SwissQual drives global quality standards for new 4G mobile services

With the expansion of 4G networks in the Persian Gulf region, and the introduction of new LTE networks in Saudi Arabia, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, the need to test the quality of new, high-bandwidth voice, video and data services is attaining high importance. High-value customers switching to LTE services expect faster and better quality services than previously received on 3G/3.5 G networks.

SwissQual is helping several of the of the Gulf region's mobile network operators (MNOs) and telecoms regulatory authorities (TRAs) to benchmark the quality of their 4G networks and services against competitors and older technologies. Testing goals include ensuring that networks and services meet the quality expected by premium customers, as well as respecting the license conditions set by TRAs.

As the recognized market leading mobile network benchmarking supplier, SwissQual's long-term involvement in standards bodies like ITU-T is vital to ensure that mobile network benchmarking and optimization products - relied on by more than 150 MNOs and TRAs globally - are up-to-date with the latest evolution of standards.

SwissQual's active participation in the ITU-T helps achieve a very detailed, fundamental understanding of the needs for mobile network and service quality testing. By maintaining long-term support for a dedicated group of advanced researchers, SwissQual gains early insight into key quality determinants, and is able to contribute to ITU-T recommendations, rather than simply observing the outputs of other companies. In some cases, SwissQual has provided the intellectual property that drives global video and voice quality testing standards to the next level, such as in ITU-T recommendations P.863 (POLQA) and J.341 (VQUAD-HD), which are both based on SwissQual algorithms and IPR.

SwissQual is able to build this advanced, early knowledge into products such as QualiPoc Android, a very popular handheld network optimization tool, and the market-leading Diversity Benchmarker, a full-scale network benchmarking platform used by numerous TRAs and MNOs around the world.

Diversity Benchmarker provides multi-channel voice, data and video quality mobile network benchmarking for 2G, 3G and 4G networks, with ITU-T P.863 (POLQA) and ITU-T J.341 (VQUAD-HD) testing capabilities on-board, using the latest Android smartphones as integrated test platforms - the only vendor to offer this capability. Benchmarker uses an automated, synchronized and objective process that actively tests the network with tens of thousands of test calls, providing consistent and reliable competitive quality metrics that are unachievable by other means. QualiPoc Android, which already supports LTE testing and multi-level forcing functionality, is the only handheld optimization system to include ITU P.863 POLQA algorithms, allowing handheld in-field voice quality testing.

SwissQual is now working on the next-generation of service quality standards as part of various ITU-T groups. For example, SwissQual is highly active in the mobile video testing field, helping to drive new standards for YouTube quality testing and KPIs. This commitment to advanced research and development and quality standardization helps ensure SwissQual's products remain at the leading edge of mobile network service quality research.

SwissQual is currently exhibiting at the ITU Telecom World forum in Dubai, 14-18 October 2012, as part of the Rohde & Schwarz exhibit on stand M-2010.