A year on from our inaugural report, the global 5G SA narrative in 2026 has shifted from a coverage race to a capability contest. The GCC now delivers median download speeds five times those in Europe, while the U.S. has completed its Tier-1 SA launches. Europe is accelerating, but from a low base, and the gap with global leaders risks widening as 5G Advanced scales elsewhere.
The second edition of Ookla and Omdia’s flagship report on the global state of 5G Standalone confirms that the technology has moved beyond launch announcements into an execution-driven phase. By the close of 2025, the “coverage gap” between major economic blocs had narrowed, but a more consequential “capability gap” has emerged, reflecting divergent spectrum strategies, investment depth, and the extent to which operators have moved beyond baseline SA deployment toward end-to-end network optimization.
Globally, 5G SA availability based on Speedtest® sample share reached 17.6% in Q4 2025, up modestly from 16.2% a year earlier, indicating that roughly one in six 5G Speedtests worldwide now occurs on a standalone network. The headline global median SA download speed of 269.51 Mbps represents a 52% premium over non-standalone networks, though this figure masks significant regional variation driven by spectrum allocation depth, carrier aggregation maturity, and user-plane engineering.
For governments and regulators, the stakes of the SA transition have intensified. National competitiveness, digital sovereignty, and AI readiness have converged to reshape investment priorities across major markets. The European Commission’s Digital Networks Act, the U.S.’ supply chain diversification program, and China’s integration of 5G Advanced into its 15th Five-Year Plan all signal that 5G SA is now treated as foundational national infrastructure central to AI ambitions, and not merely a connectivity upgrade.
This year’s report significantly expands the scope of the analysis. For the first time, our research examines 5G SA’s impact on end-user battery life and voice performance (VoNR), quality of experience (QoE) metrics to cloud and gaming infrastructure, and the first wave of commercial monetization strategies spanning consumer network slicing, enterprise SLAs, and 5G Advanced segmentation. We also provide an assessment of the geopolitical context now shaping SA’s evolution, from Europe’s Digital Networks Act to the GCC’s sovereign AI infrastructure strategies.
Key Takeaways:
The GCC has established itself as the global 5G SA performance leader, with the UAE setting the speed benchmark
Led by e& and du’s aggressive 5G Advanced deployments, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) delivered the world’s fastest 5G SA median download speeds in Q4 2025 at 1.13 Gbps, nearly five times that of Europe. The UAE alone reached a median of 1.24 Gbps on SA networks, a speed that would be considered exceptional even for full-fiber broadband in developed markets. The deployment of four-carrier aggregation and enhanced MIMO technology, coupled with the strategic allocation of premium mid-band spectrum to the SA network, demonstrates the performance ceiling that a fully realized 5G SA architecture can achieve.
South Korea followed at 767 Mbps, driven by wide 3.5 GHz channel bandwidth, with the U.S. at 404 Mbps following the completion of nationwide SA deployments by all three Tier-1 operators. Europe, at 205 Mbps, trails all developed regions, though the region’s SA networks still deliver a 45% download speed premium over NSA, confirming the performance value of the SA transition where material spectrum depth is allocated.
Europe’s 5G SA gap with global peers is narrowing, but the region still trails North America by 27 percentage points
Europe’s 5G SA sample share more than doubled from 1.1% to 2.8% between Q4 2024 and Q4 2025, driven by accelerated deployments in Austria (8.7%), Spain (8.3%), the United Kingdom (7.0%), and France (5.9%). These four markets now account for the vast majority of European SA connections. The United Kingdom and France registered the strongest year-on-year acceleration in Europe, each gaining 5.3 percentage points, reflecting the impact of investment-linked merger conditions and competition in the United Kingdom, as well as targeted R&D policy support in France.
U.S. Widens 5G SA Lead Over Europe & Gulf
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q1 2023 – Q4 2025
However, the region still trails North America by 27 percentage points and emerging Asia by 30. At the global level, the U.S. remains the largest accelerator in absolute terms over the last year, with SA sample share rising 8.2 percentage points to 31.6% year-on-year, driven by the sequential rollout of SA across all Tier-1 operators beyond T-Mobile. Firmware fragmentation, where handset OEMs gatekeep SA network access pending individual carrier certification, and tariff structures that fail to incentivize migration from NSA, remain the primary barriers to faster European adoption.
5G SA delivers measurable performance and quality of experience gains, but end-to-end optimization separates leaders from laggards
Globally, SA connections delivered a 52% download speed premium (mostly an artifact of rich spectrum allocation and lower network load) and improved median multi-server latency by over 6% compared to NSA. However, this year’s report finds that a standalone core migration alone does not guarantee a better end-user experience. Quality of experience analysis reveals a nuanced picture: SA improves video and cloud infrastructure latency in Europe versus NSA, but underperforms NSA for gaming latency within the same region. North America records the lowest absolute SA cloud and gaming latency, consistent with dense hyperscaler adjacency and mature interconnect ecosystems.
Among European markets, France (41 ms to cloud endpoints), Austria (48 ms), and Finland (50 ms) demonstrate what is achievable where backbone quality, peering density, and routing discipline are strong. These outcomes reflect an underappreciated end-to-end network stack optimization dividend, encompassing data-center proximity, fiber backhaul depth, and user-plane topology, rather than a pure “SA dividend” alone.
The report also presents early evidence of a tangible consumer benefit of SA: battery life. In the UK, devices on EE’s 5G SA network recorded median discharge times approximately 22% longer than those on NSA, with O2 showing an 11% advantage. These gains likely stem from features like SA’s unified control plane, which eliminates the dual-connectivity overhead of NSA configurations.
Core network investment is accelerating as monetization transitions from concept to selective execution
Omdia’s latest forecasts confirm the industry’s shift toward software-defined core capability as the primary driver of next-cycle investment. Global 5G core software spending is projected to grow at an 8.8% CAGR between 2025 and 2030, with EMEA leading at 16.7%, significantly outpacing North America (5.5%) and Asia & Oceania (4.2%). This reflects EMEA’s later position in the deployment cycle, as the region is entering its period of peak 5G core adoption, while North America’s core spending trajectory is expected to have peaked in 2025 following the commercial launches by AT&T and Verizon. By end of Q3 2025, 83 operators worldwide had deployed 5G core networks, with 5G core investment accounting for 63.6% of global core network function software spending.
5G Core Investment Accelerates Across Regions
Omdia | 2023-2030
On monetization, consumer strategies now span speed tiers (primarily Europe), network slicing (Singapore, France, and the U.S.), and 5G Advanced segmentation packages (China). Enterprise slicing presents the much larger long-term revenue opportunity, with T-Mobile’s SuperMobile representing the first nationwide commercial B2B slicing service in the U.S. Countries with coordinated regulatory frameworks, implementing clear coverage obligations, investment incentives, or infrastructure consolidation policies with deployment remedies, consistently outperform those with fragmented or reactive approaches, reinforcing the report’s finding that policy has emerged as a primary competitive differentiator in 5G SA outcomes globally.
Download the full report
For the comprehensive analysis of 5G SA and 5G Advanced deployment, performance, and monetization across global markets, including new research on battery life, voice performance, quality of experience, geopolitical context, and expanded policy case studies from the UK, France, Brazil, Japan, and the UAE, download the full report, 5G Standalone and 5G Advanced: A Global Reality Check on 5G SA and 5G Advanced in 2026.
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.
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.
5G SA rollouts are accelerating globally, but device and tariff-side fragmentation continue to drag on real-world usage
Editor’s Note: The 5G SA map in this poster has been updated. The revised version uses Zoom Level 11 tile resolution, consistent with last year’s edition, to better capture full-year network patterns, particularly in highly urbanized markets like China.
The deployment of 5G Standalone networks is accelerating across a widening number of markets, driven by maturing device ecosystems, rising core network investment, and the growing commercial imperative to deliver the performance improvements that the SA architecture can enable. Despite this progress, the gap between operator-reported coverage of 5G SA networks and real-world usage of these networks continues to widen, held back by tariff inertia and device-side fragmentation in network access.
Regional disparities in commercialization progress persist, but the direction of travel is clear. Markets that were virtually absent from the 5G SA landscape a year ago are now registering meaningful deployment levels, and several advanced operators are pushing into the next evolutionary phase with early deployments of 5G Advanced capabilities built on the SA foundation, including new levels of spectrum depth through advanced carrier aggregation features.
Building on the success of last year’s inaugural edition, Ookla® has released an updated high-resolution downloadable poster based on Speedtest Intelligence® data, offering a unified view of the global reach of both 5G NSA and 5G SA networks through 2025. This visual accompanies a new 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 continues to lead in 5G SA reach, but new entrants are reshaping the global leaderboard
In 2025, six of the top ten countries by 5G SA reach were in Asia Pacific, with China (79.0% 5G SA sample share), India (49.2%), and Singapore (37.0%) maintaining dominant positions globally. China’s lead has been reinforced by multi-operator SA deployments across all major carriers, while India’s position reflects the deep nationwide low-band coverage strategy pushed by Reliance Jio on the 700 MHz band, supplemented by growing mid-band SA rollout. Singapore’s strong showing, meanwhile, reflects the favorable deployment conditions provided by a small landmass and very high urbanization.
