What it is:

POLQA is the global standard for benchmarking voice quality of fixed, mobile and IP based networks. It was standardized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-T) as Recommendation P.863 in 2011 and can be applied for voice quality analysis of VoIP, HD Voice, 3G, 4G/VoLTE and 5G networks. The latest version is POLQA v3 (2018).

The POLQA standard was developed during 2006-2011 by leading industry experts within ITU-T Study Group 12, from the requirement for a technology upgrade of its predecessor from 2001, PESQ (ITU-T Recommendation P.862), and a competition carried out to define the 3rd generation of perceptual voice quality metrics. POLQA – originally derived from the ITU working title “Perceptual Objective Listening Quality Analysis” – offers an advanced level of benchmarking accuracy and adds significant new capabilities for super-wideband (HD) and full-band voice signals, along with support for most recent voice coding and VoIP/VoLTE transmission technologies. POLQA is ideally suited to evaluate, optimize and monitor the voice quality of next-generation networks and deliver the standardized, validated P.863 Mean Opinion Score (MOS).

The POLQA perceptual measurement algorithm is a joint development of OPTICOM, SwissQual and TNO, protected by copyrights and patents and available under license from OPTICOM as software for various platforms. The POLQA Coalition has further advanced P.863 by developing a new Edition 3, available as version v3, “POLQA 2018”, which was consented by ITU-T SG12 in February 2018.

To date, 111 vendors and operators license POLQA/P.863 for their products or for use during development, design and optimization of mobile phones, Smartphones, network components, or services.