Author: Luke Kehoe

Luke Kehoe leads Ookla’s research and thought leadership efforts in Europe. An electronic engineering alumnus of University College Dublin, Luke has extensive experience collaborating with mobile operators, telecoms vendors, and government agencies in research and advisory roles across Europe. He has contributed to internationally recognised thought leadership publications in areas such as 5G, IoT, open RAN, and edge computing, working with prestigious organisations like the Telecom Infra Project and the World Economic Forum.

Ookla Research™ Articles

Luke Kehoe | April 16, 2025

Mind the Gap: London's 5G Performance Lags Behind Other UK Cities

Londoners spend more time in mobile signal not-spots, or coverage gaps, and experience slower 5G speeds than residents of other UK cities—resulting in poorer performance in everyday tasks such as web browsing.

London is the sprawling metropolis at the heart of the UK economy, home to one of the world’s largest and most lucrative service hubs, supporting a vast network of finance and technology firms. Beyond its strategic time zone and English-language advantage for accessing both American and Asian markets, London’s prosperity has been founded on the availability of world-class infrastructure that facilitates doing business.

The city’s reputation for international competitiveness has not, however, been matched by the quality of its telecommunications infrastructure. In recent years, a flurry of media reports has highlighted the frustrations of Londoners—and visitors alike—that experience frequent issues using mobile devices indoors, underground, and in busy areas. These problems, reported as being more pronounced than in other UK and European cities, typically manifest as poor quality of experience in everyday tasks such as web browsing, video streaming, and gaming.

This article is the first and a high-level prelude to a series exploring the competitiveness of mobile networks in European towns and cities—starting in the UK with city-level comparisons to London, and followed by a deeper, more comprehensive analysis among international peers coming in research later this year.

Key Takeaways:

London lags behind the UK’s largest cities across key 5G performance indicators, and the gap to top-performing Glasgow is widening. In Q1 2025, London trailed other UK cities in 5G network consistency—a key indicator of performance at the lower end of the user experience—as well as in median download and upload speeds. Mobile users in London and Belfast experienced the weakest outcomes among UK cities, with median 5G download speeds of approximately 115 Mbps in both cities, significantly behind Glasgow’s 185 Mbps. London’s marked underperformance makes the UK unique in Western European terms—not only are the disparities between its major cities wider, but it is also unusual for the capital to be the primary laggard.
Mobile users in London spend more time in signal not-spots with no service than residents of other UK cities, reflecting lingering coverage gaps indoors and across key transport routes. The proportion of Londoners spending the majority of their time in locations with no service (0.7%) remained higher than in other UK cities in Q1 2025, but has improved significantly from 3.7% in Q1 2023. This progress reflects operator investments in network densification through small cells and the ongoing rollout of mobile coverage across the London Underground—historically one of the city’s largest mobile not-spots—which have together enhanced overall network availability in the capital. Time spent on 2G networks increased, however, across several UK cities over the last year, including Birmingham and Manchester, as the advancement of the 3G sunset in the UK contributed to greater propensity for 2G fallback.
The gap in 5G availability between the UK’s major cities and the national average has significantly narrowed over the past year. In Q1 2024, Leeds led UK cities in 5G availability, with a 21 percentage point gap above the national average. By Q1 2025, London had taken the lead in 5G availability among major UK cities, and that gap above the national average had narrowed to 13 percentage points. This trend reflects progress in 5G network expansion in smaller UK towns and rural areas in recent months, which has moved at a faster pace than coverage improvements in larger cities. Overall, median 5G download speeds fell by more than 7% on average across major UK cities between Q1 2024 and Q1 2025, likely reflecting the impact of shifting network load from older technologies onto 5G, which contributed to broader improvements in overall mobile network performance in most UK cities in the same period.

A confluence of factors has created unique headwinds for mobile network deployments in UK cities in recent years, particularly in dense urban settings like London

The deployment of 5G networks in higher-frequency spectrum—most commonly the 3.5 GHz band—continues to present significant challenges for operators globally. Like their counterparts across Europe, UK mobile operators have had to invest heavily in network densification during the 5G cycle. The widespread deployment of small cells at street level across UK cities illustrates the scale of effort required to increase network capacity and overcome the more limited propagation attributes of mid-band spectrum.

Over time, the city environment itself has become increasingly hostile to the operation of high-performing mobile networks. Across developed markets, advancements in building design and stricter regulations have led to a proliferation of highly insulated, airtight structures. These developments often incorporate low-E glass, metal cladding, and reinforced concrete—materials that, collectively, turn new and retrofitted buildings into de facto Faraday cages. London, in particular, presents unique challenges among UK cities, with a high concentration of high-rise buildings featuring deep floorplates.

Indoor Mobile Not-Spots Have Proliferated Across Central London, Particularly in Dense Settings with New and Retrofitted Builds *(Image: Ookla Cell Analytics)*

While the UK’s Part L Building Regulations are not unique or unusually stringent by European standards, they have evolved alongside a set of factors particular to the UK context that have significantly hindered mobile operators’ ability to deliver high-performing 5G networks in dense urban environments. The roots of these factors stem as far back as 2017, well before the commercialization of the country’s first 5G networks, when the UK government introduced changes to the Electronics Communications Code (ECC) in an effort to accelerate mobile network rollouts and reduce costs by streamlining access to land for telecommunications deployments.

The Digital Economy Act, which reformed the ECC, granted mobile operators and tower companies greater rights to access land on more favorable financial terms in the UK. The intention was to curb inflated lease costs, particularly in cases where landowners appeared to demand “ransom rents.” However, rather than accelerating network rollouts, the reforms triggered widespread legal disputes, uncertainty in lease negotiations, and delays in site access and upgrades.

The impact of these land access reforms has been especially acute in dense urban settings such as London, where rooftop deployments play a disproportionate role due to limited ground-level space for mobile equipment. In London, the sheer number of individual property owners—including private landlords, commercial building managers, and housing associations—results in highly fragmented land ownership, making rooftop sites significantly more complex to manage, both legally and logistically, than rural ground leases.

The Combination of Increasing Building Density, Use of New Insulation Materials, and Decline in Rooftop Site Availability Has Resulted in More Frequent Fallback to Less Capable Low-Band Spectrum in UK Cities like London *(Image: Ookla Cell Analytics)*

The EEC further compounded this complexity by disrupting long-standing rooftop leasing arrangements in cities like London, leading to thousands of disputes since 2017 over issues such as ransom rents, blocked site upgrades, and non-renewals. The regulation reduced potential rental income by as much as 80% to 90% for some landlords, significantly discouraging the availability of rooftop space for mobile network deployments. This effect was particularly pronounced in London, where building owners have seen greater commercial value in alternative uses for scarce rooftop space, such as bars, gardens, or solar panel installations, hindering the ability of operators to densify their networks.

The UK is the only European country to have adopted such a unilateral price-cutting approach to site access during the 5G cycle. To ease tensions between operators and land owners, the UK government introduced further changes in the “2022 Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act.” These updates aimed to encourage alternative dispute resolution, simplify lease renewals, and extend the provisions from the EEC to agreements signed before 2017. However, the reforms retained the reduced rental model, meaning while procedural barriers were reduced, incentives for property owners to host rooftop sites remained weak, failing to stem the decline in rooftop site availability in cities like London in recent years.

Combined with the UK’s decision to impose stricter controls on the use of telecom equipment from non-European vendors than those seen elsewhere in Europe, which diverted time and resources toward network rebuilds rather than expansion and upgrades, UK operators have faced significant headwinds in deploying mobile network infrastructure during the 5G cycle.

Progress in the 5G rollout belies lingering performance disparities among the UK’s major cities

Despite significant progress countrywide in improving 5G networks with additional sites, more spectrum availability (some of it from the refarming of 3G), and an expanded 5G standalone (SA) footprint, disparities continue to exist among the UK’s cities. The gap between the best- and worst-performing major cities in median 5G download and upload speeds, for example, widened between Q1 2024 and Q1 2025, based on analysis of Speedtest Intelligence® data.

The Gap in 5G Download Speeds Between Glasgow and Other UK Cities Has Widened
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q1 2024 – Q1 2025

In Q1 2025, Glasgow led the UK with median 5G download speeds reaching 185 Mbps, which was as much as 47% higher than in London, the slowest major city, and 24% higher than in Birmingham, the next best performer. This ranking profile extended to 5G network consistency, which measures the proportion of Speedtest samples that meet a minimum download and upload speed threshold of 25 Mbps and 3 Mbps. While more than 85% of Speedtest samples met this threshold in Glasgow, fewer than 75% did in London, which exhibited the lowest consistency rate among major UK cities and was the only one aligned with the national average that includes both rural and urban areas.

London’s underperformance at the lower percentiles of measures like download speeds is particularly notable, as it strongly reflects the experience of mobile users in more challenging conditions—such as at the network edge, during peak hours, or in congested areas. The city’s lower consistency score and weaker 10th percentile download and upload speeds suggest that Londoners are more likely to encounter poor mobile performance compared to residents of other major UK cities.

Londoners Experience Less Consistent 5G Performance Than Residents of Other UK Cities
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q1 2025

The UK stands out in Western Europe for both the scale of the performance gap between its major cities and the unusual fact that its capital is the lagging city. Most regional peers more closely resemble the profile of neighboring France, where Paris ranks among the top three cities nationally for 5G network consistency, as well as median download and upload speeds. In France, the gap in 5G network consistency between the best- and worst-performing cities was as narrow as 5 percentage points in Q1 2025—a disparity that is half that of the UK.

The UK's Cities Exhibit a Greater Range in 5G Consistency Than Other Western European Countries
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q1 2025

In practical terms, London’s underperformance in metrics like 5G download speed and consistency translates into poorer QoE outcomes in everyday tasks like web browsing. In Q1 2025, for example, median web page load times to popular global websites were higher in London than in nine out of ten other major UK cities.

Londoners Spend More Time Waiting on Popular Websites to Load
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q1 2025

Mobile not-spots continue to be a fixture of everyday life in UK cities, particularly in London

The combination of factors outlined earlier, including the shift toward insulation materials that inhibit signal propagation, the collapse in rooftop rental fees reducing access to mobile sites, and the use of higher-frequency spectrum for 5G, has posed challenges for mobile operators across all UK cities seeking to reduce the prevalence of mobile not-spots. These challenges have been particularly pronounced in the cities with the highest levels of density, most notably London.

Deep indoor and underground spaces (e.g., transport systems like the London Underground network) remain the primary contributors to time spent with no mobile signal or fallback to 2G networks. These cell edge scenarios are highly disruptive for the end-user, resulting in limited access to basic telephony features like texting and calling and a substantial increase in device-side power consumption.

Londoners Spend More Time in Mobile Not-Spots Than the UK Average
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q1 2024 – Q1 2025

The proportion of mobile users in London spending the majority of their time in locations with no network access at all (0.7%) was higher than in other major UK cities in Q1 2025 (an observation related to the capital city that again defies Western European norms). By contrast, less than 0.3% of mobile users in Belfast, Bristol and Sheffield spent the majority of their time in not-spots in the same period. Overall, time spent with no service accounted for as much as 2.6% of quarterly network usage in Q1 2025 in London, significantly higher than the national average.

Despite the disproportionate scale of mobile not-spots lingering in London, recent operator investments in network densification and progress in the ongoing rollout of 4G and 5G coverage throughout the London Underground network are driving dramatic improvements in outcomes. The proportion of Londoners spending the majority of their time in locations with no service has more than halved over the last two years, reflecting a much more pronounced pace of improvement than other UK cities and putting the capital on course to fall into line with other large cities like Birmingham and Manchester.

The Proportion of Mobile Users Spending the Majority of Their Time on 2G Has Increased in Several UK Cities
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q1 2024 – Q1 2025 (Including Roaming Samples)

The advancement of the UK’s 3G sunset, which is set to be substantially complete by the end of this year, is reflected in a sharp reduction in the proportion of mobile users spending the majority of their time on 3G networks. In London, for example, this proportion fell from over 4.5% in Q1 2023 to less than 0.7% in Q1 2025.

The 3G sunset has, however, contributed to an increase in 2G fallback in UK cities at the cell edge where 4G and 5G networks are unavailable. Time spent on 2G increased across several UK cities over the last year, including Liverpool, where this trend has resulted in a larger share of users spending the majority of their time on 2G than in areas with no service at all (a rarity among UK cities).

The Decline in 3G Usage Has Been Similarly Rapid Across UK Cities
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q1 2023 – Q1 2025

Cities that take a proactive approach to telecoms feature the best 5G outcomes

Glasgow’s position as the leading UK city in key 5G performance indicators is unlikely to be an outcome achieved by mere chance. Beyond the contribution of inherent structural factors related to building composition, such as a lower prevalence of high-rise developments relative to other major UK cities, Glasgow’s 5G leadership is also likely rooted in its early and proactive approach to supporting telecoms infrastructure.

The city was among the first in Europe to establish a dedicated “Telecoms Unit”, which streamlined access to city-owned assets for telecom deployments, provided standardized agreements for rental fees, and consolidated telecoms functions within the local authority to reduce departmental siloes. This proactive approach facilitates inward investment in network infrastructure and better 5G outcomes.

Ookla retains ownership of this article including all of the intellectual property rights, data, content graphs and analysis. This article may not be quoted, reproduced, distributed or published for any commercial purpose without prior consent. Members of the press and others using the findings in this article for non-commercial purposes are welcome to publicly share and link to report information with attribution to Ookla.

About the Author

Luke Kehoe

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Luke Kehoe | March 19, 2025

Fiber-Rich, Wi-Fi Poor: Spain Exemplifies the Scourge of Outdated Wi-Fi | Rica en fibra y pobre en Wi-Fi: España ejemplifica la ‘enfermedad’ del Wi-Fi obsoleto

Spanish/Español

Spain leads Europe in fiber deployment but is now paying the price for neglecting modern Wi-Fi CPE, undermining its global competitiveness in fixed broadband performance.

Spain’s remarkable transformation from a telecoms laggard a decade ago to a global leader in fiber availability has been dizzying in both scale and speed. Widely hailed as a model of best practice, this transformation has played a key role in vaulting the country to the forefront of Europe in economic growth over the last two years, supporting the attraction of inward investment in precision manufacturing, renewables, and a growing digital nomad community.

If deploying fiber to as many doorsteps as possible were a sprint, Spain would have won hands down. But the real race—the marathon of extending gigabit coverage throughout the entire home, beyond merely the doorstep—requires modernizing Wi-Fi customer premises equipment (CPE). Here, Spain is falling behind, eroding its global competitiveness in fixed broadband performance and limiting Spanish ISPs’ ability to differentiate in a market saturated with multiple overlapping fiber builds.

This chasm between the highly capable fiber connections reaching most Spanish homes and the outdated Wi-Fi equipment delivering that connectivity to end devices exemplifies the paradox of ‘old’ fiber markets like Spain. As an early mover in fiber, Spain migrated from copper before modern Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 7 CPE—designed to fully leverage fiber’s multi-gigabit potential—became widely available.

Key Takeaways

Spain features one of the oldest and least capable Wi-Fi footprints in Europe: By the end of 2024, two-thirds of all Wi-Fi connections in Spain still relied on legacy standards (Wi-Fi 4 and Wi-Fi 5) based on Speedtest Intelligence® data, leaving the country notably behind peers with lower fiber penetration, including neighboring France, the United Kingdom, and all Nordic countries. This deep entrenchment of legacy Wi-Fi standards is artificially constraining the performance of Spain’s full-fiber connections, contributing to its underperformance in the Speedtest Global Index™ compared to countries with less extensive fiber deployment.
The capabilities of Spain’s Wi-Fi footprint vary significantly across different ISPs: DIGI has distinguished itself by offering modern CPE with Wi-Fi 6 as standard across its subscriber base, benefiting from its position as a newer entrant without a legacy customer base. This has driven its strong lead in Wi-Fi 6 penetration in Spain—nearly half of all Speedtest samples on DIGI connections in January used Wi-Fi 6 or 7, compared to less than a quarter on Movistar and Vodafone—enhancing its overall fixed broadband performance. By comparison, ISPs that were slow to introduce modern CPE, such as Movistar, or restricted access to subscribers opting for premium equipment rental add-ons, like Vodafone, retain a much larger share of users on legacy Wi-Fi standards.
Modern CPE with Wi-Fi 6 and 7 deliver significant performance gains across all ISPs: The gap between advertised fiber speeds to the doorstep (typically achievable via wired Ethernet) and actual Wi-Fi performance is smallest in homes where Wi-Fi 6 and 7 CPE have been deployed. At the end of 2024, median download speeds on Wi-Fi 6 in Spain reached 419.13 Mbps, exceeding Wi-Fi 5 speeds by more than 54% and surpassing Wi-Fi 4 performance by an order of magnitude. Meanwhile, median latency on Wi-Fi 7 connections (19 ms) was notably improved compared to outcomes on earlier Wi-Fi standards.

