Broadband

Enextgen’s NIWBQR tells us the state of 4G LTE deployed by MNOs on Lagos Island

Published

2 months ago

November 22, 2021

Yinka Okeowo

Whenever you’re using wireless data on your smartphone or other smart devices – whether you’re downloading, streaming, surfing the web or checking email – and you see “LTE” light up at the top of your screen, you’re using 4G LTE.

And what does “4G LTE” stand for?

4G LTE is short for “fourth generation long-term evolution.” So it’s actually two terms combined. First, “4G” represents the fourth generation of mobile technology, the next big advancement after 3G. And “long-term evolution,” or “LTE,” is industry jargon used to describe the particular type of 4G that delivers the fastest mobile internet experience.

So with what mobile network providers like MTN, Glo, Airtel, 9mobile and Internet Service Providers like Spectranet, Smile Communications, Swift Network, VDT Communications, etc., have promised you should be getting the best of quality service when it comes to using wireless data – 4G and LTE.

But is that what is obtainable? This report by Enextgen Wireless Limited will special focus on Lagos Island will give us idea of what is on ground!

Researchers at the company carried out 4G LTE Evaluation on Lagos Island on November 12, 2021.

“This is our first report on the quality of 4G LTE networks on Lagos Island since September 2018”, the company told TechEconomy.ng.

The 2018 report is available at Lagos Island, September 2018 – Enext Wireless, Inc

The present report was divided into seven sections, namely: Latency; Packet loss; Uplink Throughput; Downlink Throughput; Events; NIWBQR report, and Comments

NIWBQR stands for National Independent Wireless Broadband Quality Reporting.

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It uses proprietary metrics to rank the quality of 4G LTE networks in Nigeria.

Let’s start with the Packet Latency comprising MTN, Glo, Airtel & 9Mobile

MTN Packet Latency

Glo Packet Latency

Areas with a concentration of packet losses are highlighted
The UE was in UMTS a substantial part of the time.

Airtel Packet Latency

Areas with a concentration of packet losses are encircled
The UE was never in UMTS

Bins with packet loss: MTN, Glo, Airtel & 9mobile

For MTN, the researchers recorded no bins with packet loss

Glo – 11 bins with packet loss

“We use Emetrics legends for the bins. All the bins have acceptable RF quality. As such, RF quality is not likely to have caused the packet losses”, the researchers said.

Airtel – 14 bins with packet loss

“We use Emetrics legends for the bins. RF quality is not likely the cause of packet losses”.

9mobile – 46 bins with packet loss

The legends used for color-coding the bins are those of the Emetrics for the bins. None of the bins has Red color.

This is an indication that RF quality is unlikely the cause of the packet losses.

Uplink Throughput – MTN, Glo, Airtel & 9mobile

MTN Uplink Throughput

Mostly acceptable uplink throughput.

Glo Uplink Throughput

Some areas of very low uplink throughput (red bins) but acceptable uplink throughput in others.

Airtel Uplink Throughput

Acceptable uplink throughput with some exceptions (red bins)

9mobile Uplink Throughput

Mostly low uplink throughput

Downlink Throughput – MTN, Glo, Airtel & 9mobile

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MTN Downlink Throughput

High downlink throughput with some exceptions (red bins)

Glo Downlink Throughput

This shows mixed uplink throughput

Airtel Downlink Throughput

High downlink throughput with exceptions (red bins)

9mobile Downlink Throughput

9mbile has mostly low downlink throughput

Events

MTN – 5 RRC Call Drops

Glo – 1 RRC Call Drop (CD)

Airtel – 7 RRC Call Drops (CDs)

9mobile – 16 RRC Call Drops (CDs)

Commenting, Engineer Aderemi Adeyeye, president and CEO, Enextgen Wireless Inc., described NIWBQR as the de facto independent 4G LTE benchmarking standard in Nigeria.

“Key output of NIWBQR reports are available to the public at https://metrics.enextwireless.com/ within two hours of data collection. NIWBQR gives the Nigerian public visibility into the quality of mobile broadband networks (4G LTE) provided by the major MNOs in Nigeria.

“We share NIWBQR reports with all concerned MNOs to provide them opportunities to improve the quality of their 4G LTE networks.

“We use our proprietary logging tool (enextlog) for collecting UE logs and our proprietary platform (Premetrics) for post-processing the UE logs in other to create NIWBQR reports and perform analysis for other purposes.

“Weight for overall ranking: 50% to Emetrics (RF Quality), 20% each to downlink throughput and packet latency and 10% to uplink throughput”, he said.