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Ookla Research™ Articles
| April 6, 2022

How CHT Monitors Taiwan’s Largest Live Events with Ookla Wind® [Case Study]

Global Speeds

Taiwan is home to some of the most spectacular end-of-year celebrations in Asia, and local government entities planned several massive celebrations in different cities and regions of Taiwan to ring in New Year’s Eve 2022. With crowds of hundreds of thousands in attendance across six different venues, network congestion was a potential issue that could disrupt the festive experience and leave many frustrated with their operator’s mobile performance. It wasn’t enough for local operators to simply understand network conditions prior to the events, they also needed to monitor performance in real-time to proactively mitigate any congestion issues.

As the largest telecommunications company in Taiwan, ChungHwa Telecom (CHT) understood the stakes. CHT’s mission includes delivering fast, reliable network performance — which is especially critical during popular events where attendees want to upload their photos and videos to social media. CHT wanted to have testing and monitoring solutions in place to analyze performance at the events and act on any capacity-related performance issues in real-time.

CHT Speedtest Awards

The need for better live event monitoring

Traditional drive and walk testing solutions rely on the uploading and post-processing of massive log files — which just won’t work when meeting the immediate demands a large live event places on a network. While testing the venues beforehand can provide network insights, these tests only represent a snapshot in time during more typical usage conditions. 

CHT couldn’t expect their network to perform the same way during a live event with hundreds of thousands of people in a single location all simultaneously texting and uploading photos and videos of the live music, fireworks, and celebrations. To deliver a superior network experience would take real-time data collection, processing, and visualization.

Read the full case study to learn more about how Wind helps with live event monitoring.

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

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Ookla

Ookla Research™ Articles
| March 30, 2022

5G in The U.K.: Calls for Consolidation Grow

Global Speeds

Key Takeaways

  • Operator Three UK led the U.K. market for 5G performance with a median download speed of 258.80 Mbps in Q3-Q4 2021.
  • EE led on 5G Availability at 19.3% during Q3-Q4 2021, but this remains low at a market level.
  • Like other European markets, the requirement to remove network equipment from Chinese vendors has negatively impacted the speed of 5G deployments in the U.K.
  • Based on the number of people per 5G base station, the U.K. lags behind other 5G pioneer markets, indicating a change in deployment is required.
  • U.K. regulator Ofcom has highlighted the need to drive greater mobile network capacity to meet future demand, with the release of mmWave spectrum and further network densification key levers. However, attention is likely to turn once again to market consolidation to help accelerate network densification — an area where Ofcom has felt the need to clarify its position.

5G network investment accelerating

The United Kingdom (U.K.) was among the first markets to launch 5G globally, with EE launching the 5G in May 2019. Since then, despite U.K. operators ramping up 5G investment, the market has been on par with many other European markets in terms of 5G performance, but the U.K. still lags behind 5G pioneers like South Korea and China as we saw in Q1-Q2 2021.

According to the Ofcom’s Connected Nations 2021 report, 5G network investment in the U.K. is accelerating, hitting £330 million in 2020 — an increase of over £150 million (88%) vs. 2019. Dense urban areas are mostly supported by high capacity C-band spectrum (awarded in 2018 and in 2021), increasingly augmented by hotspot deployments in suburban areas and around main transport corridors. The number of mobile base stations providing 5G services more than doubled last year — from 3,000 sites in 2020 to over 6,500 sites in 2021. Based on the U.K.’s population as of 2020, this would equate to over 10,000 people per 5G base station, placing it well behind South Korea, China, the EU average, and even the U.S. according to the EU 5G Observatory’s International Scoreboard.

In order to reduce costs and optimize network deployment, the U.K.’s mobile network operators already deploy and run a portion of their radio access network (RAN) via network sharing agreements. Mobile Broadband Network Limited (MBNL), is a 50-50 joint venture between EE and Three UK, to manage the design and operation of their shared network. Additionally, Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Limited (CTIL) is a 50-50 joint venture between O2 and Vodafone that owns and oversees the operators’ passive tower infrastructure. 

O2 and Vodafone announced in 2019 that they would share 5G- active equipment, such as radio antennas, in order to reduce the time to launch and cost effectively deploy 5G. This excludes around 2,700 sites in densely populated areas (in over 20 cities) where the operators will maintain separate active RAN components to give them greater autonomy and enable more flexibility to meet customer requirements. In January 2021, Vodafone transferred its 50% share to Vantage Towers.

Ofcom highlights need for greater network capacity

A recent discussion paper by U.K. regulator Ofcom illuminated its future approach to mobile markets, and while it shied away from further regulation, it did highlight the need to plan for more network capacity to meet future demand. Additionally, Ofcom’s discussion paper highlighted releasing further spectrum, looking to technological advances to improve spectral efficiency, and the need for further network densification. However, the challenge for operators lies in supporting the level of network investment required given the current mobile market structure in the U.K..

There is a clear desire for further mobile network consolidation in the U.K. and elsewhere in Europe, with recent examples including the agreed joint venture between MasMovil and Orange in Spain, and Iliad’s recent bid for Vodafone Italy. The last time the U.K. market saw mobile consolidation was in 2010 with the merger of T-Mobile and Orange to form EE. Since then, subsequent attempts to drive further mobile consolidation — Three UK’s planned merger with O2 in 2016 — have been blocked by Ofcom and the European Commission. During Three UK’s  recent 2021 results announcement, Robert Finnegan, Three UK’s Chief Executive Officer, warned that despite achieving positive results, “the U.K. market with four operators continues to remain dysfunctional and requires a structural change to improve the overall quality of infrastructure that U.K. customers should expect.”

Ofcom’s latest discussion paper alludes to a potential softening in its stance on mobile mergers, indicating that it would be “informed by the specific circumstances of that particular merger, taking into account how markets are evolving.” Given the strong move towards convergence, such as BT’s acquisition of EE and the more recent O2 and Virgin Media merger, further market consolidation cannot be ruled out. 

Freeing up further spectrum for 5G use remains a priority

Since early 5G deployments, all four operators in the U.K. have been utilizing mid-band spectrum for 5G, which is considered a spectrum “sweet spot” that offers both fast speeds and broad geographic coverage. In April 2021, every operator boosted their spectrum holdings across the 700 MHz and 3.6-3.8 GHz spectrum bands. O2, for example, has started using low-band spectrum for 5G, and has recently committed to invest at least £10 billion in the U.K., delivering 5G to over 2,000 sites across the country in 2021. The operator’s 5G coverage currently extends to 300 towns and cities and is set to reach 50% of the U.K.’s population with its 5G services in 2023. 

Operators have been also re-farming their legacy 2G and 3G spectrum for 5G and utilizing dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) to facilitate dynamic use of 4G and 5G in the same bands. In December 2021, the government also announced the goal of switching off 2G and 3G networks by 2033 to free up spectrum for 5G. Ofcom’s recently published discussion paper on mobile networks and spectrum, identifies a large amount of mobile spectrum in the mmWave frequencies, which if allocated, will help boost network capacity. The regulator will consult on proposals to enable mmWave band in Q1 2022/23.

