Key topics to address for a successful deployment

of a QoE monitoring solution

Challenges of massive QoE

monitoring on mobile networks

33% of mobile users expect a highly personalized

service.

25% of mobile users max out their contracted

data limit at least once a year.

47% of mobile users

declare their device is too slow.

47% of mobile users experience data loading issues.

IN NUMBERS

Mobile users are expected to reach 9.2 billions

by 2025 according to the GSMA Mobile Economy

2019.

Beyond such an important growth the reality is that mobile com-

munications (voice and data) are now part of everyone's daily life

and a seamless and satisfying experience is the least a service pro-

vider has to deliver, anywhere and anytime, the risk being to see

frustrated customers leave for the competition.

With 4G becoming a basic service requirement and 5G in line of

sight, end-customers and telecommunication regulators expect

higher Quality of Service (QoS) and Quality of Experience (QoE)

levels delivered by mobile operators for both voice and data ser-

vices. Although traditional monitoring tools such as probes and

drive-tests offer insightful information about the network QoS,

customer-centric solutions are essential to address the high QoE

requirements challenges.

As such, a quality agent deployed on the mobile device is man-

datory to address the individual mobile experience expectations

of each one of the mobile subscribers at any time. A strategy of

indepth segmentation will not only help to offer the best service

level but also leads to an improved Net Promoter Score, an index

of growing importance that aims at defining how much a provider

gets recommended by its customers

High-value QoE monitoring should imply a massive agent deploy-

ment on end-user devices to collect the most critical metrics for an

operator, in line with its strategy and market positioning. It is criti-

cal to transfer this data to make it available for further analysis and

investigation, without degrading the final user experience. Such

deployment approach brings up critical challenges on both mobile

agents side (installed on end-customers devices) and the server

side, with privacy-by-design being a non-negociable prerequisite.

NETWORK QUALITY OF EXPERIENCE CHALLENGES

Challenges of Massive QoE Monitoring 2

Most mobile operators already provide their customers with "MyOpe-

rator" type apps deployed in the stores with massive install bases. This

approach allows them to leverage their installed customer base while

overcoming the possible reluctance of subscribers to install a dedicated

mobile app that collects network QoE KPIs. The agent must be installed

and updated seamlessly through the application’s regular updates.

The agent captures metrics based on active and/or passive test scenarios

that address QoE challenges. These scenarios must be fully configured

and deployed over the air in a near real-time, without any end-customer

action required. Application updates are limited to OS evolution, there-

fore reducing the needs for subscriber’s interaction.

QoE monitoring can consume a lot of a device’s energy and resources if

not optimised. Our expertise resides in minimizing any impact on devices

to encourage service adoption. Subscribers only authorize KPI collection

that has a negligible negative impact on their mobile experience. The

solution should consume the lowest data volume possible for both the

network performance tests and the communication with the back-end

server. The mobile agent should automatically reduce its activity if the en-

ergy level is low. Lastly, a limited storage space requirement is mandatory

to diminish the perceived impact of the solution.

AN END DEVICE AGENT

For a massive Quality Agent rollout, the best strategy is to

integrate a mobile SDK agent into an existing application.

A successful integration should be invisible to the end-user and aim at im-

proving their experience.

Challenges of Massive QoE Monitoring 3

Smartphone Operating Systems are regularly updated,

often modifying the access to QoE metrics.

This requires frequent agent updates to keep in line with the new OS gui-

delines and limitations. For instance, the Android Oreo (8.x) update forced

the applications to display a notification when running in the background.

The agent can be configured to display useful information for the end-

user, such as data consumption to minimize the impact on the customer

experience while continuously capturing metrics. To provide KPIs without

requiring a notification to be displayed on the device, monitoring solu-

tions must also offer a sampling configuration to capture QoE metrics on

a given frequency or when triggered by particular events.

Beyond Operating Systems, the SDK mobile agent can also be affected by

application upgrades. Application development expertise and close sup-

port are two critical factors to ensure that the agent and the host applica-

tion remain in synch and functioning.

For massive deployments, applications are distributed through stores

such as the Play Store or the App Store. Strict rules must be followed

regarding the application features and the access permission it requires.

The software agent on the end-device not only follows the requirements

imposed by OS, application and store evolutions, but it also anticipates

the next ones to guarantee a continuous metrics collection transparently

for the end user.

