Author: Mark Giles

Mark Giles is the Lead Industry Analyst at Ookla
Ookla Research™ Articles
| September 7, 2021

5G in Austria: Evaluating Performance Two Years After Launch

Global Speeds

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Austria has been held up as an example of a pioneer European 5G-market, having announced its 5G Strategy in April 2018, which has since been incorporated in the nation’s Broadband Strategy 2030. This strategy includes a number of 5G targets: commitments to early 5G trials, the rollout of 5G in all state capitals by the end of 2020 (which it has achieved), coverage of all main traffic routes in the country by the end of 2023 and nationwide 5G coverage by the end of 2025. We analyzed Speedtest Intelligence® data from Q1-Q2 2021 to see how performance is tracking two years on from launch. We compared Austrian 5G speeds to those of its regional peers and examined how its operators 5G networks perform across the country.

Key spectrum auctions are opening up Austria’s 5G market

Despite COVID-19 related delays, the Austrian regulator has completed the auction of spectrum in key 5G bands. The first auction in early 2019 saw all three national mobile operators acquire contiguous bands at least equal to the EU’s recommended 80-100 MHz in the C-band. A follow up multi-band auction (which included spectrum in the 700 MHz band) was conducted in September 2020 and included obligations to cover a range of not-spots (areas of zero mobile broadband coverage) and partial not-spots (areas of coverage by only one network operator).

Having access to large contiguous blocks of spectrum in the key C-band will allow Austrian operators to make more efficient use of their spectrum resources and better support high-bandwidth, low-latency 5G use cases. Austria already looks set to advance with standalone (SA) 5G networks, with Drei Austria recently announcing a trial in the capital Vienna and plans to launch a commercial 5G SA network in spring 2022. Notably, operators have complained that the high cost of mobile mast rental has slowed 5G rollout.

Switzerland had the fastest 5G among Austria’s European peers during Q1-Q2 2021

5G performance has seen some wild swings over the past year in Austria and its European peer countries in the region. Switzerland ended Q2 2021 with the fastest median 5G download speed on this list at 177.33 Mbps, followed by France (169.16 Mbps), Austria (143.98 Mbps), Germany (142.71 Mbps) and Italy (122.54 Mbps).
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Switzerland was also fastest for median upload speed over 5G during Q2 2021 at 36.37 Mbps, followed by Germany (26.22 Mbps), Austria (21.97 Mbps), Italy (16.43 Mbps) and France (15.95 Mbps). We often see 5G speeds decline after the initial launch period as more users adopt the technology, which adds congestion to cell sites. Additionally, the use of Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) allows operators to expand 5G coverage through the use of existing spectrum bands and incorporates bands at lower frequencies that can lead to slower median speeds.

Drei Austria was the fastest operator in Austria for 5G

5G performance varied widely among Austria’s top providers during Q1-Q2 2021 but Drei Austria had the fastest median 5G download speed at 183.04 Mbps. Accounting for statistical uncertainty, this was at least 21% faster than the nearest competitor. Magenta Telekom and A1 Telekom had slower 5G download speeds at 145.18 Mbps and 111.07 Mbps, respectively. For median 5G upload speeds, Magenta Telekom placed first at 24.43 Mbps.
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Innsbruck trumps Vienna on 5G download and upload speeds

While there was no statistical winner among Austrian capitals, Innsbruck had a median 5G download speed at 169.43 Mbps, which was demonstrably faster than Vienna’s median download speed of 144.93 Mbps. Since there was no clear winner among all state capitals, this indicates operators’ 5G rollouts to date have not prioritized any single state capital, and that they are currently managing the balance between providing 5G capacity with demand on the new network. Within the capital Vienna, Drei Austria’s 5G network showed the fastest performance during Q1-Q2 2021 achieving a median download speed of 193.66 Mbps.
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Austria has clearly seen a ramp up in mobile network speeds with the arrival of 5G. We’ll be interested to see if other providers make the necessary investments to catch up to Drei. This could bring up speeds across the country and improve Austria’s standing relative to its peers in the Speedtest Global Index™, where it ranked 31st for mobile speed in July 2021. Learn more about how Speedtest Intelligence can help you benchmark your 5G performance against competitors.

5G in Österreich im Performance-Test zwei Jahre nach dem Start

Österreich gilt als einer der 5G-Pioniermärkte in Europa. Bereits im April 2018 verkündete Österreich seine 5G-Strategie, die inzwischen in die nationale Breitbandstrategie 2030 integriert wurde. Diese Strategie enthält eine Reihe von 5G-Zielen: eine Verpflichtungen zu ersten frühzeitigen 5G-Tests, die mittlerweile bereits umgesetzt Einführung von 5G in allen Landeshauptstädten zum Zeitpunkt Ende 2020, die Abdeckung aller Hauptverkehrswege des Landes bis Ende 2023 und eine landesweite 5G-Versorgung bis Ende 2025.

