A call has been raised to revamp mobile telecom service quality assessments to move beyond download speeds and focus on users’ perceived quality such as data dropouts, latency and connection stability.

Kim Nam-kuk (김남국), a Democratic Party lawmaker on the National Assembly’s Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, said on Tuesday policies should be strengthened to focus on user-perceived quality by fully reflecting service connection stability and factors such as latency and dropouts as services become more closely tied to daily life.

The Ministry of Science and ICT conducts annual telecom service quality assessments to provide users with objective quality information and encourage carriers to invest in networks. Kim said assessment standards should change as 5G use has become commonplace, unlike in the early days of LTE adoption.

A study by the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) of 2,245 5G users found the most important quality items cited by users were "service continuity" at 64.6 percent and "connection stability" at 60.0 percent. Factors affecting dissatisfaction with 5G service included dropouts and delays during use and network connection cutoffs. Regression analysis showed dropouts and delays during use raised the probability of dissatisfaction by 36.9 percent, while network connection cutoffs increased it by 31.7 percent.

The ministry also introduced an indicator last year, "service-specific required-speed fulfilment rate," to reflect user-perceived quality. It assesses whether required speeds are met by service, including web search at 5 Mbps, social networking services and short-form video at 20 Mbps, video conferencing at 45 Mbps and high-definition streaming at 100 Mbps. It plans, in line with commercialisation of 5G standalone mode, to comprehensively assess not only download speed but also upload speed, transmission latency, network slicing quality and user quality of experience (QoE).

Assessment focused on user-perceived quality is also expanding overseas. OpenSignal, a global telecom quality assessment organisation, uses indicators such as "Consistent Quality" that measures whether major applications operate stably and service-specific experience metrics for video and games.

Kim pointed to data dropouts and delays on commuting subway rides or inside buildings as a representative telecom inconvenience experienced by users. He also stressed that telecom quality assessments should be improved accordingly, as real-time responsiveness and stability are important in the government’s "AI for All" policy.

Kim said that if the ministry truly champions a "user-perception-centred" approach, it needs ongoing observation and consideration of what useful information quality assessments can provide to users. He also stressed that in step with the AI era, assessments should deliver user-perceived quality that matches public expectations and real usage environments.