The United States (27.6%) has continued its upward trajectory, propelled by T-Mobile’s maturing SA network and commercial launches by both AT&T and Verizon for the first time during the year, while Australia (15.4%) has similarly benefited from multi-operator SA deployments. Thailand (8.5%) and the Philippines (9.0%) round out the Asia Pacific contingent, reflecting growing SA ambitions in Southeast Asia. The UAE (8.0%) has entered the top ten for the first time, signaling a geographic diversification of SA adoption beyond advanced Asian markets. Austria (8.0%) and Spain (8.1%) remain the only European markets in the upper ranks, though the region’s broader trajectory has shifted meaningfully.
APAC Claims 6 of Top 10 Spots in Global 5G SA Reach
Speedtest Intelligence® | 2025
The U.S. sustains its 5G SA performance lead, while the UAE and South Korea demonstrate the ceiling for optimized networks
The United States now combines relatively high 5G SA reach with strong download speeds, a combination that is unusual globally. In Q4 2025, median download speeds on 5G SA in the U.S. reached 403.97 Mbps, building on the gains recorded in the prior year, and significantly ahead of large-scale Asian deployments such as China (212.40 Mbps) and India (222.11 Mbps).
T-Mobile’s “layer cake” spectrum strategy remains the foundation of U.S. 5G SA performance. By pairing broad 600 MHz coverage, initially launched as 5G NSA in 2019 before transitioning to SA in 2020, with dense mid-band deployment in the 2.5 GHz band, the operator has matured its SA network to the point where advanced features such as uplink carrier aggregation and Voice over NR (VoNR) are now widely deployed. Recent 5G SA launches by AT&T and Verizon have extended multi-operator coverage and added the U.S. to the small but burgeoning list of Western markets in which all operators now support nationwide 5G SA networks.
At the top of the global performance table, the UAE has emerged as the clear leader in absolute 5G SA download speeds, registering a median of 1.24 Gbps in Q4 2025. This result is driven by large, contiguous TDD mid-band deployments, intensive carrier aggregation, and site grid densification by Etisalat and du. South Korea sustains its position as a high-performance market at 766.92 Mbps, propelled by its exclusive use of the 3.5 GHz band for 5G, though it continues to trail regional peers in SA reach due to limited commercialization beyond KT. This marks a notable shift from the global leadership South Korea held at the start of the 5G cycle.
5G SA delivers performance uplift across key metrics, but real-world gains in QoE require more than just a core migration
Globally, 5G SA networks are delivering materially improved performance compared to the non-standalone architecture, and the performance gains have held even as SA deployments mature with higher traffic onboarding. In Q4 2025, median download speeds on 5G SA were more than 120% higher than on NSA networks in North America, 57% higher in advanced Asia and Oceania, and 45% higher in Europe. The regional variation reflects differences in spectrum depth, network maturity, and the degree to which operators have activated advanced SA features such as carrier aggregation, rather than any inherent advantage of SA in downlink performance.
Headline latency improvements, a touted beneficiary of the transition to the 5G core, continue to be significant. SA networks delivered median multi-server latency reductions of more than 27% in advanced Asia and Oceania, nearly 24% in North America, and 17% in Europe compared to NSA. However, it is important to note that a standalone core migration alone does not guarantee a better end-user experience in real-world applications. Our quality of experience (QoE) analysis reveals a nuanced picture. SA improves video and cloud infrastructure latency in Europe versus NSA, but underperforms NSA for gaming latency within the same region. North America records the lowest absolute SA cloud and gaming latency, consistent with dense hyperscaler adjacency and mature interconnect ecosystems.
Among European markets, France (41 ms to cloud endpoints), Austria (48 ms), and Finland (50 ms) demonstrate what is achievable where backbone quality, peering density, and routing discipline are strong. These outcomes reflect an underappreciated end-to-end network stack optimization dividend, encompassing data-center proximity, fiber backhaul depth, and user-plane topology, rather than a pure “SA dividend” alone.
The upload story has begun to diverge by region. North America’s SA networks deliver 54% higher upload speeds than NSA, reflecting the early implementation of advanced uplink capabilities. In Europe, however, the upload advantage is just 6%, highlighting the still nascent deployment of features such as higher-order MIMO and uplink carrier aggregation in the region beyond leading countries like the United Kingdom. Advanced Asia and Oceania sit in between at 21%, suggesting that the ecosystem for advanced SA uplink capabilities remains at an early stage in most global markets.
A detailed analysis of the state of 5G SA and 5G Advanced 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Having reached much of their 5G coverage and capacity goals in the urban and suburban areas of the U.S. in 2023, the big-three national U.S. wireless operators have turned their attention toward expanding their 5G networks into rural markets. This strategy is intended to help operators acquire new subscribers, particularly as growth in the urban and suburban markets has slowed.
But the big three U.S. wireless operators have taken very different approaches when it comes to expanding their 5G networks into less-densely populated areas. Of course, much of their strategies have been dictated by their spectrum holdings – particularly how much mid-band spectrum they were able to acquire.
Key Takeaways
T-Mobile has the largest percentage of 5G users spending the majority of their time on its 5G network in both urban and rural markets.
Nevada and Illinois are the only two states to make the Top 10 list for T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon when it comes to high urban 5G availability indicating that these states, and their large cities of Chicago and Las Vegas, have been a 5G focus for all three operators.
5G service is scarce in remote Wyoming, which makes the Top 5 list for T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon for having the lowest rural 5G availability. This isn’t particularly surprising as Wyoming ranks 49th in population density among all 50 states.
For this analysis, we used Ookla®’s 5G Availability metric, which shows how likely a user, on average, is to have 5G service available. 5G Availability is impacted by 5G network coverage, but also the network policies of each mobile provider, which determine the conditions under which users access its 5G network. For example, some providers may prioritize 4G-LTE for less data intensive tasks. Ookla Speedtest® data provides a consumer-centric view of 5G Availability — recording the percentage of 5G active users connected to 5G a majority of the time, based on when the 5G icon is displayed on the device.
T-Mobile leads the way
T-Mobile has been the most vocal about its rural market expansion targets. During the company’s Analyst Day in 2021 T-Mobile executives said they estimated the company had about 13% share of households in small markets and rural America and they set a goal of reaching 20% by the end of 2025. The operator also has said it is committed to providing coverage to 90% of America’s rural population by 2026.
We compared Speedtest® users on 5G networks from the top three nationwide operators from 2019 to 2024. Our analysis shows T-Mobile’s growth and its lead in the number of 5G users spending the majority of their time on its 5G network in both urban and rural markets followed by AT&T and Verizon.
To determine urban vs. rural areas we used US Census Bureau’s urban-rural classifications. The Census Bureau’s urban areas represent densely developed territory, and encompass residential, commercial, and other non-residential urban land uses. Rural encompasses all population, housing, and territory not included within an urban area.
T-Mobile’s lead here is not particularly surprising. In our Speedtest®Connectivity report for the second half of 2024, T-Mobile recorded the highest 5G Availability score in the U.S. with 89.4% of its users accessing its 5G network the majority of the time.
Speedtest® users on 5G networks from 2019 until 2024
Speedtest®users on 5G networks from 2019 (when the first 5G markets came online) until Q4 2024.
T-Mobile: The Back Story
T-Mobile first started to deploy 5G in 2019 in its low-band 600 MHz spectrum, which it calls its Extended Range 5G. In September 2023 T-Mobile said its Extended Range 5G covered 323 million people and today the operator says the Extended Range 5G covers 98% of the U.S.
In 2020, not long after T-Mobile closed on its acquisition of Sprint, the company started deploying 5G in the 2.5 GHz spectrum. When T-Mobile purchased Sprint it acquired 150 MHz of Sprint’s 2.5 GHz spectrum in the top 100 markets. One condition for getting the approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for T-Mobile’s merger with Sprint was that the company was required to deploy 5G service to 97% of the U.S. population within three years and 99% of the population within six years.
When combining that 2.5 GHz spectrum with T-Mobile’s existing mid-band spectrum, the company gained control of 319 MHz of sub-6 GHz spectrum. Today T-Mobile refers to its 5G in the mid-band spectrum as its Ultra Capacity 5G and it now covers more than 300 million people in the U.S. with it.
T-Mobile’s 5G expansion is far from over, however. In May 2024 T-Mobile announced plans to purchase around 30% of regional operator USCellular’s spectrum holdings and all of its 4.5 million customers and retail stores for $4.4 billion. The deal is expected to close later this year.
Mike Sievert, T-Mobile CEO, discussed the company’s expansion into rural markets during its Q3 2024 earnings call. In that call, Sievert told investors that T-Mobile grew its share of customers in both top 100 and smaller markets and rural areas. He also said that the company believes it has lots of room to grow in underpenetrated areas.
Delving deeper into the data
We took a deeper look at our 5G Availability data to determine the percentage of users in each state with 5G-capable devices that are spending most of the time connected to 5G networks. The remainder of the users are those that have accessed the 5G network but spent the majority of their time connected to LTE. We specifically looked at Ookla Speedtest Intelligence® data from Q4 2024 to see which states recorded the largest share of users spending a majority of their time on 5G in both urban and rural areas. Once again, we used US Census Bureau data for our urban-rural classifications.