Spain is a victim of its own success, having deployed fiber far and wide before the arrival of Wi-Fi 6 and 7

Spain typifies the legacy Wi-Fi challenges now confronting Europe’s early fiber adopters—countries that moved aggressively to deploy full-fiber networks using GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network) technology. The market incumbent, Telefónica, began large-scale fiber deployment in the early 2010s, accelerating from 2015. By the end of the decade, Spain had leapfrogged most countries in fiber coverage and the migration from copper-based DSL, with a groundswell of investment driving multiple overlapping fiber builds across many areas.

The scale of Spain’s success in fiber deployment is often under-appreciated. The European Commission’s latest DESI Index reported that over 95% of Spanish households were passed by a full-fiber network—well above the EU average of 64%. This has placed Spain within striking distance of the Commission’s Digital Decade 2030 target of achieving full-fiber coverage across all member states by the end of the decade.

Spain Continues to Lead Europe in Fiber Deployment
European Commission | DESI 2018 – 2024

Spain’s initial fiber rollouts in the early 2010s coincided with Wi-Fi 4 being the de facto standard for many ISP-supplied CPE. Based on a 2009 standard, Wi-Fi 4 offers theoretical maximum download speeds of up to 600 Mbps. By the peak of fiber deployment in the latter half of the decade, Wi-Fi 5 had become the state-of-the-art standard, delivering peak speeds of 3.5 Gbps and gradually becoming dominant. For instance, in 2016, Telefónica’s Movistar fiber CPE featured a dual-band Wi-Fi 5 model, which was considered high-end at the time.

By the time Wi-Fi 6—the first standard truly designed for multi-gigabit fiber based on XGS-PON (the latest optical networking technology enabling symmetrical speeds of up to 10 Gbps)—became available, Spanish ISPs had already deployed tens of millions of legacy CPE. Analysis of Speedtest Intelligence data reveals that Wi-Fi 4 and Wi-Fi 5 CPE have remained deeply entrenched in Spain’s fiber base, collectively accounting for over 75% of all fixed connections by December 2024, based on Speedtest sample share.

Competitive dynamics play a key role in shaping Wi-Fi outcomes across countries and ISPs

The long tail of legacy Wi-Fi CPE in Spain stands in stark contrast to other fiber-rich countries like neighboring France, another European leader in fiber deployment—though it lagged behind Spain until recent years. By December 2024, Wi-Fi 6 accounted for nearly a third of all Wi-Fi connections in France, compared to less than a quarter in Spain.

Beyond France’s later fiber deployment timeline compared to Spain, broader competitive dynamics and consumer behavior have likely influenced the differences in Wi-Fi adoption between the two countries. While Spain’s fixed market is highly competitive, it has been led by a few large converged players that have traditionally prioritized convergence and bundling over investing in cutting-edge CPE.

For the most part, Spanish ISPs have traditionally competed on price, content, and speed tiers, with Wi-Fi CPE upgrades not seen as a key differentiator. In France, by contrast, the entry of market disruptor Iliad’s Free at the start of the last decade intensified competition not just on price but also on innovation in the ‘internet box.’ For over a decade, Free set the market pace by integrating cutting-edge technology into its Freebox gateways, from built-in media servers to high-end Wi-Fi.

Wi-Fi 6 Penetration Continues to Rise Slowly in Spain
Speedtest Intelligence® | January 2025

This sparked a ‘box war’ in France, where rival ISPs faced competitive pressure to regularly update their CPE to avoid being outpaced. For example, when Free introduced a Wi-Fi 6-capable Freebox for new subscribers, Orange (Livebox 6) and Bouygues (Bbox Wi-Fi 6) quickly followed suit with their own offerings, treating hardware as a key competitive feature to attract subscribers.

Additionally, French ISPs typically included these newer CPE solutions at no extra cost in standard fiber tariffs. When Orange launched the Livebox 6 in 2022 with Wi-Fi 6E support—leveraging additional spectrum in the 6 GHz band to boost theoretical maximum speeds to 9.6 Gbps—it made the device available to all new fiber customers on eligible tariffs. Free took a similar approach earlier with its mid-range Freebox Pop, adding Wi-Fi 6 support in 2021 for new sign-ups without increasing the base subscription fee.

The absence of a Free-equivalent disruptor in Spain until the later arrival of DIGI, combined with a longstanding focus on bundling and content rather than CPE hardware and multi-gigabit tariffs for competitive differentiation, has likely been a key factor in dampening the adoption of Wi-Fi 6 and 7 in Spain.

DIGI's Emphasis on Modern CPE Drives Leadership in Wi-Fi 6 Penetration
Speedtest Intelligence® | January 2025

Telefónica’s Movistar: Movistar introduced its first Wi-Fi 6 CPE (Smart Wi-Fi 6) in mid-2022. The ISP initially sought to monetize the device, charging a one-time installation fee for existing customers while bundling it with a new high-speed multi-gigabit tariff. By January, Wi-Fi 6 accounted for as much as 19% of Movistar’s customer base, based on Speedtest sample share.

The ISP leveraged its presence at MWC 2025 in Barcelona to unveil plans for a Wi-Fi 7 CPE solution, designed to harness the higher-speed multi-gigabit tariffs enabled by its XGS-PON upgrades and expansion. As it phases out legacy hardware, the ISP is accelerating the migration of subscribers from Wi-Fi 4 and 5 CPE, with Speedtest Intelligence data revealing a progressive decline in Wi-Fi 4 penetration since August last year in Movistar’s base.

At the start of this year, it announced that all new Movistar fixed subscribers, regardless of tariff tier, would receive its Smart Wi-Fi 6 solution as standard, replacing the previous ‘HGU’ Wi-Fi 5-based offering and replicating the strategy of DIGI.

Movistar is Making Progress in Driving Down Wi-Fi 4 Usage
Speedtest Intelligence® | January 2025

Orange: Orange was among the first major ISPs in Spain to introduce Wi-Fi 6 CPE, bringing its Livebox 6 and later Livebox 7 solutions from France to the Spanish market starting in 2021, later extending them to sub-brands like Jazztel. The ISP provided this CPE free of charge to new customers across all tariffs, regardless of speed tier. Like Movistar, it initially charged existing subscribers a (monthly, in this case) fee to upgrade to the new hardware. This relatively early and widespread deployment has given Orange a lead in Wi-Fi 6 adoption over Movistar, with as much as 35% of connections on the ISP using the standard by January, based on Speedtest sample share.

The ISP has since introduced the ‘Livebox Wi-Fi 7’ CPE solution, bundled with a new suite of 10 Gbps converged fiber tariffs. Leveraging Orange’s XGS-PON footprint, it offers among the highest advertised provisioned speeds in the Spanish market.
Vodafone: Vodafone introduced its ‘Wi-Fi 6 Station’ in Spain around mid-2021, making it one of the earliest Wi-Fi 6 solutions in the market. However, the ISP positioned it as a premium add-on rather than a standard feature. While new customers could access the Wi-Fi 6 Station, it was initially bundled with Vodafone’s ‘Super Wi-Fi 6’ service, which required a monthly rental fee unless they were on the top Gigabit plan.

As a result, customers who did not opt in and pay extra continued to receive the older Wi-Fi 5-based CPE by default (similar to many other ISPs). This approach, combined with the legacy composition of Vodafone’s HFC (hybrid fiber-coaxial) base, has left the ISP’s Wi-Fi 6 adoption lagging behind competitors, with fewer than 14% of its connections using the standard by January based on Speedtest sample share.

DIGI is the only Spanish ISP where Wi-Fi 6 penetration surpasses Wi-Fi 5
Speedtest Intelligence® | January 2025

DIGI: Unlike other ISPs managing a diverse base of legacy customers across various access technologies and CPE generations, DIGI’s relatively recent entry into the Spanish market has given it a significant competitive advantage, allowing it to build a subscriber base largely equipped with newer Wi-Fi CPE.

In early 2022, the ISP introduced a Wi-Fi 6 CPE solution for all its fiber subscribers at no additional cost, ensuring that even customers on DIGI’s basic tariffs received the latest Wi-Fi hardware. This approach has driven rapid Wi-Fi 6 adoption, with penetration surpassing 46% by January. DIGI remains the only Spanish ISP where Wi-Fi 6 represents a larger share of its connection base than Wi-Fi 5, contributing to its lead in fixed download speed performance in the market.

Building on this, last year, DIGI became the first Spanish ISP to launch a Wi-Fi 7 CPE solution in partnership with ZTE, initially bundling the hardware with its premium ‘Pro-DIGI’ tariffs, which leverage XGS-PON to offer advertised symmetrical speeds of up to 10 Gbps. However, adoption remains limited, with Wi-Fi 7 accounting for less than 1% of Speedtest samples on DIGI in January.

Newer Wi-Fi standards enhance performance across all metrics and Spanish ISPs

Despite the wide variation in Wi-Fi standard adoption among Spanish ISPs, the common feature is that newer CPE models drive significant performance improvements across all metrics. Most notably, Wi-Fi 6 and 7 are playing a key role in narrowing the performance gap between advertised fiber speeds—typically achievable via wired Ethernet—and real-world wireless performance in Spanish homes.

Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 7 Drive Substantial Performance Gains Across All ISPs and Metrics
Speedtest Intelligence® | January 2025

At the end of 2024, median download speeds on Wi-Fi 7 in Spain reached 664.25 Mbps, surpassing Wi-Fi 6 by 58% and more than doubling speeds on Wi-Fi 5. Median upload speeds on Wi-Fi 7, enhanced by features like Multi-Link Operation (MLO), which enables simultaneous transmissions across multiple spectrum bands, reached 449.69 Mbps—28% higher than Wi-Fi 6 and 51% above Wi-Fi 5. Wi-Fi 7 also delivered marked latency improvements, with a median latency of 19 ms, up to 12% lower than Wi-Fi 6.

Wi-Fi 7 is Key to Unlocking the Full Potential of Multi-Gigabit Fiber Tariffs
Speedtest Intelligence® | January 2025

The proliferation of multi-gigabit tariffs with XGS-PON, which has progressed more slowly in Spain than in other fiber-rich markets like France but is now accelerating thanks to moves by ISPs like DIGI and Orange, underlines the need for CPE capable of fully utilizing provisioned speeds and spreading gigabit performance throughout the home. Speedtest Intelligence data reveals that early Wi-Fi 7 CPE deployments are the first to achieve median download speeds exceeding 1 Gbps at the 90th percentile in Spain, showcasing how Wi-Fi 7’s technical advances like wider channel bandwidth and higher modulation are emerging as key differentiators for the technology in the premium segment.

Newer Wi-Fi Generations Drive Latency Improvements
Speedtest Intelligence® | January 2025

Driving adoption of newer Wi-Fi standards requires fresh strategies but create new revenue opportunities for ISPs

As advanced fiber markets like Spain mature, the focus is shifting from simply delivering gigabit speeds to the doorstep to ensuring seamless whole-home performance that meets the diverse demands of emerging connected devices. As a result, investments in enhancing the Wi-Fi experience through ISP-supplied CPE will be key to differentiating multi-gigabit tariffs beyond price and ensuring the full potential of fiber connections can be realised.

Spain must accelerate the modernization of its Wi-Fi base to fully capitalize on substantial investments in XGS-PON, deliver meaningful improvements in quality of experience (QoE) for consumers, and catch up with leading markets in the Nordics. Spanish ISPs can take cues from neighboring countries like France, where CPE upgrades are bundled with tariff speed upgrades, and targeted swap-and-replace programs systematically identify and phase out legacy Wi-Fi hardware to drive adoption of next-generation Wi-Fi 6 and 7 equipment. Recent moves by ISPs like Telefónica’s Movistar to sunset legacy CPE and provide Wi-Fi 6 solutions as standard are evidence of progress in this respect.

Leading European ISPs that have prioritized consumer awareness of Wi-Fi standards and their impact on fiber performance—while modernizing their Wi-Fi CPE base to support monetizable offerings like minimum speed guarantees in every room—are seeing tangible benefits. This strategy not only enhances the overall fixed broadband experience but also unlocks new revenue streams through service differentiation.

Rica en fibra y pobre en Wi-Fi: España ejemplifica la ‘enfermedad’ del Wi-Fi obsoleto

España lidera Europa en despliegue de fibra, pero está pagando el precio de descuidar la modernización de equipos Wi-Fi, lo que socava su competitividad global en rendimiento de banda ancha fija.

La notable transformación de España, que hace una década pasó de ser un país rezagado en telecomunicaciones a convertirse en líder mundial en disponibilidad de fibra, ha sido vertiginosa tanto en escala como en velocidad. Aclamada ampliamente como modelo de buenas prácticas, esta transformación ha desempeñado un papel clave para que el país se sitúe a la vanguardia de Europa en crecimiento económico durante los dos últimos años, apoyando la atracción de inversión en fabricación de precisión, energías renovables y una creciente comunidad de nómadas digitales.

Si el despliegue de fibra en el mayor número posible de hogares fuera una carrera de velocidad, España habría ganado sin duda alguna. Pero la verdadera carrera -la maratón de extender la cobertura gigabit a todo el hogar, más allá de la puerta- requiere modernizar los equipos Wi-Fi de las instalaciones del cliente (CPE). En este aspecto, España se está quedando rezagada, lo que merma su competitividad global en rendimiento de banda ancha fija y limita la capacidad de los proveedores de servicios de internet (ISP) españoles para diferenciarse en un mercado saturado con múltiples despliegues de fibra que se solapan.

Este abismo entre las conexiones de fibra de alta capacidad que llegan a la mayoría de los hogares españoles y los anticuados equipos Wi-Fi que suministran esa conectividad a los dispositivos finales ejemplifica la paradoja de los “antiguos” mercados de fibra como España. Como pionera en fibra, España migró desde el cobre antes de que los modernos CPE Wi-Fi 6 y Wi-Fi 7 -diseñados para aprovechar al máximo el potencial multi-gigabit de la fibra- estuvieran ampliamente disponibles.

Aspectos Clave:

España cuenta con una de las huellas Wi-Fi más antiguas y menos capaces de Europa. A finales de 2024, dos tercios de todas las conexiones Wi-Fi en España todavía dependían de estándares heredados (Wi-Fi 4 y Wi-Fi 5), dejando al país notablemente por detrás de sus iguales con menor penetración de fibra, incluyendo la vecina Francia, el Reino Unido y todos los países nórdicos. Este profundo arraigo de los estándares Wi-Fi heredados está limitando artificialmente el rendimiento de las conexiones de fibra de España, contribuyendo a su bajo rendimiento en el Speedtest Global Index™ en comparación con países con un despliegue de fibra menos extenso.
Las capacidades de la huella Wi-Fi de España varían significativamente entre los distintos ISP. DIGI se ha distinguido por ofrecer CPE modernos con Wi-Fi 6 como estándar a toda su base de abonados, beneficiándose de su posición como nuevo operador sin una base de clientes heredada. Esto ha impulsado su fuerte liderazgo en la penetración de Wi-Fi 6 en España -casi la mitad de todas las muestras de Speedtest en conexiones de DIGI en enero utilizaban Wi-Fi 6 o 7, frente a menos de una cuarta parte en Movistar y Vodafone-, mejorando su rendimiento global de banda ancha fija. En comparación, los ISP que tardaron en introducir CPE modernos, como Movistar, o que restringieron el acceso a los abonados que optaron por complementos de alquiler de equipos premium, como Vodafone, conservan una cuota mucho mayor de usuarios con estándares Wi-Fi heredados.
Los CPE modernos con Wi-Fi 6 y 7 ofrecen importantes mejoras de rendimiento en todos los proveedores. La diferencia entre las velocidades de fibra anunciadas hasta la puerta de casa (normalmente alcanzables a través de Ethernet por cable) y el rendimiento Wi-Fi real es menor en los hogares en los que se han desplegado CPE Wi-Fi 6 y 7. A finales de 2024, las velocidades medianas de descarga en Wi-Fi 6 en España alcanzaron los 419,13 Mbps, superando las velocidades de Wi-Fi 5 en más de un 54% y el rendimiento de Wi-Fi 4 en un orden de magnitud. Mientras tanto, la latencia mediana de las conexiones Wi-Fi 7 (19 ms) mejoró notablemente en comparación con los resultados de los estándares Wi-Fi anteriores.

