Final corrections before the BATTLE!!

It surely has been busy days during the past 3 to 4 months for our mobile operators. Strengthening their network before the new comer hits the market.

Dropped call

Tigo had to reconsider its network after attracting more and more subscribers. Several dropped and blocked calls were frequent on its network last year. There where some spots (particularly indoor environment) to be filled on which you could get no coverage at all. More needed to be done on their 3G network as well, by increasing the number of transceivers (antennas).


On the other end, MTN with its "aging" 3G network had to perform an upgrade. It was about time, as their speeds didn't portray what a 3G trchnology should offer (although field performances hardly meet ideal modes).
For their 2G network, they had all the time in the world since 1998 to optimize it as they had a much slower increase in their number of subscribers.                

Handset ready to drop 3G signal as the level reaches -106dB

The next thing that should be considered, both by the two providers, would be to increase the coverage of 3G. Even in urban area. It really gets annoying when your handset performs a handoff from a 3G to a 2G station (and vice-versa) each 50m walking around. Especially knowing the fact that you can't receive voice calls while using data services on 2G.

Shortage on MTN network

Its been more than 4 days that MTN data communication users are experiencing slow, if any, connections particularly with the 3G network.

MTN customers anger was mostly due to the silence or non-satisfying reasons from the operator. Some times statements from MTN officials saying the issue comes from a fiber optic cable cut in Tanzania, other times blaming their 3G network upgrade.

Some subscribers claim the voice communication is also faulty. MTN has to deal with the increasing number of 3G users since the introduction of unlimited data plan for only 21,000frw /month.

RURA, the regulator, might consider taking action against MTN if customers keep experiencing the poor delivery.

MTN CEO had a press conference today, blaming the shortage on several cuts of the EASSy (Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System) cable causing MTN to loose 80% of its international capacity. Before, some outages experienced by some data users were due to the upgrade of 3G network, the CEO assured. He finally promised that a compensation will be provided to all data users after the upgrade.

Kigali's 3G test

Today I am showing you a quick test I did on 3G networks here in Kigali.
  
Note: these tests should not be considered as a full reference of the two operator's networks, rather they expose what to be expected.

The speed tests were performed indoor, outdoor and in a moving vehicle to showcase different scenarios. But performed with the same handset.

These two screen-shots above are from an indoor speed test. 63513, standing for Tigo network (still wondering why folks from Tigo didn't put the name of their network instead of the code numbers), shows faster download speeds (1.491Mbps) compared to R-cell network (0.619Mbps = 619Kbps). These tests are the highest download speeds achieved after 3 tests for each network.




On these two screen-shots from an outdoor spot (Tigo on the left and MTN on the right), MTN showed some kind of stability. Surprisingly I had too much difficulty to achieve 300Kbps on Tigo's 3G.

Finally in a moving vehicle (30 to 60km/h), speeds fell under 300Kbps which is not really a surprise with a moving handset.


Overall, after several tests, MTN 3G network looked relatively constant on its speeds (500-700Kbps) while Tigo could offer peaks of up to 2Mbps.
There has been an improvement inTigo's network from last year,but MTN still has the advantage of a fairly good 3G coverage in Kigali.

The imminent Airtel will, with no doubt, bring a new generation of mobile network. Just as Rwandatel brought 3G network (MTN had to follow right after), and Tigo came with 3.5G (I'll let you guess what MTN did after that).
Airtel might come up with a HSUPA (High-Speed Uplink Packet Access) network branded 3.75G, which is an upgrade on the Uplink (connection from the handset to the tower/antenna) of the HSDPA 3.5G network. Airtel already deployed this network in some countries in Africa where it is operating.

But hey! Why not a 4G right from the start :) . Unofficial news are stating that the operator is deploying a new generation of equipment with LTE (Long Term evolution) compatibility.

Answers on the launching day.

Early signs?

It's been a while that I've been seeing new GSM antennas rising from roof tops of some buildings in Kigali. This got me curious, wondering if the new transceivers were from the awaited Airtel. Obviously, the new operator should be by now 'cooking' its new network and performing some tests before the official launch.

I decided to do some sniffing of the waves around us with my handset, looking for signs of Airtel. I have to say my results were totally unexpected. Here are 2 snapshots from my handset.

63513 stands for Tigo network (don't ask me why people from Tigo didn't put a name to their network), R-CELL for MTN and VodaCom for???? TELECEL-BDI???

Now that got me thinking how Vodacom is being picked up in Kigali! Telecel operates in Burundi. How is it showing up in Kigali? Are they towers being under test by Airtel? Why would they bare these names from operators outside the country? I couldn't find any plausible answer to these questions.

We are now more than 4 million!

RURA recently published via its website www.rura.gov.rw new figures of mobile users in Rwanda. We're now approximately 4.424 million mobile users. The increase, from 36% last year to 41% of the population, was mostly made possible by Tigo who's now carrying more than 1.5 million GSM users, closing the gap with MTN and its 2.9 million subscribers (attracting less compared to Tigo).

RURA is expecting mobile utilization to hit 60% of the population before the end of 2012. RURA assures that the current pace and the imminent arrival of Airtel, this goal (60%) will be reached by the end of the year. But we all know new companies tend to start in urban areas where people are already mobile users... But this time we can feel that Airtel is generating more enthusiasm more than any other company before its launch.

It is rumored that Airtel will be launching officially its services this April. We should see some unusual movement from our two current operators by then. Some breaking news (needs to be confirmed as well) are stating that Tigo has just acquired both the fiber optic and WIMAX network of the bankrupted Rwandatel. If this news is proved to be true, the acquirement would be a huge deal for Tigo in the race of ISPs (Internet Service Provider). Before RURA revoked its license, Rwandatel, according to its employees, was building a strong mobile-WIMAX network in Kigali (the first in the country). Currently Tigo is the second ISP in the country, behind Rwandatel which is still providing fixed internet services (RURA numbers).


What are your thought on this? What are your expectations from Airtel launch?