Top 5 States with the Highest Rural 5G Availability from T-Mobile (2H2024)
State
% of Users on T-Mobile 5G
Florida
83.58
Connecticut
80.62
Illinois
80.49
Delaware
80.39
Georgia
80.18
Top 5 States with the Highest Urban 5G Availability from T-Mobile (2H2024)
State
% of Users on T-Mobile 5G
Illinois
91.86
Nevada
91.78
Oklahoma
91.77
Florida
91.57
North Dakota
91.30
AT&T benefits from FirstNet for rural expansion
AT&T’s rural expansion has primarily focused on its building of FirstNet, the nationwide public safety network for first responders that uses Band 14, which is a 10 MHz block of spectrum in the 758–768 MHz and 788–798 MHz ranges.
In 2017 the U.S. Department of Commerce awarded AT&T the FirstNet contract and essentially gave the operator access to Band 14 700 MHz low-band spectrum so it could build a nationwide wireless network specifically for first responders.
But one of the key components to this agreement was that Congress wanted to ensure first responders even in remote areas of the country could have access to the network so it required that AT&T expand the FirstNet into rural areas that previously had little to no wireless coverage.
AT&T finished its buildout of FirstNet’s Band 14 700 MHz network in April 2023. That buildout entailed putting 700 MHz FirstNet radios on thousands of AT&T cell towers across the country, as well as deploying more than 1,000 new FirstNet cell towers in locations earmarked by state and public-safety officials.
AT&T’s FirstNet buildout was part of the company’s “One Touch” strategy, which referred to the company’s upgrading of multiple technologies — 4G LTE, 5G and FirstNet— at a single cell site during a single visit and essentially “touching” each site once in order to provide those upgrades and avoiding repeated visits.
Although initially FirstNet supported 4G LTE connections, in 2021 AT&T upgraded its FirstNet core to support 5G and in February 2024 the FirstNet Authority agreed to invest $8 billion over 10 years to enhance FirstNet’s 5G coverage and upgrade the network, giving it a dedicated 5G core.
AT&T said in October 2024 that the FirstNet network supports more than 6.4 million connections and 29,000 public safety agencies.
Besides its reliance on FirstNet, AT&T also has deployed 5G across its low-band spectrum and is building out its mid-band 5G network. The operator spent roughly $37 billion on mid-band spectrum licenses in the FCC’s C-band and 3.45 GHz auctions.
Top 5 States with the Highest Rural 5G Availability from AT&T (2H2024)
State
% of Users on AT&T 5G
Texas
78.17
Florida
75.24
Alabama
74.77
Louisiana
74.76
California
72.81
Top 5 States with the Highest Urban 5G Availability from AT&T (2H2024)
State
% of Users on AT&T 5G
California
92.47
Florida
91.1
Nevada
90.92
Texas
89.91
Louisana
89.45
Verizon relies on C-band and acquisitions
Unlike AT&T and T-Mobile, Verizon didn’t have a slew of low-band spectrum for its 5G deployment so the company deployed a technology called Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), which allowed it to run 5G on the same spectrum bands as LTE, effectively letting 4G and 5G users take turns using the same chunk of spectrum via 1 millisecond increments. AT&T also used DSS in some of its low-band spectrum.
Besides its efforts with DSS, Verizon deployed 5G in its C-band spectrum, which it acquired in a spectrum auction in 2021 for $52 billion. The company has an average of about 161 MHz of mid-band spectrum across the U.S.
But to cover rural America, Verizon primarily got access to spectrum through several acquisitions and effectively purchased many of its roaming partners. In 2020 Verizon purchased Bluegrass Cellular, which operated in 34 counties in Kentucky, and Chat Mobility, a wireless operator in Iowa. It also purchased Blue Mobility, a small wireless carrier that operated in New York and Pennsylvania. In 2021 Verizon acquired the assets of Montana-based Triangle Mobile and Chariton Valley Communications Corp., which operated a 4G network in Missouri.
However, all of these acquisitions primarily just expanded Verizon’s already strong 4G LTE network into more rural areas and didn’t help it expand its 5G network.
Because of this, most of Verizon’s rural 5G coverage hinges on its C-band deployment.
In its Q2 2024 earnings CEO Hans Vestberg said the company was expanding its C-band 5G network in suburban and rural areas. The company also revealed in October 2024 that it will spend around $1 billion to purchase a combination of 850 MHz, AWS and PCS spectrum licenses from UScellular. Although it’s unclear where those licenses are located, it’s likely that Verizon will use this spectrum to supplement its suburban and rural 5G coverage.
Top 5 States with the Highest Rural 5G Availability from Verizon (2H 2024)
State
% of Users on Verizon 5G
Ohio
56.07
Arkansas
44.51
Texas
43.09
New Jersey
41.8
Delaware
40.56
Top 5 States with the Highest Urban 5G Availability from Verizon (2H 2024)
State
% of Users on Verizon 5G
Ohio
73.86
California
67.76
Nebraska
67.45
Arkansas
66.26
Arizona
66.01
5G service is scarce in rural Wyoming
The state of Wyoming has the distinction of being the only state to have the lowest 5G Availability for all three operators: T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T. Of course, Wyoming is known for its low population density. Wyoming is the 10th largest state in the U.S., spanning 97,813 square miles but its population is concentrated in just a few cities: Cheyenne, Casper, Laramie and Gillette.
Based on Speedtest Intelligence® data, T-Mobile clearly has made the most inroads when it comes to customers having access to its 5G network. Verizon, meanwhile, with just 9.8% of users on its 5G network still has quite a bit of catching up to do.
Rural 5G Availability in Wyoming (2H 2024)
Operator
% of Users on the 5G Network
T-Mobile
59.29
AT&T
29.73
Verizon
9.8
Nevada, Illinois benefit from 5G focus
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Nevada and Illinois both appear to have benefited from a strong 5G focus from all three operators in their urban areas. Of course, Nevada is home to Las Vegas which hosts hundreds of high-profile conventions and sporting events, making it a perfect venue for showing off the latest in wireless technology. AT&T announced in 2019 that Las Vegas was one of the cities where it would be deploying low-band 5G. Likewise, Verizon in August 2023 announced that Las Vegas was its first market where it was able to use a full 160 MHz of its C-band spectrum to triple the available bandwidth for its 5G Ultra Wideband network. And T-Mobile touted its 5G coverage in Las Vegas in advance of the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix and the Super Bowl at Allegiant Stadium in February 2024.
Chicago is also a key market for wireless players with its Magnificent Mile and United Center events venue. AT&T made Chicago a priority by deploying 5G in its mid-band spectrum in the city in late 2020. And similar to Las Vegas, Chicago also benefitted from Verizon’s C-band 5G deployment.
Urban 5G Availability in Nevada (2H 2024)
Operator
% of Users on the 5G Network
T-Mobile
91.86
AT&T
90.92
Verizon
63.38
Urban 5G Availability in Illinois (2H 2024)
Operator
% of Users on the 5G Network
T-Mobile
91.78
AT&T
85.27
Verizon
62.5
Promise for more rural 5G is on its way
Although some states boast fairly strong 5G availability in rural areas, there are more efforts underway to improve rural 5G coverage throughout the U.S. In particular, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently established the 5G Fund for Rural America which will enable it to distribute up to $9 billion to wireless service providers to bring 5G service to more than 14 million rural homes and businesses.
The FCC has been collecting mobile coverage data to identify and target rural areas that may not otherwise receive 5G coverage if not otherwise subsidized. In August 2024 the FCC adopted final rules for the 5G Fund but the agency didn’t set up a timeline for the program. It’s set to be a reverse auction in which operators bid to serve areas with the lowest level of government support.
We will continue to monitor the status of urban and rural 5G coverage in the U.S. and track improvements that operators are making to their 5G networks. For more information about Speedtest Intelligence data and insights, please get in touch.
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.
Sue Marek is Ookla’s editorial director and part of the company’s analyst team. She oversees the company’s thought leadership and editorial content. Sue is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience covering the telecom industry and her work has appeared in Fierce Network, Light Reading, and SDxCentral. She is a frequent speaker at industry events and has moderated panels at Mobile World Las Vegas, Connect(x), the Consumer Electronics Show, the Competitive Carriers’ Show and 5G North America. Sue has a B.S. in journalism from the University of Colorado.
More than five years after the technology first hit Latin America’s shores, 5G is now floating through many of the region’s countries. In some leading areas, 5G speeds are rising and 5G signals abound.
But Latin America’s steps into a 5G future have been uneven. In some countries – like Brazil – the technology has managed to spread far and wide, and download speeds have reached impressive milestones. Users’ satisfaction often tracks with these improvements. In other countries – like Mexico – the rollout of 5G has been a stutter-step affair, with some operators making progress while others fall behind. And in some countries, like Peru, 5G remains in its early days.
Still, there are some hints that advanced 5G services are now making their way into the Latin American region. 5G Standalone (SA) connections are beginning to pop up. 5G private wireless networks are multiplying. And 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) is paving a way for mobile network operators to move beyond the smartphone opportunity among consumers.
Key takeaways:
Brazil shows clear leadership in many 5G metrics. The country’s median 5G speeds reached 430.83 Mbps in the third quarter of 2025, according to Ookla Speedtest® data, the highest in the region. And 38.5% of the country’s 5G users spent a majority of their time connected to 5G networks, placing Brazil third in this metric, behind Uruguay and Puerto Rico (an unincorporated territory of the United States considered part of Latin America).
