Telecom XT Independent Report Released

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NealR

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#61015 7-May-2010 09:31

Today we released the key findings and recommendations from Analysys Mason’s independent review of the XT mobile network.

Analysys Mason was commissioned by Telecom to conduct an independent review of the design, build and operation of the network as at 29 January 2010.

“The review has been both chastening and heartening at the same time,” said Paul Reynolds, CEO, Telecom New Zealand. “Clearly some serious errors were made but the report shows that XT is fundamentally sound, that Telecom, and our partner Alcatel Lucent are now on the right track. Significant progress in improving the robustness and reliability of XT has been made.”

The report says that XT’s network architecture aligns with best practice industry standards and forms the platform for high-quality current and future 3G mobile services New Zealand.

http://www.telecom-media.co.nz/releases_detail.asp?id=3682&page=1&pagesize=10

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#327619 7-May-2010 10:08

Interesting... Basically it was growing pains, much like the issues you had when the old CDMA network first came out around 2000'ish.

freitasm

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#327637 7-May-2010 11:05

This is the reply from Alcatel-Lucent regarding this review:

Alcatel-Lucent New Zealand and Pacific Islands Chief Executive, Jyoti Mahurkar-Thombre, said today she is “pleased with the significant progress that has been made to address issues associated with the XT network, which is performing well and in line with other best-practice networks internationally.”

“Working with Telecom, we have taken significant steps to address the XT issues including deploying additional equipment to increase network capacity and handle future growth. We’ve also made network modifications to improve coverage and performance, and continue to refine the operations model and make procedural improvements.”

Responding to the findings and recommendations of Analysys Mason from January 29, 2010, Mahurkar-Thombre said, “The report provides an independent validation that the steps we have taken to improve the XT network are the right ones.”

“We are firmly focused on the performance of XT network today, tomorrow and into the future. We want to ensure Telecom and all New Zealanders have access to high quality current and next generation 3G mobile services.”

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#327674 7-May-2010 13:07

Neal.

You may be interested in this little piece.

"Telstra mobile outage hits Queensland"
http://www.zdnet.com.au/telstra-mobile-outage-hits-queensland-339302894.htm

Sounds familiar.

Regards,

Old3eyes

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#327686 7-May-2010 13:22

And the Hon Steven Joyce, Minister for Communications and Information Technology, has his own opinion as well:

Minister on release of XT review findings

Communications and Information Technology Minister Steven Joyce has welcomed Telecom’s release of the summary findings of an independent review of its XT network.

The review identified problems with the design, planning and operation of the XT network.

Mr Joyce says the government’s primary focus is on Telecom’s ability to provide a robust 111 emergency calling service to its XT customers.

“New Zealanders must have confidence in their telecommunications infrastructure for emergency calling. All the mobile network operators need to take all reasonable steps to facilitate 111 calling from their networks.

“The roaming agreement they have recently developed will significantly improve the availability of 111 calling to mobile phone users when it is implemented. It is also good to see that the telecommunications industry is signing up to the industry code of practice setting minimum standards for 111 calls.

“I will be reviewing closely the results of investigations into recent network outages to assess whether any further action is required to protect the integrity of the emergency calling system.

“Beyond that, it’s obvious that there have been significant issues with the XT network. Telecom’s customers will be pleased to see the company moving quickly to improve the network’s reliability,” says Mr Joyce.

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pwner

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#327710 7-May-2010 14:20

What is this roaming agreement the minister speaks of?
i am guessing it is with Vodafone in case XT falls over again, which makes sense but must be a nice little thorn in their side financially and in pride as they have to go crawling to their competitor.

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NealR

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#327715 7-May-2010 14:25

We have all (TelecomNZ, VodafoneNZ, 2Degrees) signed a Memorandum of understanding (MOU) that agrees to allow each others customers make emergency calls, if their handsets support the other networks technology, on their networks in the event that the customers home network is unavailable.

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#327721 7-May-2010 14:33

pwner: What is this roaming agreement the minister speaks of?
i am guessing it is with Vodafone in case XT falls over again, which makes sense but must be a nice little thorn in their side financially and in pride as they have to go crawling to their competitor.

