Achieving transparency and clarity: Communications Commission launches "Meqyas" to measure the quality of internet usage experience in the Kingdom

The Communications and Information Technology Commission today announced the launch of the "Meqyas" initiative to measure the quality of internet usage experience in the Kingdom, based on a partnership between the Commission and subscribers at large; the initiative is concerned with monitoring and measuring the general level of internet service quality in the Kingdom, in cooperation with SamKnows, a company specialized in measuring internet performance quality.

The Commission explained that it aims through this initiative to provide users with information about the quality of the internet experience provided to them with transparency and clarity, and to contribute to increasing competition among service providers to improve quality, in addition to publishing periodic reports on internet performance in the Kingdom.

The Commission said that the "Meqyas" initiative works to measure the quality of the internet experience in reaching a set of common internet sites and services, measuring the stages that internet traffic passes through, starting from the end user, through the service provider, then the internet network, and reaching the requested content or application. It explained that internet experience measurements are affected by several factors, including the efficiency of the service provider's network switch or tower and the distance involved, the integrity of the subscriber's modem, router, and internal connections settings, as well as the number of users and devices per subscription at the same time. The Commission also invited those wishing to use the "Meqyas" application on smart devices to download it from the (iOS) store or (Google Play) store, or to use "Meqyas" by visiting the initiative's dedicated website (www.meqyas.sa).

It is worth mentioning that "Meqyas" is a system of various tools for users that provides measurement of the internet quality provided to them and enables tracking of quality level rates over different time periods, weekly, monthly, or annually, based on approved and reliable technical standards adopted by many communications sector regulators around the world such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Brazil, and others.