Not surprisingly, spectrum contributes directly to operators’ 5G performance. 5G providers with 100 MHz of spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band – such as Personal Argentina, Claro Brasil, and Vivo Brasil – generally offer 5G speeds above 300 Mbps.
There are some signals that more advanced technologies are on their way. In the third quarter of 2025, 5G SA connections showed up in Brazil (1.6% of all 5G connections) and Puerto Rico (41.1% of all 5G connections). Moreover, FWA is now available to a growing number of customers in countries like Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and elsewhere. And 5G private wireless networks are beginning to pop up too.
The tangled history of 5G and Latin America
Uruguay’s state-owned operator Antel, along with vendor Nokia, claimed the first 5G network in Latin America in 2019, using short-range millimeter wave spectrum. The move reflected Uruguay’s ambition to be a technological leader in the region. At just 68,037 square miles, Uruguay is one of the smallest countries in Latin America, making extensive 5G networks there somewhat easier to deploy, at least from a geographic coverage perspective.
But Uruguay’s 5G efforts since then have been somewhat symbolic of the region’s wider struggles to deploy speedy 5G connections on a widespread basis. In 2025 – more than five years after its first foray into 5G – Antel deployed a total of 500 5G cell sites, each with 100 MHz worth of midband 3.5 GHz spectrum. This kind of spectrum supports the speedy, widespread connections often associated with 5G. It was released to Antel in 2023.
Perhaps Latin America’s biggest 5G launch came a year after Antel’s first 5G announcement, in 2020, when Brazil’s three big mobile network operators launched 5G with Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) technology. Like Antel in Uruguay, this launch too was mostly symbolic, considering DSS allows 5G signals to piggyback on existing 4G LTE spectrum. It generally doesn’t support the snappy speeds available through fat chunks of midband spectrum. Brazil’s real 5G inflection point occurred the following year, in 2021, when the country’s regulator released wide swathes of midband 3.5 GHz spectrum to operators.
Some of Mexico’s operators also stepped into 5G around this same time. For example, AT&T Mexico launched 5G services in the 2.5 GHz band in 2021. And América Móvil’s Telcel used its existing 3.5 GHz holdings for a 5G launch in 2022, eventually expanding the service to 125 cities and 10 million subscribers by 2025.
These launches helped unlock a wave of spectrum auction activity in other leading Latin American countries like Argentina and Colombia in 2023. Other markets continue to trail, however. For example, Costa Rica completed its own 3.5 GHz auction at the beginning of 2025, while Peru wrapped up its 3.5 GHz auction in September 2025.
Speedy connections, if you can get them
The results of all this 5G activity are now clear:
5G Speeds Across Latin America
Speedtest Intelligence | Q3 2025
Brazil’s performance was good enough to place it fourth globally in the latest issue of the Speedtest Global IndexTM for mobile performance, behind only the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Kuwait.
But commercial 5G launches don’t necessarily equate to widespread 5G connections. Ookla’s Speedtest Intelligence tracks 5G availability, which measures the percentage of 5G active users connected to 5G a majority of the time, based on when a 5G icon is displayed on their device.
Here’s how leading Latin American counties shake out in this ranking:
5G Availability Across Latin America
Speedtest Intelligence | Q3 2025
To put this into perspective, Canada’s overall 5G availability rating clocked in at 73.2% in the third quarter of 2025, while the U.S. sat at 75.2%.
These results are also noteworthy given the relative popularity of fiber networks in Latin American countries like Peru and Chile. Fiber typically supplies the internet piping that powers high-speed 5G cell sites.
To be clear, these broad 5G results in Latin America are due to a confluence of factors. First, operators must get access to suitable spectrum. For 5G, that typically involves large blocks of midband spectrum between 2.5 GHz and 4 GHz. Then, they must invest into the equipment and cell towers necessary to broadcast 5G signals across their spectrum license territories.
And then, of course, they must also sell enough 5G devices and service plans to make that investment worthwhile.
Measuring the importance of spectrum
Spectrum is often described as the “lifeblood” of the wireless industry, and certainly it’s a critical starting block to any successful 5G offering. In Latin America, it’s clear that some regulators not only share this view but have also put it into action.
For example, Brazil’s 2021 spectrum auction was notable in its scale. Major operators in the country – América Móvil’s Claro, TIM Brasil, and Telefônica Brasil’s Vivo – each acquired massive spectrum blocks (100 MHz per operator). Those fat chunks of spectrum – coupled with the speed that Brazil’s regulator, Anatel, free up the spectrum for commercial use – are main reasons why Brazil tops Speedtest charts for the Latin American region.
Other countries have made various efforts at matching Brazil’s lead. For example, Chile, Colombia, Argentina, and Peru have all aligned on the 3.5 GHz band for 5G. Specifically, Colombia’s 2023 auction released four blocks of spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band – each of them 80 MHz wide – to each of the country’s four operators. And Argentina’s 2023 auction released 100 MHz blocks to América Móvil’s Claro and Personal in the 3.3–3.6 GHz range.
This symmetry in spectrum and timing helps ensure economies of scale for 5G equipment across the region, particularly for operators with systems in multiple countries.
Broadly, these spectrum allocations – particularly the breadth of spectrum allocated to each operator – track directly to network performance:
Another important factor in this discussion of spectrum is the manner by which regulators free up spectrum for 5G operators. For example, Brazil’s 2021 auction wasn’t solely designed to funnel auction revenues into government coffers. Instead, Brazilian telecom regulator Anatel allowed auction winners to pay for a portion of their licenses through investment obligations. Meaning, operators can pay for their spectrum by deploying it. Regulators in other countries like Peru have employed a similar strategy, waiving a portion of operators’ annual spectrum fees for 5G deployments in rural or unserved areas.
Meanwhile, Mexico’s approach to spectrum allocation may stand as a cautionary tale. According to the GSMA, Mexico’s spectrum costs are established every year by the country’s Congress, and “this yearly approval process creates uncertainty, as it is impossible for mobile operators to anticipate how these fees will evolve,” the trade association wrote. Indeed, Telefónica’s Movistar in Mexico returned its spectrum holdings to regulators in 2022 in order to become an MVNO on AT&T Mexico’s network. More recently, Mexico’s telecom regulator cancelled a spectrum auction due to a lack of resources.
Broadly, the average amount of spectrum assigned to mobile network operators in Latin American countries increased by 51% between 2016 and 2024, from 267 MHz to 403 MHz, according to the GSMA. But that’s significantly less than the global average, which was 574 MHz in 2024.
Nonetheless, the situation is still developing. According to the GSMA, Paraguay and Peru were among the handful of countries that held spectrum auctions in the third quarter of 2025. And Bolivia, Ecuador, and Colombia are among the countries that have scheduled additional spectrum auctions in the future.
Of course, once regulators release spectrum, operators must then put it into action.
5G shows faster speeds, and faster speeds satisfy
América Móvil is Latin America’s regional 5G behemoth. But the company’s overall capital expenses (capex) have been slowing in recent years following significant spending on spectrum and network infrastructure. Specifically, América Móvil’s capex outlay reached $8.6 billion in 2023, but fell to $7 billion last year. For 2025, the company is on track to spend $6.7 billion.
That slowdown in spending coincides with Telefonica’s exit from many Latin American markets with 5G, due to its plans to focus on its “core” markets in Europe and Brazil.
Millicom, meanwhile, is the company positioned to replace Telefónica as the region’s second-largest telecom operator. Millicom invests over $1 billion annually in its fixed and mobile networks, according to one detailed report on the company’s operations. But that doesn’t necessarily mean Millicom plans to inject 5G into its growing Latin American mobile footprint. Millicom officials have suggested an emphasis on fiber and 4G, deploying 5G only at “the best time.”
There’s also the question of what 5G equipment operators ought to spend all their capex on. Here emerges the Huawei question: Should Latin American operators heed U.S. cybersecurity warnings about the use of gear from Chinese suppliers like Huawei? Many have not.
Despite intense political debate on the topic, Brazil did not ban Huawei as part of its early 5G auctions. Consequently, Huawei supplies significant portions of the 5G radio access network (RAN) for the country’s three big operators. Operators in Peru and Mexico also use equipment from Chinese vendors.
But Huawei doesn’t have a lock on the Latin American market. For example, Sweden’s Ericsson is the sole 5G supplier for Entel Chile. In Argentina, Telefónica’s Movistar selected Ericsson for its network modernization to 5G-ready standards. And América Móvil’s Claro in Colombia and Argentina, and TIM Brasil, selected Finland’s Nokia for broad 5G deployments.
Regardless, once operators pay for the equipment to put 5G to work, they often have some clear progress to show:
And faster speeds can also be traced to customers’ satisfaction. Speedtest Intelligence data in Mexico shows a correlation between swift connections and happy subscribers.
Still, offering faster speeds is just a first step. Operators must also package 5G connections in a way that’s attractive to potential customers. Here too there are signs of forward progress. For example, América Móvil’s Telcel in Mexico promotes 5G to its prepaid users – a nod to the fact that more than 80% of Mexican mobile users subscribe to prepaid plans. And América Móvil’s Claro in Brazil touts the speed of its 5G network in support of its deal with OpenAI to offer ChatGPT to its mobile customers.
