The Instituto das Comunicações de Portugal (ICP) is, for the second consecutive year, carrying out a series of tests on the quality of the service provided by the three mobile phone operators, Optimus, Telecel and TMN. Measurements started during April 2001. The processed results should be disclosed during the summer.
The indicators subject to measurements are those of greatest interest to the public: Accessibility, meaning the verification of the ability to make calls from a mobile network; Coverage, which is intended to evaluate signal levels; and Auditory Quality, measuring the perceptibility of conversations.
These tests cover 30 cities, including all the district capitals and the suburban areas of Lisbon and Oporto, as well as 10 of the most important road axes in Portugal, including motorways, main and complementary highways and national roads. This year, the sample has been extended to include, in the autonomous regions, the islands of Madeira, São Miguel, Terceira, Pico and Faial.
Special equipment owned by the ICP is used for the purpose. This equipment means that the tests are automatic, human intervention being almost nil. And they also are impartial, since they involve making calls at the same time to and from the three mobile networks.
Fixed-mobile and mobile-fixed calls are made and held during a pre-determined period of 100 seconds, the average length of calls registered in 2000, according to the statistics compiled by the ICP. The tests are always carried out in movement.
In addition to the district capitals and to Lisbon and Oporto, the municipalities of Cascais, Amadora, Oeiras, Sintra, Loures, Odivelas, Seixal, Vila Nova de Gaia, Maia, Matosinhos and Gondomar were selected for sampling. The indicators measured along the A1, A2, A3, A4, A5 and A6; IP1, IP2, IP3, IP4, IP5 and IP6; IC1 and IC4; and EN125 highways will also be tested.
In carrying out the tests last year, a total of about 10,000 kilometres was travelled and 250 hours were used.
These tests are intended to establish general indicators concerning the performance of the networks at specific times, on the basis of sampling, and their results are therefore neither exhaustive nor do they reflect network performance at all times.