On the road to 5G standalone networks 

5G is currently rolled out in a non-standalone (NSA) mode in the U.K., meaning that it still relies on the 4G LTE core network. We expect all operators to upgrade to 5G standalone (SA) in time, with 5G core networks and 5G RAN, especially as additional 5G capabilities proliferate such as ultra-low latency communication (URLC)  and virtual network functions such as network slicing which will enable new 5G use cases. Operators in the U.K. are already trialing 5G SA:  in June 2021 Vodafone launched a commercial pilot of 5G SA in London, Manchester, and Cardiff, which built on an earlier trial carried out with Coventry University in the summer of 2020. In March 2022, Vodafone and Ericsson completed the U.K.’s first 5G SA network slicing trial. It was a lab demonstration of 5G network slicing with on-demand quality of service control for virtual reality use case in a retail store. The slice guaranteed a download speed of 260 Mbps and latency of 12 milliseconds. It isn’t clear when Vodafone plans to commercially launch 5G SA but Vodafone Germany became the first operator to launch 5G SA in Europe last year.

The recent 5G SA collaboration between EE, the BBC, and Ericsson, “The Green Planet AR Experience,” showcased the unique capabilities of 5G SA and edge computing. Additionally, EE plans to extend 5G coverage to 90% of the U.K. geographical area by 2028, which will be facilitated by the migration to a cloud-based core and the launch of 5G SA by 2023. EE is also planning to sell 5G SA in a way that will resonate with the customers and bring “technology to them in a really human way”. This is a move away from EE advertising the benefits of 5G as being able to get a real-time close shave with a robotic arm. However, Marc Allera, CEO of BT Consumer (EE’s parent company), does not rule out metaverse as a possible proposition blending entertainment, sports broadcasting, gaming, and e-commerce. 

Security worries pave the road to Open RAN 

Huawei kit needs to be removed from a number of European countries, including the U.K. In July 2020, in response to U.S. sanctions against Huawei, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) announced that it overturned its earlier decision to exclude Huawei’s access from core and sensitive networks and, instead, completely remove Huawei’s kit from the U.K.’s 5G networks by the end of 2027. The government further pushed Open RAN expectations in December 2021 by setting a goal of having 35% of its telecom network traffic carried over Open RAN by 2030. This target is an aspirational one, rather than a hard mandated quota and is apparently supported by all mobile operators. It does come with a £250 million funding to support and accelerate the development of open and interoperable RAN, which is significantly less than €2 billion the German government has  specifically dedicated for Open RAN as part of €50 billion Package for the Future.

In January 2022, Vodafone switched on the U.K.’s first 5G Open RAN site in Bath, Somerset, which is the first of 2,500 planned sites and marks the beginning of the first scaled Open RAN project in Europe. EE’s parent company, BT Group, is more skeptical about the technology, with Neil McRae, MD of Architecture and Strategy and chief architect at BT Group, reminding the MWC 2022 audiences that there are different paths operators can take to drive down costs and improve performance. Nonetheless, BT is trialing Open RAN in Hull to see how the technology can improve the customer experience of EE’s 5G network. We have discussed the current progress on Open RAN across Europe in our latest article 5G in Europe: Reflecting on the Progress So Far and Mapping the Future and reflected on the discussions on this topic at MWC 2022 here. 

U.K. compared to its European peers 

In our recent post “5G in Europe: Reflecting on the Progress So Far and Mapping the Future”, we looked at how different European countries stacked up against each other and international peers. Using Speedtest Intelligence®,  we compared 5G in the U.K. against its peers’ 5G performance.France (190.17 Mbps) and Switzerland (188.27 Mbps) topped our list with the fastest median 5G download speeds  during the second half of 2021, followed by the U.K. (176.22 Mbps), Ireland (162.46 Mbps), Germany (155.87 Mbps), and Netherlands (142.55 Mbps). Interestingly, despite all of the French operators launching 5G service in December 2020, relatively late compared to other analyzed countries, they achieved top median download speeds due to substantial network investments. 

Switzerland, however, had the fastest median upload speed over 5G at 35.51 Mbps during Q3-Q4 2021, followed by the Netherlands (31.29 Mbps), Germany (25.80 Mbps), Ireland (21.20 Mbps), France (15.19 Mbps), and the U.K. (14.79 Mbps). 

The Netherlands had the highest 5G Availability among the U.K’s peers

The ranking shifts when it comes to 5G Availability — the percentage of users on 5G-capable devices that spend most of the time with access to 5G networks. The Netherlands had the highest 5G Availability at 45.3%, followed by Switzerland (32.2%), the U.K. (12.4%), Ireland (11.7%), and France (11.5%). 

The telecom regulator Ofcom in its Connected Nations report stated that the uptake of 5G-enabled handsets across the U.K. increased from 800,000 in 2020 to over six million in September 2021, accounting for around 10% of all devices. This is still far behind South Korea, which was the first country to commercialize 5G in 2019 and where the number of smartphone users on the 5G network reached roughly 20.2 million in November 2021, equivalent to 28% of mobile subscriptions.

According to Counterpoint Research, the U.K. is the leader in Western Europe in terms of 5G penetration of smartphone sales. In Q4 2021, 83% of smartphones sold in the U.K. were 5G enabled, compared to the regional average of 73%. In time, this will translate into a larger install base of 5G devices and share of overall subscriptions. 

Three UK was the fastest 5G operator in the U.K.

Three UK had the fastest median 5G download speed among top operators, achieving 258.80 Mbps during Q3-Q4 2021, far ahead of Vodafone (170.39 Mbps), EE (166.87 Mbps), and O2 (139.61 Mbps). Median 5G upload speeds across all operators were very similar with Vodafone at 17.86 Mbps, EE at 15.89 Mbps, Three UK at 13.94 Mbps, and O2 at 11.47 Mbps during Q3-Q4 2021. Three UK benefited from having the largest, dedicated 5G spectrum — 140MHz frequency across several 5G spectrum bands, including 100 MH block of continuous spectrum in the 3.3-3.8 GHz band. Three UK’s 5G coverage extended to more than a third of the U.K. population across 370 towns and cities with 2,500 live sites. The operator launched fixed wireless access (FWA) 5G services in August 2019, followed by mobile 5G services in February 2020, which were built upon the 5G-ready, cloud-native core network provided by Nokia in July 2019. Three UK has invested over £2 billion to transform its network and IT infrastructure, as part of a five-year program. 

EE leads on 5G Availability 

EE had the highest 5G Availability at 19.3% during Q3-Q4 2021, ahead of Three UK (14.4%), Vodafone (9.8%), and O2 (7.8%). In a bid to extend its 4G LTE network coverage, EE has deployed small cells to boost capacity in high-demand areas. Soon, the operator will begin trials to extend the use of small cells to 5G networks by upgrading Nokia’s AirScale portfolio.

5G in the U.K. is rapidly expanding and we’ll be following the market closely

Mobile operators are actively expanding 5G networks and the 5G adoption in the U.K. is growing, stimulated by greater smartphone availability and operators’ innovative services. We’ll be watching 5G performance closely in the U.K. using Speedtest Intelligence. If you want to learn more about how Speedtest Intelligence can help you benchmark your 5G performance against competitors, please inquire here.

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

Sylwia Kechiche

Ookla Research™ Articles
| March 24, 2022

Why Is 5G in Europe Falling Behind and What Can We Do About It? [Webinar] 

5G performance across Europe has been a mixed story. While some operators offer lightning fast speeds exceeding 300 Mbps, 5G Availability, the percent of users on 5G-capable devices that spend the majority of their time on 5G, remains low. It is not a surprise, Europe lags behind North America and Asia Pacific in terms of 5G adoption. 

Register for our April 6 webinar to learn more about the current state of 5G in Europe relative to other leading markets.