España, víctima de su propio éxito: desplegó fibra por todas partes antes de la llegada de Wi-Fi 6 y 7

España es un ejemplo típico de los retos que plantea el Wi-Fi heredado a los que fueron los primeros en adoptar la fibra óptica en Europa, países que se lanzaron a desplegar redes de fibra completa con tecnología GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network, red óptica pasiva Gigabit). En este sentido, Telefónica inició el despliegue de fibra a gran escala a principios de la década de 2010 y lo aceleró a partir de 2015. A finales de la década, España se había adelantado a la mayoría de los países en cobertura de fibra y en la migración desde la DSL basada en cobre, con una inversión que impulsó múltiples despliegues de fibra superpuestos en muchas zonas.

A menudo se subestima la magnitud del éxito de España en el despliegue de fibra. El último índice DESI de la Comisión Europea indica que más del 95% de los hogares españoles contaban con una red de fibra óptica, lo que sitúa al país muy por encima de la media de la UE (64%). Esto ha colocado a España a una distancia asombrosa del objetivo de la Comisión para la Década Digital 2030 de lograr una cobertura total de fibra en todos los Estados miembros al final de la década.

España sigue liderando Europa en despliegue de fibra
Comisión Europea | DESI 2018-2024

Los despliegues iniciales de fibra en España a principios de 2010 coincidieron con el hecho de que el Wi-Fi 4 era el estándar de facto para muchos CPE suministrados por los operadores. De acuerdo con una norma de 2009, el Wi-Fi 4 ofrece velocidades máximas teóricas de descarga de hasta 600 Mbps. En el punto álgido del despliegue de fibra en la segunda mitad de la década, el Wi-Fi 5 se había convertido en el estándar de vanguardia, ofreciendo velocidades máximas de 3,5 Gbps y convirtiéndose gradualmente en dominante. Por ejemplo, en 2016, el CPE de fibra de Movistar contaba con un modelo Wi-Fi 5 de doble banda, considerado de gama alta en aquel momento.

Para cuando el Wi-Fi 6 (el primer estándar realmente diseñado para fibra multi-gigabit basado en XGS-PON -la última tecnología de redes ópticas que permite velocidades simétricas de hasta 10 Gbps-) estuvo disponible, los ISP españoles ya habían desplegado decenas de millones de CPE heredados. El análisis de los datos de Speedtest Intelligence revela que los CPE Wi-Fi 4 y Wi-Fi 5 han permanecido profundamente arraigados a la base de fibra de España, representando colectivamente más del 75% de todas las conexiones fijas en diciembre de 2024, según la cuota de muestras de Speedtest.

La dinámica competitiva desempeña un papel clave en la configuración de los resultados de Wi-Fi de los distintos países e ISP

La gran cantidad de CPE Wi-Fi heredados en España contrasta fuertemente con otros países ricos en fibra, como la vecina Francia, otro líder europeo en despliegue de fibra a pesar de que ha ido a la zaga de España hasta hace pocos años. En diciembre de 2024, el Wi-Fi 6 representaba casi un tercio de todas las conexiones Wi-Fi en Francia, frente a menos de una cuarta parte en España.

Más allá del calendario de despliegue de fibra más tardío de Francia en comparación con el de España, es probable que la dinámica competitiva y el comportamiento de los consumidores hayan influido en las diferencias de adopción del Wi-Fi entre ambos países. Aunque el mercado fijo español es muy competitivo, ha estado liderado por unos pocos grandes operadores convergentes que tradicionalmente han dado prioridad al precio de los paquetes y a los contenidos frente a la inversión en CPE de vanguardia.

En su mayor parte, los ISP españoles han competido tradicionalmente en precio, contenido y niveles de velocidad, sin que las mejoras del CPE Wi-Fi se considerasen un diferenciador clave. En Francia, por el contrario, la entrada en el mercado de Free, de Iliad, a principios de la década pasada, intensificó la competencia no sólo en precios, sino también en innovación en la “caja de Internet”. Durante más de una década, Free marcó el ritmo del mercado integrando tecnología punta en sus pasarelas Freebox, desde servidores multimedia incorporados hasta Wi-Fi de alta gama.

La penetración del Wi-Fi 6 sigue creciendo lentamente en España
Speedtest Intelligence® | Enero 2025

Esto desencadenó una “guerra de cajas” en Francia, donde los operadores rivales se enfrentaron a la presión competitiva de actualizar periódicamente sus CPE para evitar ser superados. Por ejemplo, cuando Free introdujo un Freebox Wi-Fi 6 para nuevos abonados, Orange (Livebox 6) y Bouygues (Bbox Wi-Fi 6) no tardaron en lanzar sus propias ofertas, considerando el hardware como una característica competitiva clave para atraer abonados.

Además, los ISP franceses solían incluir estas nuevas soluciones CPE sin coste adicional en las tarifas de fibra estándar. Cuando Orange lanzó el Livebox 6 en 2022 con soporte Wi-Fi 6E -aprovechando el espectro adicional en la banda de 6 GHz para aumentar las velocidades máximas teóricas a 9,6 Gbps- puso el dispositivo a disposición de todos los nuevos clientes de fibra con tarifas elegibles. Free ya había adoptado un enfoque similar con su Freebox Pop de gama media, añadiendo la compatibilidad con Wi-Fi 6 en 2021 para los nuevos suscriptores sin aumentar la cuota de suscripción básica.

La ausencia de un disruptor equivalente a Free en España hasta la posterior llegada de DIGI, combinada con un enfoque centrado desde hace tiempo en la paquetización y los contenidos más que en el hardware (CPE) y en las tarifas multi-gigabit para la diferenciación competitiva, ha sido probablemente un factor clave para frenar la adopción de Wi-Fi 6 y 7 en España.

Foco de DIGI en CPE modernos promueve liderazgo en la adopción de Wi-Fi 6
Speedtest Intelligence® | Enero 2025

Telefónica: Movistar introdujo su primer CPE Wi-Fi 6 (Smart Wi-Fi 6) a mediados de 2022. Inicialmente, el operador trató de rentabilizar el dispositivo cobrando una cuota única de instalación a los clientes y combinándolo con una nueva tarifa multi-gigabit de alta velocidad. En enero, el Wi-Fi 6 representaba hasta el 19% de la base de clientes de Movistar, según la cuota de muestreo de Speedtest.

El operador aprovechó su presencia en el MWC 2025 de Barcelona para desvelar sus planes para una solución CPE Wi-Fi 7, diseñada para aprovechar las tarifas multi-gigabit de mayor velocidad habilitadas por sus actualizaciones y ampliaciones XGS-PON. A medida que va eliminando hardware heredado, el operador está acelerando la migración de abonados desde CPE Wi-Fi 4 y 5. A este respecto, los datos de Speedtest Intelligence revelan un descenso progresivo de la penetración de Wi-Fi 4 desde agosto del año pasado en la base de Movistar.

A principios de este año, Movistar anunció que todos sus nuevos abonados de telefonía fija, independientemente del nivel de tarifa, recibirán su solución CPE ‘Smart Wi-Fi 6’, para sustituir la anterior oferta basada en Wi-Fi 5 ‘HGU’, replicando, así, la estrategia de DIGI.

Movistar avanza en la reducción del uso de Wi-Fi 4
Speedtest Intelligence® | Enero 2025

Orange: Orange fue uno de los primeros grandes operadores en España en introducir un CPE Wi-Fi 6, al traer sus soluciones Livebox 6 y más tarde Livebox 7 de Francia al mercado español a partir de 2021, y extenderlas más tarde a submarcas como Jazztel. El ISP proporcionó este CPE de forma gratuita a los nuevos clientes en todas las tarifas, independientemente del nivel de velocidad. Al igual que Movistar, cobró inicialmente a los abonados existentes una cuota (mensual, en este caso) para actualizar al nuevo hardware. Este despliegue relativamente temprano y generalizado ha dado a Orange una ventaja en la adopción de Wi-Fi 6 sobre Movistar, con hasta un 35% de sus conexiones utilizando el estándar en enero, según la cuota de muestra de Speedtest.

Desde entonces, el operador ha introducido la solución CPE ‘Livebox Wi-Fi 7’, incluida en un nuevo paquete de tarifas de fibra convergente de 10 Gbps. Aprovechando la huella XGS-PON de Orange, ofrece las velocidades más altas anunciadas en el mercado español.
Vodafone: Vodafone introdujo su ‘Wi-Fi 6 Station’ en España a mediados de 2021, lo que la convierte en una de las primeras soluciones Wi-Fi 6 del mercado. Sin embargo, el proveedor la posicionó como un complemento premium más que como una característica estándar. Aunque los nuevos clientes podían acceder al router Wi-Fi 6, en un principio estaba vinculado al servicio ‘Súper Wi-Fi 6’, que exigía una cuota mensual de alquiler a menos que estuvieran en el plan gigabit superior.

En consecuencia, los clientes que no optaban por este servicio ni pagaban una cuota adicional seguían recibiendo por defecto el antiguo CPE basado en Wi-Fi 5 (al igual que en el caso de muchos otros operadores). Este enfoque, combinado con la composición heredada de la base HFC (fibra híbrida coaxial) de Vodafone, ha dejado la adopción de Wi-Fi 6 por parte del operador por detrás de sus competidores, con menos del 14% de sus conexiones utilizando este estándar en enero según la cuota de muestreo de Speedtest.

DIGI es el único ISP español en el que la penetración de Wi-Fi 6 supera la de Wi-Fi 5
Speedtest Intelligence® | Enero 2025

DIGI: A diferencia de otros ISP que gestionan una base diversa de clientes heredados a través de diversas tecnologías de acceso y generaciones de CPE, la entrada relativamente reciente de DIGI en el mercado español le ha dado una ventaja competitiva significativa, lo que le ha permitido construir una base de suscriptores en gran parte equipada con CPE Wi-Fi más nuevos.

A principios de 2022, el operador introdujo una solución Wi-Fi 6 CPE para todos sus abonados de fibra sin coste adicional, garantizando que incluso los clientes de las tarifas básicas de DIGI recibieran el hardware Wi-Fi más reciente. Este enfoque ha impulsado la rápida adopción del Wi-Fi 6, con una penetración superior al 46% en enero. DIGI sigue siendo el único proveedor español en el que el Wi-Fi 6 representa una cuota mayor de su base de conexiones que Wi-Fi 5, lo que contribuye a su liderazgo en rendimiento de velocidad de descarga fija en el mercado.

Sobre esta base, el año pasado DIGI se convirtió en el primer operador español en lanzar una solución CPE Wi-Fi 7 en colaboración con ZTE, e incluyó inicialmente el hardware con sus tarifas premium ‘Pro-DIGI’, que aprovechan XGS-PON para ofrecer velocidades simétricas anunciadas de hasta 10 Gbps. Sin embargo, la adopción sigue siendo limitada, y el Wi-Fi 7 representó menos del 1% de las muestras de Speedtest en DIGI en enero.

Los nuevos estándares Wi-Fi mejoran el rendimiento en todas las métricas e ISP españoles

A pesar de la amplia variación en la adopción de estándares Wi-Fi entre los ISP españoles, un resultado común es que los nuevos modelos de CPE impulsan mejoras en el rendimiento significativas en todas las métricas. En particular, Wi-Fi 6 y Wi-Fi 7 desempeñan un papel clave en la reducción de la diferencia entre las velocidades de fibra anunciadas -que normalmente se consiguen a través de Ethernet por cable- y el rendimiento inalámbrico real en los hogares españoles.

Wi-Fi 6 y Wi-Fi 7 impulsan mejoras sustanciales en todos los ISP y métricas
Speedtest Intelligence® | Enero 2025

A finales de 2024, las velocidades medianas de descarga en Wi-Fi 7 en España alcanzaron los 664,25 Mbps, superando las de Wi-Fi 6 en un 58% y duplicando con creces las velocidades de Wi-Fi 5. Por su parte, las velocidades medianas de carga en Wi-Fi 7, mejoradas por características como la Operación Multienlace (MLO), que permite transmisiones simultáneas a través de múltiples bandas de espectro, alcanzaron los 449,69 Mbps, un 28% más que en Wi-Fi 6 y un 51% por encima de Wi-Fi 5. El Wi-Fi 7 también ofreció notables mejoras de latencia, con una latencia mediana de 19 ms, hasta un 12% inferior a la de Wi-Fi 6.

Wi-Fi 7 es clave para aprovechar el potencial de las tarifas de fibra multi gigabit
Speedtest Intelligence® | Enero 2025

La proliferación de tarifas multi-gigabit con XGS-PON, que ha progresado más lentamente en España que en otros mercados ricos en fibra, como Francia, pero que ahora se está acelerando gracias a los movimientos de operadores como DIGI y Orange, subraya la necesidad de CPE capaces de utilizar plenamente las velocidades provisionadas y extender el rendimiento gigabit por todo el hogar. Los datos de Speedtest Intelligence revelan que los primeros despliegues de CPE Wi-Fi 7 son los primeros en alcanzar velocidades medias de descarga superiores a 1 Gbps en el percentil 90 en España, lo que demuestra cómo los avances técnicos de Wi-Fi 7, como un mayor ancho de banda de canal y una modulación más alta, se están convirtiendo en diferenciadores clave de la tecnología en el segmento premium.

Las nuevas generaciones de Wi-Fi promueven mejoras en la latencia
Speedtest Intelligence® | Enero 2025

Impulsar la adopción de los nuevos estándares Wi-Fi requiere nuevas estrategias, pero crea nuevas oportunidades de ingresos para los ISP

A medida que los mercados avanzados de fibra (como el español) maduran, la atención pasa de centrarse simplemente en ofrecer velocidades gigabit hasta la puerta de casa a garantizar un rendimiento sin fisuras en todo el hogar, que satisfaga las diversas demandas de los dispositivos conectados emergentes. Como resultado, las inversiones para mejorar la experiencia Wi-Fi a través del CPE suministrado por el ISP serán clave para diferenciar las tarifas multi-gigabit más allá del precio y garantizar que se pueda aprovechar todo el potencial de las conexiones de fibra.

España debe acelerar la modernización de su base Wi-Fi para capitalizar plenamente las importantes inversiones en XGS-PON, ofrecer mejoras significativas en la calidad de la experiencia (QoE) para los consumidores y alcanzar a los mercados líderes de los países nórdicos. Los operadores españoles pueden seguir el ejemplo de países vecinos como Francia, donde las actualizaciones de CPE se incluyen en las actualizaciones de velocidad de las tarifas, y los programas de intercambio y sustitución identifican y eliminan sistemáticamente el hardware Wi-Fi heredado para impulsar la adopción de equipos Wi-Fi 6 y 7 de nueva generación. Los recientes movimientos de ISP como Movistar para eliminar el CPE heredado y ofrecer soluciones Wi-Fi 6 de serie son una prueba de los avances en este sentido.

Los principales ISP europeos que han dado prioridad a la concienciación de los consumidores sobre los estándares Wi-Fi y su impacto en el rendimiento de la fibra, al tiempo que han modernizado su base de CPE Wi-Fi para dar soporte a ofertas rentables como las garantías de velocidad mínima en cada habitación, están viendo beneficios tangibles. Esta estrategia no sólo mejora la experiencia general de la banda ancha fija, sino que también desbloquea nuevas fuentes de ingresos a través de la diferenciación del servicio.

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Luke Kehoe

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Luke Kehoe | February 26, 2025

Wi-Fi 7 in Europe: France Leads in Differentiating Multi-Gigabit Fiber Experiences

Intense fiber overbuilding in advanced European markets has made investments in timely Wi-Fi upgrades a critical lever for enhancing and differentiating multi-gigabit experiences

European markets are at the forefront of the global transition to full-fiber networks in the last mile, with multi-gigabit home broadband connections becoming increasingly common in the most advanced Western and Northern European markets. A groundswell of fiber investment has driven extensive network overbuilding at many residential addresses, expanding consumer choice but making it difficult for ISPs to differentiate beyond price.

The critical role of home Wi-Fi solutions in enhancing broadband experiences has come into sharper focus in recent years, with leading European ISPs adopting mesh solutions and offering more advanced customer premise equipment (CPE) to improve performance and unlock new revenue streams through innovative bundling and minimum Wi-Fi speed guarantees. The challenge now lies in spreading gigabit-level performance throughout the entire home, beyond the line connection point, to meet the growing demands of an increasing number of connected devices.

The arrival of Wi-Fi 7 presents a unique opportunity for leading ISPs to address this challenge head-on, offering a new avenue for fiber differentiation and a stronger focus on quality of experience (QoE). With advancements in speed, latency, and efficiency, Wi-Fi 7 is becoming an important tool for ISPs looking to compete more effectively in the premium segment of the fixed market, enabling best-in-class experiences on multi-gigabit connections.

