# Mobile Broadband Performance Evaluation: Analysis of National Reports
## 3 Case Studies
### The State of the Internet in France  
_Regulator_\(\rightarrow\) Autorite de Regulation des Communications Electroniques et des Postes (ARCEP) of France is the regulatory organization responsible for compiling a quality assessment of communication services; the assessment started in 1997 [13]. Starting in 2018, ARCEP provides an accompanying web for its report and evaluation (QoS Web App accessed on 26 Janaury 2022) and the latest date of evaluation available on the web as of 2019.  
_Operators_\(\rightarrow\) There are four major MNOs included in the report: Bouygues, Free, Orange, and SFR.  
_Method_\(\rightarrow\) The authority used to depend on on-site measurements by selecting locations using statistical methods such that it reflects the status of communication in the country. However, in recent years, ARCEP introduced a new assessment model that involves data provided from MNOs and crowdsourcing. _Metrics_\(\rightarrow\) There are about 7 metrics in this report.  
* Availability of voice \(\rightarrow\) making a phone call for \(>\)2 min;
* Availability of Short Message Service (SMS) \(\rightarrow\) receiving a message in \(<\)10 s;
* 4G data.  
* Web success rate \(\rightarrow\) loading the 30 most visited websites in \(<\)10 s;
* Download speed \(\rightarrow\) receiving 10 Mbit data in \(<\)1 min;
* Upload speed \(\rightarrow\) sending 2 Mbit data in \(<\)1 min;
* Streaming success rate\(\rightarrow\) watching a high definition (HD) video for \(>\)2 min with perfect quality.  
_Evaluated services_\(\rightarrow\) Although there are few 3G measurements, specifically for geographical coverage, almost all the assessment focuses on 4G services. The authority categorizes France into rural, suburban, urban, and tourist destination areas. The data are further refined by indoor, outdoor, and road coverages. For the sake of simplicity, tourist areas are skipped, since these areas are part of the other three, and road data are left out because they are incomplete.  
_Result_\(\rightarrow\)
* In all the metrics, the geography and population coverage of France, for both voice and 4G data, from at least one operator is \(>\)99%.
* The voice and SMS success rate of all four MNOs in France in all areas are 91% and 94%, respectively. These numbers, however, vary in rural and urban areas. For instance, the success rate of making a call that is \(>\)2 min with perfect quality in all indoor areas is 90%, whereas it is at 84% in rural areas and 94%.
* For 4G mobile broadband services, the average download and upload speeds in indoors are 39 Mbps and 7 Mbps, respectively. The average download and upload speeds indoors are 50 Mbps and 13 Mbps, respectively. As expected, there is a difference between urban, suburban, and rural areas. Furthermore, Orange provides the best 4G service; Free is the least effective.  
_Policies_\(\rightarrow\) The authority had plans to incorporate third-party quality assessments in its future reports, given that the data provided from these organizations follow a code-of-conduct guideline provided by ARCEP. A test for determining if an MNO satisfies the minimum requirement of each metric was considered reliable if it is \(>\)95%. However, ARCEP updated this number to \(>\)98% to force MNOs to provide a higher-quality service to consumers.  
Although the 2020, The state of the internet in France, report does not offer a detailed quality evaluation, ARCEP, which is the organization responsible for communication service regulation and evaluation, provides a web app to assess the quality of service in the country (monreseaumobile.fr). Although most of the population receives an adequate mobile broadband service, with the best service from Orange and worst service from Free, ARCEP is demanding MNOs to step up their service by raising the reliability threshold.