In our article, “5G in Europe: Reflecting on the Progress So Far and Mapping the Future” we examined how European countries and players compared against their international peers, looked at the factors that influence 5G adoption, and laid out recent trends including private 5G and network virtualization. There is no denying that regulatory fragmentation across the European Union (EU) hampers its ability to achieve block-wide targets. The “Special Report 03/2022: 5G roll-out in the EU: delays in deployment of networks with security issues remaining unresolved” from the European Court of Auditors (ECA) warns that Europe is falling behind the targets set in the 2016 Action Plan. Furthermore, security concerns have had a knock-on effect both on the network and handset side of the 5G equation.

But… is it all bad news? Not at all. Almost 100% of premium smartphones sold in Q4 2021 were 5G enabled according to Counterpoint Research, and the proportion of 5G-enabled smartphones across all price ranges has continued to rise. Should we expect adoption to rapidly accelerate now that more lower-end smartphones are 5G enabled? Are operators doing enough to encourage consumers to upgrade to 5G? What more can regulators do to help drive 5G adoption? 5G isn’t only a consumer play and there is a larger enterprise opportunity at stake — are European operators ready to take advantage of 5G and its many use cases?

Ookla is hosting a webinar on Wednesday, April 6 at 7 a.m. PDT (10 a.m. EDT / 3 p.m. BST / 2 p.m. GMT) that will provide a deep dive into the European 5G market landscape. We’ll draw upon a panel of experts to highlight the outlook for the region and strategies to stimulate 5G growth. Don’t miss it! A recording will be provided for registrants who can’t make the live presentation. Click here to register for the webinar now.

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

Sylwia Kechiche

Ookla Research™ Articles
| March 23, 2022

Ireland Puts 5G in the Fast Lane

Global Speeds

The Irish government has recently launched a new national digital strategy, “Harnessing Digital – The Digital Ireland Framework,” to drive and enable digital transformation of the Irish economy and society. The government committed to enhance digital infrastructure by making connectivity available to everyone, including bringing 5G to all populated areas by 2030. We analyzed Speedtest Intelligence® data from Q3-Q4 2021 to see how Irish 5G speeds compared to those of Ireland’s regional peers and examined how Irish operators’ 5G networks performed across the country and against each other. 

Ireland has already awarded mid-band 5G spectrum 

Ireland was one of the first countries to assign spectrum in the 3.4 GHz – 4.2 GHz band, C-band spectrum, which is considered a sweet spot for 5G as it strikes a good balance between capacity and coverage. In June 2017, the Irish regulator, ComReg, granted new 3.6 GHz licenses to five operators for a total of €78m, consisting of €60.5m in upfront fees and around €17.7m in spectrum usage fees. The following companies purchased a total of 350 MHz of TDD spectrum, which has been assigned at a regional basis: 

  1. Vodafone Ireland received 85 MHz in rural regions and 105 MHz in the cities. The operator launched 5G services across five Irish cities in August 2019. 
  2. Eir Ireland obtained 80MHz in the rural regions and 85 MHz in the cities, and went live with 5G in December 2019.
  3. Three Ireland was the only operator to receive a nationwide spectrum — 100 MHz nationally — and switched on its 5G network in September 2020. 
  4. Imagine Communications Ireland (Imagine), a fixed wireless operator, won 60 MHz in each of Ireland’s rural provinces. This will offer fixed wireless broadband to homes that are outside of the high speed broadband coverage and within the National Broadband Plan intervention area. 
  5. Airspan Spectrum Holdings (Airspan), a new entrant to the Irish market focused on smart utilities, transportation, and public safety, obtained 25 MHz in rural regions and 60 MHz in cities. It has since been rebranded to Dense Air Limited. 

Provisional spectrum assignment in the 700 MHz band 

A decision has been made at the European level to allow operators to use the 694-790 MHz frequency band (the 700 MHz frequency band) across Europe. In Ireland, RTÉ has been utilizing this band to broadcast national digital terrestrial television (DTT) but that license expired in March 2020. In order to free up the 700 MHz spectrum bands, services had to vacate these frequencies. 

New regulation under the Wireless Telegraphy Act introduced in April 2020, allowed for the temporary assignment of licenses in the 700 MHz band to “help alleviate congestion on the telecommunications networks during the exceptional and extraordinary situation raised by the Covid-19 situation.” Initially, awarded for the period of three months, the temporary licenses have been extended to an indeterminate date when a spectrum auction will take place. Awarding a permanent 700 MHz license is critical, as low-band spectrum has very good propagation characteristics, which enable a wider geographic coverage footprint. This will be key to achieving the goal of covering populated areas with 5G by 2030.

Ireland 5G performance compared to its European peers 

In our recent post “5G in Europe: Reflecting on the Progress So Far and Mapping the Future”, we looked at how different European countries stacked up versus each other and international peers. Here we compare 5G in Ireland against its peers’ 5G. During the second half of 2021, France (190.17 Mbps) and Switzerland (188.27 Mbps) topped our list with the fastest median 5G download speed, followed by the United Kingdom (176.22 Mbps), Ireland (162.46 Mbps), Germany (155.87 Mbps), and Netherlands (142.55 Mbps). Interestingly, despite all of the French operators launching 5G service in December 2020, relatively late compared to other analyzed countries, they achieved top median download speeds due to substantial network investments. 

Switzerland, however, had the fastest median upload speed over 5G at 35.51 Mbps during Q3-Q4 2021, followed by the Netherlands (31.29 Mbps), Germany (25.80 Mbps), Ireland (21.20 Mbps), France (15.19 Mbps), and the U.K. (14.79 Mbps). 

The Irish regulator, ComReg published the number of mobile 5G subscribers for the first time in Q3 2021. 5G mobile voice and mobile broadband (MBB) subscriptions increased 31.4% quarter over quarter from 298,479 in Q3 2021 to 392,082 in Q4 2021, accounting for 3.9% and 5.0% of subscriptions at the same time. However, operators are still looking for ways to stimulate market adoption. For instance, in order to increase 5G market adoption, eir has announced that as of November 1, 2021, 5G was enabled on all market mobile plans at no additional cost. 

Cork had the fastest 5G download and upload speeds in Ireland 

Cork was the clear winner for 5G speeds across Irish cities, with a median 5G download speed of 339.98 Mbps during Q3-Q4 2021, a 14% year-over-year increase for all operators combined. Cork also had a median 5G upload speed of 32.82 Mbps. Three Ireland’s 5G network in Cork reached a median download speed of 508.96 Mbps. Cork was ahead of the rest of the cities, which partially can be explained by being home to pharmaceutical and IT companies such as Apple, Amazon, and IBM. Cork also benefited from connectivity with the EXA Express undersea cable.

Three Ireland was the fastest 5G operator in Ireland 

Despite being the last operator to jump on the 5G bandwagon in September 2020, Three Ireland has raced to the top in terms of median 5G download speed — achieving 238.70 Mbps in the Q3-Q4 2021, a 20% year-over-year increase. The median 5G upload speeds across all operators were very similar at 19.89 Mbps (Vodafone) and 22.35 Mbps for 3, and 22.24 Mbps for eir during Q3-Q4 2021. However, 3 Ireland has been hard at work with Ericsson to transform its Radio Access Network (RAN), rebuilding over 1,000 deployments. 3 Ireland also has the advantage of being able to use some of its excess capacity in the 1.8 GHz band to deploy 5G in rural villages and towns, a strategy that can take advantage of favorable propagation relative to 3.6 GHz. 

Ericsson has been the partner of choice for Three, not only in terms of network roll out but also in terms of looking for new ways to monetize 5G. As such, in May 2021, Three Ireland joined Ericsson’s global Startup 5G program as the first communication provider. The goal of the program is to leverage 5G as a platform for innovation and thus stimulate 5G commercialization and monetization by introducing operators to startups in the area of immersive learning, augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR) among other emerging technologies. 

