Broadband Quality of Servicein Sri Lanka

Test Results

AdvertisedDownload

Speed

Advertised Upload Speed

India Airtel 512 kbps 512 kbps

BSNL - Business 2 Mbps 256 kbps

BSNL - Home 2 Mbps 256 kbps

Hathway 256 kbps 256 kbps

Sri Lanka Dialog 2 Mbps 512 kbps

SLT - Business 2 Mbps 512 kbps

SLT - Home 512 kbps 128 kbps

Singapore StarHub* 1 Mbps 256 kbps

Packages tested

* Partial testing

Test ResultsThroughput (Download speed/Upload speed)

Business Packages performance in

• ISP domain

• Local domain

• International level

Business vs. Home performance

Sri Lanka vs. India/Singapore performance

Delay metrics (RTT/jitter)

Loss metrics (Packet Loss)

Test Results

Throughput - Download speed

2 Mbps

Download speed (Business Packages): Relatively healthy in ISP domain…

> 75%

ISP

SLT (2M/512k) Dialog (2M/512k)

Download speed (Business Packages): … and does not significantly vary among different days (be it week days or weekend)

ISP

2 Mbps

Download speed (Business Packages):…poor in Local domain

> 75%

Local

SLT (2M/512k) Dialog (2M/512k)

Download speed (Business Packages): …also variations are relatively higher among three days (interconnection issues?)

Local

2 Mbps

Download speed (Business Packages): …even poorer when accessing International sites

> 75%

Int’l

SLT (2M/512k) Dialog (2M/512k)

Download speed (Business Packages): … that does not significantly vary across days

Int’l

Download speed (SLT Business vs. SLT Home packages): …in % terms, home is better than business

Download speed (SLT Business vs. SLT Home packages): …and comparable in reaching international sites

Download speed: India and Sri Lanka (ISP Domain):Sri Lanka performs slightly better

ISP

> 75%

Download speed: India and Sri Lanka (Local Domain): India performs better

Local

> 75%

Download speed: India and Sri Lanka (accessing International servers): India looks good

Int’l

> 75%

Download speed Sri Lanka and Singapore (accessing International servers): Singapore wins

Int’l

> 75%

Test Results

Throughput - Upload speeds

512 kbps

Upload speed (Business packages):Somewhat healthy in ISP domain

ISP

> 75%

512 kbps

Upload speed (Business packages):…a bit down at Local Domain

Local

> 75%

512 kbps

Upload speed (Business packages):…and poor in accessing International sites

Int’l

> 75%

Upload speed (SLT Business vs. SLT Home packages): …here too in %, home is better than business, but not in actual speeds

(aprox 100 kpbs)

(aprox 200 kpbs)

Upload speed Sri Lanka and Singapore (accessing International sites): Singapore wins

Int’l

> 75%

Test Results

Jitter and Packet Loss

Jitter (in ms): Sometimes not enough quality for video/high quality audio but satisfactory for other applications

ISP –Week Day Local –Week Day INT –Week Day

ISP –Weekend Local –Weekend INT –Weekend

Packet Loss : Most of the times, but not always, within acceptable limits (5%)

Where is the bottleneck?

Accessing www.lankacom.net through SLT (2M/512k)

NB: All IP addresses are within SL (www.whois.net)

65 ms

25 ms

170 ms

10 ms

Local

Accessing www.yahoo.com through SLT (2M/512k)

NB: Upto 5th hop IP addresses are within SL (www.whois.net)

65 ms

25 ms

170 ms

10 ms

Int’l

Using RTT/latency in broadband QoSregulation

Local Network Latency (LNL): Round Trip Time (RTT) taken to access a national or site hosted within the country

Requirement: LNL < 85ms for 95% of the peak time

International Network Latency (INL) : Round Trip Time (RTT) to the first US entry point.

Requirement: INL < 300ms for 95% of the peak time

Where do we stand?

PackageLocal Network Latency International Network Latency

Requirement Achivement Passed? Requirement Value Passed?

Airtel (512k/512k) 85 ms 8 ms ☺ 300 ms 217 ☺BSNL (2M/256k) 85 ms 191 ms 300 ms 295 ☺SLT (2M/512k) 85 ms 11 ms ☺ 300 ms 258 ☺

ISP1 – Out:Exit from local ISP

FEP: First Entry point to USA

Few points to ponder

o Do we always get what is promised, especially when downloading from International sites?

o Are these trends transitional or long-term?

o Are Home packages better value for money than Business packages?

o Should we demand better QoS for Games/video?

o Can we be complacent because the situation is not too different in India?

o Should we adopt Singapore standards or more stringent ones?

Thank You!

wattegama@lirne.netwww.lirneasia.net

Thanks to LIRNEasia team, Prof. Timothy Gonsalves and team, Sriganesh Lokanathan, Sanjana Hattotuwa, Sanath Siriwardena and all who contributed ideas/opinions in online discussions at LIRNEasia blog.

Local Loop Unbundling (LLU)

• Legislated in only few South-East Asian countries including South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia– Mandatory LLU legislation in Hong Kong to be fully

withdrawn by June 2008, on the basis that policy may discourage investment in existing network infrastructure & additional investment in fibre-based, alternative customer access networks by competitors

• However, LLU is rarely used in South Asian countries or anywhere in developing world

LLU: The Case of India

• April 2004: TRAI recommends Shared Unbundling and Bit Stream Access– BSNL and MTNL (incumbents) do not support LLU, citing

complications in other countries without seeming benefits to consumers

• Jan 2008: TRAI retracts LLU ruling because of– Complexity – Possible friction among operators leading to degradation of QoS– Insufficient line capacity in the country need to provide

incentives for new roll-out

Broadband QoS regulating in Singapore

Network Availability (NA) = (Mins operational – Mins non-operational ) x 100%

Mins operational

Requirement: NA > 99% (Excluding pre-announced maintenance periods)

Bandwidth Utilisation (BU)=Peak utilisation level in each segment x 100

Total bandwidth available for that segment

Requirement: BU < 90% (average of all segments taken)If it exceeds 90% for 3 consecutive months, the provider is

directed to purchase more bandwidth. *Cannot be tested by the consumers

Regulation Singapore Vs. India

Parameter Singapore India

Network Availability > 99% > 98%

Latency (Local) < 85ms < 120 ms

Latency (Intl) < 300ms < 350 ms (terrestrial)

< 800 ms (satellite)

Bandwidth Utilisation < 90% during peak time

< 80% during peak time

Broadband Connection Speed (download)

Not Specified > 80% of specified from user to ISP

Service Activation Not Specified 100% in 15 working days

Customer Support Not Specified 60% calls in 60 sec

80% calls in 90 sec

Broadband QoS regulation in other countries

• Malaysia –Regulates QoS but not much information available

• Australia – No regulation but a manual available for consumers

• South Korea – Uses two approaches. Monitor QoS using an automated methodology and conduct user satisfaction surveys

• Bahrain – A consultation has been done, but no regulation

• UK – Conducts user satisfaction surveys. Customers were queried on quality and it was concluded that 90% were satisfied with quality (speeds) of broadband. Satisfaction with narrowband at 60%.

Mobitel HSPA (1M/384k) Download

Mobitel HSPA (1M/384k) Upload

2 Mbps

512 kbps

Upload and download (ISP domain)

2 Mbps

512 kbps

Upload and download (Local domain)

2 Mbps

512 kbps

Upload and download (ISP domain)

What ‘broadband’ means

Source: www.marketclarity.com.au quoted by TRAI

* Note: Only for illustration purposes; the data may be outdated.