ANACOM has released the final report evaluating the quality of Voice Mobile services (GSM), video telephony (UMTS) and network coverage (GSM and WCDMA), offered by the operators Sonaecom (Optimus), TMN and Vodafone Portugal, in major urban areas and along the main roads of Mainland Portugal, the ground measurements for which took place between 6 October and 11 November 2008.
The evaluation was based on the analysis of technical parameters that reflect the perception of quality from a consumer point of view. Specifically, six indicators were considered: network availability; service accessibility; time taken to connect calls; call termination rates; call audio quality; and video quality of video telephony calls.
The evaluation made by ANACOM shows that GSM mobile communications systems have good levels of radio coverage and a good level of performance for the voice service, both in urban areas and along main roads, without significant differences observed between operators.
The performance of the UMTS system, although inferior to that of GSM, has shown considerable positive development since ANACOM included these systems in their analysis (in November / December 2006). However, significant differences remain between urban areas and main roads - in urban areas the systems have good performance levels, with a capability for establishing and maintaining video telephony calls approaching the levels observed for the GSM voice service, without any relevant differences between operators.
Meanwhile, along main roads it was found that the level of performance of the video telephony service remains inadequate, a direct result of there being areas with poor or no WCDMA coverage. It appears that Sonaecom (Optimus) and TMN and have the best performance, with 96.7% and 96.0% of the measurements showing ''Good'' or ''Acceptable'' coverage levels respectively, while for Vodafone the figure was 88.5%.
Consult:
- GSM / UMTS Mobile Communications Systems - Evaluation of the QoS of voice services (GSM), video telephony (UMTS) and network coverage (GSM and WCDMA) in major urban areas and along main roads of mainland Portugal https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=832018
See also:
- Main roads suffer from poor or inexistent 3G coverage https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=832231