It's actually nothing new. As Neal mentioned above simply an agreement for 111 calls to camp onto other networks if your phone is outside the coverage area or the network is suffering an outage and has been in place since the launch of XT and of 2degrees.

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#327726 7-May-2010 14:41

sbiddle:
pwner: What is this roaming agreement the minister speaks of?
i am guessing it is with Vodafone in case XT falls over again, which makes sense but must be a nice little thorn in their side financially and in pride as they have to go crawling to their competitor.

It's actually nothing new. As Neal mentioned above simply an agreement for 111 calls to camp onto other networks if your phone is outside the coverage area or the network is suffering an outage and has been in place since the launch of XT and of 2degrees.

Then why is this news? Most phones have had this capability haven't they? Just take out your sim.., as I remember the phone should say 'emergency calls only'.

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#327737 7-May-2010 14:59

SteveON:
Then why is this news? Most phones have had this capability haven't they? Just take out your sim.., as I remember the phone should say 'emergency calls only'.

Simple - because Steven Joyce needs an excuse to say something. Ministers need to be seen to be in connection with every positive thing that happens, lest the public think they aren't doing anything.

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#327738 7-May-2010 15:01

IIRC no New Zealand telco allows mobile emergency calls if you take the SIM out of the handset. This is to prevent prank calls.

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#327745 7-May-2010 15:25

sbiddle:
It's actually nothing new. As Neal mentioned above simply an agreement for 111 calls to camp onto other networks if your phone is outside the coverage area or the network is suffering an outage and has been in place since the launch of XT and of 2degrees.

Wasn't there a problem with XT that the network wasn't sufficiently down to trigger this fall over?

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sbiddle

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#327749 7-May-2010 15:34

Bung:
sbiddle:
It's actually nothing new. As Neal mentioned above simply an agreement for 111 calls to camp onto other networks if your phone is outside the coverage area or the network is suffering an outage and has been in place since the launch of XT and of 2degrees.

Wasn't there a problem with XT that the network wasn't sufficiently down to trigger this fall over?

Yes, as some calls were still being connected there were some 111 calls that did not connect. During the outages there were significant numbers of 111 calls from XT customers that were carried on other networks however.

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#327750 7-May-2010 15:35

Bung:
sbiddle:
It's actually nothing new. As Neal mentioned above simply an agreement for 111 calls to camp onto other networks if your phone is outside the coverage area or the network is suffering an outage and has been in place since the launch of XT and of 2degrees.

Wasn't there a problem with XT that the network wasn't sufficiently down to trigger this fall over?

Thats true when they had one of the later outages i recall something about if they were GPRS attached they wouldn't detach from the Telecom network and therefore couldn't use Vodafone for an emergency call. Telecom will just need to pull the pin completely in the affected area until they know it is working, to make sure people roam over.

The GSM standard has allowed for this without aggreement for ages. most don't allow it without a sim card but even if you can't roam on to them they will let you make a 112 call, which the local operator will translate to whatever the emergency call number is in that country or region.

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#327751 7-May-2010 15:37

freitasm: IIRC no New Zealand telco allows mobile emergency calls if you take the SIM out of the handset. This is to prevent prank calls.

Maybe so, however for example the Manual for the Sony C510a sold by Telecom in NZ says (p31)

... You can normally use these numbers to make emergency calls in any country with or without [my emphasis] the SIM card inserted ...

This is a potentially dangerous conflict of information versus practice and the NZ operators should make sure that this local difference is well-publicised to users, probably at least a label on the SIM card and a correction to the printed & online manuals. While the reason might be understandable, it is dangerous to arbitrarily change from international industry practice in such matters without making very sure that naive end-users are not labouring under a false assumption.

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#327765 7-May-2010 16:02

Many years ago (before my time with Vodafone so at least four if not more) the telcos were approached by (I believe) the police with a view to removing the ability. Too many kids were calling 111 by accident and it causes a huge amount of grief.

Even today the number of emergency calls that aren't real emergencies run to 50% of all 111 calls (story last week in the Dom from memory). Having even more un-real calls to 111 would simply swamp the system and make it unusable.

Happy to be corrected, but that's as I understand the history of it.

Paul

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http://forum.vodafone.co.nz

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