As a result of such efforts, GSMA Intelligence predicts 5G will spread to 50% of all Latin American mobile connections by 2030, or 410 million people. That’s just below the 57% global average expected by the firm in that year.
SA, private wireless and FWA hint at the future
The “Non-Standalone” (NSA) version of 5G was released first, and it has been widely adopted on a global basis. However, the “Standalone,” or SA, iteration of 5G is sometimes referred to as the “true” version of 5G. That’s partly because 5G SA doesn’t rely on a 4G core network like the “Non-Standalone” (NSA) version of 5G does. SA also supports advanced services such as network slicing (a technology that can funnel select types of user traffic into speedier pipes).
In Latin America’s shift to SA, Brazil is a standout. According to Speedtest data, roughly 1.6% of all 5G samples in Brazil used 5G SA technology in the third quarter of 2025. Only Puerto Rico ranked higher, with 41.1% of 5G samples using 5G SA technology. That’s likely thanks to T-Mobile’s network in the country; T-Mobile made an early move to 5G SA technology throughout its U.S. operations.
According to GSMA Intelligence, Argentina, Colombia, and Costa Rica are the other Latin American countries with commercial SA networks. But those connections are not yet showing up in Speedtest sample sizes that are statistically relevant.
That said, FWA may be a more tangible service that hints at a future enabled by 5G technology. Fixed wireless allows 5G operators (those with suitable spectrum holdings and FWA-capable equipment) to provide broadband connections into users’ homes and offices. FWA can serve as an alternative to wired connections in remote or rural areas – or as a competitive response to other fixed internet providers.
GSMA Intelligence counts roughly a dozen Latin American countries with FWA services.
Again, Brazil looks the standout here. For example, Claro in Brazil launched its 5G+ FWA offering in 2023 with speeds up to 1 Gbps. The company’s plans cap customers’ monthly usage starting at 200 GB per month. Similarly, Telefônica Brasil’s Vivo launched its Box 5G in 2024 with a 150 GB per month cap.
And Brisanet, a regional challenger in Brazil, is aggressively pursuing 5G FWA with larger data caps. The company counted 37,000 FWA customers in its most recent quarter.
Other Latin American countries are seeing similar FWA outcroppings. América Móvil’s Claro in Colombia launched FWA in 2024 with a 160 GB monthly cap. In Mexico, AT&T’s Internet en Casa offers speeds of around 10 Mbps. And Personal in Argentina counts around 50,000 FWA users.
Yet another signal of the maturation of 5G in Latin America is the arrival of 5G private wireless networks, which can be used by enterprises for applications ranging from autonomous mining to oil refining to industrial manufacturing. These kinds of operations are increasingly popping up in countries including Brazil and Chile.
Regardless, the advancement of FWA, as well as 5G SA, private wireless networks, and other advanced technologies, show that some Latin American denizens are seeing the promise of 5G. This can be attributed to efficient and forward-looking regulators, significant financial commitments by some operators, and a desire among users for ever-faster connections.
But 5G is still in its early days across the full Latin American region, with many countries still lagging significantly in broad 5G rollouts. Spectrum costs – such as those in Mexico – contribute. So too do regulatory delays, such as those that have slowed spectrum auctions in places like Colombia. And that all can affect operator interest in 5G, as seen by Millicom’s intention to continue to leverage 4G until the time for 5G rolls around.
5G en América Latina: focos de evolución
Algunos países de la región muestran claros avances en 5G, mientras que otros aún no han logrado un gran progreso.
Más de cinco años después de que la tecnología llegara por primera vez a las costas de América Latina, el 5G está ahora presente en muchos países de la región. En algunas áreas líderes, las velocidades 5G están aumentando y las señales 5G abundan.
Pero los pasos de América Latina hacia un futuro 5G han sido desiguales. En algunos países, como Brasil, la tecnología ha logrado extenderse a lo largo y ancho de la geografía, y las velocidades de descarga han alcanzado hitos impresionantes. La satisfacción de los usuarios a menudo va a la par de estas mejoras. En otros países, como México, el despliegue del 5G ha sido un proceso a trompicones, con algunos operadores avanzando mientras que otros se quedan atrás. Y en países como Perú, el 5G sigue en sus primeras etapas.
Aun así, hay indicios de que los servicios avanzados de 5G están llegando a la región latinoamericana. Las conexiones 5G Standalone (SA) están comenzando a aparecer. Las redes privadas inalámbricas 5G se están multiplicando. Y el acceso inalámbrico fijo (FWA) 5G está abriendo un camino para que los operadores de redes móviles vayan más allá de la oportunidad del smartphone entre los consumidores.
Conclusiones clave:
Brasil muestra un claro liderazgo en muchas métricas de 5G. La velocidad mediana de 5G del país alcanzó los 430.83 Mbps en el tercer trimestre de 2025; según datos de Ookla Speedtest®, la más alta de la región. Y el 38.5% de los usuarios de 5G del país pasaron la mayor parte de su tiempo conectados a redes 5G, lo que sitúa a Brasil en tercer lugar en esta métrica, detrás de Uruguay y Puerto Rico.
Como era de esperar, el espectro contribuye directamente al rendimiento 5G de los operadores. Los proveedores de 5G con 100 MHz de espectro en la banda de 3.5 GHz, como Personal Argentina, Claro Brasil y Vivo Brasil, generalmente ofrecen velocidades 5G superiores a 300 Mbps.
Hay algunas señales de que tecnologías más avanzadas están en camino. En el tercer trimestre de 2025, las conexiones 5G SA aparecieron en Brasil (1.6% de todas las conexiones 5G) y Puerto Rico (41.1% de todas las conexiones 5G). Además, el FWA está ahora disponible para un número creciente de clientes en países como Brasil, Colombia, México y otros. Y las redes privadas inalámbricas 5G también están empezando a surgir.
La intrincada historia del 5G y América Latina
El operador estatal de Uruguay, Antel, junto con el proveedor Nokia, desplegó la primera red 5G en América Latina en 2019, utilizando espectro de onda milimétrica de corto alcance. La medida reflejó la ambición de Uruguay de ser un líder tecnológico en la región. Con solo 68,037 millas cuadradas, Uruguay es uno de los países más pequeños de América Latina, lo que hace que las redes 5G extensas sean algo más fáciles de implementar allí, al menos desde una perspectiva de cobertura geográfica.
Pero los esfuerzos de 5G de Uruguay desde entonces han sido algo simbólicos de las luchas más amplias de la región para desplegar conexiones 5G rápidas de forma generalizada. En 2025, más de cinco años después de su primera incursión en el 5G, Antel desplegó un total de 500 emplazamientos celulares 5G, cada uno con 100 MHz de espectro de banda media de 3.5 GHz. Este tipo de espectro es compatible con las conexiones rápidas y generalizadas a menudo asociadas con el 5G. Fue liberado a Antel en 2023.
Quizás el mayor lanzamiento de 5G en América Latina se produjo un año después del primer anuncio de 5G de Antel, en 2020, cuando los tres grandes operadores de redes móviles de Brasil lanzaron 5G con tecnología Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS). Al igual que Antel en Uruguay, este lanzamiento también fue en su mayoría simbólico, considerando que el DSS permite que las señales 5G se monten en el espectro 4G LTE existente. Generalmente no es compatible con las velocidades rápidas disponibles a través de grandes porciones de espectro de banda media. El verdadero punto de inflexión del 5G en Brasil ocurrió al año siguiente, en 2021, cuando el regulador del país liberó amplias franjas de espectro de banda media de 3.5 GHz a los operadores.
Algunos de los operadores de México también se adentraron en el 5G en esta misma época. Por ejemplo, AT&T México lanzó servicios 5G en la banda de 2.5 GHz en 2021. Y Telcel de América Móvil utilizó sus tenencias existentes de 3.5 GHz para un lanzamiento de 5G en 2022, expandiendo finalmente el servicio a 125 ciudades y 10 millones de suscriptores para 2025.
Estos lanzamientos ayudaron a desbloquear una ola de actividad de subastas de espectro en otros países líderes de América Latina como Argentina y Colombia en 2023. Sin embargo, otros mercados continúan a la zaga. Por ejemplo, Costa Rica completó su propia subasta de 3.5 GHz a principios de 2025, mientras que Perú concluyó su subasta de 3.5 GHz en septiembre de 2025.
Conexiones rápidas, si las puedes conseguir
Los resultados de toda esta actividad 5G son ahora claros:
Velocidades 5G en toda Latinoamérica
Speedtest Intelligence | Q3 2025
El rendimiento de Brasil fue lo suficientemente bueno como para situar al país en cuarto lugar a nivel mundial en la última edición del Speedtest Global IndexTM en rendimiento móvil, solo por detrás de Emiratos Árabes Unidos, Catar y Kuwait.
Pero los lanzamientos comerciales de 5G no equivalen necesariamente a conexiones 5G generalizadas. Speedtest Intelligence de Ookla rastrea la disponibilidad de 5G, que mide el porcentaje de usuarios activos de 5G conectados a 5G la mayor parte del tiempo, basándose en el momento en que se muestra un icono de 5G en su dispositivo.