Key Takeaways:

Central and Western European countries lead in Wi-Fi 7 adoption, while the Nordics boast the most advanced overall Wi-Fi mix: At the end of 2024, France (1.5% Speedtest sample share¹), Switzerland (0.9%), and Denmark (0.6%)—among the world’s leading fixed broadband markets in fiber penetration and consistently ranked in the Speedtest Global Index™ top ten for median download speed—had the highest adoption of Wi-Fi 7 connections. When considering overall adoption of modern Wi-Fi standards (Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 7 combined), Nordic countries such as Iceland (46%), Norway (39%), and Sweden (38%) led in Europe, with over a third of all connections in each of these countries using these modern Wi-Fi standards.
Wi-Fi 7 drives substantial improvements in performance across all metrics: Among the ten countries with the highest Wi-Fi 7 penetration at the end of 2024, the average country-wide median download speeds on Wi-Fi 7 (565.80 Mbps) were up to 78% higher than those on Wi-Fi 6. Upload speeds—boosted by technical advancements like Multi-Link Operation (MLO), which enables simultaneous transmissions across multiple spectrum bands—were nearly twice as fast as those on Wi-Fi 6. Latency improvements, meanwhile, have been more modest, with median latency (13 ms) across the country sample just over 11% lower than on Wi-Fi 6.
Legacy Wi-Fi standards continue to dominate in Europe, weighing on fiber experiences: By the end of 2024, legacy Wi-Fi standards (Wi-Fi 4 and Wi-Fi 5) still accounted for over 70% of connections in many European countries. Western European markets with very high fiber penetration, such as Spain (75% legacy Wi-Fi share), Portugal (78%), and Ireland (84%), lagged, hindering their competitiveness in fixed network performance.

Legacy Wi-Fi standards have become a bottleneck in fiber-rich countries, limiting the potential of multi-gigabit connections

ISP investments in advanced CPE, particularly those supporting the latest Wi-Fi standards and mesh solutions, are critical for maximizing the throughput, coverage, and overall reliability benefits of fiber broadband—especially to optimize the experience in bread-and-butter applications like video streaming, gaming, and web browsing.

Failing to migrate fixed subscribers to modern CPE (e.g., Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 7) is strongly associated with poorer performance outcomes, especially at the upper end (e.g., 90th percentile). This undermines the benefits of full-fiber connections, especially when higher-speed tiers—often offered at a premium price—are not matched with sufficiently capable CPE.

The Profile of Wi-Fi Standard Adoption Varies Widely Across Europe
Speedtest Intelligence® | December 2024

The rollout of full-fiber networks in Europe—particularly investments in infrastructure supporting symmetrical 10 Gbps speeds with XGS-PON (the latest standard in passive optical networking)—is driving the proliferation of multi-gigabit residential connections. As a result, the bottleneck has shifted from the last-mile access line to in-home Wi-Fi networks, which now face challenges from larger property sizes, modern insulation materials that hinder signal propagation, and the rapid growth in both the number and diversity of connected devices.

Majority of Fixed Broadband Subscriptions in France Are Now Multi-Gigabit Capable
European Commission | DESI 2024

Multi-gigabit fiber connections accounted for nearly 20% of all fixed broadband subscriptions on average across the EU, according to the latest Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) published by the European Commission in 2024. France (52%), Hungary (37%), and Romania (30.45%) led the bloc, each featuring well over a quarter of all fixed subscriptions provisioned with download speeds of at least 1 Gbps.

For these multi-gigabit subscribers—who typically represent the high-value premium segment of the fixed market and typically expect the best experience—legacy Wi-Fi standards can significantly constrain performance. Wi-Fi 4, for example, which still accounted for over 20% of active connections in the UK and France at the end of 2024 (based on Speedtest sample share), offers a maximum theoretical throughput of 600 Mbps, while Wi-Fi 5 (which made up more than half of all Wi-Fi connections in the UK) raises this to 3.5 Gbps. However, both fall well short of the increasingly common provisioned fiber speeds of 5 Gbps and 10 Gbps seen in advanced European markets such as France.

Fiber-Rich Countries like Ireland, Spain, and Portugal Still Have a Large Legacy Wi-Fi Base
Speedtest Intelligence® | December 2024

Analysis of Speedtest Intelligence® data reveals a general trend in Europe: markets with higher full-fiber penetration and a greater share of multi-gigabit subscriptions tend to have a lower proportion of legacy Wi-Fi standards in use, reflecting ISP success in migrating customers to modern CPE. However, several notable markets stand out as exceptions to this trend, highlighting the need for new strategies to increase the adoption of more capable Wi-Fi standards.

Spain, Portugal, and Ireland, for example, rank among the highest in Europe for full-fiber coverage but have a disproportionately outdated Wi-Fi mix, with up to 84% of fixed connections still reliant on Wi-Fi 4 or Wi-Fi 5 in these countries at the end of 2024. The persistence of legacy Wi-Fi standards, combined with lower multi-gigabit adoption—partly due to ISPs limiting access to higher provisioned speed tiers—may help explain why these countries underperform in the Speedtest Global Index compared to France and Denmark, despite exhibiting wider overall full-fiber coverage. This is a notable example of legacy Wi-Fi standards acting as a bottleneck on fixed performance in fiber-rich countries.

Early deployments of Wi-Fi 7 demonstrate significant performance gains, showcasing the full potential of fiber

Wi-Fi 6, introduced five years ago, marked a major advancement in home networking, delivering the first Wi-Fi standard designed to fully harness the multi-gigabit capability of full-fiber connections. The later introduction of Wi-Fi 6E, with support for the 6 GHz band, unlocked significant additional capacity in less congested spectrum, enhancing ISPs’ ability to improve home Wi-Fi performance at the high end. Beyond delivering better performance, it also enabled ISPs to monetize ‘Wi-Fi guarantees’ for the first time through the provision of high-performance mesh systems and minimum multi-room speed commitments.

Despite early supply chain disruptions from the pandemic affecting the availability of Wi-Fi 6-capable CPE, the technology has been widely deployed across advanced markets in Europe, yielding significant improvements in real-world fixed broadband performance. By the end of 2024, for instance, median download speeds on Wi-Fi 6 in the top three European markets with the highest adoption—based on Speedtest sample share—were at least 50% faster than those on Wi-Fi 5, demonstrating a marked performance uplift. These high-penetration markets, primarily in the Nordics, included Iceland (Wi-Fi 6 accounting for 45% of all connections), Switzerland (42%), and Norway (38%).

The introduction of Wi-Fi 7, driven in Europe by large-scale launches from Iliad’s Free in France and BT’s EE last year, marks the next step in ISPs’ efforts to maximize the performance of multi-gigabit full-fiber connections and spread it throughout the home with advanced mesh systems. While Wi-Fi 6/6E CPE will continue to serve the vast majority of full-fiber connections effectively, Wi-Fi 7’s future-proof scalability and its notable latency improvements—beyond just headline provisioned speeds—will become key differentiators over time for better QoE outcomes.

Central and Western European Countries lead Europe in Wi-Fi 7 Adoption
Speedtest Intelligence® | December 2024

Wi-Fi 7-capable CPE significantly expand the theoretical performance ceiling of home Wi-Fi, supporting more connected devices and nearly quintupling potential downlink speeds. These enhancements are enabled by key features such as doubling the bandwidth in the 6 GHz band, allowing devices to operate across multiple bands simultaneously with Multi-Link Operation (MLO), and improving scheduling to minimize congestion and interference.

The real-world performance gains from Wi-Fi 7, coupled with the higher provisioned tariff speeds typically offered with Wi-Fi 7-capable CPE (such as Free’s 8 Gbps symmetrical offering in France), are evident in Speedtest Intelligence data. At the end of 2024, Free’s subscribers in France—where Wi-Fi 7 made up over 4% of the ISP’s Wi-Fi connections, among the highest share in Europe—recorded median download speeds of over 1.1 Gbps on Wi-Fi 7, nearly double the performance levels observed on Wi-Fi 6.

Wi-Fi 7 Drives Substantial Download Speed Uplift on Multi-Gigabit Connections
Speedtest Intelligence® | December 2024

Similar improvements in download speed performance on Wi-Fi 7 have been observed in the UK, where EE has bundled Wi-Fi 7 CPE with tariffs offering full-fiber speeds of up to 1.6 Gbps and introduced a money-back guarantee to ensure at least 100 Mbps in ‘every corner’ of the home. Speedtest Intelligence data shows that median download speeds on Wi-Fi 7 with EE’s fixed broadband reached 665.01 Mbps at the end of 2024—more than four times the performance recorded on EE-based Wi-Fi 6 connections during the same period.

Wi-Fi 7 is a Key Enabler of ISP Ambitions for Symmetrical Uplink and Downlink Performance
Speedtest Intelligence® | December 2024

In terms of upload speed performance—critical for applications like live streaming and video conferencing—Wi-Fi 7 has been positioned as a mechanism to strengthen ISPs’ ability to deliver symmetrical multi-gigabit speeds across both the downlink and uplink. At the end of 2024, median upload speeds on Wi-Fi 7 were up to 80% faster on Free and nearly twice as fast on EE compared to Wi-Fi 6 connections.

Wi-Fi 7's Latency Improvements Surpass Those of Recent Generations
Speedtest Intelligence® | December 2024

Latency, unlike download and upload speeds, is not directly influenced by the impact of ISPs bundling Wi-Fi 7-capable CPE with higher-tier tariff speeds. However, notable improvements are still evident in this metric on Wi-Fi 7, driven by Multi-Link Operation (MLO). Median latency on EE’s Wi-Fi 7 connections in the UK reached 17 ms at the end of 2024, a 12% improvement over Wi-Fi 6, while Free in France recorded a median latency of 18 ms, reflecting a 7% reduction.

While these latency improvements may seem modest, they can translate into significantly enhancing QoE in interactive, time-sensitive applications such as gaming and videoconferencing, delivering a substantial upgrade over legacy Wi-Fi standards.

Premium Wi-Fi experiences present new opportunities for ISPs

The strategic shift toward integrating high-performance Wi-Fi 7 CPE at the core of multi-gigabit fiber offerings highlights leading ISPs’ efforts to meet consumer demand to spread best-in-class performance throughout the home. This approach not only enhances QoE outcomes but also unlocks new recurring revenue streams for ISPs through bundled equipment and minimum performance guarantees.

European countries and ISPs that swiftly transition a larger share of their base from legacy Wi-Fi standards to more advanced CPE will maintain a significant competitive edge in differentiating their fiber experiences.

Ookla can assist ISPs, venue owners, and companies in designing Wi-Fi networks, monitoring their performance, and optimizing them. Please contact us to learn more about Speedtest Intelligence and Ekahau.

Sample share based on Android only. ↩︎

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Luke Kehoe

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Luke Kehoe | February 24, 2025

Illustrating the Global State of 5G SA (Poster Download)

Global 5G SA rollouts are gaining momentum after a sluggish start, with China, India, Singapore, and the U.S. maintaining a substantial lead

The telecoms industry is approaching the midpoint of the 5G technology cycle, with capital investment in radio access network (RAN) expansion slowing significantly in developed markets over the last two years as the initial 5G coverage layer nears maturity. Many advanced operators are now prioritizing network densification while cautiously transitioning to a new 5G core architecture with standalone (SA), seeking to unlock new monetization opportunities through the enhanced flexibility, agility, and performance that 5G SA enables.

The interplay of high interest rates driving up the cost of capital, challenges in monetizing the initial non-standalone (NSA) architecture, and the technical complexity of the new 5G core—demanding an entirely new skill set to support implementation—has weighed on the global rollout of 5G SA, with significant regional disparities persisting in commercialization progress.

For the first time, and with the goal of offering deeper insight into the state of 5G SA worldwide, Ookla® has created a high-resolution downloadable poster based on Speedtest Intelligence® data, providing a unified view of the global reach of both 5G NSA and 5G SA networks in 2024. This visual is part of a flagship global study in collaboration with Omdia, comparing the competitiveness of leading regions and countries in 5G SA deployment, performance, and monetization.

Key Takeaways:

Asia Pacific remains at the forefront of global 5G SA deployment

In 2024, seven of the top ten countries by 5G SA reach were in Asia Pacific, with China (77.1% 5G SA sample share), India (51.1%), and Singapore (37.5%) leading globally. The region’s strong position has been driven by a higher number of multi-operator 5G SA deployments (as seen in China and Australia), extensive low-band rollout (such as Reliance Jio’s use of the 700MHz band for deep nationwide coverage in India), and favorable demographics, including very high urbanization in countries like Singapore.

Asia Pacific leads the world in 5G SA reach
Speedtest Intelligence® | 2024

Outside of Asia Pacific, the United States also ranks highly in 5G SA reach, despite only one of its three largest operators engaging in a commercial launch to date. In contrast, just two European countries—Spain and Austria—make the top ten, highlighting the region’s slow pace of 5G SA deployment and the broader decline in its global competitiveness in mobile network infrastructure during the 5G cycle.

Spectrum diversity propels the U.S. to a leading position in 5G SA performance

The U.S. has distinguished itself with significantly higher 5G SA reach than competing regions like Europe while also delivering superior median download speeds. In Q4 2024, median download speeds on 5G SA in the U.S. reached 388.44 Mbps, a substantial increase from 305.36 Mbps in the same period the previous year, and well ahead of Asian competitors such as Japan (254.18 Mbps) and China (224.82 Mbps).

The U.S.’s strong performance has been driven by T-Mobile’s post-merger 5G SA buildout—the first globally—which balanced nationwide reach with network depth. Its “layer cake” strategy combined a broad 600 MHz rollout, initially launched as 5G NSA in 2019 before transitioning to 5G SA in 2020, with mid-band deployments in the 2.5 GHz band. This approach has allowed T-Mobile to more extensively implement features like carrier aggregation and Voice over NR (VoNR) on its maturing 5G SA network, lending it a competitive edge in both availability and key performance metrics such as download speed and latency.

South Korea led the world in Q4 2024 with the highest median 5G SA download speeds at 746.25 Mbps, driven by its exclusive use of the 3.5 GHz band. However, it continues to trail its regional peers in 5G SA reach due to the challenging propagation characteristics exhibited by this spectrum and the limited commercialization beyond a single operator, KT.

5G SA enhances download speeds and latency globally, yet uplink advancements remain underutilized

Globally, 5G SA networks are delivering significantly improved performance across key metrics compared to the non-standalone architecture. In Q4 2024, median latency—a key beneficiary of transitioning to the 5G core—was nearly 20% lower on 5G SA networks compared to 5G NSA networks in Europe and China, and more than 25% lower in the United States and Japan. Similarly, median download speeds on 5G SA were more than 57% higher in Europe and 84% higher in China than those on non-standalone networks.

European 5G SA Users Benefit from Markedly Lower Latency and Higher Download Speed
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q4 2024

Notwithstanding these improvements, 5G SA’s full potential remains largely untapped in Europe. Advanced uplink capabilities unlocked by the technology—such as higher-order MIMO and carrier aggregation—remain limited to a few operators in leading markets like the United States, highlighting the still nascent profile of the device and equipment ecosystems for 5G SA.

A detailed analysis of the state of 5G SA around the world is featured in Ookla’s flagship report, produced in collaboration with Omdia, on regional competitiveness in the technology.

Ookla will be at Mobile World Congress this year, located at Booth 2I28 in Hall 2. Please drop by to discuss the state of connectivity in your market, and how Ookla’s network insights can help deliver better connected experiences.

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Luke Kehoe

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Luke Kehoe | February 23, 2025

A Global Evaluation of Europe's Competitiveness in 5G SA

The European Commission has positioned 5G SA at the center of its emerging pro-growth industrial strategy to boost competitiveness. Yet, despite setting the most ambitious 5G infrastructure targets of any advanced liberal economy, Europe trails the US and Asia in deployment progress.

The global rollout of 5G standalone (SA) networks is gaining momentum after a slower-than-expected start, driven in part by its technical complexity and significant capital requirements in a challenging business environment. Operators continue to advance cautiously, seeking monetization strategies to capture new revenues in both consumer and enterprise segments.

For governments, being at the frontier of the next phase of the 5G cycle is a key differentiator, with the low-latency and high-reliability capabilities of 5G SA pitched as critical to enabling new industrial applications, strengthening digital competitiveness, and attracting inward investment. Mobile networks are now a core pillar of strategic national infrastructure.

