One of the set objectives and principles of regulation in the area of electronic communications is to promote competition, efficiency and effectiveness in the performance of electronic communications activities and to ensure a high level of consumer protection by providing clear and unambiguous information on the quality of public communications services, as well as to provide an efficient resolution of complaints. A key role in this process resides with the quality of service monitoring system.

RATEL is entrusted with tasks pertaining to the monitoring of compliance of quality parameters regarding publicly available electronic communication networks and services, in line with applicable laws, bylaws and recommendations, and to the testing of electronic communication networks with the aim to monitor operators’ activities, perform benchmarking and periodical collection and analysis of data on quality parameters of electronic communication networks. These measurements and tests are carried out by the Agency, using own monitoring and measuring equipment, in accordance with the procedures set by relevant international recommendations and standards, at appropriate points in the operator’s network, or by remote measurements.

RATEL performs the following measurements, aiming to monitor quality of service provided to the end-users of electronic communiciation networks:

• Monitoring of QoS parameters of mobile communication networks,
• Monitoring of QoS parameters of broadband Internet access,
• Monitoring of QoS parameters of media content distribution.

Monitoring of QoS parameters of mobile communication networks

RATEL performs monitoring of QoS parameters of mobile communication networks through several channels: individual measurements, mobile application RATEL NetTest data analysis and benchmarking measurements.

Individual measurements involve the use of measuring equipment in drivetest and walktest modes, during which it is possible to measure quality of voice services and data transmission services in mobile communication networks, in the users’ environment or in a broader area. Monitoring of quality parameters of mobile communication networks includes testing of voice and data transmission services through: big and small data transfers (download/upload), upload speed testing in relation to reference ETSI Kepler and live web pages, YouTube video stream quality testing and measurement of the round-trip time for packets sent and received in the network (ping).

The Agency has made it possible for the users of Internet access service in public fixed and mobile communication networks to test the quality of broadband Internet access, using the application RATEL NetTest. RATEL keeps the statistics about the measurements carried out by the users, enabling a broader overview of the quality of Internet access and Internet service in the mobile communication networks on the whole territory of the Republic of Serbia.

As of 2017, between September and November, RATEL performs annual benchmarking survey of mobile communication networks belonging to the following operators: Telekom Srbija, Telenor and Vip mobile. Benchmarking measurements are carried out on the whole territory of the Republic of Serbia, in a number of cities and along the state roads of categories Ia and Ib. An interactive portal has been created offering a comparative view of the obtained results pertaining to the quality of service in mobile communication networks, available both in Serbian and English at: http://benchmark.ratel.rs/en. 

Monitoring of QoS parameters of broadband Internet access

RATEL performs monitoring of QoS parameters of broadband Internet access using appropriate measuring equipment, depending on the type of Internet access (fixed or wireless).

RATEL also monitors the quality of Internet access by means of RATEL’s application NetTest, based on QoS parameter analysis. The verification of the quality parameters of the broadband Internet access includes measurements of Internet throughput, one-way delay, delay variation (jitter) and packet loss.

Testing of Internet connection in public fixed communication networks is carried out by means of the above application available on RATEL’s website: https://nettest.ratel.rs

Testing of Internet connection in public mobile communication networks is carried out by means of the same application for Android and iOS mobile devices, with free download from Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

Thanks to the performed benchmarking measurements for mobile communication networks, RATEL now disposes of data on quality parameters of the Internet access service in mobile communication networks for a significant number of populated areas and roads. 

Monitoring of QoS parameters of media content distribution

RATEL performs monitoring of QoS parameters of media content distribution in Euro DOCSIS 2.0/3.0 cable distribution systems, including measurement of signal levels, minimum carrier-to-noise ratio and bit error rate.