This document summarizes a presentation on the GSMA's Global Roaming Quality (GRQ) framework. It discusses the importance of quality in mobile roaming services and challenges like cost pressures threatening quality. It introduces the GRQ framework for measuring roaming quality end-to-end using active and passive monitoring. The framework includes roaming service level agreements and a troubleshooting process. Implementing GRQ can help operators, hubs and carriers improve revenues by enhancing roaming quality and collaboration.
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Global Roaming Quality Oct-2010
1. Global Roaming Quality
‘Power and Perils of Networks’
Cato Rockne-Meyer
Caleidoscope Associates UK
Jacob Fleming Conferences, Berlin 21-22 October 2010
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Caleidoscope Associates Ltd
Introduction
Cato Rockne-Meyer
Orange UK, Vodafone UK, Vodafone Group
C&W, Mercury Communications
Telecoms Division, LogicaCMG
Independent Telecoms Consultant
Global Roaming Quality
Roaming and SMS Hubbing
Product Development & Implementation
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Agenda
Quality in mobile roaming service
GSMA Global Roaming Quality framework for
mobile operators, carriers and roaming hub
providers
Improving revenues for inbound and outbound
roaming traffic
How to introduce GRQ
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What Quality?
What is quality?
How important is quality?
Who defines roaming QoS?
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What Quality?
What is quality?
ISO 9000: "Degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills
requirements [need or expectation].“
How important is quality?
10% of churn*
Who defines roaming QoS?
Seamless experience
Coverage
Reliability
Transparency
Rich services - as in home network
* Dietech Networks, 2008
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History of GSM Roaming
1987: GSM operator agreement defined
1991: First GSM call made (Radiolinja, Finland)
1992: First roaming agreement signed (Telecom Finland and
Vodafone UK)
1993: First non-European operator (Telstra Australia) joins 32
GSM networks
1996: 200 operators in 100 countries
1998: 100 million subscribers on GSM
2002: GSM in 95% of nations worldwide
2003: GSM in 200 countries (3G launched)
2006: HSDPA, 700 GSM operators
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Roaming Landscape Today
Mobile services are
global and becoming
ubiquitous
From 640 million in
2000 to 4.5 billion
connections today
800+ GSM networks in
222 countries & regions*
Bilateral roaming
agreements Roaming
Hubbing
* Sources: GSMA
** Wireless Intelligence
Customers switching from Fixed Line to Mobile services
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Roaming QoS
Ditech Networks analysed 630 million mobile voice calls in 16
networks across 12 countries
Average of 39% of voice calls below minimum
industry standard for quality (2.5 MOS)
Mature markets such as the U.S. and Western Europe had
23% of calls below minimum standard
Rapid growth markets such as the Middle East, India, Africa
and South America had 59% of calls below minimum standard
Source: Ditech Networks, 2008.
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Who pays for QoS?
Customers
Customer Services
Roaming Operations
Sales & Marketing
Profit & Loss
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What are the quality challenges?
Cost-driven threats to quality of roaming
service
Short-term cost pressures, Least Cost Routing,
VoIP, quasi-roaming.
Customer reaction to poor roaming
experience
Avoid or limit usage, seek alternatives to roaming,
challenge bills, churn
Complex delivery chains
Differences in market focus, service levels,
equipment, operations
Lack of industry guidelines
E2E measurements, roaming SLA, troubleshooting,
sharing of information
11. Everything Everywhere Restricted
What are the quality challenges?
Cost-driven threats to quality of roaming
service
Short-term cost pressures, Least Cost Routing,
VoIP, quasi-roaming .>> Impact on ALOC?
Customer reaction to poor roaming
experience
Avoid or limit usage, seek alternatives to roaming,
challenge bills, churn >> Roaming experience?
Complex delivery chains
Differences in market focus, service levels,
equipment, operations >> Average response
time for issues?
Lack of industry guidelines
E2E measurements, roaming SLA, troubleshooting,
sharing of information >> Roaming measures
for QoS?
Weakest link!
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Many Questions
What can my company do to improve QoS for our
customers?
Where do I start to address roaming QoS?
What to improve and where?
Who is responsible for QoS?
Will it be worth the effort?
We don’t have time, resources, capacity…
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What is GRQ?
GSMA roaming improvement programme 2006
Executive initiative – ‘global perspective on roaming
QoS’
GRQ - end-to-end QoS measurement framework
GRQ trial with operators and vendors
Leading MNOs and vendors contributed to
developing and testing GRQ in 2007-2008.
Framework extended to Roaming Hubs 2009.
Complimentary to IPX quality measures.