The European Commission’s commitment to high-performing mobile network infrastructure has been a hallmark of its Digital Decade program in recent years, further strengthened by the recent launch of the “Competitiveness Compass”—a key strategic framework based on the recommendations of Mario Draghi’s high-profile report. This initiative aims to enhance Europe’s competitiveness in critical industries through a new pro-growth industrial strategy, prioritizing 5G SA investments as a central driver of the program.

However, despite setting the most ambitious 5G infrastructure targets of any advanced liberal economy, Europe currently features the poorest outcomes in terms of 5G SA performance and availability among major global regions. Across Europe, significant disparities in 5G SA rollout progress among countries have undermined the bloc’s competitiveness in the technology, widening the gap with leaders like the US and China.

For the first time, Ookla, in collaboration with Omdia, has published comprehensive research on the global reach and performance of 5G SA networks. The report focuses on Europe’s competitiveness in the technology, progress in monetizing the 5G core for consumer and enterprise use cases, and successful government policies, forming part of a flagship global report on 5G SA commercialization progress.

Key Takeaways:

Europe severely lags other major regions in 5G SA rollout and performance

In Q4 2024, China (80%), India (52%), and the United States (24%) led the world in 5G SA availability based on Speedtest® sample share, markedly ahead of Europe (2%). The region also lagged behind its peers on other key metrics, with the median European consumer experiencing 5G SA download speeds of 221.17 Mbps—lower than those in the Americas (384.42 Mbps) and both Developed (237.04 Mbps) and Emerging (259.73 Mbps) Asia Pacific. The interplay of earlier deployments, a more diversified multi-band spectrum strategy, and greater operator willingness to invest in the 5G core to monetize new use cases have driven rollouts at a faster pace in regions outside Europe.

Europe Trails Other Regions in 5G SA Availability and Performance
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q1 2023 – Q4 2024

Europe exhibits significant disparities in 5G SA deployment among member states

Within Europe, while 5G SA rollout progress remains highly varied, the best outcomes have been observed in countries that have specific policies intended to incentivize 5G SA deployment. Germany, the United Kingdom, and Spain—all four-player markets benefiting from targeted 5G SA-specific fiscal stimuli or coverage obligations— lead Europe in terms of 5G SA rollout across multiple operators. Meanwhile, Southern and Central European countries have supplanted the Nordics at the forefront of this phase of the 5G cycle, with Greece (547.52 Mbps) leading on median download speed in Q4 2024 thanks to its 3.5 GHz usage, and Spain and Austria excelling in rural 5G SA coverage on the back of intensive deployment of the 700 MHz band.

Spain and Austria Lead Europe's 5G SA Rollout in Urban Areas as Expansion Accelerated at the end of 2024
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q1 2023 – Q4 2024

For Europe, the performance improvements unlocked by 5G SA demonstrate the strategic importance of the technology in driving digital competitiveness

Globally, 5G SA networks are delivering significantly improved performance across key metrics compared to the non-standalone architecture. In Q4 2024, median latency—a key beneficiary of transitioning to the 5G core—was nearly 20% lower on 5G SA networks compared to 5G Non-Standalone (NSA) networks in Europe and China, and more than 25% lower in the United States and Japan. Similarly, median download speeds on 5G SA were more than 57% higher in Europe and 84% higher in China than those on non-standalone networks.

European 5G SA Users Benefit from Markedly Lower Latency and Higher Download Speed
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q4 2024

To capture the full monetization potential of the technology, European operators need to adapt their business models and cater to new verticals

While 5G investments in Europe have yet to yield significant monetization, operators in other regions are leveraging the enhanced performance and flexibility of the new 5G core to drive tariff and service innovation. They are focusing on consumer segmentation with performance-oriented tariff upsells and developing tailored network slices to deliver new services across diverse enterprise verticals.

European operators at the forefront of business model evolution with 5G SA—such as BT’s EE in the UK, Deutsche Telekom in Germany, Elisa in Finland, and 3 in Austria—are leveraging the technology to consolidate their positions at the premium end of the market and stimulate average revenue per user (ARPU) growth.

Download the full report

For an in-depth, first-of-its-kind analysis of Europe’s competitiveness in 5G SA—covering global deployment and monetization trends, Speedtest Intelligence® network performance data, Omdia’s adoption and core spending forecasts, and key policy recommendations to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness—download our full white paper, A Global Evaluation of Europe’s Competitiveness in 5G SA.

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Luke Kehoe

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Luke Kehoe | February 5, 2025

Starlink Shines in Europe as Constellation Investments Boost Performance

Recent satellite launches have improved Starlink’s performance in Europe, bolstering its credentials as a competitive broadband solution.

While Europe may not represent the largest market for satellite solutions compared to other large landmass regions with lower fiber density and a greater share of the population living in rural areas, low Earth orbit (LEO) constellations have emerged as an important part of the connectivity toolkit in the region.

SpaceX’s Starlink has secured a leading position in the LEO market, both in Europe and globally. With a network of more than 7,000 satellites worldwide, it remains the most capable in terms of coverage and capacity, providing broadband access throughout most of Europe.

As Starlink adoption on the continent has surged, even in unexpected places like London—where network capacity has been exhausted and the service is sold out—SpaceX has moved swiftly to bolster its constellation. The company ramped up investments to increase the density of its ground stations and launched a blitz of new satellites in the latter half of last year.

This article explores how SpaceX’s investments are contributing to Starlink’s performance in Europe as the service scales up amid intensifying competition from the rapid expansion of fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) infrastructure across the continent.

Key Takeaways:

Significant improvements in latency translate into better quality of experience (QoE) for Starlink users across Europe. The latency disparity between Starlink and the aggregate terrestrial fixed broadband market has narrowed substantially across Europe over the past two years. In Q4 2024, Starlink users in Western Europe experienced the lowest median latencies on the continent, with the United Kingdom (41 ms), Belgium (46 ms) and Luxembourg (46 ms) leading the way. Improvements in latency have boosted Starlink’s QoE performance for video streaming, web browsing and gaming, as evidenced by outcomes such as shorter video start times and reduced game latency.
Starlink’s download speeds are recovering in most countries as SpaceX continues to scale capacity with recent satellite launches. In Q4 2024, most European countries experienced an improvement in Starlink download speeds, likely driven by the continued expansion of the satellite constellation. The sharp increase in operational satellites at the end of October last year appears to have contributed to higher speeds across multiple countries, with some regions seeing particularly notable gains. Southern European countries such as Croatia (~70%) and Greece (~65%) recorded substantial quarter-on-quarter download speed increases between the third and fourth quarters of last year, now ranking among the fastest Starlink connections in Europe.
Starlink adoption is more highly concentrated in countries with lower levels of fiber penetration and a larger proportion of the population living in rural areas. Central and Southern European countries such as Germany, Greece, Italy and Croatia have below-average FTTH coverage compared to the EU average and exhibit higher levels of Starlink adoption, likely due to the LEO solution being relatively more competitive (either on performance or price) in these regions. At the same time, while Starlink continues to provide higher speeds than the aggregate terrestrial fixed broadband market in some countries—including Greece, the Czech Republic, Italy, and Croatia—the number of such markets is steadily decreasing. Significant fiber investments across Europe have improved fixed broadband speeds over the past two years, increasingly challenging Starlink’s competitiveness.

A Surge in Satellite Launches Expanded the Starlink Constellation in Late 2024
Source: SatelliteMap.space

Starlink latency improvements continue at pace across Europe

The physics of transmitting data across vast distances between Earth and space has long challenged satellite operators in their efforts to compete with terrestrial fixed broadband services in Europe on latency. Starlink’s LEO system has been a game-changer, significantly improving latency performance compared to traditional satellite systems that rely on mid-Earth or geostationary orbits.

Over the last two years, SpaceX has been focused on building on this advantage and narrowing the disparity between the performance of its service and what is available from terrestrial fixed operators. To achieve this, it has sought to reduce the distance and number of hops data travels across its network. This has involved massively expanding its satellite constellation over Europe—boosting inter-satellite links for more direct routing—and increasing ground station density to optimize connections to the terrestrial internet.

While the latencies observed in the aggregate fixed broadband market remain materially lower than those of Starlink across Europe, there has been remarkable progress in improving its competitiveness. Speedtest Intelligence® data reveals a consistent trend of double-digit declines in median latency across over a dozen European countries between Q4 2023 and Q4 2024.

During the period between Q4 2023 and Q4 2024, countries in Central and Southern Europe recorded significant improvements in Starlink’s median latency performance. Greece saw its median latency decline by 54%, while Switzerland and Austria saw declines of 28% and 27% respectively. These improvements are contributing to Western Europe’s strong overall performance in latency on Starlink connections, with several countries now approaching the 40 ms mark for the first time. The United Kingdom led the continent with a median latency of 41ms in Q4 2024, followed by Belgium (46 ms), Luxembourg (46 ms) and Ireland (47 ms).

This rapid pace of improvement in latency comes from a high baseline but is at least twice as fast as the underlying rate of improvement in the aggregate fixed broadband market across most European countries. A notable exception is Spain, where Starlink’s median latency of 54 ms showed only a 4% reduction over the year, matching the modest improvement seen in the rest of the country’s fixed broadband market. This limited improvement may reflect orbit-related factors, as neighboring Portugal also experienced a relatively small 8% reduction in Starlink latency compared to the larger improvements observed in most other European countries.

Starlink's Varied Performance Reflects Europe's Regional Diversity
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q4 2024

Across Starlink’s European footprint, latency outcomes continue to vary significantly by country. In Southern Europe, Cyprus (144 ms) and Malta (106 ms) recorded some of the continent’s highest latency in Q4 2024, while Nordic countries like Finland (89 ms) and Norway (79 ms)—despite often leading in Ookla’s terrestrial benchmarks—also lagged behind.

These regional disparities in latency performance highlight the immense technical challenge of delivering uniform service across Europe. Higher-latitude Nordic countries often rely on Starlink’s polar-orbit satellites for coverage in the far north, which can impact performance. Meanwhile, Cyprus and Malta’s higher latency may stem from a limited ground station presence, increasing reliance on inter-satellite links for connectivity.

Shifts in download speeds indicate Starlink is balancing capacity and demand in Europe

Unlike latency, which has seen significant and sustained improvements across most European countries over the past two years in Speedtest Intelligence data, Starlink’s download speed performance has faced growing pressure as the service scaled and network usage increased.

Between Q4 2022 and Q4 2023, Central European countries saw some of the steepest declines in median download speeds. In Germany, speeds fell by 31%—from 94.37 Mbps to 65.44 Mbps—while Switzerland recorded a 24% drop, going from 136.03 Mbps to 103.88 Mbps. Combined with the backdrop of improving median download speeds in terrestrial fixed broadband—driven by accelerating FTTH deployment and adoption—Starlink’s competitiveness on speed eroded over this period in many parts of Europe.

For the first time in Q4 2024, there were signs that the successive speed declines observed in previous quarters may have stabilized, with early indications of a potential recovery. However, given quarter-to-quarter variability, it remains to be seen whether this trend will hold in the coming year.

Nonetheless, the timing of these improvements dovetails with the reported jump in the number of Starlink satellites in service from late October last year, likely reflecting the additional capacity afforded by an expanded constellation above Europe.

Starlink Download Speeds Improved in Most European Countries in Q4 2024 Following Constellation Expansion
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q4 2022 — Q4 2024

While most European countries recorded a material quarter-on-quarter boost in Starlink’s median download speeds in Q4 2024, the most pronounced gains were concentrated in Southern Europe. The significant improvements in countries like Croatia (~70%) and Greece (~65%) have propelled them to be among the top in Europe in terms of median download speed on Starlink, joining other neighbors in nearby countries like Hungary and Romania.

Even the previously mentioned examples, Germany and Switzerland, for the first time in almost two years, saw a quarter-on-quarter speed increase in Q4 2024, rising by 18% and 11% respectively. The overall movements have left countries in Central and Southern Europe trailing in Starlink’s median download speed, with Cyprus (36.52 Mbps) and Malta (53.85 Mbps) ranking similarly as poorly as in latency, but others—most notably the Nordics—performing relatively better on median download speed than latency.

Despite the decrease in the number of countries where Starlink delivers higher median download speeds than the aggregate terrestrial fixed broadband market over time, principally a result of rising FTTH adoption driving improved fixed performance, several countries still stand out.

Starlink is Competitive with Fixed Operators in Southern Europe on Download Speed
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q4 2024

For example, in Q4 2024, median download speeds on Starlink were faster in Greece, Croatia, Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic and Estonia than the aggregate terrestrial fixed broadband speeds in these markets, all of which feature FTTH coverage below the EU average.

In the many countries where Starlink is not ahead of the rest of the fixed market on download speed performance—which is the majority of European countries—it remains competitive on other related metrics, including consistency, which measures the proportion of Speedtest samples exceeding minimum thresholds of 25 Mbps for download and 3 Mbps for upload.

In the United Kingdom, for example, Starlink’s consistency performance remained within the range of the rest of the fixed market over the last year, behind operators like Virgin Media and Vodafone but ahead of TalkTalk and PlusNet. In QoE measures such as Game Score™ (a 0-100 weighted sum incorporating multiple video performance factors), it has steadily closed the gap with the broader UK fixed market, narrowing from over 5 points in Q4 2023 to less than 3 points in Q4 2024.

This improvement in video QoE on Starlink connections has been observed across many European countries over the past year, driven by reductions in adaptive start time and failure rates—resulting in Starlink users spending less time waiting for videos to load and experiencing fewer playback issues—as well as enjoying an increase in average video bitrate.

Starlink adoption continues to be shaped by regional demographics and the varying availability of high-speed broadband

The relative penetration of Starlink across Europe (based on analysis of share of Speedtest samples) remains highly varied by country and region, shaped largely by demographics and the profile of available fixed broadband technologies in each market. Highly urbanized countries with a small share of the population living in rural areas, such as the Nordics and the Benelux region, exhibit lower levels of Starlink adoption.

Higher-than-average fiber availability and take-up in these countries (corresponding to a larger share of fixed subscriptions providing download speeds of at least 100 Mbps), combined with the performance declines at higher latitudes closer to polar orbits, mean that Starlink may not be a competitive broadband access solution for a large proportion of the population. Other factors, such as high levels of fixed wireless access (FWA) penetration—offering higher performance at lower prices than Starlink—in countries such as Finland may also contribute to dampening the appeal of LEO services there.

Starlink Adoption is Highest in Southeastern Europe, Moderate in Central and Western Europe and Lowest in Fiber-Rich Nordic and Benelux Regions
Speedtest Intelligence® | Starlink Share (%) of Total Fixed Speedtest Samples in Q4 2024

A corollary is seen in parts of Central and Southern Europe, where Starlink is relatively more competitive as a fixed broadband solution and measured take-up of alternatives like FWA is below the EU average. This is driven by higher Starlink speeds compared to other parts of Europe—particularly in Greece and Croatia—along with the lower-than-average availability of fixed networks offering very high-capacity coverage (as defined by the European Commission for FTTH and DOCSIS 3.1). As a result, Starlink is relatively more competitive in these markets and, in some cases, outperforms terrestrial fixed operators.

The higher proportion of Starlink users in Germany among Europe’s largest economies is likely a consequence of its outdated fixed broadband mix. With some of the lowest FTTH coverage in the EU and higher fixed broadband prices than elsewhere, Starlink adoption may be higher in Germany and present an attractive alternative there despite providing lower speeds than in other parts of the continent.

Notwithstanding these structural patterns, however, not all instances of Starlink adoption fall neatly into line across Europe. As noted earlier with the example of London, some outliers are driven by specific use cases. For instance, London’s relatively high Starlink usage has been partly linked to its utility beyond home broadband and in providing connectivity for events, supporting card terminals and similar applications.

The LEO space race is heating up above Europe

SpaceX’s ambitions for Starlink in Europe extend well beyond traditional broadband. Over the coming year, the company plans to enter the direct-to-device (D2D) market—widely seen as the next frontier in the LEO space race—by connecting unmodified consumer handsets. This effort is being powered by the launch of SpaceX’s Gen2 satellites, of which the company ultimately hopes to deploy tens of thousands.

The company’s success in transforming the economics of large-scale satellite launches has inspired others to make similar moves. Amazon, for example, plans to deploy over a thousand satellites by mid-2026 through its Project Kuiper initiative, which will focus on mid-latitude coverage (lacking the polar-orbits boasted by Starlink). AST SpaceMobile, meanwhile, is targeting the D2D market and already has five satellites in operation. It aims to expand its constellation to more than 240 satellites.

We look forward to monitoring the satellite market as it expands into the D2D space in the coming months, and will return to check up on how Starlink is performing in other regions beyond Europe. For more information about Speedtest Intelligence data and insights, please contact us.