Así es como se clasifican los principales países de América Latina en este ranking:
Disponibilidad 5G en toda Latinoamérica
Speedtest Intelligence | Q3 2025
Para poner esto en perspectiva, la calificación general de disponibilidad de 5G de Canadá se situó en el 73.2% en el tercer trimestre de 2025, mientras que la de EE. UU. se situó en el 75.2%.
Estos resultados también son dignos de mención dada la popularidad relativa de las redes de fibra en países latinoamericanos como Perú y Chile. La fibra generalmente suministra la tubería de internet que alimenta los emplazamientos celulares 5G de alta velocidad.
Para ser claros, estos amplios resultados de 5G en América Latina se deben a una confluencia de factores. Primero, los operadores deben obtener acceso a un espectro adecuado. Para el 5G, generalmente implica grandes bloques de espectro de banda media entre 2.5 GHz y 4 GHz. Además, deben invertir en el equipo y las torres celulares necesarios para transmitir señales 5G a través de sus territorios de licencia de espectro.
Y luego, por supuesto, también deben vender suficientes dispositivos y planes de servicio 5G para que esa inversión valga la pena.
Midiendo la importancia del espectro
El espectro a menudo se describe como el “alma” de la industria inalámbrica y, ciertamente, es un bloque de partida crítico para cualquier oferta 5G exitosa. En América Latina, está claro que algunos reguladores no solo comparten esta opinión, sino que también la han puesto en acción.
Por ejemplo, la subasta de espectro de Brasil de 2021 fue notable en su escala. Los principales operadores del país —Claro de América Móvil, TIM Brasil y Vivo de Telefônica Brasil— adquirieron cada uno bloques masivos de espectro (100 MHz por operador). Esas grandes porciones de espectro, junto con la velocidad con la que el regulador de Brasil, Anatel, liberó el espectro para uso comercial, son las principales razones por las que Brasil encabeza las listas de Speedtest para la región latinoamericana.
Otros países han realizado diversos esfuerzos para igualar el liderazgo de Brasil. Por ejemplo, Chile, Colombia, Argentina y Perú se han alineado en la banda de 3.5 GHz para 5G. Específicamente, la subasta de Colombia de 2023 liberó cuatro bloques de espectro en la banda de 3.5 GHz —cada uno de 80 MHz de ancho— a cada uno de los cuatro operadores del país. Y la subasta de Argentina de 2023 liberó bloques de 100 MHz a Claro de América Móvil y Personal en el rango de 3.3 a 3.6 GHz.
Esta simetría en el espectro y el momento ayuda a garantizar economías de escala para los equipos 5G en toda la región, particularmente para los operadores con sistemas en múltiples países.
En términos generales, estas asignaciones de espectro, particularmente la amplitud del espectro asignado a cada operador, se correlacionan directamente con el rendimiento de la red:
Otro factor importante en esta discusión sobre el espectro es la forma en que los reguladores liberan el espectro para los operadores de 5G. Por ejemplo, la subasta de Brasil de 2021 no fue diseñada únicamente para canalizar los ingresos de la subasta a las arcas del gobierno. En cambio, el regulador de telecomunicaciones brasileño, Anatel, permitió a los ganadores de la subasta pagar una parte de sus licencias a través de obligaciones de inversión. Es decir, los operadores pueden pagar su espectro desplegándolo. Los reguladores de otros países como Perú han empleado una estrategia similar, eximiendo una parte de las tarifas anuales de espectro de los operadores para despliegues de 5G en zonas rurales o no atendidas.
Mientras tanto, el enfoque de México para la asignación de espectro puede ser una advertencia. Según la GSMA, los costos del espectro de México son establecidos cada año por el Congreso del país, y “este proceso de aprobación anual crea incertidumbre, ya que es imposible para los operadores móviles anticipar cómo evolucionarán estas tarifas”, escribió la asociación comercial. De hecho, Movistar de Telefónica en México devolvió sus tenencias de espectro a los reguladores en 2022 para convertirse en un MVNO en la red de AT&T México. Más recientemente, el regulador de telecomunicaciones de México canceló una subasta de espectro debido a la falta de recursos.
En términos generales, la cantidad promedio de espectro asignado a los operadores de redes móviles en los países latinoamericanos aumentó en un 51% entre 2016 y 2024, de 267 MHz a 403 MHz, según la GSMA. Pero eso es significativamente menor que el promedio mundial, que fue de 574 MHz en 2024.
No obstante, la situación sigue desarrollándose. Según la GSMA, Paraguay y Perú se encontraban entre el puñado de países que celebraron subastas de espectro en el tercer trimestre de 2025. Y Bolivia, Ecuador y Colombia se encuentran entre los países que han programado subastas de espectro adicionales en el futuro.
Por supuesto, una vez que los reguladores liberan el espectro, los operadores deben ponerlo en acción.
El 5G muestra velocidades más rápidas, y velocidades más rápidas son satisfactorias
América Móvil es el gigante regional de 5G de América Latina. Pero los gastos de capital (capex) generales de la compañía se han ralentizado en los últimos años después de un gasto significativo en espectro e infraestructura de red. Específicamente, el capex de América Móvil alcanzó los 8.6 mil millones de dólares en 2023, pero cayó a 7 mil millones el año pasado de dólares. Para 2025, la compañía va en camino de gastar 6.7 mil millones de dólares.
Esa desaceleración en el gasto coincide con la salida de Telefónica de muchos mercados latinoamericanos con 5G, debido a sus planes de centrarse en sus mercados “centrales” en Europa y Brasil.
Millicom, mientras tanto, es la empresa posicionada para reemplazar a Telefónica como el segundo operador de telecomunicaciones más grande de la región. Millicom invierte más de mil millones de dólares anualmente en sus redes fijas y móviles, según un informe detallado sobre las operaciones de la compañía. Pero eso no significa necesariamente que Millicom planee inyectar 5G en su creciente huella móvil latinoamericana. Los funcionarios de Millicom han sugerido un énfasis en la fibra y el 4G, desplegando 5G sólo en “el mejor momento”.
También existe la cuestión de en qué equipos 5G deberían gastar los operadores todo su capex. Aquí surge la pregunta de Huawei: ¿deberían los operadores latinoamericanos prestar atención a las advertencias de ciberseguridad de EE. UU. sobre el uso de equipos de proveedores chinos como Huawei? Muchos no lo han hecho.
A pesar del intenso debate político sobre el tema, Brasil no prohibió a Huawei como parte de sus primeras subastas de 5G. En consecuencia, Huawei suministra porciones significativas de la red de acceso de radio (RAN) 5G para los tres grandes operadores del país. Los operadores de Perú y México también utilizan equipos de proveedores chinos.
Pero Huawei no tiene el control total del mercado latinoamericano. Por ejemplo, la sueca Ericsson es el único proveedor de 5G para Entel Chile. En Argentina, Movistar de Telefónica seleccionó a Ericsson para su modernización de red a estándares listos para 5G. Y Claro de América Móvil en Colombia y Argentina, y TIM Brasil, seleccionaron a Nokia de Finlandia para amplios despliegues de 5G.
En cualquier caso, una vez que los operadores pagan por el equipo para poner el 5G a trabajar, a menudo tienen un progreso claro que mostrar:
Y las velocidades más rápidas también se pueden relacionar con la satisfacción de los clientes. Los datos de Speedtest Intelligence en México muestran una correlación entre las conexiones rápidas y los suscriptores contentos.
Aun así, ofrecer velocidades más rápidas es sólo un primer paso. Los operadores también deben empaquetar las conexiones 5G de una manera que sea atractiva para los clientes potenciales. Aquí también hay señales de progreso. Por ejemplo, Telcel de América Móvil en México promueve el 5G a sus usuarios de prepago, un guiño al hecho de que más del 80% de los usuarios móviles mexicanos se suscriben a planes de prepago. Y Claro de América Móvil en Brasil promociona la velocidad de su red 5G en apoyo de su acuerdo con OpenAI para ofrecer ChatGPT a sus clientes móviles.
Como resultado de tales esfuerzos, GSMA Intelligence predice que el 5G se extenderá al 50% de todas las conexiones móviles latinoamericanas para 2030, o 410 millones de personas. Eso está justo por debajo del promedio mundial del 57% esperado por la firma en ese año.
SA, redes privadas y FWA insinúan el futuro
La versión “No Autónoma” (Non-Standalone, NSA) de 5G se lanzó primero y ha sido ampliamente adoptada a nivel mundial. Sin embargo, la iteración “Autónoma”, o SA, de 5G a veces se denomina la versión “verdadera” de 5G. Eso se debe en parte a que 5G SA no se basa en una red central 4G como lo hace la versión “No Autónoma” (NSA) de 5G. SA también es compatible con servicios avanzados como el network slicing (una tecnología que puede canalizar tipos selectos de tráfico de usuarios a canales más rápidos).
En la transición de América Latina a SA, Brasil es un caso destacado. Según los datos de Speedtest, aproximadamente el 1.6% de todas las muestras de 5G en Brasil utilizaron tecnología 5G SA en el tercer trimestre de 2025. Solo Puerto Rico ocupó un lugar más alto, con un 41.1% de las muestras de 5G utilizando tecnología 5G SA. Es probable que esto se deba a la red de T-Mobile en el país; T-Mobile hizo un movimiento temprano hacia la tecnología 5G SA en todas sus operaciones en EE. UU.