In July 2021, Ericsson and Three Ireland extended their collaboration to the field of Industry 4.0. They launched a strategic partnership with Glanbia Ireland to install an indoor 5G network to increase manufacturing efficiency of the Glanbia’s cheese plant in Ballyragget, County Kilkenny. However, this isn’t the first 5G private network in Ireland. In March 2021, Vodafone in partnership with Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR) rolled out a private 5G Standalone (SA) network utilizing Ericsson’s equipment. IMR, a not-for-profit manufacturing and energy research organization, plans to test smart manufacturing 5G use cases such as automated production lines, predictive maintenance, mobile robots, cobots, and AR and VR. These demonstrations of 5G capabilities in the manufacturing context are important to showcase the value digital transformation can bring to the sector by deploying private networks and creating bespoke use cases that enable greater latency and security.

eir tops the charts for 5G Availability 

The picture is slightly different when it comes to 5G Availability — the percentage of users on 5G-capable devices that spend most of the time with access to 5G networks. 5G Availability across Ireland was 11.7% in Q3-Q4 2021. eir is a clear winner with 26.6%, ahead of 3 (8.2%) and Vodafone (6.4%). 

eir’s €1 billion national investment programme includes roll outs for fiber broadband and 5G networks, as well as the expansion of 4G LTE networks. The operator has expanded the 5G Availability of its 5G NSA (Non-Standalone) network by using spectrum in the 1800 MHz and 3.5 GHz. In October 2021, eir announced that its 5G network was available to more than 70% of the Irish population (across 336 towns and cities), and increased this to 430 towns and cities during Q4 2021. 

Vodafone, has also expanded 5G to its prepaid customer base and introduced a 5G broadband option in 2021, utilizing Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) in the 2.1 GHz band in partnership with Ericsson. 

The Irish Government looks to 5G to help it to realize its digital transformation ambitions, and to position Ireland as a prime destination for international businesses. While it’s still early days in terms of 5G adoption in the market, the Irish mobile operators are actively expanding 5G network speeds and coverage. Learn more about how Speedtest Intelligence can help you benchmark your 5G performance against competitors.

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

Sylwia Kechiche

Ookla Research™ Articles
| March 14, 2022

Hong Kong & Macau: Migration to Faster Fiber Services Driving Performance Gains

Global Speeds
讀中文

Operators in Hong Kong and Macau are continuing to drive migration of their customer bases from legacy fixed-line technologies to faster fiber and cable connections. Both markets are heavily saturated and connection growth remains low, with Hong Kong adding an additional 50,000 broadband subscribers to reach 2.92 million in total in the 10 months ended October 2021, while Macau saw fixed broadband subscribers grow by 4,000 to reach 206,000 during 2021.

The regulators in both markets provide detailed broadband subscription statistics. In Hong Kong, the Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA) tracks broadband adoption by advertised speed and technology mix. It recorded 85.4% of broadband subscribers on packages with a maximum download speed equal to or greater than 100 Mbps, and 80.3% fiber to the home/building (FTTH/B) as of October 2021. Of these, over half subscribe to broadband packages offering speeds of at least 1 Gbps. In Macau, the Macau Post and Telecommunications (CTT) tracks broadband adoption by technology, with 97.8% of Macau broadband subscribers using fiber at the end of 2021.

Global city ranking leaves room for improvement

We used Ookla® Speedtest Intelligence® data to rank the broadband performance of select cities globally. Across all cities with a minimum of 10,000 samples in Q4 2021, Hong Kong ranked 20 on median Wi-Fi download speeds with 184.80 Mbps, while Macau ranked 74 with a download speed of 129.90 Mbps. Despite strong download performance, median Wi-Fi upload speeds in Hong Kong lagged behind download performance, at 125.70 Mbps, while Macau recorded a more symmetrical median upload speed of 105.70 Mbps. Greater penetration of fiber in broadband access networks provides operators with the ability to offer more symmetrical upload and download speeds.

hong kong and macau performance versus other major global cities

Hong Kong: China Mobile Hong Kong leads on download performance

We examined fixed Wi-Fi performance in Hong Kong, excluding any 5G fixed-wireless internet connections from the analysis. Operators in Hong Kong offer a range of broadband packages based on network speeds, e.g. HGC offers subscriptions with download speeds ranging from 6 Mbps to 2.2 Gbps. Availability of higher speed subscription tiers depends on the operator’s footprint and whether fiber connectivity is to the premises (FTTP) or to the building (FTTB), with some buildings utilizing copper as part of the last mile. Migrating Hong Kong’s remaining FTTP connections (19.3% of total) to FTTH (61.0% of total) would help boost median speeds. China Mobile Hong Kong (CMHK) has gone one step further in a bid to boost home fiber speeds, launching a fiber to the room (FTTR) service in September 2021, which deploys optical cables within a house/apartment.

Hong Kong Fixed Wi-Fi Operator Performance

Our examination of fixed broadband Wi-Fi performance in Hong Kong shows CMHK, which obtained in excess of 3% of overall samples to be considered in this analysis in Q3 2021, in first place in Q4 2021, with a median download speed of 251.73 Mbps, followed by Netvigator with 216.06 Mbps. While operators continue to market broadband based primarily on download speeds, upload speeds continue to grow in importance given the increased prevalence of remote working and growth in demand for services such as video calling and online gaming. Netvigator led the market based on median upload speeds in Q4 2021, recording 174.72 Mbps, followed by CMHK and HKBN. Looking at the distribution of Wi-Fi samples between 5 GHz, which offers higher capacity than lower frequency bands, Netvigator and HKBN led the market based on percentage of 5 GHz samples, with 75.3% and 74.1% respectively.

Hong Kong: 5Ghz Share of Fixed Wi-Fi Operator Samples

Macau: CTM outstrips MTEL on overall performance

Macau lags Hong Kong on fixed Wi-Fi performance for both median download and upload speeds, despite the regulator CTT reporting widespread adoption of fiber in the market. Operators MTEL and CTM offer a range of fiber broadband plans for residential users, segmented by download speed. As of February 2022, MTEL offers packages ranging from 25 Mbps to 600 Mbps, while CTM offers a wider range of speeds, from 50 Mbps to its headline speed of 10 Gbps, introduced in September 2020.

Macau Fixed Wi-Fi Operator Performance

Speedtest Intelligence performance data for Macau during 2021 aligns with CTM’s focus on providing higher broadband speed tiers in the market. CTM maintained a significant performance gap over MTEL, recording a median download speed of 131.80 Mbps in Q4 2021, compared to MTEL with 72.26 Mbps. Upload performance between the two operators shows a similar picture, with CTM recording a median speed of 107.39 Mbps in Q4 2021, over double that of MTEL which recorded 52.26 Mbps. Looking at the distribution of Wi-Fi samples between 5 GHz and other bands, MTEL recorded a greater proportion of samples using 5 GHz than CTM.

Macau: 5 Ghz Share of Fixed Wi-Fi Operator Samples

In order to maintain or improve their position among top-performing cities globally, operators in Hong Kong and Macau need to drive greater availability of higher-speed broadband services, while encouraging existing customers to upgrade to faster speeds. For Hong Kong in particular, improving the penetration of routers which support 5 GHz Wi-Fi could help those operators which currently lag the market on overall performance. We’ll continue monitoring how fixed broadband performs across major cities like Hong Kong and Macau. If you want to learn more about Speedtest Intelligence, please inquire here.

