The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) has published its latest round of quality of service monitoring test reports for South Africa’s three largest mobile operators, Vodacom, MTN and Cell C, and found all but Vodacom wanting.

The reports focus on the networks’ performance in Johannesburg and Pretoria, with tests conducted to assess how often calls were successfully placed and how often they were dropped.

In Johannesburg, MTN and Cell C both failed to meet the minimum target for dropped call rates. All three operators made the cut in Pretoria.

In terms of successfully placing calls, all three met the target in Johannesburg, but Cell C fell short of the target in Pretoria.

Icasa says it is important to note that voice quality measurements were not taken and thus customers might experience below-average call quality even in areas where the operators performed well where signal strength was poor.

The areas where MTN’s signal strength was poorest were Tembisa, the Pretoria CBD and Mabopane. For Cell C, the problem areas were the Johannesburg CBD and Atteridgeville.

According to Icasa, the test methodology adopted provides a “snapshot view” of the operators’ quality of service to provide a “realistic picture of network performance from a user’s point of view”.

The authority cautions that the test results conducted using moving vehicles “do not represent the mobile service providers’ overall network performance” because they are based on specific routes at particular times of day using a single handset. Icasa declines to mention which handset was used on which routes and when.

The reports are intended to allow consumers to make informed decisions when choosing a service provider and to allow operators’ to identify and rectify problems on their networks. — (c) 2013 NewsCentral Media