Según GSMA Intelligence, Argentina, Colombia y Costa Rica son los otros países latinoamericanos con redes SA comerciales. Pero esas conexiones aún no aparecen en tamaños de muestra de Speedtest que sean estadísticamente relevantes.
Dicho esto, el FWA puede ser un servicio más tangible que insinúa un futuro habilitado por la tecnología 5G. El fixed wireless o acceso inalámbrico fijo permite a los operadores de 5G (aquellos con tenencias de espectro adecuadas y equipos compatibles con FWA) proporcionar conexiones de banda ancha a los hogares y oficinas de los usuarios. El FWA puede servir como una alternativa a las conexiones por cable en áreas remotas o rurales, o como una respuesta competitiva a otros proveedores de internet fijo.
GSMA Intelligence cuenta aproximadamente una docena de países latinoamericanos con servicios FWA.
Una vez más, Brasil parece ser el destacado aquí. Por ejemplo, Claro en Brasil lanzó su oferta 5G+ FWA en 2023 con velocidades de hasta 1 Gbps. Los planes de la compañía limitan el uso mensual de los clientes a partir de 200 GB por mes. De manera similar, Vivo de Telefônica Brasil lanzó su Box 5G en 2024 con un límite de 150 GB por mes.
Y Brisanet, un retador regional en Brasil, está buscando agresivamente 5G FWA con límites de datos más grandes. La compañía contó con 37.000 clientes FWA en su trimestre más reciente.
Otros países latinoamericanos están experimentando afloramientos de FWA similares. Claro de América Móvil en Colombia lanzó FWA en 2024 con un límite mensual de 160 GB. En México, Internet en Casa de AT&T ofrece velocidades de alrededor de 10 Mbps. Y Personal en Argentina cuenta con alrededor de 50.000 usuarios de FWA.
Otra señal de la maduración del 5G en América Latina es la llegada de las redes inalámbricas privadas 5G, que pueden ser utilizadas por empresas para aplicaciones que van desde la minería autónoma hasta el refinado de petróleo y la fabricación industrial. Este tipo de operaciones están apareciendo cada vez más en países como Brasil y Chile.
En cualquier caso, el avance del FWA, así como el del 5G SA, las redes inalámbricas privadas y otras tecnologías avanzadas, muestran que algunos habitantes de América Latina están viendo la promesa del 5G. Esto se puede atribuir a reguladores eficientes y con visión de futuro, compromisos financieros significativos por parte de algunos operadores y un deseo entre los usuarios de conexiones cada vez más rápidas.
Pero el 5G todavía está en sus primeras etapas en toda la región, con muchos países aún rezagados significativamente en los amplios despliegues de 5G. Los costos del espectro, como los de México, contribuyen. También lo hacen los retrasos regulatorios, como los que han ralentizado las subastas de espectro en lugares como Colombia. Y todo eso puede afectar al interés de los operadores en el 5G, como se ve en la intención de Millicom de seguir aprovechando el 4G hasta que llegue el momento del 5G.
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.
Mike Dano is a Lead Industry Analyst in Ookla’s research and content team. He covers the North and South American markets, and global technology trends. Previously, Mike was a journalist covering the global telecom industry for 25 years at publications including RCR Wireless News, Fierce Network and Light Reading.
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.
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.
Poland Races to Regain 5G Competitiveness in Europe with Mid-Band Rollout | Polska galopuje do odzyskania konkurencyjności 5G w Europie dzięki wdrożeniu średniego pasma częstotliwości
Poland’s operators are rapidly deploying mid-band 5G in an attempt to capture the growing premium market segment
Late to the game in staging a mid-band auction, Poland has lagged behind its European peers in 5G deployment in recent years. This delay has weighed on the country’s global competitiveness in mobile network performance and slowed its progress toward meeting the European Commission’s flagship 5G deployment targets, which require universal 5G coverage across every EU member state by the end of the decade. This article examines the state of Poland’s mobile market and its broader regional 5G competitiveness in the context of ongoing mid-band deployments. A follow-up report will assess the longer-term impact of the commercialization of the recently awarded low-band spectrum and ongoing network sunsets on network coverage and availability.
Key Takeaways:
Intensive capital spending on mid-band deployment drives substantial uplift in 5G performance across Polish operators from Q1 2024, pushing the country ahead of regional peers over the last year.Median 5G download speeds in Poland jumped by over 50% to 160.30 Mbps between Q1 2024 and Q1 2025, based on Speedtest Intelligence® data, propelling the country ahead of Czechia, Romania, and Slovakia for the first time in 5G performance. Despite this progress, Poland continues to trail its regional peers in 5G network Consistency, a measure of how reliably a mobile connection remains “fast enough” for normal use.
T-Mobile and Orange surpass Play and Plus in speed and select Quality of Experience (QoE) measures. Differences in how quickly and extensively Polish operators have deployed their mid-band spectrum assets have led to a diverging market profile since Q1 2024, with T-Mobile and Orange significantly extending their speed lead over their rivals. Between Q1 2024 and Q1 2025, median 5G download speeds rose by as much as 72% on Play (to 122.64 Mbps), 86% on T-Mobile (to 201.76 Mbps), and 90% on Orange (to 222.10 Mbps)—while declining by over 10% on Plus (to 116.76 Mbps).
Network investments have broadened 5G coverage in Poland, but significant regional disparities remain. Nationally, 5G availability rose from 28.5% in Q1 2024 to 43.1% in Q1 2025, driven by continued Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) rollouts and the activation of mid-band spectrum—placing the country ahead of regional peers Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary in 5G availability. Nonetheless, by Q4 2024, a pronounced coverage gap persisted between the country’s best- and worst-served provinces, with 5G availability in the populous Masovian Voivodeship (47.2%) double that of the Lubusz Voivodeship (23.6%).
Over the last year, Polish operators have been locked in an intense four-way race to catch up with their regional peers in 5G deployment, driven by stringent coverage obligations imposed by the Polish telecoms regulator (UKE), a wave of funding support from Brussels, and a growing push to compete for a larger share of the country’s widening premium market segment, where network performance has emerged as a key competitive differentiator.
Poland’s mobile market is today awash with deployment activity, as operators ramp up capital spending to the highest levels in years to equip thousands of mobile sites with mid-band spectrum, accelerate the sunset of 3G networks, and lay the groundwork for launching 5G standalone (SA) in the coming years. This flurry of activity follows the completion of the 700/800 MHz auction at the end of March this year, where all Polish operators secured low-band 5G spectrum for the first time—paving the way for improved rural and deep in-building 5G coverage and rounding out the country’s 5G spectrum release plans.
While 5G capital spending has slowed across much of Europe, Poland sees different dynamics due to late spectrum auctions
Poland was notably late in releasing dedicated 5G spectrum in the ‘pioneer bands’ identified by the European Commission as critical to the timely commercialization and rollout of 5G across EU member states. The country’s mid-band (3.6 GHz) auction, initially planned for mid-2020, was repeatedly delayed—by more than three years—due to the pandemic and a protracted security legislation process.
These delays in spectrum availability have contributed to Poland’s divergence from much of the rest of Europe in both the economic and technical dimensions of the 5G rollout. Until recently, Polish mobile operators exhibited lower capital intensity (they invested less of their revenue) compared to peers in other European countries. Most of their spending went into upgrading 4G sites and preparing for the 3G shutdown, instead of building a new 5G mid-band capacity layer or expanding 5G coverage using low-band (700 MHz) spectrum.
Orange's Rising Mobile Capex Reflects 5G Network Expansion
Analysis of Orange Poland accounts | 2020 – 2024
Analysis of financial data published by Orange, Poland’s largest mobile operator by subscriber count, confirms that the era of lower capital intensity (relative to elsewhere in Europe) is over. The recent spectrum auctions have triggered a new cycle of investment, with Orange doubling its mobile network spending in the past three years. Play has also rapidly increased its investment, as its French parent Iliad reported injecting record amounts into Play’s mobile infrastructure last year.
Play's Contribution to Capex in the Iliad Group Surges as 5G Buildout Ramps Up
Analysis of Iliad Group accounts | 2020 – 2024
On the technical side, meanwhile, Poland’s spectrum delay meant that three of the country’s four operators were forced to rely heavily on Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS)—a technology that allows 4G and 5G to operate on the same band and adjust ‘dynamically’ to demand—in an effort to deliver early 5G coverage in the 2100 MHz band while awaiting spectrum auctions. This strategy resulted in Poland’s initial 5G performance more closely resembling those typical of 4G networks, as DSS deployments are typically based on a 10 MHz carrier where part of the capacity is still reserved for 4G signals, making 5G speeds with DSS around 15–25 % lower than if the band were dedicated solely to 5G.
The limitations of using DSS to deliver a “5G experience” were exemplified by the speed advantage maintained by Plus earlier in the 5G rollout. Importantly, Plus was the only Polish operator that did not rely on DSS and instead dedicated a full 40 MHz carrier in the 2600 MHz (TDD) band to 5G before mid-band spectrum became available at the start of last year. Prior to the 3.5 GHz band coming online, when the other operators were still wholly dependent on DSS for 5G coverage, Plus’s median 5G download speed of 133.34 Mbps was as much as 77 % higher than T-Mobile’s, 81 % higher than Orange’s, and 92 % higher than Play’s.