 

香港和澳門：轉移到更快速的光纖服務將有助提升性能

香港及澳門的營辦商正在不斷向客戶進行推廣，希望他們轉用更快速的光纖及電纜網絡接駁，以取代傳統固網技術。但這兩個市場都已經嚴重飽和，網絡接駁增長仍然很低；2021 年的 前10 個月內，香港增加了 50,000 名寬頻用戶，總數達到 292 萬；而澳門的固網寬頻用戶在 2021 年增加 了4,000個，總數達到 206,000個。

兩個市場的監管機構均提供了詳細的寬頻訂閱統計數據。香港的通訊事務管理局（OFCA）透過營辦商宣傳的網速及技術追蹤寬頻用量：截至 2021 年 10 月，85.4% 的寬頻用戶使用最大下載速度等於或大於 100 Mbps 的服務計劃，80.3% 的寬頻用戶使用「光纖到戶 」（FTTH）／「光纖到樓」（FTTB），其中超過一半人訂閱網速至少為 1 Gbps 的服務計劃。澳門郵電 （CTT）則透過技術來追蹤寬頻用量：截至 2021 年底，97.8% 的澳門寬頻用戶使用光纖。

全球城市排名顯示仍有進步空間

hong kong and macau performance versus other major global cities

香港：中國移動香港的下載表現領先

我們測試了香港的固網 Wi-Fi 性能，但並不包括任何 5G 固網無線互聯網接駁。香港營辦商提供大量不同網速的寬頻計劃，例如HGC環電提供下載速度由6 Mbps至 2.2 Gbps的寬頻計劃。寬頻速度取決於營辦商的網絡覆蓋範圍，以及是使用「光纖到樓」（FTTP/FTTB）技術，而某些大廈在最後一英里會使用銅線接入。將香港剩餘的 FTTP接駁（佔總數的 19.3%）轉移為到 FTTH接駁（佔總數的 61.0%）將有助提升速度中位數。中國移動香港（CMHK）在2021年9月推出了FTTR (Fiber to the Room)技術，實現光纖接入房屋／單位內部，令家居光纖寬頻的網速又向前邁進了一步。

Hong Kong Fixed Wi-Fi Operator Performance

我們對香港固網寬頻 Wi-Fi 性能的測試顯示，中國移動香港在2021年第三季才開始成為Top Providers（獲得超過3%的總體樣本），因此在2021年第三季前無數據顯示。在 2021 年第四季度，中國移動香港以 251.73 Mbps 的下載速度中位數位居第一，而網上行則以216.06 Mbps排名第二。雖然營辦商繼續主要以下載速度來推銷其寬頻計劃，但鑑於遠程工作的日益普及，以及視像通話及網上遊戲等服務的需求增加，上載速度的重要性亦不斷上升。根據 2021 年第四季的上載速度中位數資料，網上行以174.72 Mbps領先市場，其次是中國移動香港及香港寬頻。根據5 GHz（比低頻段擁有更廣的覆蓋範圍與更強的穿透能力） Wi-Fi熱點分佈的樣本，網上行及香港寬頻以 5 GHz 樣本百分比領先市場，分別為 75.3% 和 74.1%。

Hong Kong: 5Ghz Share of Fixed Wi-Fi Operator Samples

澳門：澳門電訊的整體表現比MTel 電信更出色

儘管監管機構澳門郵電的報告顯示該市場廣泛採用光纖技術，但其固網 Wi-Fi 的下上載速度均落後於香港。營辦商MTel 電信有限公司及澳門電訊為住宅用戶提供一系列不同下載速度的光纖寬頻計劃。2022 年 2 月，MTel 電信有限公司提供下載速度由25 Mbps 至 600 Mbps的寬頻計劃，而澳門電訊則提供50 Mbps至10 Gbps（於2020年9月推出的主打）的寬頻計劃，速度範圍更廣泛。

Macau Fixed Wi-Fi Operator Performance

Speedtest Intelligence 的2021年澳門網路連接速度表現數據反映了澳門電訊致力於向市場提供更快速的寬頻服務。在2021 年第四季，澳門電訊的下載速度中位數為131.80 Mbps，其性能遠超只有72.26 Mbps的MTel 電信；而兩者的上載速度中位數差距亦很大，澳門電訊的上載速度中位數為107.39 Mbps，比只有52.26 Mbps 的 MTel 電信快兩倍。如比較5 GHz及其他頻段Wi-Fi熱點分佈的樣本，MTel 電信5 GHz Wi-Fi熱點分佈的樣本百分比較澳門電訊高。

Macau: 5 Ghz Share of Fixed Wi-Fi Operator Samples

如要保持或提高在全球表現最好城市中的排名，港澳兩地的營辦商需要提供更高的高速寬頻服務可及性，同時鼓勵現有客戶升級到更快速的寬頻計劃。特別是香港，如果支援 5 GHz Wi-Fi的設備可以更滲透市場，便可以幫助那些目前在整體性能方面落後於市場的營辦商。我們將繼續監測固網寬頻在香港和澳門等主要城市的表現。如果您想了解更多有關Speedtest Intelligence的資訊，請到此處查詢。

 

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
| March 9, 2022

Ookla at MWC: the Analyst Take

Global Speeds

Two years after its cancellation in 2020, Mobile World Congress (MWC) Barcelona returned to its original timeslot. The war in Ukraine cast a shadow over the event, with many speakers condemning the ongoing military action and calling for peace. Despite this, the show must be deemed a success, with in excess of 60,000 attendees, pointing to strong desire from industry players to meet, do business, and talk about the future of the industry. MWC 2022’s overall theme was “Connectivity Unleashed”, and looked to showcase how mobile connectivity is transforming industries and wider society. 

Our recent article, 5G Come of Age: Five Predictions for 2022, outlined our view on the major trends which would drive industry debate at MWC. A number of these were front and center of the show, including a major focus across the ecosystem on reducing the environmental impact of 5G, and on network deployment models (including private networks). The surprise was that there was little to no discussion of 6G, with much of the network technology debate centered on improvements to 5G. However, the mantle of longer-term technology “hot topic” has clearly shifted from 6G to the Metaverse. While still an emerging topic, there was clear excitement at the emergence of a true B2C use case for high-capacity, low-latency 5G networks.

All in all, it was great to be back. By convening players from across the industry, MWC helps drive industry debate more than any other telecom conference, while allowing those who follow the industry closely the opportunity to test viewpoints and assumptions, and also to take stock. We’ve summarized our key takeaways below. 

The race to Net Zero

Telecoms was one of the first industries to commit to Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050. Not surprisingly, it was a clear discussion topic and there were many sustainability related propositions on display. In fact, energy-efficiency KPIs are built into 5G and future 6G standards under IMT-2020 specifications. Asian operators that have already seen large 5G network build ups have shared their perspective on how decarbonisation efforts are not limited to network equipment, operations and data centers but also include office buildings. KT mentioned that it has decreased total power consumption 13%-23% from its 5G network radio units, achieving financial savings of 6.8 billion won (US$5.6 million) and removing 26,000 tonnes of CO2. 

Allison Kirkby, president and CEO of Telia shared how IoT can uncover sustainability and how going one step further and creating a circular economy can have further benefits. Telia’s data mapping project, which utilizes collated and anonymized data proved to be an effective tool to monitor the pandemic and can also be used to design efficient transport routes, therefore reducing emissions. 

Network equipment vendors also came with products that address sustainability goals. Nokia introduced its Liquid Cooling AirScale portfolio that reduced the energy required to cool a base station; while Ericsson announced seven new RAN products and solutions reducing power consumption by 25%. 

