The Federal Network Agency today published its final report on the service quality of wideband access providers. The report contains the results of a nationwide measurement campaign, which was conducted by the zafaco GmbH on behalf of the Federal Network Agency from July to December 2013.
“Based on the current results, we can see that our existing transparency measures have already brought about some initial improvements”, Jochen Homann, President of the Federal Network Agency explained. “Although the prospective ‘from-to’ data transfer rate is still often not achieved, many values have improved slightly. A good 75 percent of users now achieve at least half of the agreed maximum data transfer rate. Previously, this was just under 70 percent.”
As part of the measurement campaign, consumers were able to use the “Network Quality Initiative” website to check to what extent the prospective data transfer rate offered by their providers varied from the actual data transfer rate. A similar study was submitted by the Federal Network Agency in April 2013.
“With more than 150,000 end-customer measurements, the participation of users was again gratifyingly high” Jochen Homann emphasised. “This and the results show us and the industry that transparency is very important for the customers. We consider it essential that consumers obtain comparable and transparent information. Creating transparency therefore remains an ongoing task for the Federal Network Agency.”
Against this background, alongside the present draft of a transparency regulation, the Federal Network Agency is planning to introduce a constantly usable end-user measurement system. This should be applicable both for fixed as well as mobile phone connections. For this purpose, a technology-open tender is planned. “Our goal is a meaningful and reliable end-user measurement tool” says Homann.
The experience from the two measurement campaigns carried out and the intensive dialogue conducted with the industry on the different measurement methods are to be used in the development of this measurement system. In this way, factors that are not controlled by the network operator, but are influenced by the customer’s facilities, are taken into account as far as possible. When it comes to the practical implementation, the Federal Network Agency will also seek a dialogue with the industry.
The results of the measurement study are published on the website www.bundesnetzagentur.de/qualitaetsstudie