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GRQ Framework
Link to GSMA Infocentre GRQ Knowledge Base https://infocentre.gsm.org/cgi-bin/knowledge_base_disp.cgi?1933
IR81
GRQ
Measurement
Implementation
AA.13
Roaming SLA
Annex C12
BA.51
Roaming SLA
Handbook
IR42
Computation
including
trigger point
Dictionary
IR.78
Roaming
Trouble
Report
IR.21
Database
GSMA reference documents for
International Carriers:
IN.01, IN.05, IN.10, AA.80: SLA
templates for carriers, GRX, and
IPX
IN.02: Use of Gateways for Mobile
Communications
GSMA reference documents
for MNOs:
BA.51: Roaming SLA Handbook
IR.42: QoS Parameters
AA.13 (C12): Roaming SLA
IR.81: GRQ measurement
Implementation
IR.78: Trouble shooting
procedure
IR.21: Contact information for
trouble shooting
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Monitoring methods
Active Monitoring
Pros
Passive Monitoring
Powerful testing capability
Reproducible testing
Can provide end-to-end view
Covers all Roaming SLA measures
Number of test cycles is flexible
Cons Not reflecting customer location
Difficult to identify root causes
Requires distributed remote
equipment
Pros Shows real-time network and
service performance for monitored
subscriber
Identifies potential root-causes of
problems
No remote equipment or
infrastructure required
Cons Limited coverage of Roaming SLA
measures
Unable to monitor service failures
(i.e. depends on roaming signaling)
Measuring roaming QoS for voice, data, and SMS:
– Active methods using fixed and/or mobile remote probes
– Passive methods using SS7 signaling probes
– Both methods follow standardized test scripts
– Selected measures can be included in Roaming SLAs
Common Measures & Methods
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Service Level Agreements
SLA N05
HPLM
N SLA IN05
GRX & IPX
.
Roaming Hub
SLA IN.10 SLA IN.10
VPLMN
SLA IN.10
Carrier
Carrier
SLA IN.01
SLA IN.01
Hub
SLA
Hub
SLA
Roaming
SLA
End-to-end monitoring of roaming service
Roaming
SLA
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Roaming Troubleshooting Process
Standard reporting format for quick resolution
Complements in-house processes and trouble
ticketing
Central source for roaming contacts
Can be part of Roaming SLA
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So far so good…
GRQ is a quality framework developed by the GSMA
to meet the need for a clearer view of roaming quality
of service and define a common approach to
managing roaming quality.
Measuring roaming QoS end-to-end
Roaming partners to compare measurements
Complements troubleshooting
Provides basis for service level agreements
Helps increase net revenues and protect brand
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How to introduce GRQ
Executive Sponsor and Company Agenda
Link to strategy & values
Compose internal project/team
Agree GRQ goals, objectives, and timescale
Review existing
Traffic reporting & alarms
Roaming support & troubleshooting
Service levels
Identify roaming partners and carriers
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Step 1: SWOT
Where are the main opportunity areas?
What QoS are my subscribers experiencing today?
How much revenue is at risk today?
What is our baseline benchmark?
Where do we want to be in 12 months, 3 years, …
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Step 2: Strategy
#1
Value to
MNO
Effort to
Improve
Main
opportunity
Selective
Hot Spots
Strategic
Factors
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Example GRQ Strategy
#1
Value to
MNO
Effort to
Improve
Usually close
relationship
with Top 5
partners
Reach via roaming
hub with roaming
SLA?
Opportunity for
outsourcing
monitoring and
testing?
Main
opportunity
Selective
Hot Spots
Collaborative
programme
for mutual
benefits
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Example GRQ Strategy
#1
Value to
MNO
Effort to
Improve
Main
opportunity
Selective
Hot Spots
Roaming and carrier SLAs;
passive monitoring and
active testing.
Selective roaming and
carrier SLAs for upper half;
passive monitoring and
periodic/adhoc active
testing.
Consider QoS when
selecting roaming partners;
roaming SLA and passive
monitoring for partners
serving high value
subscribers & services.
Roaming and carrier SLAs;
passive monitoring and
active testing.
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Step 3: Business Case
Business Cases* for MNOs (and Roaming Hubs) and
International Carriers
Outage Impact Analysis
Net Income Analysis
Unique to each company
Per roaming destination – balanced or asymmetric traffic?
Rapid growth vs mature market?