Open-RAN makes inroads

Open-RAN’s poster child, Rakuten Mobile, has discussed how its desire to “democratize wireless connectivity” led it down the Open-RAN path. Rakuten has announced that its subsidiary Rakuten Symphony and Cisco are joining focus and signing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a joint go to market offer combining Cisco mobile routing switching and automation portfolio and Rakuten’s Open-RAN, orchestration and full suite of Symworld application. It has also announced the acquisition of U.S.-based cloud native networking specialist Robin.io, an “application store for kubernetes.” 

There is, for sure, a lot of excitement about Open-RAN especially in Europe and we have discussed the current status of Open-RAN in our latest research. However, while Open-RAN is a great example of industry collaboration, there are still challenges that need to be addressed, such as integration and security, as pointed out by Fujitsu’s SVP, Greg Manganello. Open-RAN is also not the only way ahead, Neil McRae, MD of Architecture and Strategy and chief architect at BT Group, reminded the audiences that there are different paths operators can take to drive down costs and improve performance. 

Metaverse: Excitement but challenges aplenty

MWC has always been a forward-looking conference, but this year’s event was a little different. Instead of looking ahead to the next generation of network tech (6G), it was the Metaverse which permeated headlines, show media and many company booths. Examples at the booths we visited ranged from re-badged VR experiences (akin to those demoed at previous MWCs) to examples of volumetric video. Really these served to highlight that the concept of Metaverse is still in its early days. What’s refreshing for the industry is that with the Metaverse we are moving from what was hitherto a product push of new technology (5G/AR/VR etc), to an emerging set of use cases (both consumer and enterprise) which will then drive discussion of their technology requirements.

On Monday, February 27, Meta released a statement from its CEO Mark Zuckerberg, that “creating a true sense of presence in virtual worlds delivered to smart glasses and VR headsets will require massive advances in connectivity, bigger than any of the step changes we’ve seen before.” Some of these requirements will be met by continued advances in 5G, but will also inevitably feed into how 6G networks are framed. For network operators however, a familiar issue looms large — that of the business model to support the level of network investment Meta is calling for. Only a few weeks before MWC began, the CEOs of Europe’s largest operator groups (Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica, and Vodafone) released a statement calling the current situation unsustainable, and that “as things stand, network operators are in no position to negotiate fair terms with these giant platforms due to their strong market positions, asymmetric bargaining power and the lack of a level regulatory playing field.” 

While it’s early days, it will be interesting to see how the concept of the Metaverse shapes 5G and future network technology, but also more importantly how the industry solves this perennial business model dilemma.

Growing interest in private 5G networks

As 5G use cases came to the fore, so did the private 5G networks. A range of operators and vendors showcased their private networks offering at the show. Orange, Vodafone, Telstra, Verizon, and AT&T were just some of the telcos who were showcasing and discussing private 5G pointing to the importance of private networks as a way to address  enterprises’ needs. Vendors made a slew of announcements and partnerships. Qualcomm and Microsoft partnered up to deliver an End to End (E2E) private 5G solution consisting of Qualcomm’s 5G hardware with Azure Private MEC. Cisco announced its Private 5G as-a-Service that combines 5G, IoT, and Wi-Fi under one umbrella and introduces Open-RAN via a collaboration with JMA and Airspan. HPE combined a private 5G network with its Aruba WiFi networks promoted as ​​“5G in a box.” 

New devices announced despite chip shortages

MWC used to be very much a smartphone show. It is so much more now, with a range of connected devices from large (think cars) to small (sensors) on the show. Device OEMs Qualcomm, Oppo, Samsung, and others, had a few announcements such as Oppo’s Air Glass wearables, Nokia’s C-series, and Lenovo’s new ThinkPad x13. However, the connectivity that permeates every aspect of society heavily relies on chipsets. Most blame the COVID-19 pandemic for the disruption of the supply chains and the resultant chipset shortages, but Qualcomm president and CEO Cristiano Amon believes that this was unavoidable due to a growing number of connected devices. In his keynote speech, he welcomed the state involvement in the shape of the European Chips Act but also the Chips for America act as a way to increase the Western world manufacturing capacity. Qualcomm is still experiencing “more demand than supply” but it foresees this to lessen towards the end of the year.

Please get in touch if you’d like to speak to us about any of these industry trends.

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

Sylwia Kechiche

Ookla Research™ Articles
| February 14, 2022

How Batelco Uses Crowdsourced Network Intelligence to Continuously Improve Bahrain’s Top-Rated Mobile Network [Case Study]

Global Speeds

With digital transformation at the forefront of national policy and real estate development booming, Bahrain’s mobile operators have needed to expand their networks for fast, reliable connectivity throughout the Kingdom. To continue to provide the best network performance and coverage, Bahrain-based mobile operator Batelco determined that existing methods for evaluating and validating network performance would need to be modernized in order to scale with the nation’s developments.

Batelco’s mission is to serve and inspire customers by building, operating and investing in digital services, forefront technology, and connectivity. To that end, Batelco uses Ookla Cell Analytics™ to gain insights on customer network experience, indoor and outdoor RF conditions, and where to prioritize network investments.

Situation

Traditional methods for evaluating network performance and customer experience — such as on-site visits, customer surveys, and walk tests — can be time-consuming and costly. Furthermore, it simply isn’t possible to walk-test certain locations, such as private homes and businesses. As Bahrain’s demand for high-speed mobile coverage increased, it became clear that Batelco needed a scalable, data-driven method to determine where to invest in network improvements — and to identify areas where low-cost network optimizations would immediately improve the customer network experience.

Read the full case study

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

Ookla

Ookla Research™ Articles
| February 17, 2022

Illustrating the Worldwide State of 5G (Poster Download)

Global Speeds

Our recent report showed that the expansion of 5G was accompanied by some slowing in global average speeds, yet we cannot overstate how impressive the expansion of 5G truly is. It’s so impressive, in fact, that only a map can do it justice. We’ve created a downloadable poster to show how far 5G has come and to highlight some of the countries with exceptional 5G performance. 

This poster maps 5G coverage, highlights the countries with the fastest 5G, and charts the world capitals with the fastest 5G speeds. Download Ookla’s State of 5G Worldwide poster here to see the global state of 5G. It works as a desktop background or you can hang it on your wall. 

If you’re at Mobile World Congress this year, stop by Stand 2I28 in Hall 2, to pick up a poster in person and say hello.

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

Ookla

Ookla Research™ Articles
| June 8, 2021

Ookla for Good Adds 2019 Data and a New Collaboration with Mapbox

Ookla for Good

Access to reliable, high-speed internet has become more critical than ever for everyday life over the past year. Between remote work opportunities, remote learning, basic healthcare and even buying groceries, internet performance had a very personal impact. We’ve seen many new and compelling conversations exploring internet inequity, data affluence and digital divides around the world since the launch of our Ookla Open Datasets under the Ookla for Good™ program. Today we have two exciting announcements to keep growing those conversations: the release of our 2019 Global Fixed and Mobile Network Performance datasets and our new Ookla for Good partnership with the amazing people at Mapbox.

2019 Global Fixed Broadband and Mobile Network Performance Maps open dataset now available

Although the global pandemic is by no means over, many are ready to take a look back. In 2020 we announced Ookla Open Datasets that shared fixed and mobile performance data from across the globe. Today we are releasing the same open data for Q1-Q4 2019 to establish a baseline on network performance before the pandemic. We hope this data will enable conversations that continue to improve internet access for people around the world.