Zwei Jahre nach dem kommerziellen 5G-Start in Österreich haben wir unsere Speedtest Intelligence® Daten aus Q1-Q2 2021 analysiert, um zu sehen, wie sich die Performance von 5G im Land entwickelt hat. Wir haben untersucht, wie die 5G-Netze der Betreiber im ganzen Land abschneiden, und die 5G-Übertragungsraten jenen vergleichbarer europäischer Länder in der Region gegenübergestellt.

Frequenzauktionen machen Weg frei für Österreichs 5G-Markt

Trotz COVID-19-bedingter Verzögerungen hat die österreichische Regulierungsbehörde die Versteigerung der Frequenzbänder für 5G mittlerweile abgeschlossen. Bei der ersten Auktion Anfang 2019 erwarben alle drei nationalen Mobilfunkbetreiber zusammenhängende Bänder, die mindestens den von der EU empfohlenen 80-100 MHz im C-Band entsprechen. Eine nachfolgende Multi-Band-Auktion, die auch Frequenzen im 700-MHz-Band umfasste, wurde im September 2020 durchgeführt und beinhaltete Verpflichtungen zur Abdeckung einer Reihe von Not-Spots (Gebiete ohne mobile Breitbandabdeckung) und von partiellen Not-Spots (Gebiete mit Abdeckung durch nur einen Netzbetreiber).

Der Zugang zu großen, zusammenhängenden Frequenzblöcken im wichtigen C-Band wird es den österreichischen Betreibern ermöglichen, ihre Frequenzressourcen effizienter zu nutzen und 5G-Anwendungsfälle mit hoher Bandbreite und geringer Latenz noch besser zu unterstützen. Österreich scheint hierfür auch bereits mit 5G standalone (SA)-Netzen voranzukommen. Drei Austria hat kürzlich einen Test in der Hauptstadt Wien angekündigt und plant, schon im Frühjahr 2022 ein kommerzielles 5G SA-Netz in Betrieb zu nehmen. Zugleich beklagen die Betreiber jedoch, dass die hohen Kosten für die Anmietung von Mobilfunkmasten die Einführung von 5G verlangsamt haben.

Schweiz mit schnellstem 5G unter Österreichs Peers in Q1-Q2 2021

Die 5G-Performance hat im vergangenen Jahr in Österreich und anderen vergleichbaren europäischen Ländern in der Region stark geschwankt. Im Q2 2021 hatte die Schweiz die Nase vorne mit einer mittleren 5G-Download-Geschwindigkeit von 177,33 Mbps, gefolgt von Frankreich (169,16 Mbps), Österreich (143,98 Mbps), Deutschland (142,71 Mbps) und Italien (122,54 Mbps).
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Auch bei den Upload-Raten erreichte die Schweiz in Q2 2021 mit 36,37 Mbit/s bei 5G den besten Mittelwert, gefolgt von Deutschland (26,22 Mbit/s), Österreich (21,97 Mbit/s), Italien (16,43 Mbit/s) und Frankreich (15,95 Mbit/s). Nach der anfänglichen Einführungsphase sinken die 5G-Geschwindigkeiten häufig, denn die Zahl der 5G-Kunden steigt allmählich an, was zu einer stärkeren Belastung der Mobilfunkstandorte führt. Außerdem nutzen die Betreiber zunehmend bestehende Frequenzbänder für 5G mittels Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS). Die Betreiber sind so in der Lage, die 5G-Abdeckung zu erweitern und niedrigere Frequenzbänder einzubeziehen. Die durchschnittliche Übertragungsgeschwindigkeit kann sich dadurch verlangsamen.

Drei mit schnellstem 5G-Netz in Österreichs in Q1-Q2 2021

Die 5G-Performance hat in Q1-Q2 2021 zwischen den österreichischen Top-Providern stark variiert. Drei Austria hatte mit 183,04 Mbit/s im Mittelwert die schnellste 5G-Download-Geschwindigkeit. Unter Berücksichtigung der statistischen Schwankungsbreite war das 5G Netz von Drei damit mindestens 21 % schneller als jenes des nächsten Mitbewerbers. Magenta Telekom und A1 Telekom erreichten langsamere 5G-Download-Geschwindigkeiten von 145,18 Mbit/s bzw. 111,07 Mbit/s. Bei der mittleren 5G-Upload-Rate lag Magenta Telekom mit 24,43 Mbit/s an erster Stelle.
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Innsbruck übertrumpft Wien bei 5G-Download- und Upload

Unter den österreichischen Landeshauptstädten zeigte sich statistisch betrachtet kein eindeutiger Gewinner. In der mittleren Download-Geschwindigkeit war 5G in Innsbruck mit 169,43 Mbit/s aber augenscheinlich schneller als Wien mit 144,93 Mbit/s. Dass es keinen eindeutigen Gewinner unter den Landeshauptstädten gab, lässt darauf schließen, dass die Betreiber beim 5G-Rollout bisher keine Region signifikant priorisiert haben und dass ihnen derzeit eine gute Balance zwischen der Bereitstellung von 5G-Kapazität und der Nachfrage im neuen Netz gelingt.

