Saturday, November 08, 2008 Smart on NTC survey: 'misleading'
WIRELESS provider Smart Communications on Friday declared as "misleading" the survey conducted by the regional office of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) on network quality of three mobile operators.
Eric Espanol, head of Smart's Legal and Regulatory department, asserted that NTC's Metro Manila office failed to cover all the network quality indicators in the conduct of their survey.
"We cannot understand why this didn't come up in the letter issued by the NTC Metro Manila office," said Smart spokesman Ramon Isberto.
In a letter dated November 7 to NTC Commissioner Ruel Canobas, Espanol pointed out that aside from the dropped call rate and blocked call rate, there were seven other indicators of network performance discussed in the summary report such as signal coverage, handover success rate, and quality of signal.
But in ranking the operators, the report "surprisingly" arrived at its conclusion that Globe Telecom had superior network quality based only on the dropped call rate and the blocked call rate, he said.
Further, Espanol noted "the fact that the report selected only two network quality indicators as basis for benchmarking begs for an explanation."
He added: "In the interest of fairness and public service, Smart requests that the overall quality index be made known to the public as well given the incomplete, inaccurate and misleading service quality image engendered by the publication of only two isolated test results."
In its survey, NTC reported that Ayala-owned Globe Telecoms surpassed the network quality performance of Smart and Sun Cellular in the benchmarking study performed by the agency in Metro Manila covering the periods September 17 to October 6, 2008.
NTC said Globe topped among the three providers by placing 2,475 network-to-network calls per operator in 13 Metro Manila cities.
It was meanwhile recognized that Smart posted the highest on signal strength (91.81 percent) as against Globe with 86.58 percent and Sun's 84.48 percent.
However, Smart registered 93 blocked calls (3.79 percent of 2,475) while Globe posted 49 (1.99 percent) and Sun, 779 (17.05 percent).
For dropped calls, Smart registered 35 (1.42 percent), Globe 35 (1.42 percent), and Sun 48 (1.95 percent).
Likewise, Smart is questioning the legitimacy and the lack of transparency of the benchmarking test conducted by the NTC.
Espanol said Smart is not aware of any circular, regulation or policy issued by this Honorable Commission, which authorizes or sanctions the regional offices - in this instance, the NCR - to conduct benchmarking test drives.
The letter issued by the NTC Metro Manila office is not signed or even noted by the NTC, he added.
The Smart official also said the methodology of the "alleged test" was not made transparent to the entities concerned or even included in the summary report.
"In similar benchmarking studies, the methodology is included in the report to enable an independent body to verify the accuracy of the study, or, to test the findings and conclusions contained in the report," Espanol said.
He added that the parameters of the study were not made known in the report.
The study states it was conducted in 13 cities of Metro Manila. But it does not state in which particular areas the test was done, what route was tested, what time of day the tests were conducted, or whether the tests on the networks were done simultaneously.
"Please note that we are always open to any benchmarking or study conducted by this Honorable Commission provided it is transparent and in accordance with regulations or guidelines issued by this Honorable Commission," Espanol said.
Contrary to the NTC study, Smart said: "In our internal as well as externally commissioned network quality studies, Smart's network has consistently been shown to be operating at service quality levels exceeding those of other networks. We are confident that a fair and transparent study will bear that out." (MSN/Sunnex)
