Telenor network withstands crisis challenges, gets certified Best in Test again

Telenor network performed exceptionally well under the pressures of the coronavirus crisis and met the increased public demand for quality mobile services. Once again, the network was certified Best in Test in Bulgaria by the leading international benchmark company umlaut.

Telenor Bulgaria Chief Executive Officer, Jason King, received the certificate from Hakan Ekmen, umlaut CEO Telecommunications, during an online event today.

“This pandemic has been challenging for everyone and our top priority has been the health and safety of our customers and our Telenor team. We fully understood our commitment to maintain the top quality and high performance of our mobile network on which so many people, businesses and institutions rely upon for their everyday needs. So, winning this Best in Test certificate again is a testament which shows that our team’s efforts have been truly outstanding and duly rewarded”, commented Mr. King.

The development of the pandemic in the past few months and the consequent government measures inevitably affected the customer demand and the usage of Telenor services. On Sunday, March 8, 2020, when the first cases of COVID-19 in Bulgaria were confirmed, voice traffic in Telenor network spiked by 32% and data traffic increased 9%, compared to the average of the previous four Sundays.

March 13, Friday, the day when the Bulgarian government declared state of emergency in the country was the day with the highest voice traffic in the Telenor network since the beginning of 2020, up by 36%, compared to the four previous Fridays. Data traffic on that day decreased by 5.5% as users were busy preparing for extended stay at home and preferred to stay in touch with their loved ones and business via voice calls.

On March 23, restrictions on intercity travel were introduced and police checkpoints were put in place at the exits of big cities, which led to long vehicles queues and extensive wait times. Telenor network recorded 14% data traffic increase, compared to the average of the previous 7 days, and that was the day with the highest data traffic ever in the operator’s network.

“Maintaining network integrity and quality services and ensuring the safety of our technology team throughout the state of emergency were the paramount objectives of the Telenor and Telenor Common Operations”, said Telenor Chief Technical Officer, Vladimir Radojicic. “Furthermore, our engineers and technicians kept working and made network improvements at over 100 locations across the country in the first month of the state of emergency alone” , he added.

The exceptional situation also changed how Telenor customers use the operator’s digital channels. The monthly active users of MyTelenor mobile app increased by over 17% in April, compared to February, and monthly bills paid via the app increased by 59%. Telenor’s e-shop also showed significant growth, doubling the number of transactions in April, compared to February.

The quality and the reliability of Telenor network in this extraordinary situation was exemplified by the Best in Test certificate, awarded by the international consultancy umlaut, which benchmarks mobile networks in over 120 countries around the globe. In Bulgaria, umlaut analyzes the performance of all three major mobile operators’ networks since 2019. Telenor was first awarded Best in Test in January 2020 and the operator’s new certificate is based on analysis held between November 2019 and March 2020.

The tests, with over 53 million samples in 96.3% of the urban populated areas and 95.2% of the non-urban populated areas of Bulgaria, included walk tests in cities, towns and connecting roads across the country.

“Congratulations to Telenor Bulgaria. The second time in a row Telenor receives the “Best in test” award for their Mobile network with an overall score of 859 dots. On top Telenor delivers the best rated user download speed and best rated broadband coverage. Our umlaut Mobile Benchmark is the de-facto industry standard, fairly and transparently assessing the global digital infrastructure.”, commented umlaut CEO Mr. Ekmen.