Cem enhancing the user experience

Winners

China Unicom
Enhancing the user experience

China Unicom Shandong has optimized its end-to-end network through an innovative and proactive approach to user
perception, which has yielded rapid subscriber growth and a sterling reputation for QoE.
By Wu Kunpeng & Yang Xin

39

Editor: Li Xuefeng xuefengli@huawei.com

DEC 2011

Data service & operational
challenges

S

handong is an economically developed
coastal province; its mobile market has
grown steadily over recent years, but this
growth has brought greater demand for
data services. These services have become the
battleground where operators compete for newly
added subscribers and cultivate new revenue streams.
China Unicom Shandong (Shandong Unicom)
has committed to this battle wholeheartedly. It
has carried out intensive marketing campaigns
under its own brand (Wo) and committed a
variety of other resources to furthering its data
service competitiveness. Its efforts have paid off
handsomely; its 2010 3G subscriber additions were
double what they were in 2009, while 3G revenue
jumped twelve fold. However, all this new business
was straining its infrastructure and outpacing its
O&M practices.
Shandong Unicom had trouble comparing
and managing service quality between different
hotspots; user perceptions were hard to quantify,
leading to lapses in quality control. A long E2E
service chain for mobile data; service diversity and
complexity; as well as varied assessment criteria for
service quality and user perception, all added to
their O&M management difficulties.
Subscriber data is also generally difficult to
access, making it difficult to identify and evaluate
data services. Currently, evaluation is performed
primarily through drive testing (DT) and call
quality testing (CQT), which are often performed
after complaints have been filed. While these tests

DEC 2011

are suitable for finding dead spots in coverage,
they typically cannot isolate the fluid conditions
and traffic surges that often lead to disruptions in
today’s networks; they cannot paint a big picture of
what is happening on the network.
What’s more, even with network key performance
indicators (KPIs), user perceptions often remain
unclear. A core network’s put-through/call-through
rate and wireless call drop rate are both indicators of
network performance, but they do not reveal what
the user is hearing or experiencing.

Perception-based
optimization
Shandong Unicom partnered with Huawei to
explore user perceptions in depth. It has put into
place a QoS evaluation system meant to reflect
user perceptions. It has analyzed factors that affect
service quality throughout the connection process
and identified differences between terminals in
the provision of various services. This system has
enabled Shandong Unicom to carry out acrossthe-board optimization at the network, service
platform, and device levels, which has led to
improved 3G operations and happier customers.

User perception indicators
Shandong Unicom has put into place a correlation
system for QoE, KQI and KPI, where real-world
service perceptions are quantified and used to
determine other relevant factors. It has established a
model for QoE, KQIs, and KPIs for certain services
and defined a five-level scale for QoE evaluation
ranging from very satisfied to very unsatisfied; then

40

Winners

Through continued optimization, Shandong Unicom
now offers a quality 3G experience under its Wo brand,
laying a solid foundation for further improvements in QoE
and the attraction of new subscribers.
based on Huawei’s understanding of key points in end
users’ service experience, it put in place a set of KQIs
for service quality evaluation; finally, combing the
KPIs and KQIs, it went deeper to identify hidden root
causes at the network level that affect user experience.

We’ve found the problem, now what?
The ensuing challenge for Shandong Unicom has
been leveraging this evaluation system for diagnostics
of current user perceptions and optimizing the
system accordingly. With input from Huawei experts,
Shandong Unicom has developed a set of methods
and processes to do just that. On the one hand, it
looks at KQI and KPI values with the help of testing
tools or a network management platform to diagnose
problems. On the other hand, it identifies key regions
and subscriber groups by looking at statistics or other
derivative data, to solve common problems among
them. By combining these two approaches, Shandong
Unicom has put into place optimization measures
across the board and effectively improved both service
quality and user perception.
The process boils down to five key steps –
probe & drive testing at the Uu interface; internal
signal tracking and analysis at the radio network
controller (RNC) layer; internal signal tracking
and analysis at the Serving GPRS Supporting Node
(SGSN) layer; external signal analysis at the Gn/
Gi/Gw interfaces using the system quality metrics
(SQM) system; and internal signaling tracking and
analysis at service system gateways. By deploying
equipment at these checkpoints to monitor/gather
packet data and performing deep data mining
and error code analysis at layers ranging from the
service to the physical, Shandong Unicom has been
able to locate the faulty network segments that
cause service quality deterioration immediately

41

after problems are discovered; they have also
been able to provide guidance for resolution and
optimization at the network level.

Improved E2E service quality
Leveraging this evaluation system, Shandong
Unicom has carried out special 3G initiatives in
the provincial capital of Jinan to improve user
perception for MMS, WAP, FTP, streaming media
services, and iPhone applications.
Its MMS completion rate has increased by
14.9%, while its InterRAU has risen by 13.9%.
Web page access speed has also significantly
accelerated for certain terminals, while FTP
interruption has disappeared. Switching from 2G
to 3G for the iPhone has sped up and, through
the adding of a suitable player, the play quality for
streaming media on the iPhone has improved.
Complaints related to 3G quality have dropped
sharply, from 24 incidents in January 2011 to 13
in April of the same year; complaints per 10,000
subscribers have fallen to 1.9 incidents from 4.4, a
reduction of 57.6 percent.
In addition, Shandong Unicom has analyzed
differences in service usage between terminals,
considering their type and number in use. It has
begun to understand user tendencies for specific
devices, thanks to user behavior analysis and
sorting; it can now identify potential subscribers
after looking into factors that affect service failure,
and provide targeted support for service promotion.
Through continued optimization of its network
and practices, Shandong Unicom now offers a
premium 3G experience under its Wo brand, laying
a solid foundation for further improvements in QoE
and the attraction of new subscribers.

DEC 2011

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