In der Hauptstadt Wien erreichte das 5G-Netz von Drei Austria in Q1-Q2 2021 die schnellsten Übertragungsraten mit einer mittleren Download-Geschwindigkeit von 193,66 Mbit/s.
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Die Geschwindigkeit der Mobilfunknetze in Österreich hat sich mit der Einführung von 5G deutlich erhöht. Wir sind gespannt, ob die anderen Anbieter die notwendigen Investitionen tätigen, um zu Drei aufzuschließen. Das könnte die Internet-Geschwindigkeiten im ganzen Land erhöhen und Österreichs Position im Vergleich zu anderen Ländern im Speedtest Global Index™ verbessern. Zuletzt lag Österreich im Juli 2021 bei der Mobilfunk-Geschwindigkeit auf Platz 31. Erfahren Sie mehr darüber, wie Speedtest Intelligence Ihnen helfen kann, Ihre 5G-Leistung mit jener Ihrer Wettbewerber zu vergleichen.

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.

Global Speeds

About the Author

Mark Giles

Ookla Research™ Articles
| August 11, 2021

Recent Spectrum Gains Point to Improved 5G Outlook for Indian Consumers

Spectrum


Key takeaways

  • Network congestion has dragged down performance. Existing spectrum holdings, network infrastructure and network congestion have served to depress Indian consumer download speeds, which have stagnated at or below 10 Mbps over the past two years.
  • Recently acquired spectrum provides some relief. Ookla® Speedtest Intelligence® data demonstrates the positive impact of additional spectrum on Jio’s 4G LTE network performance and on consumer sentiment.
  • 5G to bring a potential 10x bump in network speeds. Recent 5G launches in Asia Pacific point to a potential 10x increase in median download speeds (5G vs 4G-LTE).
  • Pivotal year ahead for the Indian telecoms market. Over the next 12 months, TRAI and the new Telecoms Minister will have to help build confidence in the market in the face of Vi India’s liquidity issues, as well as tackle the complexities of India’s upcoming spectrum auction and 5G launch.
  • Silver lining — the benefits to India’s 5G auction delay. Launching later in the 5G tech cycle than planned will convey some benefits, for example the lower cost of 5G network equipment as the technology and vendor ecosystem matures, lower 5G smartphone prices and a larger pre-installed base of 5G-enabled smartphone users.

Network congestion constrains India’s 4G speeds

India has witnessed a rapid migration to mobile broadband services over the past five years, growing from 22.4%, of the more than 1 billion mobile connections in the country, on either 3G or 4G networks at the end of 2016, to over 70% by Q2 2021 according to GSMA Intelligence. Rapidly falling data prices, spurred by the arrival of Jio in the market, have contributed to strong increases in mobile data consumption. This trend has only accelerated as more video streaming services have targeted the market and as a result of recent COVID-19-related lockdowns. In its June 2021 Mobility Report, Ericsson called the market out as one of the regions with the highest mobile data use per smartphone globally, at 14.6 GB per month, well above the global average of 9 GB and second only to the GCC states. While 4G still has a way to go to support this growth, it’s clear that this combination of connections and data growth has put a strain on India’s 4G networks. Speeds have stagnated as a result, with median download speeds struggling to breach 10 Mbps during 2019 and 2020 according to Speedtest Intelligence data.

COVID and the implementation of lockdowns in the market have only served to complicate matters, leading to a delay in India’s much anticipated 5G auction and also to changes in consumer and enterprise demand. During the first wave of the pandemic, operators had to respond to a massive shift in traffic – from urban commercial centres to outskirts and residential areas in cities, and from urban to rural areas – and also growth in traffic due to lockdowns. They also had to contend with disrupted supply chains and an inability at times to physically deploy network components.

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New spectrum boosts Jio’s performance and customer sentiment

Operators were better prepared during the second wave of COVID (Q1-Q2 2021) – being able to manage more of their network estates remotely but also having increased their spectrum holdings across a variety of bands. Median download speeds increased from 8.52 Mbps in calendar Q1 2021, to 10.44 Mbps in Q2 2021, while 4G Service (the percentage of operator known locations where a device has access to 4G LTE service) hit 96.0% in Q2 2021, up from 93.5% in Q4 2020.

