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TD 627 (GEN/12)
INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION UNION / STUDY GROUP 12TELECOMMUNICATION
STANDARDIZATION SECTOR
STUDY PERIOD 2013-2016 / TD 627 (GEN/12)
English only
Original: English
Question(s): / 1/12, QSDG / Geneva, 5-14 May 2015
TD
Source: / Chairperson of the Quality of Service Development Group
Title: / Report of the 31st meeting of the Quality of Service Development Group (QSDG) conducted in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 4-6 November 2014
Executive Summary
o This report documents the proceedings of the 31st meeting of the Quality of Service Development Group (QSDG) and Future of QSDG group.
o This meeting was conducted back to back with the ITU QoS Workshop and was kindly hosted by ASCOM in Dubai, UAE from 4 to 6 November, 2014. The two events were attended by 93 delegates from 32 countries.
o This meeting was opened officially on 2nd November, 2014 by the Chief Technical Officer of ASCOM, Mr. Eric Tarnvik.
o The 31st QSDG meeting was chaired by Ms. Yvonne UMUTONI, the QSDG Chairperson,
o Proceedings and outcomes of the meeting are documented in the following chapters.
Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS 2
1. INTRODUCTION 3
2. OPENING SESSION 3
3. AGREEMENT OF AGENDA 5
4. WORKING ARRANGEMENTS 5
5. REVIEW OF RECENT ACTIVITY 5
6. RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY OF NETWORKS AND SERVICES 7
7. CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ISSUES 7
8. QOS MEASUREMENT OF DATA SERVICES IN MOBILE NETWORKS 10
9. MONITORING QOS & QOE OF DATA SERVICESIN 4G NETWORKS 11
10. BENCHMARKING AND KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS OF MULTIMEDIA SERVICES (VOIP, IPTV…) 12
11. OPEN DISCUSSION 14
12. FUTURE OF THE GROUP 15
13. CLOSING SESSION 16
ANNEX 1: DETAILED AGENDA 17
ANNEX 2: LIST OF ATTENDANCE 18
1. Introduction
o The 31st meeting of the Quality of Service Development Group (QSDG) was conducted back-to-back with the ITU workshop on “Quality of Service of Regulatory and Operational Issues” and was kindly hosted by ASCOM in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from 2 - 6 November - 2014.
o Both events were officially opened by the Chief Technical Officer of ASCOM, Mr. Eric Tarnvik on 2nd November, 2014, at the Sheraton Jumeirah Beach Resort, in Dubai.
o During the Opening Ceremony, the Chief Guest, Mr. Eric Tarnvik welcomed all delegates and accordingly thanked ITU and QSDG in particular, for organising such important events in collaboration with ASCOM in Dubai, UAE. As usual, ASCOM ensured to continuously support the work of ITU-T SG12.
o This meeting was chaired by Yvonne Umutoni, the chairperson of QSDG.
o The targeted areas of the meeting were, but not limited to: “Customer Satisfaction issues, QoE/QoS of Cloud services, QoS/QoE Aspects, Reliability & Availability of Networks and Services, Monitoring the QoS and QoE of data services in 4G networks (such as LTE ...), discussion on future of the group and so on.
o This report presents meeting proceedings and outcomes.
2. Opening session
2.1. Remarks by Mr. FaiqKhan (Vice-President of ASCOM Asia Middle East and Pacific)
Mr. FaiqKhan, the Vice-President of ASCOM in Asia Middle East & Pacific, welcomed all delegates and emphasised the importance of hosting the 31st meeting of QSDG and ITU Workshop on Quality of Service.
Faiq underlined that ASCOM has a good collaboration with both ITU-T SG12 and QSDG; and accordingly thanked both ITU-T SG12 and QSDG for accepting to organise the two events in Dubai and be hosted by ASCOM. In addition he took that opportunity to thank in particular Mr. Hiroshi OTA & Mr. Aloran Rakan - representatives of ITU/TSB, Ms. Yvonne Umutoni – Chairperson of QSDG and Mr. Kwame Baah-Acheamfuor - SG12 Chairman who did not attend the ITU events due to other assignments.
To conclude, he thanked all ASCOM staff, especially Mr. Mahel Abaab who perfectly organised those events.
2.2. Remarks by Hiroshi OTA, ITU/TSB
On behalf of Mr Malcolm Johnson, Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau of ITU, Mr. Hiroshi Ota from ITU/TSB welcomed all delegates to the ITU workshop on “Quality of Service of Regulatory and Operational Issues” and the 31st QSDG meeting. He furthermore thanked ASCOM for generously hosting those events in the wonderful city of Dubai. He said that the facilities provided are excellent and will no doubt contribute to making those events successful and delegates’ stay enjoyable.
