Comparative Assessment of GSM Call Quality in a Semi-Urban Nigerian Town: Evidence from MTN and Glo Networks in Ozoro, Delta State

Semi-urban populations continue to be underrepresented in empirical Quality of Service (QoS) research, despite the significant expansion of mobile telecommunications in Nigeria. This study compares the GSM call quality of Glo Mobile and MTN Nigeria in Ozoro, Delta State, a semi-urban settlement in the Niger Delta. Three zonal categories, they are the town center (high-density), residential regions (moderate-density), and the periphery (low-coverage) and they were used to gather data utilizing an organized drive-test approach. Five essential QoS metrics were evaluated: Call Drop Rate (CDR), Call Setup Success Rate (CSSR), Subjective speech quality, call completion rate (CCR) and received signal strength indicator (RSSI). The findings show that MTN consistently performed better than Glo in every indication that was measured: MTN reported a mean signal strength of -75 dBm over Glo's -86 dBm, a CSSR of 98.5% versus Glo's 96.2%, and a CDR of 0.8% versus Glo's 1.5%. During periods of high traffic, both networks' performance deteriorated, but Glo was more vulnerable in low-coverage areas. These results highlight the necessity of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) enforcing QoS regulations more strictly and making targeted network investments in peri-urban regions.