Spectrum is the lifeblood of the industry. It’s an oft-used phrase, but our Indian data demonstrates its importance in helping Indian operators build more positive customer experiences. The starkest improvement in network performance over the past year has come from Jio. In March 2021 the operator acquired spectrum in the 800, 1800 and 2300 MHz bands, across 22 circles — a good mix of coverage and capacity spectrum to support its 4G LTE service. Importantly for Jio, this increased its overall spectrum footprint by 55% and included a number of contiguous blocks of spectrum.

Our data maps the increase in Jio’s performance since March, showing median download speeds increased from 5.96 Mbps in March 2021 to 13.08 Mbps in June. Its upload speeds and Consistency Score™ (% of samples which exceed 5 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload) also saw considerable improvements. Most tellingly, at the same time its NPS score (the relative weight of a brand’s promoters and detractors) rose from -46.37 in March, to -25.93 in June.

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What India can expect from 5G

While the additional spectrum Jio acquired in March helped ease congestion on its 4G-LTE network, new spectrum, particularly for 5G use, is critical to the continued growth of the sector and to further improve the consumer experience across all operators. India clearly lags behind markets that have already begun 5G deployment, such as the U.K. and U.S. However, that doesn’t mean Indian operators are just playing a waiting game — it’s clear there’s a lot of work going on behind the scenes to help drive 5G commercialization once the spectrum becomes available. All three major network operators are busy conducting 5G trials and have achieved very impressive 5G speeds. On top of that, Airtel has already started to roll out 5G-ready network equipment and Jio is testing its own 5G open RAN solutions in several cities.

One of the key benefits of 5G is that it can operate over a wider range of spectrum frequencies than LTE. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) plans to allocate a wide band of 275 MHz of spectrum in the 3.3-3.6 GHz range (C-Band), which will offer much greater capacity than existing spectrum used for LTE services. Speedtest® data from other markets in Asia that have recently launched 5G (Thailand and the Philippines both launched 5G in Q1 2020) shows that the differential between 4G-LTE and 5G speeds was on average approximately 9-10x in Q2 2021.

Median 5G Performance Uplift in Countries with Recent 5G Launches
Q2 2021 | Speedtest® Intelligence
Country Launch Date 4G Download Speed (Mbps) 5G Download Speed (Mbps)
* All operators in Brazil had launched 5G by Q1 2021
Philippines Q2 2020 15.12 151.08
Thailand Q1 2020 25.99 231.45
South Africa Q2 2020 27.59 166.31
Brazil* Q3 2020 24.27 64.91

India’s 4G Consistency score has been improving. As of June 2021, 64.5% of 4G users in India could expect to achieve download speeds in excess of 5 Mbps, the speed required to stream HD video content, up from 52.9% in March. It’s impossible to say exactly how fast 5G will be for the average Indian user, given uncertainty over exact spectrum allocations and rollout plans (including the radio access network and improvements to backhaul and transport networks), but it’s safe to say 5G will bring a considerable bump to overall speeds in the country.

Market outlook: Turning a negative into a positive

It’s a big year ahead for TRAI and the new Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in overseeing a 5G auction to deliver an optimal outcome for the State while ensuring operators are able to invest adequately in 5G networks. However, it’s worth noting that there are two key benefits to the delay in India’s 5G launch, as the country witnessed from launching 4G-LTE relatively late in the tech cycle:

  • Network equipment costs will decrease. Over time the cost of 5G hardware will fall as the technology and vendor ecosystem matures, and Indian operators’ moves to embrace Open RAN will drive network costs yet lower.
  • 5G devices will be cheaper and more widely available. 5G smartphone prices have already fallen since the technology launched, and this trend will continue, spurred in India by partnerships such as Jio Platform’s with Google. Interestingly, we’re already seeing a growing number of Speedtest results running on 5G capable devices in India. This indicates there will be a pre-installed user base that operators can target from day one of launch.

5G should represent a step up in experience over current 4G LTE networks for Indian consumers, providing the bandwidth and latency to enjoy uninterrupted access to services such as high-definition video streaming, mobile gaming and video calling on the go. The advent of 5G should propel the market up the ranks on the Speedtest Global Index™, where it sat in 122nd place for median download speed as of June 2021. For Indian mobile operators and the regulator, the 5G era should be one of growing stability. With three large-scale operators, we’re unlikely to return to the price wars that occurred during the early 4G tech cycle, which is important in ensuring adequate re-investment in networks. Beyond that, I see a clear desire to be at the forefront of next generation network technologies. This is shown by the moves to embrace Open RAN and network virtualisation by all three mobile operators, the government’s Make in India initiative and the Indian Telecom Standard Body’s recent submission of its 6G vision to the ITU.

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.

Spectrum

About the Author

Mark Giles