In the aim of providing information to all interested parties and users about mobile network coverage maps in the Republic of Serbia, the Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Postal Services (RATEL) created an interactive WEB portal.

The users can get an overview of a time-referenced coverage map for the whole territory of the Republic of Serbia, by technology/operator, and check the mobile network signal coverage at locations across the country. The interactive WEB portal offers a report on the comparative percentage of territory/ population coverage by technology used, including a display of the wireless access network elements along with the information about active base stations, repeaters and WiFi, for all three operators.

The objective comparison along with the consistent layout of all relevant data (equal conditions for all mobile operators) help users make informed decisions regarding their choice of operator, pertaining to and based on the coverage availability prediction for a specific area or selected location.

This tool benefits both the operators and users in terms of the encouragement of healthy competition, improvement of the quality of service of existing mobile services provided to end-users, as well as being in pace with the development of mobile communication networks.

Since the coverage maps are based on prediction, the accuracy of all of the results cannot be guaranteed. On top of that, the signal quality can be additionally degraded depending on the environment where the signal propagates, different objects in the immediate surroundings, current traffic, i.e. mobile network congestion etc. It should be noted that the tool operates solely based on an outdoor signal prediction. In summary, the maps are estimated to provide a fair assessment of signal levels, whereas for more accurate results, on-site measurements at the actual location need to be carried out.

Mobile network coverage maps are based on the data provided by the mobile operators. Periodically, RATEL receives from each of the operators specific sets of data on the network architecture, following which a radio network planning tool is used to process data and generate covereage prediction, using RATEL’s optimized predictive model coupled with digital terrain model (DTM) and data on the type of terrain (clutter).

RATEL will regularly (quarterly) update the maps to adequately reflect the changes in coverage incurred due to the operators’ mobile network expansion.

Portal access is enabled by clicking a banner image on RATEL’s homepage, or by clicking on the following link.