RATEL’s strategy is to encourage further investments and development of telecommunications markets by fostering competition, cost-effectiveness and efficiency in mobile communications, as well as to provide fair and unbiased information about the quality of service in the mobile networks in the Republic of Serbia to the subscribers. Therefore, as of 2017, RATEL has been carrying out extensive benchmarking tests of the three mobile network operators: A1 Srbija, Telekom Srbija and Yettel. This is the sixth year in a row that RATEL has performed nationwide benchmarking.
The purpose of Mobile Network Benchmarking is to compare in an objective fashion the quality of mobile network services by measuring Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which represent user experience with services offered by all mobile network operators. The benchmarking measurements were conducted in September, October, and November 2022. In the first half of 2022, RATEL conducted a public international tender for Mobile Network Benchmarking activity and awarded the contract to a consortium comprised of CRONY, a Serbian company specialized in the representation of foreign companies in Serbia, and Systemics-PAB, a renowned service company from Poland.
Systemics-PAB is a well-recognized company offering benchmarking services to regulatory authorities and network operators worldwide. They provide solutions and services to measure, monitor and analyse the quality of mobile and fixed networks, with the aim to enhance the end-user experience. The experience that Systemics-PAB gained during more than 16 years of working in this area, has enabled them to develop effective techniques and methodologies for conducting benchmark activities, and all their tests, measurements and processes are ISO 9001 certified, which ensures impartiality and reliability of the results.
For the second time in the history of this project, the rating and benchmarking of the mobile services is performed by using ETSI methodology described in ETSI TR 103 559 Annex A document. This international standard allows for an objective assessment of the quality of service and user experience for each mobile network operator.
Benchmarking measurements covered 55 cities/towns, almost 16,000 km of Serbian roads and over 1,400 km of railways. During the campaign, over 9000 voice calls and 7000 of all data service tests were performed for each mobile network operator across all technologies (2G, 3G, 4G). These measurements included:
The whole benchmarking campaign was divided into phases as presented in Figure 1.
Fig.1 Benchmarking campaign phases
In parallel with the analysis and reporting, the dedicated portal has been updated with new results, making the latest benchmarking results publicly available on RATEL’s web page. The portal has also been upgraded with new features.
In 2021, the largest share of 60,2 % in total revenues made in the Serbian electronic communications market went to mobile telephony service provision, the same as in previous years. (Source: An overview of the Telecom and Postal Services Market in the Republic of Serbia in 2021, RATEL).
The mobile market in Serbia, in terms of the number of subscribers, is divided among three mobile network operators (MNO) and one mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). The MVNO - Globatel has not been included in the scope of the benchmark activity since their mobile market revenue share in 2021 was approximately 0.07% and their share of mobile subscribers in Q3 2022 was approximately 0.79% of. The mobile market shares in Serbia in 2021 in terms of revenues generated by the operators are presented in Figure 3. The respective shares of mobile subscribers for the three MNOs in Q3 2022 are presented in Figure 2.
Fig. 2. Mobile subscribers
Source: Q3 2022 Market overview, RATEL
Fig. 3. Mobile market revenue share
Source: 2021 Market overview, RATEL
The number of mobile subscribers in Serbia is approximately 8.5 million, which corresponds to 123.72% of SIM penetration rate in 2021. The voice users generated more than 5.08 billion minutes in the third quarter of 2022. There were 8.665 million active mobile broadband subscribers, generating over 215.2 million GB of data traffic in the Q3 2022.
Telekom Srbija - MTS is the mobile network operator with the biggest number of subscribers in Serbia. It was founded in 1997 and started to provide mobile communications service in 1998. Telekom Srbija operates its 4G network at 800 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz. Additionally, it operates a 3G network at 900 MHz and 2100 MHz and a 2G network at 900 MHz and 1800MHz. In 2019, Telekom Srbija started providing the VoLTE (Voice over LTE) service to its subscribers.
Telenor has been present in Serbia since 2006, when they acquired Mobi63, formerly Mobtel, founded in 1994. Since March 2018, Telenor is owned by PPF investment fund. As of March 2022, Telenor officially operates under the name of Yettel. Yettel operates its 4G network at 800 MHz and 1800 MHz, and partly at 2100 MHz. It operates its 3G network mainly at 900 MHz and 2100 MHz coverage, and its 2G network at 900 MHz and 1800 MHz. In 2020 Yettel started providing the VoLTE (Voice over LTE) service to its subscribers.
A1 Srbija, formerly operating under Vip mobile brand name, was established in 2006 and is a part of Telekom Austria Group. A1 Srbija offers 4G network at 800 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2100MHz, 3G network at 2100 MHz and at 900 MHz, and 2G network at 900 MHz and 1800 MHz. In 2019 A1 Srbija started providing the VoLTE (Voice over LTE) service to its subscribers.
Telekom Srbija has the biggest number of locations with active base stations in Q3 2022, as presented in Figure 4. (Source: RATEL data for Q3 2022, RATEL)
Fig. 4. Total number of locations with active base stations, per operator, Q3 2022
A quarterly overview of the total number of locations with base stations per technology and mobile operator by Q3 2022, is presented in Figure 5.
Fig. 5. Total number of locations of base stations per technology and mobile operator until Q3 2022 (Source: RATEL data for Q4 2021, Q1 2022, Q2 2022, Q3 2022, RATEL)