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Luke Kehoe

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Luke Kehoe | January 27, 2025

Impact Analysis: Storm Éowyn Tests the Resilience of Telecoms Infrastructure in the UK and Ireland

Record power outages have crippled mobile network infrastructure, underscoring the need for network hardening as severe weather events become more frequent.

The UK and Ireland are in recovery mode after Storm Éowyn wreaked havoc on electricity and telecoms infrastructure in recent days. With record wind gusts exceeding 180 km/h recorded in Ireland and a ‘major incident’ declared on the Isle of Man, the storm has been historic in both its strength and the extent of the damage caused across the islands.

Key Takeaways:

Storm Éowyn triggered a rapid, severe and sustained decline in mobile performance across all operators in Ireland and parts of the UK, particularly Northern Ireland and Scotland, on a scale not seen before. On the day the storm made landfall (24th January), median mobile download speeds in Ireland (10.04 Mbps) were 78% lower than the preceding 7-day average of 47.43 Mbps, while median latency was 23% higher at 47.6 ms. In Scotland and Northern Ireland, mobile download speeds at the 10th percentile—a critical metric reflecting the poorest network performance—dropped significantly on the same day, falling by 63% to 2.19 Mbps and by 74% to 1.31 Mbps, respectively, compared to the 7-day average.
Network disruptions drove a dramatic deterioration in quality of experience (QoE) in bread-and-butter consumer applications. Consistency—an important metric indicating the proportion of Speedtest samples meeting minimum download and upload speed thresholds—dropped sharply on the day of the storm, falling by over 20 percentage points to 60.3% in Northern Ireland and by nearly 40 percentage points to 52.3% in Ireland compared to the preceding 7-day average. On the day following the storm (25th January), as power restoration efforts were still in their early stages, Video Score—a key indicator of QoE in gaming activities—remained significantly suppressed, falling by over 23 points compared to the preceding 7-day average in Northern Ireland.
The unprecedented scale of impact on telecoms infrastructure serves as the latest and most high-profile call to action for hardening networks against increasingly frequent and severe storms in the UK and Ireland. Record daily consumer-initiated Speedtest volumes and a 62% surge in Speedtests conducted on Starlink connections in Ireland on the storm day, compared to the preceding 7-day average, highlight the severity of the telecoms infrastructure disruptions as consumers scrambled to troubleshoot issues and turned to alternative connectivity solutions like satellite.

Ireland’s state electricity supplier, ESB Networks, reported “unprecedented” power outages affecting over 725,000 premises (equivalent to as much as one-third of all homes in the country), with restoration times expected to exceed a week in the hardest-hit areas. The extensive damage to the electricity grid has had severe knock-on effects on both fixed and mobile network infrastructure, with well over a thousand mobile sites taken offline due to disruptions to mains power and downed trees causing damage to overhead fibre cabling along roads.

The impacts have been significant across operators. In Ireland, Eir reported that fixed broadband faults were affecting 160,000 premises, with more than 900 mobile sites knocked offline, while Vodafone said more than 10% of its mobile site footprint was affected. Similarly, in the UK, there were elevated reports of network outages across telecoms operators on Downdetector, with the largest concentration of disruptions in the worst hit areas in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

This storm, the most severe to date, follows a series of disruptive weather events across the UK and Ireland during recent winter months. In December, Ookla published detailed research on the impact of Storm Darragh, highlighting the unique challenges posed by widespread, prolonged power outages on mobile networks. These challenges included a dual strain: increased network load as fixed broadband outages shifted traffic to mobile infrastructure and a diminished mobile site grid due to power outages at mobile sites. Together, these factors significantly degrade mobile network performance, reducing overall network availability and pushing more subscribers into the cell edge.

Mobile users in Ireland see marked declines across all performance metrics, with network impacts continuing

Analysis of Speedtest Intelligence® data highlights the significant impact of Storm Éowyn on mobile network performance in Ireland. Download and upload speeds saw sharp and sustained declines, accompanied by increased latency and jitter across all operators nationwide. The deterioration started early on Friday morning, 24th January, as the storm made landfall. While some recovery was observed the following day (25th January), all performance metrics remain materially below pre-storm levels nationally.

Despite the absence of active network sharing in Ireland—limited to cooperation on passive infrastructure, which relies on a common mains power supply at shared sites—the storm’s impacts were felt similarly across operators. Notably, the performance profile across operators during the storm closely mirrored pre-storm trends. For instance, Three maintained its lead in download speed and demonstrated a faster recovery on this metric compared to other operators.

Storm Éowyn Blows Down Mobile Performance in Ireland Across All Metrics and Operators
Speedtest Intelligence® | January 2025

In addition to a decline in metrics like Consistency—designed to measure the proportion of Speedtest samples reflecting a consistent quality of experience (QoE)—the storm-induced network disruptions led to a substantial increase in failed or partially completed Speedtest sessions across all operators on the day of the storm. Similarly, the severe decline in 10th percentile performance—where aggregate download speeds plummeted by over 87%, from a 7-day average of 3.97 Mbps to just 0.51 Mbps—highlights the extent of performance degradation experienced by Irish mobile users at the bottom end.

Storm Éowyn Triggers Sharp Deterioration in Consistency Across All Operators
Speedtest Intelligence® | January 2025

On the day of the storm, Consistency dropped to a low of 38% at 09:00 on Friday nationally and remained below 55% in the evening. While there was an improvement the following day (25th January), reaching a high of 66% at 16:00, the overall profile remains significantly below the pre-storm baseline.

Storm Éowyn Triggers Sharp, Sustained Decline in Consistency Across Ireland
Speedtest Intelligence® | January 2025

It is notable that the limited penetration of battery backup solutions in Ireland’s mobile site grid—typically providing only four to eight hours of power where available—stands in sharp contrast to regions like the Nordics and Australia, which have implemented comprehensive policy measures to harden telecoms infrastructure, as highlighted in a recent Ookla article. This shortfall has resulted in a disproportionate reliance on stationary and mobile generators in the Irish context.

While mobile generators have high operating costs, which limit their feasibility for prolonged or widespread deployment across the mobile site grid in Ireland, they offer operators valuable deployment flexibility. Mobile operators can proactively position generators at key sites based on forecasted storm tracks and leverage distributed fuel dumps across the country to enable rapid refueling during post-storm operations.

Analysis of Speedtest Intelligence data underlines the impact of these efforts on service continuity and restoration. On the morning of the storm, Eir publicly reported deploying mobile generators to key sites in County Cork—one of the worst-affected areas—to restore mobile services ahead of mains power being restored. This proactive approach (which all operators adopted) is reflected in a sharp recovery of Eir’s Consistency score in Cork, which rebounded from as low as 59% on the day of the storm to as high as 95% the following day. This rate of recovery outpaced other operators in the county for this metric, highlighting the important role of rapid power restoration using generator solutions.

Mobile network disruptions extend to Scotland and Northern Ireland

While Ireland experienced some of the most severe and widespread impacts of Storm Éowyn, it was not alone. In Northern Ireland, power outages affecting 30% of premises at their peak were reported by NIE Networks, the primary energy provider in the region. Similarly, in Scotland, over 100,000 homes were left without power, with restoration efforts expected to continue for several days. These widespread power outages have impacted mobile site uptime in both regions.

Storm Éowyn's Impact on Consistency was more pronounced in Northern Ireland than Scotland
Speedtest Intelligence® | January 2025

Speedtest Intelligence data indicates a decline in mobile performance across multiple metrics among operators in Northern Ireland and Scotland, with Northern Ireland experiencing the greatest impact. Mobile download speeds at the 10th percentile plummeted on the day of the storm, falling 63% to 2.19 Mbps in Scotland and 74% to 1.31 Mbps in Northern Ireland relative to the seven-day average before the storm.

Storm Éowyn Pulls Down Mobile Performance Across Several Metrics in Scotland and Northern Ireland
Speedtest Intelligence® | January 2025

Similar to Ireland, the penetration of battery backup solutions installed at mobile sites in the UK remains limited. In its latest annual ‘Connected Nations‘ report, Ofcom noted that only around 20% of all mobile sites in the UK have some backup functionality at the RAN for more than 15 minutes, while only around 5% of sites are able to withstand a six-hour power loss (excluding battery backup for transmission traffic). It has consulted on revised ‘Resilience Guidance’ for the UK’s telecoms operators, published a call for input (CFI) on power backup for mobile networks and is now working with the government to determine if additional resilience measures are needed.

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Luke Kehoe

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Luke Kehoe | January 20, 2025

The Envy of Europe: Nordics Lead in 5G Availability and Network Sunsets

Nordic countries have consolidated their lead in 5G Availability and network sunsets, underscoring the emergence of a two-speed Europe in 5G deployment

Home to two of the world’s largest radio vendors, Ericsson and Nokia, and characterised by markedly higher operator profitability than much of the rest of Europe, the Nordic region remains a key bright spot in Europe’s struggle for competitiveness against the Middle East, North America and Asia in 5G. Nordic countries have distinguished themselves in the 5G cycle through the timely release of mid-band spectrum assets, the development of innovative government policies to enable widespread rollout beyond core urban centres and a unique appetite for network sharing.

Combined with other favourable factors—such as some of the highest urbanisation rates in Europe (resulting in a smaller-than-average share of the population living in rural areas), flat topography (particularly in Denmark and Finland) and high average revenue per user (ARPU)—the Nordic countries have positioned themselves as European leaders in 5G Availability, rivaling global frontrunners like the United States, Qatar and South Korea.

Such is the importance of network quality to consumer sentiment in the Nordics that recent months have seen a flurry of operators eager to highlight major 5G coverage milestones as they complete their multi-year nationwide network refresh and expansion programmes.

At the end of 2024, Telia in Norway announced it was the first in the country to reach “close to 99% of the population” with 5G, while DNA in Finland declared that its 5G network had “reached all municipalities in mainland Finland with population coverage close to 100%“. Similar announcements came from Sweden, where Tele2 and Telenor, collaborating through the Net4Mobility joint venture, reported covering “over 90% of Sweden’s population with 5G”.

Intensive low-band deployment makes the Nordic 5G strategy the envy of Europe

Analysis of Speedtest Intelligence® data confirms that Nordic operators have much to celebrate. In Q4 2024, Nordic countries claimed three of the top five positions in Europe for 5G Availability—the percentage of users with 5G-capable devices spending most of their time connected to 5G networks. Furthermore, all four Nordic countries ranked within the top ten. Denmark retained its position as Europe’s leader, achieving an impressive 5G Availability of 83.4%, narrowly surpassing Switzerland, which remains the only other European country to exceed the 80% milestone to date.

Two-Speed Europe: Nordic Countries Take the Lead in 5G Availability
Speedtest Intelligence® | 5G Availability (%) in Q4 2024

Spectrum configuration decisions are a critical pillar of mobile network design and play a direct role in shaping coverage outcomes. Many European countries, including Ireland (61.9%) and the Netherlands (60.5%), have achieved high levels of 5G Availability by extensively utilising Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS)—a technology that allows 4G and 5G networks to share the same frequency bands simultaneously (most commonly in the 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz bands)—to rapidly and cost-effectively expand 5G coverage atop the existing site footprint.

However, this reliance on DSS to fill coverage maps can negatively impact 5G performance and is intended as a temporary measure until more traffic transitions to newer 5G networks. This helps explain why the level of 5G coverage available is not always a reliable predictor of overall performance outcomes across Europe—for example, Ireland boasts above-average 5G Availability but has consistently ranked last in Europe for median mobile download speed.

The Nordic 5G Model: Early Low-Band Spectrum Access at Competitive Prices
Source: EU4Digital

The Nordic countries stand out for achieving high levels of 5G Availability without relying disproportionately on DSS technology. Operators in all four Nordic countries benefited from the early allocation of dedicated low-band spectrum for 5G in the 700 MHz band (first assigned in Finland in 2016 and most recently in Norway in 2019) and relatively low spectrum acquisition costs (e.g., €0.218 MHz/pop in Finland versus €0.701 MHz/pop in France). This combination has enabled extensive 5G deployments across the region, delivering deeper indoor and rural 5G access compared to much of Europe, thanks to the favourable propagation characteristics of the 700 MHz band.

Higher levels of 5G Availability in the Nordics have facilitated a greater shift of traffic from 4G to 5G networks compared to other parts of Europe. For example, Finnish regulator Traficom reported that nearly a quarter of all smartphone traffic in Finland originated on 5G networks during the first half of 2024, significantly surpassing other countries that track similar metrics, such as Spain and Portugal, where the 5G traffic share (even including FWA) remained well below 20% during the same period.

Innovative ‘carrot-and-stick’ policies drive Nordic 5G rollout

Nordic countries have consistently prioritised 5G access as a cornerstone of ambitious national digital transformation strategies. For example, the Norwegian government has introduced a range of policy measures aimed at achieving its goal of becoming the “world’s most digitalised country by 2030”. Recognising the critical role of high-speed mobile networks in driving economic competitiveness, the Nordic prime ministers signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) in 2018, declaring that the region should become the “first and most integrated 5G region in the world” and establish a “common Nordic 5G space”.

Sweden has closed the 5G Availability Gap with its Nordic Peers after a Slow Start
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q4 2023 – Q4 2024

To achieve this vision, Nordic countries adopted a whole-of-government approach, introducing a suite of financial and policy tools aimed at supporting the 5G rollout. In particular, Nordic telecoms regulators have been European leaders in the development of progressive ‘carrot-and-stick’ policies to accelerate 5G deployments and have leveraged spectrum assignments to steer operator behaviour:

Denmark incentivised 5G rollout through multi-band auctions in 2019 by attaching regional coverage obligations to low-band spectrum (700 MHz), requiring Danish operators to serve specific underserved addresses with minimum download speeds of 30 Mbps and upload speeds of 3 Mbps by April 2022. To encourage participation, these spectrum lots were auctioned under conditions of limited competition and without a minimum price, meaning operators could bid for additional coverage commitments in exchange for reductions in their licence costs. This innovative approach rewarded Danish operators for expanding 5G access in targeted areas with limited network access.
Finland implemented similar coverage obligations in its 2016 auction of the 700 MHz band, requiring operators to provide coverage to 99% of the population within four years. However, it allowed coverage from other frequency bands already in use at the time (800 MHz, 1800 MHz, and 2.6 GHz) to be included in meeting the target.
Sweden assigned two lots of 10 MHz in its 2018 auction of the 700 MHz band with coverage obligations, requiring operators to address prioritised areas with insufficient mobile coverage, ensuring minimum download speeds of 10 Mbps. Licence holders were required to deploy new mobile sites and invest up to €30 million to meet phased coverage targets, including 25% of the prioritised areas by the end of 2021 and 100% by the end of 2024.

Favourable Demographics and Topography Enable High 5G Availability Across Every Region in Denmark
Speedtest Intelligence® | 5G Availability (%) in Q4 2024

Denmark’s coverage obligations have delivered tangible results. Helped by the highest urbanisation rate, smallest rural population and flattest terrain among the Nordic countries, Denmark’s four operators have collectively achieved 5G Availability of at least 70% in each of the country’s regions (regioner), despite lower-than-average ARPU, according to Speedtest Intelligence data for Q4 2024.

Despite Lower Urbanisation Rates than its Nordic Peers, Norway Excels in 5G Availability
Speedtest Intelligence® | 5G Availability (%) in Q4 2024

Similarly, the most rural regions of northern Sweden (e.g., Norrbotten) and Norway (e.g., Finnmark), characterised by sparse populations, vast forests and a challenging Arctic climate, exhibit higher levels of 5G Availability than many more densely populated areas in Europe. Financial support of €140 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to Tele2, which also benefits Telenor through their Net4Mobility joint venture, has been instrumental in supporting 5G deployments in these rural areas of Sweden.

Rural Sweden Exhibits Higher Levels of 5G Availability than typical in Europe
Speedtest Intelligence® | 5G Availability (%) in Q4 2024

Similar financial instruments are aiding 5G deployments in rural Norway. In the first half of 2024, the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) provided a 15-year €85 million loan to Lyse AS, the owner of Norway’s third mobile operator, Ice, to finance the upgrade of over 2,800 mobile sites and the development of more than 3,500 new ones, aiming to extend Ice’s 5G coverage to 99.5% of the population over the next three years.

