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Manama: Telecom operators in Bahrain have achieved network coverage for 99 per cent of the population, finds the latest assessment from the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA).
This was in outdoor use of mobile services through calls or data usage on both 3G and 4G handsets, said the regulator in the 2017 Mobile Network Quality of Service Report. The report also found that all operators improved their performance levels for data use, particularly since the activation of 4G in 2014. The average speed for a download session, which was 8.4 Mbps in 2011, is now 37.3 Mbps, and 73.6pc of files are now downloaded at speeds exceeding 10Mbps.
Uploading a file is also faster than the previous years, as the average speed was approximately 1Mbps with 3G only, while it is now over 23Mbps. The average time to upload a 50Mb file is now less than 30 seconds, which is particularly relevant given the widespread use of social networking applications. Voice service quality on mobile networks has significantly increased since 2014, as the rate of perfect calls (two-minute calls, with no drop and no quality defect during the communication) is now 99.3pc, against 93.8pc three years ago.
This quality level was stable at around 94pc since 2010. While SMS service usage has decreased with the rise of social networks and messaging apps, the quality of the service remains “well-performing”, with 96.6pc of SMS messages received within 15 seconds. The use of Internet has been evaluated by browsing on most popular websites in Bahrain – Google, Facebook and YouTube.
The average time to load a web page was around three seconds, and 96pc of web pages were downloaded within 10 seconds. Quality of access to the most popular social networks has been evaluated with reference to 2016. On Facebook, the available speed for uploading is around 10Mbps, which means that an average volume of 18Mb of data is transferred within 30 seconds.
On Instagram, it takes approximately five seconds to publish a photo taken on a smartphone. In the statement that highlighted key findings of the report, TRA’s director of technical operations Mohamed Alnoaimi said it was the only authority in the GCC to publish results of field tests measurements using protocols built to be as close as possible to user experience. “The effect of this policy is that industry results of mobile networks in Bahrain are maintained at the best international standards quality levels for the whole range of services,” he added.
The report is available on the regulator’s website: www.tra.bh.
This was in outdoor use of mobile services through calls or data usage on both 3G and 4G handsets, said the regulator in the 2017 Mobile Network Quality of Service Report. The report also found that all operators improved their performance levels for data use, particularly since the activation of 4G in 2014. The average speed for a download session, which was 8.4 Mbps in 2011, is now 37.3 Mbps, and 73.6pc of files are now downloaded at speeds exceeding 10Mbps.
Uploading a file is also faster than the previous years, as the average speed was approximately 1Mbps with 3G only, while it is now over 23Mbps. The average time to upload a 50Mb file is now less than 30 seconds, which is particularly relevant given the widespread use of social networking applications. Voice service quality on mobile networks has significantly increased since 2014, as the rate of perfect calls (two-minute calls, with no drop and no quality defect during the communication) is now 99.3pc, against 93.8pc three years ago.
This quality level was stable at around 94pc since 2010. While SMS service usage has decreased with the rise of social networks and messaging apps, the quality of the service remains “well-performing”, with 96.6pc of SMS messages received within 15 seconds. The use of Internet has been evaluated by browsing on most popular websites in Bahrain – Google, Facebook and YouTube.
The average time to load a web page was around three seconds, and 96pc of web pages were downloaded within 10 seconds. Quality of access to the most popular social networks has been evaluated with reference to 2016. On Facebook, the available speed for uploading is around 10Mbps, which means that an average volume of 18Mb of data is transferred within 30 seconds.
On Instagram, it takes approximately five seconds to publish a photo taken on a smartphone. In the statement that highlighted key findings of the report, TRA’s director of technical operations Mohamed Alnoaimi said it was the only authority in the GCC to publish results of field tests measurements using protocols built to be as close as possible to user experience. “The effect of this policy is that industry results of mobile networks in Bahrain are maintained at the best international standards quality levels for the whole range of services,” he added.
The report is available on the regulator’s website: www.tra.bh.
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