HK cellcos agree to publish mobile data metrics

Nicole McCormick | March 15, 2010

telecomseurope.net

Thumbnail:

Hong Kong operators will start publishing key performance metrics as part of an Ofta-backed drive to improve transparency and service level.

Under the initiative, Hong Kong cellcos – CSL, Hutchison 3, PCCW’s HK Telecom and SmarTone – will publish “performance pledges” covering mobile broadband network reliability, service restoration time and customer service.

“[With] enhanced information available to consumers, the market may achieve higher levels of efficiency,” while customers would better understand the choices available, Ofta said in a statement.

But the regulator said the performance pledges were “not equivalent to service “guarantees.’”

They will however “give customers an indication of the normal service quality level which they can reasonably expect to experience if they choose a particular service.”

Consumer complaints about fell from 6.59 per 10,000 customers to 5.46 in the first year after a similar scheme was introduced for fixed-line broadband, said Ofta.

The regulator will establish a speed test website in Hong Kong to enable users to test the speed performance of mobile broadband services.

The four operators will publish performance pledges on their websites by July and start measurement in the third quarter of 2010.

China Mobile HK will join the scheme once it starts to provide mobile broadband services.

Consumers may expect the first batch of performance statistics to be available by end October, Ofta said.

Source:

Nicole McCormick