Customer expectations
* All cases are per network/destination
25. Everything Everywhere Restricted
Example Business Case - Outage
Input Data
Net income from roaming or wholesale per year 15000000 $
Average downtime per year (Trouble Ticket's) 3400 hrs
Cost of investment in GRQ framework 450000 $
Expected % quality improvement expected from GRQ investment 10 %
Calculations
Net income from roaming per hour 1712.3288 $
Reduction in annual downtime from GRQ investment 340 hrs
Value of downtime reduction per year 582191.78 $
Result
Payback period for GRQ investment 0.7729412 years
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Step 4: Pilot
Internal project
Pilot team (roaming, interconnect, operations, customer
services)
Tools, measures, and vendors
External partners
Select roaming partners for pilot
Introductory service levels for bilateral traffic
Establish fault handling and troubleshooting process
Include International Carriers
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Take Home Points
Operators, international carriers and roaming hub
providers need to work together to ensure roaming
QoS
Benefits of GRQ accrues for operators, carriers, and
roaming hub providers through increase net
revenues
The aim is to ensure the right level of QoS for
customers and mitigate revenue loss and wider cost
of roaming service failures
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By implementing GRQ,
operators,
hubs and carriers can
improve
their share of service,
and ultimately
revenues.
It’s a win-win-win !
Global solution enabled by local
contribution
E2E monitoring E2E roaming SLA
E2E
collaboration
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Common Sense
Improving revenues for operators, carriers and hub
providers
Detecting and resolving roaming issues early
Reduce time to resolve roaming and interconnect issues
Expedite trouble tickets and reduce fault reports
Increase average length of calls (ALOC)
Improve customer satisfaction
Reduce time and resources consumed by
troubleshooting
30. Everything Everywhere Restricted
MNOs involved in GRQ worldwide
Europe
Telenor * Sweden
Avea Turkey
Azerfon Azerbaijan
Bouygues
Telecom
France
KPN Netherlands
Orange-FT
Group
various
Promonte Montenegro
SFR France
Telenor Serbia
Vodafone
group
various
Asia-Pacific
DTAC * Thailand
Celcom Malaysia
Digitel Philippines
Excelcom Indonesia
Idea Cellular India
M1 Singapore
Smartone-
Vodafone
Hong Kong
Arab World
STC * Saudi Arabia
Mobinil Egypt
Etisalat UAE
Mobily Saudi Arabia
Jawwal Palestine
Q-Tel Qatar
Zain Bahrain
Americas
Oi* Brazil
Antel Uruguay
Claro (America
Movil) group
various
Comcel Colombia
Digicel group various
Entel Bolivia &
Chile
Personal Argentina
TIM Brazil
* Chairing group
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Who can help?
A GSMA associate membership
category exists for providers of
Global Roaming Quality monitoring
products and/or services
Associate members in this category
support the GRQ framework and
associated GSMA documents.
GRQ Monitoring Providers:
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Thank You!
For further information contact:
Cato Rockne-Meyer
cato@caleidoscope.co.uk
+44-7811-332511
GSMA
torbjorn.pettersson@telenor.com
www.gsmworld.com
Notas do Editor
Review presentation against presentation techniques notes and prepare presenter cards
Emerging markets.
Better usage
Least cost routing
Fewer customer complaints; carriers offering QoS incure fewer complaints from customers
Quality E2E results in less effort and costs spent on troubleshooting and fixing
Too much focus on cost often leads to poorer service and imapcts profits
Which trouble tickets are relating to poor quality?
Call termination rates is a strong indicator of poor quality.
E.g. is it acceptable for customers to make 4-5 attempts to get acceptable line quality? Impact on depends on customer volume and destination.
Normally have control of outbound roaming traffic that is passed to own carriers.
Important to also monitor incoming roaming traffic that is terminated in unusual ways e.g. SIM boxes (see slide 2). IN02 describes impact of SIM boxes on QoS.
By removing SIM box traffic an operator in South America made $20m improvement in 6 months.
Better usage
Least cost routing
Fewer customer complaints; carriers offering QoS incure fewer complaints from customers
Quality E2E results in less effort and costs spent on troubleshooting and fixing
Too much focus on cost often leads to poorer service and imapcts profits
Which trouble tickets are relating to poor quality?
Call termination rates is a strong indicator of poor quality.
E.g. is it acceptable for customers to make 4-5 attempts to get acceptable line quality? Impact on depends on customer volume and destination.
Normally have control of outbound roaming traffic that is passed to own carriers.
Important to also monitor incoming roaming traffic that is terminated in unusual ways e.g. SIM boxes (see slide 2). IN02 describes impact of SIM boxes on QoS.
By removing SIM box traffic an operator in South America made $20m improvement in 6 months.
GRQ supports voice, data, SMS on 2G, 2.5G, 3G networks with and without CAMEL.
SIGTRAN is SS7 over IP; CAMEL is feature of SS7.
GSMA RILTE project looking at roaming QoS for 4G/LTE (J. Boggis).
GRQ can help close the gap between roaming operations and finance function.
Payback =< 12 months.
ROI?
E2E collaboration
What to change?
QoS is an enabler for new propositions; offers market differentiation; mirror tools and knowledge into NOC (already 24/7).