Vodacom Excels in 4G Speed and Coverage in INCM Quality Drive Tests

Mozambique’s Communications Regulatory Authority – INCM, within the scope of its powers and attributions, carried out a campaign to measure the quality of service, at a national level through drive tests ( using equipment that allows results to be obtained under equal conditions and simultaneously for the three mobile phone operators) in the South, Center and North Zones of the country, between March and December 2023.

The Summary Report, as well as the detailed reports, can be found on the official INCM website, at www.incm.gov.mz , in the quality of services field.

The tests were carried out from the perspective of a common user, evaluating the level of coverage and quality of Voice and Data services provided by operators, using 2G/3G/4G technologies, in 31 geographical areas, in capital cities, municipal towns and districts, as illustrated in the table below, with emphasis on commercial, residential, tourism and leisure areas, between 7:30 and 18:00 hours.

Overall, both in terms of accessibility and in terms of retention (call duration, without interruption), the results indicate significant variation in the quality of voice service depending on the geographical area.

In terms of voice services, it was found that Tmcel is the operator with the highest number of non-compliances, with around 66%, followed by Movitel with 54% and, finally, Vodacom with around 53%.

For data services, the operator with the highest number of non-compliances was Movitel, with around 74%, followed by Tmcel with 25% and finally, Vodacom with around 6%.

In terms of coverage, the highest number of non-compliances was recorded at Tmcel with around 50%, followed by Vodacom with around 32% and finally Movitel with around 27%.

ACCESSIBILITY

Regarding accessibility, in the 2G/3G Voice Service, in the cities, the results vary with an average of 90.54% for Tmcel, 93.57% for Vodacom and 95.55% for Movitel. The average time required to start the call is 8.27 seconds for Movitel, 8.66 seconds for Vodacom and 9.71 seconds for Tmcel.

In other areas, still in the 2G/3G Voice Service, the success in issuing calls is 95.93% for Movitel, 95.93% for Vodacom, and 85.14% for Tmcel, and the average time needed to start the call is 8.20 seconds for Tmcel, 8.51 for Movitel and 8.83 for Vodacom.

CALL HOLD

In the cities, in terms of call retention, in the 2G/3G Voice Service, the average percentage of dropped calls is 0.25% for Movitel, 0.64% for Vodacom and 1.07% for Tmcel, which shows that, despite meeting the 2% target, not all successfully established calls end due to the caller’s action. And the average MOS scale that indicates the perception of Audio in the conversation is 3.44 for Vodacom, 3.28 for Tmcel, and 3.26 for Movitel.

For the remaining areas, the call retention level in the 2G/3G Voice Service is 0.28% for Tmcel, 0.37% for Movitel and 0.63% for Vodacom. And the average MOS scale that indicates the perception of audio in the conversation is 3.41 for Vodacom, 3.13 for Movitel and 2.88 for Tmcel. 

DATA SERVICE

Regarding data service, the recommended average download speed for 3G technology is 3 Mbps. In the study conducted in the capital cities, Vodacom achieved 4.55 Mbps, followed by Tmcel with 3.79 Mbps and finally Movitel with 2.10 Mbps. For 4G technology, Vodacom achieved the best average download speed, reaching 21.29 Mbps, followed by Tmcel with 11.58 Mbps and finally Movitel with 8.64 Mbps, while the target for 4G is 10 Mbps.

In terms of the other areas tested, for 3G technology, Vodacom also achieved the best average download speed, reaching around 5.07 Mbps, followed by Tmcel, with 4.16 Mbps and finally Movitel with 2.29 Mbps. Regarding data transfer speed in 4G technology, for Download Vodacom achieved an average of 26.57 Mbps, followed by Tmcel with 11.47 Mbps and finally Movitel with 9.37 Mbps.

COVERAGE

In terms of coverage quality, the 2G network is the most predominant compared to 3G and 4G. However, 3G and 4G networks are more concentrated in urban centers and areas with larger population clusters.

The coverage targets set out in the Regulation on the Quality of Public Telecommunications Services provide for quality levels classified as good, acceptable, poor and non-existent. The coverage target provides that 95% of the geographical area must have a Good rating (which corresponds to a signal level above -85 dBm).

For the 2G network, of the 31 geographic areas tested, Movitel complied in 20 locations, equivalent to 65%, Tmcel in 16 locations, corresponding to around 52% and Vodacom in 13, corresponding to around 42%.

In the 3G network, it was found that Vodacom met the coverage target in 25 locations, which is equivalent to around 81%, Movitel met the target in 22 locations, corresponding to around 71% and, in turn, Tmcel met the target in 13 locations, corresponding to around 42%.

For the 4G network, Vodacom complied in 24 locations, corresponding to 77%, and Movitel in 22 locations equivalent to 71%, against Tmcel’s 17 locations, 55%.