In addition, he mentioned that the number of ICT users and the volume of traffic generated by them keep increasing every year in the forms of 3G or 4G smartphones, tablet computers, along with other cheap mobile data tariffs and other new media services. Not surprisingly, they have created new challenges when it comes to achieving good network performance, creating a satisfactory user experience, as well as among other Quality of Services (QoS) related concerns. And this is where ITU and its Quality of Service Development Group (QSDG) could come into play.
In concluding, Hiroshi invited all delegates to attend the next Study Group 12 meeting to be held in Geneva from 5 to14 May 2015.
2.3. Remarks by Yvonne UMUTONI, Chairperson of the QSDG
Ms. Yvonne Umutoni, the chairperson of the Quality of Service Development Group (QSDG), welcomed all delegates to the 31st QSDG Meeting and ITU Workshop on “Quality of Service of Regulatory and Operational Issues” organised by ITU and kindly hosted by ASCOM in the beautiful city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates from 2 to 6 November, 2014. Furthermore, she expressed her gratitude to ASCOM for hosting those events, and particularly thanked Mr. Mahel Abaab who helped a lot in the organisation of the events.
On the other side, she informed delegates the purpose of the two events, that it is mainly sharing knowledge and discussing best practices of QoS in current Telecom market but also by thinking about the QoS in future Telecom networks and services.
Accordingly, she stated that the targeted areas are, but not limited to, Customer Satisfaction issues, QoE/QoS of Cloud services, QoS/QoE Aspects, Reliability & Availability of Networks and Services; Measuring the QoS of Internet Access (Case Studies); Operational and Regulatory Aspects to ensure the Quality of Service provision in Telecommunication/ICT market and so on.
At the end, she thanked all delegates for attending those two important events on QoS.
2.4. Speech of Chief Guest, Mr. Eric Tarnvik, Chief Technical Officer of ASCOM
The Chief Technical Officer of ASCOM, Mr. Eric Tarnvik welcomed all delegates to the two events of ITU, namely ITU workshop on Quality of Service and 31st Meeting of QSDG that were organized by ITU in collaboration with ASCOM. He stated that it a great honour for ASCOM to host those two events.
The Guest of honour mentioned that ASCOM is an active member of ITU-T and particularly the ITU-T SG12, and accordingly guaranteed to continually contribute and support the work of both QSDG and SG12.
Finally, the Guest of Honour wished a fruitful meeting and workshop to all delegates.
3. Agreement of Agenda
The agenda for the meeting was presented to the delegates and was agreed upon. The detailed agenda can be found in Annex 1.
4. Working Arrangements
Contributions can be downloaded from QSDG website: http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/studygroups/2013-2016/12/Pages/QSDG.aspx. The meeting was attended by 93 delegates from 32 countries. The list of delegates is attached in Annex 2.
5. Review of Recent Activity
5.1. [QSDG 31/14 –06]: “Background of QSDG Recent Activities”: Ms. Yvonne UMUTONI, QSDG Chairperson, RURA.
During the presentation, QSDG Chairperson gave a brief background on QSDG recent activities, Terms of reference, planned activities and so on. She informed participants that QSDG was created in the ITU-T SG2 (Study Group dealing with Operational Aspects) and its first meeting was held in the Hague in 1984. In 2008 QSDG was moved from SG2 to SG12 and furthermore in 2013 SG12 tasked QSDG, to be its liaison to Workshops, Symposia and Forums.
About recent activities of QSDG, she informed delegates about the 3 workshops conducted by QSDG in 2014 as follows:
o 14 – 16 April, 2014: Workshop on “Monitoring QoE/QoS of Broadband Networks” in Maputo, Mozambique;
o 24 – 25 July, 2014: Workshop on “Benchmarking and Monitoring of QoS/QoE of Mobile Networks” in Buenos Aires, Argentine;
o 23 – 25 June, 2014: “ITU Regional Standardization Forum for Africa” jointly with both RGs for Africa of SG12 and SG5 in Kampala, Uganda.
o Now: 2 – 6 November, 2014: 31st QSDG Meeting and Workshop in Dubai, UAE.
In addition, she talked about the events (meetings & workshops) since 1984 to November - 2014 as follows:
5.2. [QSDG 31/14 –19]: Report on Service and Network Operations Group (SNO): Mr. John Kimbe, SATA.
Mr. John Kimbe from SATA said the SNO has three general areas of interest:
o Network Management- Covers topics related to the operations of telecoms networks across traditional and next generation networks.
o Service Management- Covers topics related to the service management of telecoms networks across traditional and next generation networks.
o Hot Topics- Covers topical areas that challenge traditional telecoms carriers, ISP's and next generations’ telecoms companies.