Ookla for Good partners with Mapbox

We are also excited to announce a new partnership with Mapbox that offers a new way to quickly and easily visualize some of our open data. The Mapbox Community and Ookla for Good teams were thrilled to work closely together to launch our first collaborative interactive open data map.

Choose Data Set

Selected Tile

Click a tile to get more information

Mean Download Speed Mbps

Download this data

This interactive map came about as we were exploring how we could make some aspects of our open datasets more easily accessible to a wider audience. Working with the Mapbox Community team allowed us to provide a quick, easily accessible visualization of the most recent data for those who want to tell a story or get a feel for the data — especially those who don’t have the time (or maybe technical know-how) to do a deep dive into the data in its entirety. This fulfills the Mapbox Community team’s mission — getting the best location tools into the hands of changemakers around the world— and Ookla for Good’s mission of helping make the internet better, faster and more accessible for everyone. Together, we believe we can help decision makers make better decisions and changemakers tell better stories.

Learn more about how we used Mapbox

We mapped our open data using the Mapbox Tiling Service in order to create vector tiles at different zoom levels. This helps us provide a useful image of internet performance across the world. The basemap was built using Mapbox Studio tools and the full map was put together using Mapbox GL JS to provide interactivity and more customized controls.

We look forward to seeing how you use Ookla’s open data in your projects and encourage you to play around with our new Mapbox map to visualize the possibilities. We’d love to see your work! Please share your projects on social media using the hashtag #OoklaForGood.

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.

Ookla for Good

About the Author

Kathy Macdonald

Ookla Research™ Articles
| December 3, 2019

An Analysis of Internet Speeds and 4G in North Africa

Global Speeds

Lire en français read in arabic

Mobile and fixed broadband speeds in North Africa currently lag behind much of the world, though that may soon change. To better understand the current and future states of the internet in North Africa, we examined Speedtest® data from Q2-Q3 2019 in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia. Our analysis includes data on download speeds, 4G Availability and Time Spent on various mobile technologies. We’ve also included data on internet speeds in some of the largest cities in the region.

Internet-Speeds-in-North-Africa-ENG-1

Morocco leads fixed broadband download speeds, Egypt most improved

As of October 2019, countries in North Africa ranked no higher than 123rd in the world for fixed broadband speeds on the Speedtest Global IndexTM. Morocco had the fastest mean download speed over fixed broadband in North Africa during Q2-Q3 2019 at 15.38 Mbps, 69.0% faster than second-place Egypt’s 9.10 Mbps. Libya was third fastest at 8.92 Mbps, Tunisia fourth at 8.64 Mbps and Algeria fifth at 4.55 Mbps.

However, Egypt saw the most improvement in fixed broadband download speed with a remarkable 55.5% increase during Q2-Q3 2019. All four of the major ISPs in Egypt saw increased speeds during this period with mean download speeds rising 59.2% for WE Internet, 55.4% for Orange, 21.7% for Etisalat and 17.1% for Vodafone.

Libya showed the second highest improvement in fixed broadband download speed in North Africa during this period with a 29.9% gain. Morocco’s download speed went up 27.2% and Tunisia 10.8%. Mean download speed over fixed broadband declined 6.2% during Q2-Q3 2019 in Algeria.

Morocco has the fastest mean download speed on mobile and it’s improving rapidly

North Africa’s fastest country, Morocco, ranked 54th on the Speedtest Global Index in October 2019. Morocco’s mean download speed over mobile during Q2-Q3 2019 was 27.01 Mbps. Tunisia was second at 24.50 Mbps, Egypt third at 16.86 Mbps, and Algeria and Libya virtually tied at 9.63 Mbps and 9.62 Mbps, respectively.

Morocco showed the greatest improvement in mean mobile download speed among countries in North Africa during Q2-Q3 2019 with a 24.5% increase. All three of the major providers saw advances in speed during this period with Maroc Telecom seeing a 40.1% rise in mean download speed, inwi gained 11.9% and Orange 5.5%. Algeria had the second highest gain in mean download speed at 20.5%, Tunisia third at 12.1% and Libya fourth at 8.6%. Mean download speed over mobile decreased 3.4% in Egypt during Q2-Q3 2019.

4G Availability varies widely among countries in North Africa

4G Availability in North Africa
Speedtest® Data | Q2-Q3 2019
Country 4G Availability
Morocco 83.3%
Tunisia 64.4%
Egypt 60.9%
Algeria 45.5%
Libya 15.6%

Morocco had the highest 4G Availability in North Africa during Q2-Q3 2019, with consumers able to access 4G LTE in 83.3% of surveyed locations. Tunisia had the second highest 4G Availability at 64.4%, Egypt third at 60.9%, Algeria fourth at 45.5% and Libya fifth at 15.6%.

Only two countries show majority of Time Spent on 4G

Time-Spent-Per-Mobile-Technology-in-North-Africa-ENG

We used Speedtest data on Time Spent to measure how often, on average, consumers were able to connect to various technologies in North Africa during Q2-Q3 2019. Morocco had the highest Time Spent on 4G at 59.7%, followed by Tunisia (53.4%), Egypt (41.1%), Algeria (39.8%) and Libya (13.3%). Libya had the highest Time Spent on 3G at 40.2%, followed by Algeria (35.5%), Egypt (27.0%), Tunisia (26.1%) and Morocco (21.1%). Libya had the highest Time Spent on 2G at 25.1%, distantly followed by Algeria (8.8%), Egypt (6.0%), Tunisia (4.3%) and Morocco (3.7%).

Libya had the highest Time Spent with no coverage at 17.6%, followed closely by Egypt (17.5%), Morocco (13.9%), Tunisia (13.5%) and Algeria (13.2%).

Rabat shows fastest mean fixed broadband and mobile download speeds

-revised-2--Ookla_North-Africa_Internet-Speeds_1219_en

Looking at some of the largest cities in North Africa we found that the Moroccan cities of Rabat and Casablanca had the fastest mean download speeds over fixed broadband during Q2-Q3 2019. Tripoli, Libya was third. On the other end of the spectrum, Oran, Algeria had the slowest mean download over fixed broadband during Q2-Q3 2019. Data for the province of Algiers, Algeria revealed that to be the second slowest location on the list for download speed over fixed broadband. Sfax, Tunisia was the third slowest.

On the mobile side, Rabat and Casablanca again ranked first and second for mean download speed during Q2-Q3 2019. Sfax was third. Oran and Algiers showed the slowest and second slowest, respectively, mean download speeds over mobile during Q2-Q3 2019 of all the locations on this list. Tripoli was the third slowest.

The rollouts of fiber and 5G have the potential to radically improve internet speeds and availability across North Africa. The gains in speeds we saw in many North African countries during Q2-Q3 2019 could revolutionize consumers’ internet experience if they continue. If you’re an internet provider or mobile operator who would like more information on how our data can help you improve your network, contact us.

Analyse des débits Internet et de la 4G en Afrique du Nord

Actuellement, la vitesse des connexions haut débit fixes et mobiles en Afrique du Nord est bien en deçà de celle enregistrée dans une grande partie du monde, même si cela devrait bientôt changer. Pour mieux comprendre la situation actuelle et future d’Internet en Afrique du Nord, nous avons étudié les données Speedtest® entre le 2e et le 3e trimestre 2019 en Algérie, en Égypte, en Libye, au Maroc et en Tunisie. Notre analyse inclut des informations sur les vitesses de téléchargement, la disponibilité de la 4G et le temps passé sur diverses technologies mobiles. Nous avons également ajouté des données sur les débits Internet de quelques-unes des plus grandes villes de la région.