A controlled and future-proof lifecycle of the app ensures the continuity of the monitoring services.

Challenges of Massive QoE Monitoring 4

A successful strategy finds the sweet spot between the collection of

enough data to address the QoE monitoring needs and the data and

power resources consumption limitation. With this aim in mind, the me-

trics collected are pre-processed on the agent side to be enriched and

filtered on the fly.

With up to 100M KPIs per day for a platform with 1M active agents, ano-

ther challenge resides in the correct and futureproof data-centre dimen-

sioning that combines high performance with easy and fast scalability,

data processing and data access to the Business Intelligence platform.

A QoE Business Intelligence solution faces various critical challenges on

how to deliver insightful information while keeping a high-performance

level:

• Access to raw data via a user-friendly interface, for deep-dive inves-

tigation on network QoE,

• Access to aggregated data for a rapid overview of network perfor-

mance with graphical dashboards that can be automatically gene-

rated and exported via email,

• Export module to use Key Performance Indicators (KPI) outside the

platform: .csv file, .kml file or with a northbound interface for integra-

tion into a big data platform.

To deliver its full value, a massive scale QoE monitoring solution enriches

a data lake to add customer-centric insights into existing tools. Such an

approach allows for a fast adoption by stakeholders and precious data

consolidation to benefit diverse teams of the mobile network operator.

A BIG-DATA SERVER

Balance the need for monitoring KPI's with the re-

source consumption on the end-user device.

Handling a large amount of data and extracting value

from that data is key for mobile operators.

Challenges of Massive QoE Monitoring 5

The recent General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European

Union must be considered as a standard while developing an end-device

based QoE monitoring solution. The end-user must not only be informed

of the application’s activity but must also actively consent through the End-

User License Agreement and authorize the application to access QoE me-

trics with opt-in permission when installing the application.

The solution should allow for a configurable anonymity level that enables or

disables the collection of private information such as, for example, IMSI or

MSISDN to respect local regulations and privacy concerns while monitoring

the QoE.

Privacy must also be enforced in the solution through end-to-end data

encryption from the user device to the back-end server through secured

data flows and storage.

A PRIVACY BY DESIGN STRATEGY

Quality of Experience monitoring at massive scale offers a way for mobile operators to differentiate in the highly

competitive wireless service provision market. Such a solution delivers insights into the network behaviour and the

end-users QoE.

On the client-side, the on-device agent integration and lifecycle management must remain simple at all times. The

back-end must be scalable to support big data storage and processing, and with privacy concerns being addressed at

every level.

A successful deployment of a QoE solution implies careful focus to best face those challenges and to choose a techno-

logy partner with a strong proven track record in this field.

KEY LEARNINGS

Global data privacy concerns must be considered

throughout the complete engineering process.

Respecting the end-user data privacy ensures higher

solution adoption rate.

Challenges of Massive QoE Monitoring 6

V3D is 100% owned by SoftAtHome, a software company for the digi-

tal home, providing software products for connectivity, pay TV, Home

Networking and the Smart Home deployed with major operators in over

20 million homes in more than 18 countries.

Leveraging 10-years of field-proven expertise in Telecom Data Analytics,

V3D helps Mobile Operators and Regulators better understand their

end-users and overall network performance. We deliver valuable and

comprehensive Customer Experience information from where services

are provided.

V3D solutions allow for real-time Quality of Experience monitoring over

the entire CEM value chain directly through a terminal-based applica-

tion. With 28 references from MNOs to Telecom Regulators and Mobile

Virtual Network Operators, the EQual One and mScore technologies

provide critical metrics from the overall network vision to the single cus-

tomer level.

Global tier-one operators and telecom industry leaders trust V3D exper-

tise to collect, process and report millions of daily QoE measurements

to address the challenges they present and improve their Net Promoter

Score.

FIND A TRUSTED PARTNER FOR YOUR QOE MONITORING CHALLENGES

https://www.v3d.fr

contact@v3d.fr

https://linkedin.com/company/v3d

89 Boulevard du Parc d'Artillerie, 69009 Lyon, France

V3D has deployed its EQual One and mScore solutions

to major MNO's and regula-tors around the world.

Surround yourself with trusted experts that have

hands-on QoE monitoring experience.

Find out moreScan the QR code, or visitwww.v3d.fr/products/equal-one

Find out moreScan the QR code, or visitwww.v3d.fr/products/mscore