Network sharing accelerates Nordic 5G rollouts in rural areas

Higher levels of inter-operator collaboration on mobile infrastructure buildouts in the Nordics compared to other European countries have been key to improving the economics of delivering 5G coverage in rural areas. Extensive network sharing agreements between at least two operators exist in Denmark (e.g., the TT Network joint venture between Telia and Telenor), Finland (e.g., the Finnish Shared Network joint venture between DNA and Telia in Northern and Eastern Finland) and Sweden (e.g., the Net4Mobility joint venture between Tele2 and Telenor).

Deep Network Sharing among Nordic Operators Drives Symmetry in 5G Availability
Speedtest Intelligence® | 5G Availability (%) in Q4 2024

The extensive depth of network sharing has contributed to balanced 5G coverage outcomes among operators in the Nordics, resulting in a greater-than-usual symmetry in 5G Availability within these countries. Sweden exemplifies this, with nearly identical 5G Availability levels (72.5%) observed for Tele2 and Telenor, according to Speedtest Intelligence data for Q4 2024. In contrast, smaller operators that have historically relied on national roaming agreements (e.g., Ice in Norway) or are not part of major sharing arrangements (e.g., 3 in Sweden) continue to exhibit lower 5G Availability, leading to greater coverage imbalances with market leaders.

Alongside a strong appetite for network sharing, Nordic operators have also embraced the shutdown of legacy networks more rapidly than other parts of Europe. Speedtest Intelligence data for Q4 2024 shows that operators in Finland and Norway have already completed the full sunset of 3G, with Denmark expected to follow suit once 3 finalises its 3G sunset in the coming months.

Low-Band Deployment and Early Network Sunsets Minimise Nordic Subscriber Time on 2G and 3G
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q4 2024

The proportion of Nordic mobile subscribers spending the majority of their time without network access was highest in Finland (1.9%) in Q4 2024, significantly above Norway (0.8%), the regional leader. Despite progress in phasing out 3G networks, several Nordic operators are postponing their 2G shutdowns to facilitate smoother migration for legacy users. Telia in Sweden, for example, recently announced a two-year delay to its 2G switch-off, now planned for 2025, to minimise disruptions in sectors like agriculture, which rely on 2G for essential equipment such as milking robots and irrigation systems.

About the Author

Luke Kehoe

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Luke Kehoe | January 12, 2025

How consolidation is reshaping Spain’s telecoms market in 2025 | La consolidación cambia las telecomunicaciones españolas en 2025

Spanish/Español

Spain continues to lead Europe in fiber rollout, but lagging mobile performance undermines country’s overall telecoms competitiveness

The dynamism of Spain’s telecoms market stood out among its European peers last year, with a flurry of mergers reshaping the market’s structure and strong investment in next-generation networks, supported by targeted government initiatives, improving outcomes for Spanish consumers. However, while increased fiber and 5G penetration have driven notable year-on-year improvements in overall network performance, Spain’s international competitiveness in telecoms remains highly imbalanced between its fixed and mobile infrastructure.

The country’s credentials as Europe’s preeminent fiber leader remain intact. In 2024, Spain ranked among the top three in the EU for fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) coverage (95.2%) and the share of fixed broadband subscriptions providing download speeds above 100 Mbps (93.5%), according to the latest edition of the European Commission’s ‘State of the Digital Decade’ report. This continues to position the country significantly ahead of some of the bloc’s largest economies, most notably Germany, which still lags in FTTP coverage (28.8%) due to a slow shift away from cable networks.

Analysis of Speedtest Intelligence® data reveals that median fixed download speeds in Spain increased from 173.32 Mbps to 210.46 Mbps between 2023 and 2024. This trend of improvement was mirrored across other fixed network performance metrics, with upload speeds increasing in the same period from 129.62 Mbps to 155.53 Mbps. In Q3 2024, DIGI achieved a median fixed download speed of 321.21 Mbps in the Spanish market, followed by Jazztel (273.18 Mbps), Orange (262.78 Mbps), Yoigo (255.74 Mbps) and Movistar (180.30 Mbps).

Spain Leads Europe in Fiber Deployment and Adoption, Boasting the Highest Coverage Among the EU's Top 10 Economies
European Commission | DESI 2018 – 2024

Having achieved exceptionally high levels of FTTP penetration across urban, suburban and rural areas—placing Spain among the top three in the European Commission’s DESI 2024 Index for FTTP coverage in sparsely populated rural areas—the focus in Spain is shifting toward enhancing quality of experience (QoE) in core use cases such as gaming and video streaming. Despite boasting higher FTTP coverage and take-up rates, Spain ranks below countries like France in Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index™. This disparity highlights the influence of factors such as Wi-Fi technology—France has a higher penetration of Wi-Fi 6 and 7 in ISP-provided CPE—and tariff provisioned speeds, with a larger share of fiber customers in France subscribing to multi-gigabit plans, on fixed broadband performance.

DIGI’s strong fixed download speed performance in Spain, detailed in Ookla’s Speedtest Connectivity Report for 1H 2024, is underpinned by similar favourable factors. Notably, it was first to market in Spain with a 10 Gbps service, fully leveraging its XGS-PON fiber infrastructure. With highly competitive pricing—starting at just €20 per month for 1 Gbps and €25 per month for 10 Gbps, including Wi-Fi 6 CPE as standard—DIGI has quickly secured a significant share of multi-gigabit capable connections in the Spanish market.

Autonomous Communities in Northern Spain Lead in Fixed Download Speed Performance
Speedtest Intelligence® | 2024

In addition to highlighting the importance of modern CPE and higher tariff-provisioned speeds, DIGI’s business last year exemplified the accelerating consolidation trends in Spain’s highly overbuilt and fragmented fiber market. The acquisition of DIGI’s fiber infrastructure by a Macquarie-led consortium, which solidified wholesale specialist Onivia’s status as the largest of the ‘neutral’ FTTP networks in Spain, dovetailed with developments such as Telefónica’s BlueVia wholesale spin-off, the emergence of MásOrange and Zegona-controlled Vodafone’s ‘FiberCo’ tie-ups with both Telefónica and MásOrange.

As observed in other European markets with significant fiber overbuild, such as the alt-net model in the UK, consolidation is a slow and challenging process. However, Spanish operators continue to pursue it to enhance the economics of their fiber investments in highly overbuilt urban areas, unlocking scale and resources to capture future growth in rural areas where overlapping infrastructure is less common. This begins with small local operators—of which there are hundreds—being absorbed by ‘local consolidators’. These are then integrated into the infrastructure portfolios of regional consolidators, ultimately leading to acquisition by one of the largest traditional players.

Fiber Overbuild from Smaller Players like DIGI Drives Market Share Shift from Incumbents
Analysis of CNMC Market Data | 2022 – 2024

This gradual process of consolidation is reshaping the fiber business model in Spain, as traditional operators separate their infrastructure and service units to support the growth of wholesale offerings. The coming year will provide some insight into whether a consolidated third player can successfully compete and coexist alongside the vertically integrated Telefónica and MásOrange in the long-term.

MásOrange is vying for network leadership in Spain, founded on a significant spectrum advantage

The winds of consolidation have swept through the Spanish mobile market too, culminating last year in the European Commission’s approval of a 50:50 joint venture between MásMóvil and Orange. The merger has pole-vaulted the newly formed ‘MásOrange’ into a leading position in the market, both in subscription and spectrum share. To secure regulatory approval from Brussels, the merging entity committed to divesting 60 MHz of spectrum, including 20 MHz in the 3.5 GHz band, to facilitate the entry of DIGI as a fully-fledged independent mobile operator, effectively restoring the Spanish market to a four-player structure and ‘exerting a strong competitive constraint on the joint venture’.

In addition to diversifying its portfolio of brands through the merger—with Orange and Yoigo catering to the premium segment, Jazztel and MásMóvil focusing on value for money and regional brands like Euskaltel and Telecable serving local needs—MásOrange hopes its consolidated spectrum assets will enable it to achieve network leadership in the Spanish mobile market.

Movistar Revenues Stable YoY in Q3 2024 while Vodafone and MásOrange Face Declines
Analysis of CNMC Market Data | 2022 – 2024

The merged entity’s consolidated network will be primarily based on Orange’s infrastructure, complemented by MásMóvil’s existing site portfolio and the deployment of new greenfield sites. The integration of MásMóvil’s network, which relies entirely on mid- and high-band spectrum and has historically depended on a national roaming agreement with Orange, creates a natural synergy for the merged entity. It enables the integrated network to leverage MásMóvil’s capacity and density in urban areas alongside Orange’s extensive coverage and nationwide reach.

MásOrange is particularly focused on vying to unseat Movistar’s dominance in the premium segment, a position it has long upheld thanks to its emphasis on superior network quality. Movistar emerged as the fastest mobile operator in the Spanish market in Ookla’s Speedtest Connectivity Report for 1H 2024, delivering the highest median download speeds of 82.68 Mbps. This placed Movistar significantly ahead of Orange (56.42 Mbps) and Yoigo (36.73 Mbps).

The merged entity’s spectrum advantage is heavily weighted toward mid- and high-bands, which are typically utilised for 5G deployments in urban and suburban areas. According to data published by MásOrange, it holds 37% of all mid- and high-band assets in the Spanish market—compared to 28% and 26% for its closest competitor, Telefónica—giving it a unique opportunity to enhance 5G speed performance and gain a competitive edge.

Movistar has maintained its strong 5G speed performance with a 100 MHz allocation in the 3.5 GHz band, but this is now overshadowed by MasOrange’s expanded allocation of 170 MHz. Capital investment by the merged entity in upgrading the 5G RAN to support advanced carrier aggregation (CA) capabilities and the standalone (SA) architecture will enable it to fully realise the performance benefits of wider channel bandwidth through the extensive deployment of its 3.5 GHz spectrum across its consolidated mobile site grid.

Seville Leads in 5G Download Speed Among Spain's Largest Cities, but Operator Performance Varies Widely
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q3 2024

To establish network leadership in coverage, however, MásOrange will need to move beyond its spectrum advantage and focus on increasing the number of physical sites in rural areas within its integrated network. In Q3 2024, Vodafone and Movistar recorded 4G Availability of 95.1% and 93.4% respectively in the Spanish market, followed by Orange at 92.7% and Yoigo at 91.5%.

In parallel to MásOrange’s network consolidation journey, DIGI is building out its own infrastructure to gradually wean itself off dependence on a national roaming and RAN sharing agreement with Telefónica (which DIGI selected over MásOrange, despite both being options under the merger conditions), starting with urban and suburban areas. The European Commission designed the spectrum divestment remedies to position DIGI to replicate the competitive pressure previously exerted by MásMóvil. The goal is for DIGI to carry a similar share of its total mobile data traffic on its own network in the coming years, at least matching the 40-60% on-net share that MásMóvil achieved pre-merger.

Spain's Rural Provinces Trail in 5G Availability, Highlighting the Importance of Government Support through UNICO
Speedtest Intelligence® | Overall 5G Availability (%) in 2024

More broadly, it is hoped that the substantial long-term investment commitments from DIGI and MásOrange, driven by the consolidation activity, combined with government support through programmes such as Unico, will bolster Spain’s international competitiveness in mobile performance in the coming years. The country has significant catching up to do, ranking 57th in the Speedtest Global Index at the end of 2024 and trailing most of its European peers across a suite of network performance metrics, including download speed, consistency and coverage.

La consolidación cambia las telecomunicaciones españolas en 2025

España sigue a la cabeza en despliegue de fibra en Europa, pero el rezagado desempeño móvil reduce la competitividad del país

El dinamismo del mercado español de telecomunicaciones destacó el año pasado frente al de otros mercados europeos, por fusiones que modificaron la estructura del sector y una fuerte inversión en redes de próxima generación, respaldadas por iniciativas gubernamentales, que supusieron mejoras para los consumidores españoles. Si bien la mayor penetración de la fibra y el 5G han impulsado año tras año notables avances en el rendimiento general de la red, la competitividad internacional de España en telecomunicaciones sigue estando muy desequilibrada entre su infraestructura fija y móvil.

Las credenciales del país como líder europeo en fibra permanecen intactas. En 2024, según la última edición del informe ‘Estado de la Década Digital’ de la Comisión Europea, España se situó entre los tres primeros países de la UE en cobertura de fibra hasta las instalaciones (FTTP), con un 95,21%, y en porcentaje de suscripciones de banda ancha fija con velocidades de descarga superiores a 100 Mbps (93,54%). Esto posicionó al país significativamente por delante de algunas de las economías más grandes del bloque, en particular Alemania, todavía rezagada en cobertura FTTP (28,80%).

Según Speedtest Intelligence la velocidad mediana de descarga fija en España aumentó de 173,32 Mbps a 210,46 Mbps entre 2023 y 2024. Esta tendencia de mejora se reflejó en otras métricas de rendimiento de la red fija, con velocidades medianas de carga que se incrementaron de 129.62 Mbps a 155.53 Mbps en el mismo período. En el tercer trimestre de 2024, DIGI alcanzó una velocidad mediana de descarga fija de 321,21 Mbps, por delante de Jazztel (273,18 Mbps), Orange (262,78 Mbps), Yoigo (255,74 Mbps) y Movistar (180,30 Mbps).

España lidera Europa en despliegue y adopción de fibra, con la mayor cobertura entre las 10 principales economías de la UE
Comisión Europea | DESI 2018-2024

Habiendo alcanzado niveles excepcionalmente altos de penetración de FTTP en áreas urbanas, suburbanas y rurales (que posicionan a España entre los tres primeros del índice DESI 2024 de la Comisión Europea sobre cobertura FTTP en zonas rurales escasamente pobladas), España está cambiando el foco hacia la mejora de la calidad de la experiencia (QoE) para casos de uso como los vídeojuegos y el streaming. A pesar de contar con más cobertura y tasas de aceptación FTTP, España está por debajo de países como Francia en el Índice Global de Speedtest de Ookla.

Este desequilibrio pone de relieve la influencia en el rendimiento de la banda ancha fija de factores como la tecnología Wi-Fi (Francia tiene una mayor penetración de Wi-Fi 6 y 7 en los router proporcionados por los operadores) y las velocidades ofrecidas en la tarifa (con una mayor proporción de clientes de fibra suscritos a planes multi-gigabit en Francia).

El sólido rendimiento de la velocidad de descarga fija de DIGI en España, detallado en Informe de Conectividad de Speedtest, está respaldado por factores favorables similares. Fue el primero en comercializar en España un servicio de 10 Gbps, aprovechando al máximo su infraestructura de fibra XGS-PON. Con precios altamente competitivos (desde sólo 20€ al mes por 1 Gbps y 25€ por 10 Gbps y router Wi-Fi 6 incluido), DIGI se ha asegurado rápidamente una cuota importante de conexiones con capacidad multigigabit en el mercado español.

Las comunidades autónomas del norte de España, líderes en rendimiento de velocidad de descarga fija
Speedtest Intelligence® | 2024

Además de evidenciar la importancia de un router moderno y velocidades más altas, el negocio de DIGI ejemplificó el año pasado la acelerada tendencia de consolidación en el fragmentado y sobredimensionado mercado español de fibra. La adquisición de la infraestructura de fibra de DIGI por parte de un consorcio liderado por Macquarie, que consolidó el estatus de Onivia como la mayor red FTTP ‘neutra’ en España, coincidió con otros acontecimientos como la escisión de BlueVia de Telefónica, la aparición de MásOrange y las alianzas de ‘FibreCo’ de Vodafone con Telefónica y MásOrange.

Como se observa en otros mercados europeos con un importante despliegue de fibra (como Reino Unido), la consolidación es un proceso lento y desafiante. Sin embargo, los operadores españoles continúan persiguiéndola para mejorar la rentabilidad de sus inversiones en fibra en áreas urbanas altamente edificadas, liberando recursos para aprovechar el crecimiento futuro en áreas rurales donde la superposición de infraestructura es menos común. Esto comienza con la absorción de pequeños operadores locales (de los que hay cientos) por “consolidadores locales”. Luego, éstos se integran en las carteras de infraestructura de los consolidadores regionales, lo que en última instancia conduce a la adquisición por parte de uno de los actores tradicionales más grandes.

El despliegue de fibra por parte de actores más pequeños como DIGI impulsa el cambio en la cuota de mercado de los operadores tradicionales
Análisis de datos de CNMC | 2022-2024

Esta consolidación gradual está modificando el negocio de la fibra en España, mientras que los operadores tradicionales separan sus unidades de infraestructura y servicios para apoyar el crecimiento de la oferta mayorista. Este año se podrá saber si un tercer actor consolidado puede competir y coexistir con éxito a largo plazo con Telefónica y MásOrange.

