Dutch mobile operators to be ranked again

It will be interesting to see who will achieve the "best in test" accolade this year. Furthermore, the report will reveal how each operator has developed over the last year – regarding growing consumer expectations and gaps that needed to be addressed with further investments. Will Dutch operators keep their exceptional performance from last year’s test and their positioning on the international scale? In 2017, all four Dutch operators ranked among the top ten in the global P3 benchmark comparison (P3 Score).

Completing the scope
As last year, two measurement cars travelled through smaller towns and cities as well as along connecting highways to collect the data. This year, in addition, walk- and railway-tests were conducted with teams measuring in popular places with a high visitor frequency – e.g. train stations, airport terminals, coffee shops and museums. Furthermore, measurements took place in long-distance trains travelling from city to city.

Introducing crowdsourcing
What’s also new in this year’s measurements: P3 used crowdsourced data – complementary to the classic benchmark measurement methods – to evaluate the network experience in the Netherlands. Crowdsourced data is continuously collected all year, 24/7, way beyond the weeks and the planned routes of drive-, walk- and railway-tests. Starting in 2017, the crowd-sourced assessment of service availability has already been included in several P3 connect public benchmarks. In the Netherlands it will be included as a separate case study before it will become part of the score in 2019.

"We have extended our testing schedule with a crowdsourced component enabling us to gain more real-time feedback on performance while extending the reach of our evaluation of the tested networks in time and geography", says Hakan Ekmen, CEO P3 communications. And he adds: "Our approach combines drive, walk and crowd thus giving operators a full 360-degree view of their networks. We use our analytical skills to slice and dice the data in a way that produces actionable insights into network performance and the user experience, helping operators optimise service delivery and make better, more informed investment decisions."

P3’s unique testing methodology has been established as the de-facto industry standard in more than 70 countries worldwide. In 2017 alone, P3’s mobile network benchmarking activities included, among others, benchmarks in Albania, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and Qatar, as well as numerous dedicated benchmarks for network operators and equipment suppliers.