QoS and Coverage
This research looks into the key tools regulators use to measure high-quality coverage and Quality of Service.
Latest Research
Research Highlights
Mobile Signal Measuring Challenges
December 2025
High-quality coverage and QoS measurements through drive tests, crowdsourcing, operator reports and modelling reveal where service is genuinely available at the required standard, so regulators can verify that population and geographic coverage obligations are being met in practice. But these four measurement approaches all come with their own challenges.
Countries' Approach
December 2025
Our studies of the UK, France and Germany show that different mixes of operator modelling, regulator-run testing and crowdsourced data can support more user-centric coverage maps, but also create new questions about methodology, transparency and usability for end users. Looking at the US, Australia and Japan shows that even using combinations of different measurement techniques does not necessarily capture real user experience, especially in rural and hard‑to‑serve areas.
Independent data gathering
December 2025
Independent data-gathering services can give regulators and policymakers a very different view of coverage and QoS from that provided by measurement companies whose business models depend on the telecoms industry. While both groups can provide large-scale datasets and sophisticated analytics, their incentives, methodologies and use-cases diverge in ways that matter for how results are interpreted and used in regulation, competition policy and consumer information.