The Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) launched today a public consultation on its draft Quality of Service (QoS) Policy and Regulatory Framework. The proposed regulatory documents set out the foundation of the regulation and measument of QoS, as well as propose specific parameters for all telecommunications services in Qatar. The QoS Policy sets out the basis upon which the QoS offered by Service Providers in Qatar shall be measured and regulated. Its goal is to explain the policies, objectives and general approach concerning the regulation of QoS in Qatar.
The QoS Regulatory Framework undertakes a holistic approach to QoS. It proposes a comprehensive set of QoS parameters (generally called Key Performance Indicators or KPIs) for all telecommunications services (fixed, mobile, satellite, passive, etc.) and their respective targets, measurement methods, reporting procedures and templates, compliance and enforcement procedures, etc.
This consultation is supported by a thorough benchmarking analysis on regional and international best practices within QoS regulation. In addition, this consultation includes an assessment analysis of the potential impacts of the proposed regulations on all the parties involved (Service Providers, consumers, and the CRA).
The implementation of this comprehensive, modern and effective QoS regulatory regime will maximize the benefits to the public in the provision of telecommunications services in Qatar and will introduce a greater level of clarity, transparency and certainty with respect to QoS regulation, focusing on consumers’ QoS experience and needs.
Earlier, a public consultation was launched on July 22, 2013 on the “Instruction on the Setting of Quality of Service (QoS) Parameters and the Methodology for the Assessment of Coverage”. The comments received enabled the CRA to better understand the potential difficulties associated with the proposed KPIs as well as to acknowledge the need for more precision on KPIs. The new QoS Policy and Regulatory Framework take into consideration the comments received from the previous consultation on QoS.
All stakeholders and interested parties are invited to review these documents and submit their comments and feedback to the CRA no later than April 20, 2014, via email at raconsultation@ict.gov.qa.
All comments received in response to this public consultation will be carefully reviewed and considered by the CRA during the finalization of these regulatory documents.
The CRA will also organize a meeting on April 7, 2014, with interested parties to answer their queries about the consultation documents. Interested parties who wish to participate in this meeting should notify the CRA before April 1, 2014 by email at raconsultation@ict.gov.qa.
The proposed QoS consultation document and the other related documents can be downloaded from this link.