Internet-Speeds-in-North-Africa-FR

Le Maroc est premier en matière de vitesse de téléchargement haut débit fixe, et l’Égypte enregistre la plus importante progression

En octobre 2019, les pays d’Afrique du Nord atteignaient seulement la 123e place mondiale du classement Speedtest Global IndexTM s’intéressant aux vitesses de téléchargement haut débit fixe. Dans la région Afrique du Nord et entre le 2e et le 3e trimestre 2019, c’est le Maroc qui affichait la vitesse de téléchargement moyenne la plus rapide pour le haut débit fixe avec une valeur de 15,38 Mbits/s. L’Internet du pays est donc 69,0 % plus rapide qu’en Égypte, qui occupait la 2e place avec une vitesse de 9,10 Mbits/s. La Libye se classait 3e avec une vitesse de 8,92 Mbits/s, suivie par la Tunisie et l’Algérie avec une vitesse de 8,64 Mbits/s et 4,55 Mbits/s, respectivement.

Toutefois, c’est l’Égypte qui a le plus progressé en matière de vitesse de téléchargement haut débit fixe avec une augmentation incroyable de 55,5 % entre le 2e et le 3e trimestre 2019. Les quatre principaux fournisseurs d’accès à Internet en Égypte ont enregistré des débits plus élevés au cours de cette période avec des vitesses de téléchargement moyennes augmentant de 59,2 % pour WE Internet, 55,4 % pour Orange, 21,7 % pour Etisalat et 17,1 % pour Vodafone.

La Libye est le deuxième pays en Afrique du Nord dont la vitesse de téléchargement haut débit fixe s’est nettement améliorée avec une hausse de 29,9 %. La vitesse de téléchargement a augmenté de 27,2 % pour le Maroc et de 10,8 % pour la Tunisie. Pour le 2e et le 3e trimestre 2019, la vitesse de téléchargement moyenne pour le haut débit fixe a diminué de 6,2 % en Algérie.

Le Maroc affiche la vitesse de téléchargement moyenne sur mobile la plus rapide et progresse vite

Le Maroc, pays avec le débit Internet le plus rapide d’Afrique du Nord, était classé 54e du Speedtest Global Index en octobre 2019. La vitesse de téléchargement moyenne sur mobile du Maroc entre le 2e et le 3e trimestre 2019 était de 27,01 Mbits/s. Après le Maroc, la Tunisie était 2e avec une vitesse de 24,50 Mbits/s, l’Égypte 3e avec une vitesse de 16,86 Mbits/s, tandis que l’Algérie et la Libye étaient pratiquement ex aequo avec une vitesse de 9,63 Mbits/s et 9,62 Mbits/s respectivement.

Entre le 2e et le 3e trimestre 2019, le Maroc a enregistré la progression la plus importante en termes de vitesse de téléchargement moyenne sur mobile par rapport aux autres pays d’Afrique du Nord, avec une hausse de 24,5 %. Les trois principaux fournisseurs ont constaté des progrès en termes de vitesse pendant cette période : Maroc Telecom a rapporté une augmentation de 40,1 % pour la vitesse de téléchargement moyenne, tandis qu’inwi et Orange ont fait part d’une hausse de 11,9 % et 5,5 %, respectivement. La deuxième augmentation la plus importante en matière de vitesse de téléchargement moyenne a été enregistrée en Algérie avec une valeur de 20,5 %, suivie par la Tunisie (12,1 %) et la Libye (8,6 %). La vitesse de téléchargement moyenne sur mobile a diminué de 3,4 % en Égypte au cours de la même période.

La disponibilité de la 4G est très variable entre les pays d’Afrique du Nord

Disponibilité de la 4G en Afrique du Nord
Données Speedtest® | 2e et 3e trimestres 2019
Pays Disponibilité de la 4G
Maroc 83,3%
Tunisie 64,4%
Égypte 60,9%
Algérie 45,5%
Libye 15,6%

Entre le 2e et le 3e trimestre 2019, c’est au Maroc que la 4G était la plus disponible : les utilisateurs pouvaient accéder à la 4G LTE dans 83,3 % des emplacements étudiés. La Tunisie se classait 2e avec une disponibilité de la 4G égale à 64,4 %, l’Égypte était 3e avec 60,9 %, l’Algérie 4e avec 45,5 % et la Libye 5e avec 15,6 %.

Seuls deux pays affichent une majorité de temps passé sur la 4G

Time-Spent-Per-Mobile-Technology-in-North-Africa-FR

Nous avons exploité les données Speedtest relatives au temps passé pour mesurer la fréquence moyenne à laquelle les utilisateurs pouvaient se connecter à diverses technologies en Afrique du Nord entre le 2e et le 3e trimestre 2019. Le temps passé sur la 4G était plus important au Maroc avec 59,7 %, suivi par la Tunisie (53,4 %), l’Égypte (41,1 %), l’Algérie (39,8 %) et la Libye (13,3 %). Le temps passé sur la 3G était plus important en Libye avec 40,2 %, suivie par l’Algérie (35,5 %), l’Égypte (27,0 %), la Tunisie (26,1 %) et le Maroc (21,1 %). Le temps passé sur la 2G était plus important en Libye avec 25,1 %, suivie de très loin par l’Algérie (8,8 %), l’Égypte (6,0 %), la Tunisie (4,3 %) et le Maroc (3,7 %).

Le temps passé sans couverture était plus important en Libye avec 17,6 %, suivie par l’Égypte (17,5 %), le Maroc (13,9 %), la Tunisie (13,5 %) et l’Algérie (13,2 %).

Rabat enregistre les vitesses de téléchargement haut débit fixe et mobile moyennes les plus rapides

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En étudiant certaines des plus grandes villes d’Afrique du Nord, nous avons constaté que Rabat et Casablanca (Maroc) présentaient les vitesses de téléchargement haut débit fixe moyennes les plus rapides entre le 2e et le 3e trimestre 2019. Tripoli (Libye) arrivait en 3e place. Si l’on s’intéresse aux autres extrêmes, c’est Oran (Algérie) qui présentait la vitesse de téléchargement haut débit fixe moyenne la plus lente pour la même période. Les données de la province d’Alger (Algérie) ont révélé que celle-ci était la deuxième ville avec la vitesse de téléchargement haut débit fixe la plus lente. Sfax (Tunisie) était la 3e ville avec la vitesse la plus lente.

Côté mobile, les villes de Rabat et de Casablanca se classaient encore 1re et 2e, respectivement, pour la vitesse de téléchargement moyenne la plus rapide entre le 2e et 3e trimestre 2019. Sfax atteignait la 3e place. Oran et Alger occupaient respectivement la 1re et la 2e place de la liste en matière de vitesses de téléchargement sur mobile moyennes les plus lentes pendant cette période. Tripoli était la 3e ville avec la vitesse la plus lente.

Les déploiements de la fibre et de la 5G ont le potentiel d’améliorer de façon notable la disponibilité et les débits Internet dans toute l’Afrique du Nord. Les augmentations de débits que nous avons constatées dans de nombreux pays de cette région entre le 2e et le 3e trimestre 2019 peuvent, si elles continuent, révolutionner l’expérience Internet des utilisateurs. Si vous êtes un fournisseur d’accès à Internet ou un opérateur mobile et que vous souhaitez plus d’informations sur comment nos données peuvent améliorer votre réseau, contactez-nous.

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About the Author

Isla McKetta