The FINANCIAL — Facebook and Ericsson, in conjunction with Total Access Communication PLC (dtac), have joined forces to measure and improve the user app experience on the dtac network.
Using a methodology developed by Ericsson and Facebook, typical Facebook interactions were triggered from Facebook test accounts and measured on different mobile test devices in central Bangkok. After adjustments to the dtac network, results showed big improvements to the Facebook app experience such as 60 percent improvement in Facebook uploads and downloads time, according to Ericsson.
Nadine Allen, Head of Ericsson Thailand says: “2016 marks 110 years of Ericsson in Thailand and over the years Ericsson has been working with customers, partners, and government to revolutionize the way Thai people live, work and communicate with each other. Through our long term partnership with dtac and established collaboration with Facebook, we are proud to participate in this unique project to help bring positive app experience for smartphone users. The resultant whitepaper detailing the methodology and findings from the project provides operators and developers a deeper understanding on many network variables that can impact user adoption, which is particularly critical as we work to connect the unconnected to the internet.”
In Thailand, almost half of smartphone users access social media on a daily basis, according to Ericsson Mobility Report June, 2016 and Facebook is among the most commonly used social media app in the country. More than half of dtac’s 25 million subscribers are data users and Facebook is the most commonly accessed app on the network.
Prathet Tankuranun, Chief Technology Officer, dtac says: “dtac has a clear standpoint and a long-term target of giving the benefits to consumers and Thailand. We have planned to invest on network development and expansion. We rather give our customers better experience in using our service than make up some numbers on speed test apps and then forget all users’ needs. Our strength is our 4G service on 1800 MHz band that occupies the widest band of 20 MHz abundant for all dtac customers to sense smooth experience on digital services.”
Markku Makelainen, Director of Global Operator Partnerships, Facebook says: “Our goal is to bring affordable internet access and connectivity to the two-thirds of the world that don’t have it. As part of this effort, we work with operators and our partners to help optimize their networks to provide a more robust experience on the Facebook app and other services. We are excited to share learnings from our work with Ericsson and dtac in the hopes that it may help others enhance mobile networks around the world.”
The success of the study meant that Facebook users were not only able to get content from their friends faster, but could also share their experiences within a quicker time period. In addition, Facebook users could be served from the same mobile network node, without having to build additional infrastructure and hardware. This provides benefits to operators like dtac, in terms of delivering a superior customer experience through an optimized network.
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