MásOrange compite por el liderazgo de la red en España, apoyándose en una importante ventaja de espectro

La consolidación también ha afectado al mercado móvil español. A finales del año pasado, la Comisión Europea aprobó la creación de una empresa conjunta entre MásMóvil y Orange. La fusión ha llevado a la recién formada MásOrange a una posición de liderazgo, tanto en suscripción como en cuota de espectro. Para obtener la aprobación de Bruselas, la entidad se comprometió a vender 60 MHz de espectro, incluidos 20 MHz en la banda de 3,5 GHz, para facilitar la entrada de DIGI como un operador móvil independiente de pleno derecho, convirtiendo así el mercado español en una estructura de cuatro actores.

Además de diversificar su cartera de marcas a través de la fusión (con Orange y Yoigo en el segmento premium, Jazztel y MásMóvil centrándose en la relación calidad-precio y Euskaltel y Telecable atendiendo las necesidades locales), MásOrange espera que sus activos de espectro le permitan alcanzar el liderazgo en el mercado móvil español.

Los ingresos de Movistar se mantienen estables interanualmente en el 3T de 2024 mientras que Vodafone y MásOrange afrontan caídas
Análisis de datos de mercado de CNMC | 2022-2024

La red de la entidad se basará principalmente en la infraestructura de Orange, complementada con la cartera de sites existentes de MásMóvil y el despliegue de nuevos. La integración de la red de MásMóvil, que depende íntegramente del espectro de banda media y alta e históricamente ha dependido de un acuerdo de roaming nacional con Orange, crea una sinergia para la entidad: aprovechar la capacidad y densidad de MásMóvil en áreas urbanas junto con la amplia cobertura y alcance nacional de Orange.

MásOrange está centrado en desbancar a Movistar en el segmento premium, que ha liderado durante mucho tiempo gracias a su foco en la calidad superior de la red. Movistar emergió como el operador móvil más rápido del mercado español en el Informe de Conectividad Speedtest de Ookla para el primer semestre de 2024, al ofrecer la velocidad de descarga media más alta de 82,68 Mbps. Esto sitúa a Movistar muy por delante de Orange (56,42 Mbps) y Yoigo (36,73 Mbps).

La ventaja espectral de MásOrange se inclina hacia las bandas medias y altas, normalmente utilizadas para implementaciones 5G en áreas urbanas y suburbanas. De acuerdo con los datos publicados por la compañía, MásOrange cuenta con el 37% de todos los activos de banda media y alta de España (en comparación con el 28% y el 26% de su competidor más cercano, Telefónica), lo que le da una oportunidad única de mejorar el rendimiento de la velocidad 5G y adelantarse a sus competidores.

Movistar ha mantenido su liderazgo en velocidad 5G con una asignación de 100 MHz en la banda de 3,5 GHz, pero esto se ve ahora eclipsado por la asignación de MásOrange de 170 MHz. La inversión de ésta para actualizar la RAN 5G para que cuente con capacidades avanzadas de agregación de operadores y arquitectura independiente (SA), le permitirá aprovechar los beneficios de rendimiento de un ancho de banda mayor a través del amplio despliegue de su espectro de 3,5 GHz en toda su red móvil consolidada.

Sevilla lidera en velocidad de descarga 5G entre las principales ciudades de España, pero el rendimiento de los operadores varía ampliamente
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q3 2024

Sin embargo, para liderar en cobertura de red, MásOrange necesitará ir más allá de su ventaja de espectro y centrarse en incrementar el número de sites físicos en áreas rurales. En el tercer trimestre de 2024, Vodafone y Movistar registraron en el mercado español una disponibilidad 4G del 95,1% y 93,4% respectivamente, seguidas de Orange con un 92,7% y Yoigo con un 91,5%.

Paralelamente a la consolidación de la red de MásOrange, DIGI está construyendo su propia infraestructura para dejar de depender gradualmente de un acuerdo de roaming y del uso compartido de RAN con Telefónica, comenzando con zonas urbanas y suburbanas. La Comisión Europea diseñó los remedies de desinversión de espectro para que DIGI replique la presión competitiva ejercida anteriormente por MásMóvil. El objetivo es que DIGI transporte una proporción similar de su tráfico total de datos móviles en su propia red en los próximos años, al menos igualando la cuota on-net del 40-60% que MásMóvil lograba antes de la fusión.

Provincias rurales de España, a la zaga en disponibilidad de 5G, lo que destaca la importancia del apoyo gubernamental a través de UNICO.
Speedtest Intelligence® | Disponibilidad general 5G (%) en 2024

En términos generales, se espera que los compromisos de inversión a largo plazo de DIGI y MásOrange, impulsados por la consolidación, unidos al apoyo gubernamental con programas como Único, impulsen la competitividad internacional de España en rendimiento móvil en los próximos años. El país tiene mucho por hacer, ya que a finales de 2024 ocupa el puesto 57 en Índice Global de Speedtest, situándose por detrás de la mayoría de sus colegas europeos en rendimiento de red, incluidas velocidad de descarga, coherencia y cobertura.

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Luke Kehoe

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Ookla Research™ Articles

Luke Kehoe | December 16, 2024

DIGI makes a splash as fourth MNO in Belgium, leans on convergence

Belgium’s new entrant jolts the market with aggressive pricing, eyes Wi-Fi 7 in bid for QoE advantage

Romania’s DIGI has taken another bold step in its ambitious multi-country expansion strategy—the largest in Europe in over a decade—by launching fixed and mobile services in Belgium. It is replicating its signature disruptor strategy to swiftly capture market share, introducing a cut-price mobile tariff priced at €5 per month for 15 GB of data, alongside a fixed broadband offering at €10 per month for a 500 Mbps full-fibre connection.

The long-anticipated commercial launch is founded on a rebranded joint venture between Citymesh (51%), a subsidiary of IT services group Cegeka specialising in the B2B segment, and RCS & RDS, a subsidiary of the DIGI group. A five-year national roaming agreement with Proximus, Belgium’s largest mobile operator, has enabled DIGI’s market entry while it works to deploy its own greenfield radio infrastructure. DIGI aims to achieve 30% 5G population coverage by the end of 2025 and establish a network of 4,500 sites by the end of this decade.

As part of this roaming agreement, Proximus proposed to decommission and transfer around 400 of its own mobile sites to InSky, the company responsible for deploying the infrastructure for DIGI and Citymesh. With extensive spectrum holdings, including assets in the 700, 900, 1800 and 2100 MHz bands, along with a valuable 50 MHz of unpaired 3.6 GHz spectrum and 2.6 GHz frequencies it secured from neutral host operator Dense Air, it is fully equipped to execute its mobile network rollout.

DIGI subscribers rely on Proximus’ 4G network as it races to deploy its own 5G Standalone (SA) infrastructure

Subscribers to the new operator may initially be surprised by the limited availability of 5G services. DIGI’s roaming agreement with Proximus is restricted to its 4G network, with 5G access reliant on the progress of DIGI’s own greenfield site deployment. Whether this rollout will enhance Belgium’s international standing in 5G coverage remains to be seen, as the country continues to lag behind most of its developed peers due to delays in network deployment caused by conflicts between regional governments at the start of the 5G cycle.

Belgium continues to lag its neighbours in 5G Availability
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q3 2023 – Q3 2024

Analysis of Speedtest Intelligence® data from Q3 2024 reveals that Proximus, DIGI’s roaming partner, led the market in 4G download speed performance. Proximus’ subscribers enjoyed median 4G download speeds of 55.68 Mbps in the period, outperforming Telenet (47.91 Mbps) and Orange (36.22 Mbps).

DIGI subscribers will roam on Proximus' 4G network, which leads the Belgian market in 4G download speed performance
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q3 2023 – Q3 2024

However, this performance advantage does not extend to network reach. In Q3 2024, Proximus lagged behind its competitors in 4G Availability. Telenet led the market with 93.74% 4G Availability, followed by Orange at 86.02% and Proximus at 81.07%. Proximus’ comparatively lower 4G Availability has also contributed to its subscribers spending more time on 3G than those of other operators. On Proximus’ network, 11.21% of devices spent the majority of their time on 3G, compared to 7.92% on Orange’s network and just 3.41% on Telenet’s network.

Proximus' subscribers spend more time on 2G and 3G compared to competitors, primarily due to lower 4G Availability
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q3 2024

Fibre ambitions put convergence and Wi-Fi 7 in the spotlight

DIGI’s ambitions in Belgium extend beyond disrupting the mobile market—it is taking aim at fixed broadband too. The operator has introduced ‘DIGI Fiber’, bringing its signature aggressive pricing to the FTTH market. Launching with a limited footprint in select Brussels suburbs, DIGI Fiber offers download speeds of up to 10 Gbps for as little as €20 per month. It plans to scale this fibre footprint rapidly, as it has done in Spain, targeting 2 million households within two years.

DIGI’s fibre offering is highly competitive in the Belgian market context, promising speeds that are many multiples of the country-wide median of 101.97 Mbps observed across fixed networks in Belgium in Q3 2024. While Proximus’ fibre service led the market during this period with median download speeds of 303.25 Mbps, DIGI’s entry may disrupt the market order.

Proximus Fiber leads in fixed download speed performance across Belgium's largest cities
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q3 2024

The operator is placing significant emphasis on Wi-Fi performance as part of its foray into the home, providing Wi-Fi 6-capable CPE as standard and preparing to introduce Wi-Fi 7 solutions “soon” for customers subscribing to its 10 Gbps service. This follows the playbook of other leading fixed operators seeking to differentiate fibre services through an enhanced focus on quality of experience (QoE) in the home, with BT’s EE in the UK and Iliad’s Free in France also debuting Wi-Fi 7 solutions in a bid to sell premium fibre experiences.

DIGI aims to leverage converged bundling of fixed and mobile tariffs to maximise customer retention and minimise churn, as it seeks to position itself as a leader in both price and network quality in Belgium. However, this convergence strategy is far from novel in the Belgian market, where competitors have successfully offered triple- and quad-play bundles for years. Notably, DIGI has yet to introduce a TV service in Belgium, leaving a gap in its bundling proposition at launch.

Has DIGI precipitated a race to the bottom in Belgium?

DIGI’s arrival disrupts a market long known for generating some of the highest average revenue per user (ARPU) levels in Western and Central Europe, coupled with a higher degree of market concentration compared to other countries in the region, based on analysis of GSMA Intelligence data. In Q3 2024, Belgian operators reported a monthly ARPU of €18.26, significantly outpacing neighbouring markets such as the Netherlands (€13.15) and Germany (€11.03).

Belgian operators maintain higher ARPU levels compared to many other European markets
Analysis of GSMA Intelligence data | Q3 2024

Market incumbents have been bracing for an intense price war for some time. Earlier this year, Proximus cut its dividend, increased debt and struck agreements with alt-nets to accelerate its fibre rollout in Flanders. In a strategic counter move, Orange responded to DIGI’s aggressive mobile pricing by launching an equivalently priced tariff through its budget-focused ‘Hey!’ sub-brand, setting the stage for a race to the bottom in Belgium’s telecoms market.

This development shifts the Belgian market from a three- to four-player structure, marking a notable countertrend at a time when regulators in Brussels are signalling a softer stance on merger reviews and competition policy. It also follows closely on the heels of the Vodafone-Three merger approval in the UK, highlighting the increasingly diverse regulatory dynamics at play across Europe.

DIGI's success in Spain has been a cornerstone of its revenue growth, fueling its expansion ambitions in Belgium
Analysis of DIGI Group financial accounts | 2018 – 2024

Regardless of the outcome in the Belgian market, this marks a critical litmus test for DIGI’s growth ambition in Western Europe. Over the past decade, the Bucharest-based group has nearly tripled its annual revenues, growing from €624 million in 2013 to over €1.69 billion in 2023. It continues to distinguish itself through an obsessive strategic focus on operational efficiency—a model that has been similarly instrumental to Iliad’s success in Europe and its ability to achieve economies of scale.

This emphasis on a lean organisational structure has not dampened its long-term investment commitments. Last year alone, DIGI splurged €729.7 million on network spending and sold part of its fixed network in Spain to unlock additional funds for reinvestment, as it navigates a period of record capital intensity across its markets.

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Luke Kehoe

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How Boingo Leverages Ookla's Comprehensive Network Intelligence

Ookla Joins Ericsson's Leading Telecommunications Open RApp System

Mind the Gap: London's 5G Performance Lags Behind Other UK Cities

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Londoners spend more time in mobile signal not-spots, or coverage gaps, and experience slower 5G speeds than residents of other UK cities—resulting in poorer performance in everyday tasks such as web browsing.

Key Takeaways:

A confluence of factors has created unique headwinds for mobile network deployments in UK cities in recent years, particularly in dense urban settings like London

Progress in the 5G rollout belies lingering performance disparities among the UK’s major cities

Mobile not-spots continue to be a fixture of everyday life in UK cities, particularly in London

Cities that take a proactive approach to telecoms feature the best 5G outcomes

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Luke Kehoe

Fiber-Rich, Wi-Fi Poor: Spain Exemplifies the Scourge of Outdated Wi-Fi | Rica en fibra y pobre en Wi-Fi: España ejemplifica la ‘enfermedad’ del Wi-Fi obsoleto

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Spain leads Europe in fiber deployment but is now paying the price for neglecting modern Wi-Fi CPE, undermining its global competitiveness in fixed broadband performance.

Key Takeaways

Spain is a victim of its own success, having deployed fiber far and wide before the arrival of Wi-Fi 6 and 7

Competitive dynamics play a key role in shaping Wi-Fi outcomes across countries and ISPs

Newer Wi-Fi standards enhance performance across all metrics and Spanish ISPs

Driving adoption of newer Wi-Fi standards requires fresh strategies but create new revenue opportunities for ISPs

Rica en fibra y pobre en Wi-Fi: España ejemplifica la ‘enfermedad’ del Wi-Fi obsoleto

España lidera Europa en despliegue de fibra, pero está pagando el precio de descuidar la modernización de equipos Wi-Fi, lo que socava su competitividad global en rendimiento de banda ancha fija.

Aspectos Clave:

España, víctima de su propio éxito: desplegó fibra por todas partes antes de la llegada de Wi-Fi 6 y 7

La dinámica competitiva desempeña un papel clave en la configuración de los resultados de Wi-Fi de los distintos países e ISP

Los nuevos estándares Wi-Fi mejoran el rendimiento en todas las métricas e ISP españoles

Impulsar la adopción de los nuevos estándares Wi-Fi requiere nuevas estrategias, pero crea nuevas oportunidades de ingresos para los ISP

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Luke Kehoe

Wi-Fi 7 in Europe: France Leads in Differentiating Multi-Gigabit Fiber Experiences

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Intense fiber overbuilding in advanced European markets has made investments in timely Wi-Fi upgrades a critical lever for enhancing and differentiating multi-gigabit experiences

Key Takeaways:

Legacy Wi-Fi standards have become a bottleneck in fiber-rich countries, limiting the potential of multi-gigabit connections

Early deployments of Wi-Fi 7 demonstrate significant performance gains, showcasing the full potential of fiber

Premium Wi-Fi experiences present new opportunities for ISPs

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Luke Kehoe

Illustrating the Global State of 5G SA (Poster Download)

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Global 5G SA rollouts are gaining momentum after a sluggish start, with China, India, Singapore, and the U.S. maintaining a substantial lead

Key Takeaways:

Asia Pacific remains at the forefront of global 5G SA deployment

Spectrum diversity propels the U.S. to a leading position in 5G SA performance

5G SA enhances download speeds and latency globally, yet uplink advancements remain underutilized

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Luke Kehoe

A Global Evaluation of Europe's Competitiveness in 5G SA

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Key Takeaways:

Europe severely lags other major regions in 5G SA rollout and performance

Europe exhibits significant disparities in 5G SA deployment among member states

For Europe, the performance improvements unlocked by 5G SA demonstrate the strategic importance of the technology in driving digital competitiveness

To capture the full monetization potential of the technology, European operators need to adapt their business models and cater to new verticals

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Luke Kehoe

Starlink Shines in Europe as Constellation Investments Boost Performance

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Recent satellite launches have improved Starlink’s performance in Europe, bolstering its credentials as a competitive broadband solution.

Key Takeaways:

Starlink latency improvements continue at pace across Europe

Shifts in download speeds indicate Starlink is balancing capacity and demand in Europe

Starlink adoption continues to be shaped by regional demographics and the varying availability of high-speed broadband

The LEO space race is heating up above Europe

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Luke Kehoe

Impact Analysis: Storm Éowyn Tests the Resilience of Telecoms Infrastructure in the UK and Ireland

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Key Takeaways:

Mobile users in Ireland see marked declines across all performance metrics, with network impacts continuing

Mobile network disruptions extend to Scotland and Northern Ireland

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