transit switch à transit switch à

49. As defined in Recommendation E.600. for traffic engineering purposes, a connection is

3.6. Fixed Telephony QoS

3.7. Mobile Telephony QoS

3.8. Packet switched Networks QoS

64. The problems encountered in a connection-less packet-switched network like Internet

3.9. Quality of Service and Network Performance

77. Telecommunications Service availability can be affected by disruptions consisting of:

a) An inability to access the network; and

78. Providers of Telecommunications Services that provide communications whether

BTS Base Transceiver Station

Set of Quality of Service Indices

QoS/Network Performance Target Level Minimum Level Mandatory

QoS/Network Performance Target Level Minimum Level Mandatory

International Voice Network Licence

Speech Quality MOS >=3 NO

Leased Lines Domestic

Leased Lines International

Mobile Network License

Packet Switched Data Upstream 80% 14.4

Internal Round Trip Delay RTT <=120 ms Internal NO

Complaint handling 95% resolved within 5 NO

MMS Mobile Terminated 95% Delivered with 24 NO

Data wireless Network Narrow Band (Below E1) License

Data Wireless Network Broadband (>=E1) License

Supply Time for 95% completed on agreed day YES

Pre Paid Card Services

Premium Charged services