The Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) has released a unflattering report showing that mobile operators’ networks performed below par at stadiums during the 2010 soccer World Cup.
Icasa released its report this week detailing the service quality on networks operated by MTN, Vodacom and Cell C on certain match days during the World Cup. The report covers issues such as dropped calls, signal strength and voice quality.
Broadband access was not tested as part of the study.
Icasa testers made 100 calls per test — both long and short calls — to gauge coverage and performance.
The authority is not pleased with the results, saying the mobile operators “should be mandated to improve coverage in and around the stadiums”, providing consumers with better voice quality at future events.
Icasa says it had trouble conducting the tests because some of the operators — it has not clarified which ones — limited the number of customers on the network during the games.
Cell C appears to have performed best during the World Cup, reaching above the expected quality targets listed by the regulator’s study.
Cape Town’s Green Point Stadium had the best coverage and call quality, with all operators scoring exceptionally high in the test. None of the mobile operators dropped calls in and around the Cape stadium at all.
However, coverage around Soweto’s famed Soccer City (now FNB Stadium) and Nelspruit’s Mbombela stadium showed the poorest network quality by all operators.
Icasa’s report allowed for 2% dropped calls at all stadiums. However, according to the results, MTN dropped 4% of its calls at FNB Stadium, with Vodacom dropping 6% of its calls at the same venue.
Cell C again fared better, dropping only 0,01% of its calls at the Soweto stadium. However, its overall call success rate was scored at 83%, well below the expected 98% benchmark set by the regulator.
Vodacom’s overall call success rate at FNB Stadium was rated at 80% and MTN’s at 78%.
MTN, which was a primary sponsor of the World Cup, spent about R500m revamping and rolling out new equipment at stadiums ahead of the tournament. Just before the games, MTN said in FNB Stadium alone it had rolled out 22 base stations connected to 6km of fibre.
Vodacom also made investments at the stadium, installing the equivalent of 16 voice base stations and 10 base stations for data at Soccer City.
Visitors to Nelspruit’s stadium were slightly better off, experiencing dropped calls 3% of the time on all three networks.
According to the overall result of the report, all three networks performed subpar during the entire tournament, especially in terms of quality and difficulty in initiating calls. — Candice Jones, TechCentral
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