About hot topics in SNO, he cited the following:
1) Assess the impact on the network of new technologies, services and convergence, and develop plans and procedures to minimize any adverse effect on network operations, for example:
o Security
o Sustainability
o impact on personnel
o impact on customers
o mobile data demand
2) Work with the leaders, liaison representatives and/or contact persons in SG12, QSDG, and SNO, in order to come to a mutually agreed and coordinated plan for the work on Recommendations E.860 and E.861.
6. Reliability, Availability of Networks and Services
6.1. QSDG 31/14 – 15: Reliability and Availability: Mr. John Kimbe, SATA.
The presentation of Mr. John Kimbe focused on Reliability, Availability and Serviceability (RAS). Furthermore, he talked about hardware & software failures and then some key elements of the RAS as follows:
o Over-engineering, which is designing systems to specifications better than minimum requirements.
o Duplication, which is extensive use ofredundantsystems and components.
o Recoverability, which is the use offault-tolerantengineering methods.
o Automatic updating, which keeps OSs and applications current without user intervention.
o Databackup, which prevents catastrophic loss of critical information.
o And so on
6.2. QSDG 31/14 – 16: Reliability & Availability of Networks and Services: Ms. Sosu Louisa, MTN Ghana (Vice-Chair of QSDG).
During her presentation, Louisa focussed on the following:
a. Availability:
o Presence
o Increasing Coverage
o Network Up-time
o Consumer concerns
b. Reliability:
o QoS aspects of mobile
o Ecosystem view
o Ecosystem Effect
She said that aavailability covers both “network up-time” and “geographic coverage” while with the reliability; the service provided through networks (mobile or fixe) is consistent.
7. Customer satisfaction issues
7.1. QSDG 31/14 – 20: Roadmap of QoS/QoE Regulation in Ghana; Impact on 0perators and Consumers – Regulators’ Perspective; Mr. Isaac (NCA, Ghana).
This contribution presented by Isaac focuses on:
o QoS Legal Framework in Ghana
o QoS Tools & Methodology
o Impact & Way forward
The contribution describes QoS measurements methodologies such as Intrusive (e.g.: Drive Test) and non-intrusive such as OMC statistics, independent consumer survey and so on. This contribution focuses more on Voice and Data services both of mobile networks.
In concluding, Isaac explained next steps QoS/QoE towards customer satisfaction:
o Formulation of data KPI’s and target as stated in the 3G license (consultation with operators)
o Harmonizing KPI’s for data and voice services
o Standalone QoS regulations
o Technical studies into quality of experience parameters
o Monitoring the QoS and QoE of data services in 4G networks (such as LTE ...)
7.2. [QSDG 31/14 – 10]: Monitoring Quality of Telecommunication Services: Consumer-Oriented Approach: Mr. Tiago Sousa Prado,(ANATEL, Brazil).
The presentation of Tiago highlighted the reason behind regulating the Quality of Service in Brazil and why they have chosen a customer oriented approach.
He emphasised that the customer oriented approach is crucial when regulating the QoS because Regulators will be able to:
o Capture real users’ feelings regarding quality of telecom services, avoiding missing of information.
o Better understand of the level of complaints regarding quality throughout the country.
o Assess quality by looking all aspects of service provision, not only networks, in order to identify bottlenecks.
Tiago furthermore explained the QoS Measurement process for fixed and mobile broadband adopted in Brazil. Both ANATEL and Operators agreed to hire an independent and neutral Entity called Samknows Company. In addition, Operators are ranked through monthly reports in each state of Brazil and Operators with worst results must present working plans for improvement.
The hired company utilises the following Measurement platform for Users (Web-based and Apps for IOS and Android):
Figure 1: Testing Platform
7.3. QSDG 31/14 – 16: Mr. Hamsa Saad (ASCOM, Dubai): Get Insight into your Customers’ Mobile Insight Quality of Experience
The presentation of Hamsa from ASCOM, started with describing TEMS Mobile Insight, the latest dimension in network testing that measure the customer’s true experience.
He furthermore, explained why there is a need of TEMS Mobile Insight in measuring the QoE as follows:
o Mobile Insight collects data and information from subscribers’ perspectives
o Mobile Insight is easy to deploy:
Ø agents installed on off-shelf smartphones,
Ø hosted central components – no server installation required
Ø Web-based access to reporting and management interfaces.
Afterwards, he described the system overview of the TEMS Mobile Insight as can found in the following figure:
Figure 2: TEMS Mobile Insight System Overview
8. QoS measurement of data services in mobile networks
8.1. [QSDG 31/14 – 11]: QoS Measurement of Data services in Mobile Networks: Mr. Joseph Kwafo Mensah (Vodafone Ghana)
This presentation talked about KPIs, measurement methodologies, QoS challenges and QoS classes of data mobile networks & services.
Joseph gave an introduction of the QoS as: “the collective effect of service performances which determine the degree of satisfaction of a user of the service”. Then he explained the QoS classes of mobile networks (e.g.: WCDMA) as follows: