This read-only enumerated value reports the operational status of the signaling function on this port as down(1), connecting(2), or up(3), the actual live state of the ATM signaling protocol exchange, as distinct from the administrative intent expressed in svcAtmConfigAdminStatus. A port stuck in connecting(2) rather than reaching up(3) indicates the signaling handshake (Q.93B/UNI restart procedures) is failing to complete even though it's administratively enabled. An engineer seeing svcAtmConfigOperStatus stuck at connecting(2) would suspect a Q.93B signaling mismatch or protocol version incompatibility with the far-end device rather than a simple administrative or physical-layer problem.