Globe Telecom posts improvement on call quality, says NTC

A recent Quality of Service performance study conducted by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) comparing the Grade of Service and overall signal quality of local network service providers revealed that Globe Telecom has achieved marked enhancement in its grade of service from the previous quarter. This development transpired even as the company is at 62% completion of its total network modernization effort. More details after the jump.

The results for the month of September 2012 were benchmarked against the established NTC Cellular Mobile Telephone System or CMTS criteria and showed that the Globe legacy network met the standards in four out of five parameters, namely grade of service or blocked calls, call set-up time, average received signal level (dBm) and average signal quality.

With regard to the grade of service for the said period, or the ease of calls getting connected at first try which the NTC prescribed to be not more than 4%, Globe posted a 2.75% rating, elevating its quality from 4.45% compared to last quarter. This is an early manifestation of the improved quality of service that the network modernization brings to Globe subscribers.

The call setup time or the measure of how fast domestic calls get connected from one number to the other through the Globe network was at 11.56 seconds, faster that last quarter’s figure of 11.90 and within the NTC’s directive of less than 14 seconds.

For Globe, the average received signal level or the signal strength being provided by the service cellsite to a mobile handset during the said month was well within the NTC’s minimum of -85dBm at -69.21 against last quarter’s -69.83; while the average signal quality was at 1.03, where the ideal figure should be less than 4 and closer to 0.

However, dropped calls for the month of September has become an industry concern and were observed in the Globe legacy network and the competition’s upgraded network. This is despite competition’s claim of overhauling and optimizing their entire cellular network countrywide ahead of schedule since July this year.

As the NTC standard should not be more than 2%, Globe and Smart tallied 2.75% and 2.15%, respectively. The slight difference between Globe and Smart in dropped calls is equivalent to about one call out of 100. Globe also noted that in September 2012, the interference from illegal repeaters and jammers has increased based on the number of its affected cell sites in the same period, causing the rise in the figure of dropped calls. The company has been working closely with the NTC to eliminate the unauthorized use of these equipment.

The benchmark study is regularly conducted by the NTC to ensure that both telco service providers comply within its prescribed standards, specifically the grade of service and dropped call rates of each through network drive tests using postpaid SIMs subscribing to regular services with a sample size of over 2,000 test calls.

Globe has announced in late October 2012 that its $700-million network modernization program is ahead of target completion, the first phase will be done by the first quarter 2013. Specifically for the National Capital Region where the NTC conducted its test, the modernized Globe network is scheduled for completion by the fourth quarter of this year. These areas include central and southern Metro Manila, Quezon City, Pasig City and Makati City.

Asked for his statement about the company’s latest performance figures, Globe President and CEO Ernest Cu said that “there is marked improvement in our own grade of service, ease of calls getting through and signal strength which are early indications that the network improvements are happening because of our ongoing modernization. While a good portion of our legacy network is still operational as these tests are being done, we are confident that we will achieve better results as soon as we approach completion of our brand new network. We expect to be ahead of our commitment of 70% completion by year end 2012.“

“We are pushing forward with the modernization drive to future-proof our brand new network which can be among the best in Asia. We want to assure our over 32-million subscribers that Globe is steadily achieving its promise of unparalleled customer experience and superior network quality. As soon as we feel the full benefits of the modernization drive, this will truly set us apart in the telecommunications industry in this side of the world,” he said.

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