TMN, Vodafone and Optimus' GSM mobile networks have a poor performance on rail axels. According to a study made by ANACOM to monitor the quality of service, only 61.8% of the calls made in the Braga-Lisbon, Lisbon-Faro and Lisbon-Coimbra-Guarda rail axels were successfully made and terminated normally by disconnecting.
Regarding audio quality, communication's perception, the situation improves, with 92% of calls with acceptable or good values, although there still is an important percentage of calls, 8%, with poor or even bad audio quality.
By operator, there are no important differences between Optimus, Vodafone and TMN regarding accessibility. TMN manages to make 63.5% of calls, Vodafone 62.4%, and Optimus 59.6%.
When analysing audio quality, differences are more important, Optimus standing out negatively with 12.3% of test calls with poor or bad values, followed by TMN with 6.9% and Vodafone with 5.4%.
According to the study by ANACOM, the poor results registered on rail axles are mainly due to serious coverage deficiencies and to some situations with a total absence of radio signal, especially in the Lisbon-Faro route. On this rail axel, which shows the worst performances, only 57.6% of the tried calls were successfully established and only 33.6% of calls were adequately kept and ended normally. This value rises to 70.5% on the Lisbon-Guarda rail axel and to 74.1% on the Braga-Lisbon axel. Regarding accessibility, Vodafone is the operator with the best performances on the Lisbon-Faro and Braga-Lisbon axles, while TMN leads on the Lisbon-Guarda rail axel.
In general, quality is good
The three GSM mobile networks operating in Portugal (Optimus, Vodafone and TMN) generally have good coverage and performance levels, according to the study by ANACOM.
The accessibility indicator has high levels on urban agglomerations and road axels, with 97% of test calls successfully made and adequately kept during the conversation phase, and ending normally by disconnecting.
Regarding audio quality, 98.8% of calls had good or acceptable average values, but the decay trend that this indicator has been keeping since 2002 continues. This is more accentuated in urban agglomerations than in road axels. In fact, in 2005, 54.8% of calls had good audio quality, against 61.8% in 2004. The percentage of calls with acceptable audio quality rose from 37.3% in 2004 to 44% in 2005, and thus calls with good or acceptable quality are 98.8%, against 91.1% in 2004.
The situation in better on road axels, although some decay is also observed there. In fact, 63% of calls had good quality last year, against 66.5% in the previous year.
Regarding coverage, the study shows good levels, both in urban zones and in road axels.
According to the study, there are no major differences among the three operators. In Mainland's urban agglomerations, Optimus successfully establishes and normally ends 97.4% of calls, Vodafone 97.1% and TMN 96.7%.
Regarding audio quality in Mainland's urban agglomerations, 56.9% of calls have good quality. This value is of 56.6% for Optimus, while Vodafone only reaches 50.9%.
TMN has good accessibility levels on road axels, with 96.9% of calls being established and ending normally. For Vodafone, this value is 96.6% and Optimus 96.2%. Regarding audio quality on road axels, 68.6% of Vodafone's calls have good quality, against TMN's 66% and Optimus 54.5%.
Every year, ANACOM makes a global study to monitor the quality of service of the mobile operators' GSM networks, to which several specific studies are added. The studies analyze three indicators of capital importance, considering the user's standpoint: coverage, accessibility and audio quality.
Besides the global quality of GSM mobile networks, this year's study also evaluated the quality of service on the main Portuguese rail axels: Braga-Lisbon, Lisbon-Faro and Lisbon-Coimbra-Guarda.
Measurements for the 2006 study were made between 19 September and 20 October 2005 on Mainland's main urban centres and road axels, and measurements on rail axels were made during the month of November.
Consult:
- ANACOM https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=39029