Polish operators move from mid-band spectrum acquisition to mass commercial deployment in record time
The pent-up demand for mid-band spectrum in Poland was evident when mobile operators like Orange, T-Mobile, and Play launched commercial services just three months after acquiring mid-band spectrum, moving quickly from the auction in October 2023 to commercial launches by January 2024. T-Mobile reported that its mid-band 5G network already covered more than 25% of the Polish population by April 2024, with more than 2,100 sites active, while Orange announced it had reached 40% coverage by mid-June.
This rollout pace is exceptional by European standards and indicative of the increased pace of deployment possible later in the 5G technology cycle. It took Spain’s Telefónica (Movistar) about six months to reach its first 1,000 mid-band sites by comparison, and Germany’s operators needed around nine months to achieve the same milestone.
Plus's Spectrum Holdings in the 2600 MHz TDD Band Lend it a Decisive Capacity Lead
Each operator secured a contiguous 100 MHz block of spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band, which is widely regarded as optimal due to the large channel bandwidth this configuration affords. However, Plus has been notably slower to commercialise this allocation at scale. Plus’s earlier strategy of deploying 5G in the dedicated 2600 MHz band (rather than relying on DSS), alongside later using the 2100 MHz band as well, gave it more flexibility to delay a broad mid-band rollout as it previously enjoyed a significant 5G speed advantage over competitors while they were still heavily dependent on DSS deployments.
Mid-band deployment shifts 5G performance rankings among Polish operators
Mass deployment of a new capacity layer by the other three operators has since decisively altered performance dynamics in the Polish market and eroded Plus’s lead. In the space of one year between Q1 2024 and Q1 2025, Plus has moved from market leader in median 5G download speed to laggard, becoming the only Polish operator to see a year-on-year decline in 5G speed, down 10%, indicating the increasing limitations of its 2600 MHz strategy.
Orange and T-Mobile Pull Ahead in 5G Performance with Mid-Band Deployment
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q1 2023 – Q1 2025
By contrast, mid-band deployment has boosted performance across the rest of the market, with median 5G speeds rising by as much as 72% on Play, 86% on T-Mobile, and 90% on Orange between Q1 2024 and Q1 2025. While Orange led the Polish market in Q1 with a median 5G download speed of 222.11 Mbps, the operator’s lead has narrowed significantly as T-Mobile’s mid-band buildout has progressed, with T-Mobile now recording median 5G download speeds of 201.76 Mbps, well ahead of third- and fourth-placed Play (122.64 Mbps) and Plus (116.76 Mbps), respectively.
Plus's Lead in 5G Consistency Narrows as 2600 MHz Advantage Recedes with Mid-Band Deployment
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q1 2023 – Q1 2025
Despite losing its lead in median 5G download speed, Plus continues to lead at the 10th percentile (29.44 Mbps in Q1 2025), meaning subscribers in its lowest-performing areas still enjoy comparatively better speeds than those on rival networks. This advantage is likely linked to Plus’s lower dependence on DSS. However, T-Mobile (24.48 Mbps) and Orange (21.88 Mbps) are quickly closing the gap, with their 10th percentile 5G speeds now converging toward Plus. Plus’s 5G network consistency, measured as the proportion of Speedtest samples meeting a minimum download and upload threshold of 25/3 Mbps, has also declined over the past year, although it remains the market leader.
On upload performance, meanwhile, Play’s 5G network led the market in Q1 2025, recording median speeds of 19.33 Mbps, followed by Orange (18.99 Mbps), T-Mobile (17.32 Mbps), and Plus (14.96 Mbps). Unlike the substantial gains seen in download speeds, there is limited evidence so far that the mid-band rollout has materially improved upload performance, with median upload speeds about 6% lower in Q1 2025 compared to the same quarter last year. This discrepancy arises primarily because all four operators continue to deploy 5G in non-standalone (NSA) mode, requiring devices to transmit uplink traffic via existing 4G anchor bands. Consequently, the newly available 3.5 GHz spectrum enhances downlink capacity but leaves the congested 4G uplink path unchanged.
Play Develops Lead in 5G Upload Performance
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q1 2023 – Q1 2025
The operators’ investments in deploying a new 5G capacity layer have coincided with a broader RAN refresh effort, translating into improved quality of experience for users in key use cases such as video streaming and web browsing. Median web page load times on T-Mobile’s network, for instance, improved by around 4% between Q3 2024 and Q1 2025. Orange led in video metrics such as start time, resolution, and uninterrupted playback in the last quarter.
5G Drives QoE Improvements in Use Cases like Web Browsing
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q1 2025
Capital investment expands 5G coverage, but Poland’s rural-urban digital divide persists
While investments in DSS and the mid-band rollout have enabled Polish operators to make significant strides in 5G availability, which increased nationally from 28.5% in Q1 2024 to 43.1% in Q1 2025, regional coverage disparities continue to be a feature of the mobile network experience in Poland. Operators have prioritized 5G deployments in the richest and densest parts of Poland where fiber is heavily deployed, including the Masovian (Warsaw) and Pomeranian (Tri-City) provinces. In these provinces, 5G availability reached more than 40% by the end of last year and contributed to driving materially higher median download speeds than the national average.
5G Availability Remains Highly Varied Across Poland Outside of Urbanized Areas
Speedtest Intelligence® | 5G Availability (%) in Q4 2024
By contrast, border provinces along the south and west of the country continue to experience much lower levels of 5G availability. Lubusz had the lowest availability (23.6% at the end of last year), where there is lower population density and lower subscriber spending, which reduces operators’ commercial incentives for widespread 5G investment. This trend has driven the development of a notable speed gap between provinces, with mobile subscribers in Lubusz also experiencing the lowest median download speeds (59.97 Mbps) in Poland, almost 33% below the leading Masovian province.
Mobile Download Speeds Are Lower in Less Urbanized Areas of Poland
Speedtest Intelligence® | Median Download Speed (Mbps) in Q4 2024
Mid-band deployment improves Poland’s mobile competitiveness, but 5G consistency continues to trail regional peers
From a regional competitiveness lens, intensive mid-band deployments have been successful in breaking Poland’s cycle of mobile network underperformance, with median 5G download speeds rising by over 50% on average to 160.30 Mbps between Q1 2024 and Q1 2025. This has propelled the country ahead of Czechia, Romania, and Slovakia for the first time in terms of 5G download speed performance.
Despite Poland’s progress on its mid-band 5G rollout, the lingering effects of reliance on DSS and limited 5G spectrum diversity—up until the recent 700/800 MHz auction—mean that Poland continues to trail its regional peers in terms of 5G network consistency. In Q1 2025, 82% of Speedtest samples in Poland met the minimum 5G performance threshold for a consistent mobile experience, compared to 86% in Hungary, 89% in Romania, and 93% in Bulgaria.
Poland’s previous reliance on DSS, driven by limited 5G spectrum diversity, likely contributed to its slower average revenue per user (ARPU) growth compared to neighboring countries in recent years. Polish operators initially introduced tariffs with “5G at no extra cost” bolted onto existing 4G bundles, keeping prices flat to defend market share (and thereby maintaining depressed ARPU levels relative to regional peers). Combined with the external shock induced by markedly higher energy prices, stagnant ARPU levels created challenging operating conditions in the Polish market and weighed on operator profitability.
Intense Priced-Based Competition Precipitated Revenue Erosion in Poland During the First Half of the 5G Cycle
Analysis of GSMA Intelligence Data | % Change in Mobile ARPU (Q1 2020 vs Q1 2023)
In neighboring markets, by contrast, operators were able to leverage mid-band spectrum deployments as both technical and marketing levers, shifting their strategies from price competition toward service-based differentiation. This enabled them to more effectively upsell premium speed tiers or monetize specific use cases, such as fixed wireless access (FWA), which dedicated mid-band 5G deployments uniquely support.
T-Mobile and Play Outpaced Rivals in Subscription Share Growth in Recent Years
Analysis of UKE Market Data | 2019 – 2023
Similarly, the delayed timing of Poland’s mid-band 5G auction likely dampened supply-side factors key for driving growth in mobile data traffic. Between Q1 2020 and Q4 2024, traffic volumes in neighboring Bulgaria converged with that in Poland for the first time, increasing by 4.8x vs. Poland’s 2.6x. Meanwhile, Bulgarian operators capitalized early on mid-band spectrum availability to aggressively promote competitive FWA solutions (a major driver of mobile traffic in developed markets) and to introduce cheap unlimited data tariffs with fewer usage restrictions.
Poland Maintains Regional Lead in Mobile Data Volumes, but Bulgaria is Catching Up
Analysis of GSMA Intelligence data | 2020 – 2024
Polish operators have since sought to replicate Bulgaria’s success by debuting distinct marketing for their mid-band 5G deployments to differentiate the newer mid-band 5G rollouts from earlier DSS-based 5G networks in terms of performance and user experience. T-Mobile has leaned on ‘5G More’ branding, while Plus has used ‘5G Ultra’ to indicate the additional performance gains unlocked by their new 5G networks in locations where dedicated mid-band spectrum is deployed. This strategy has formed part of a broader shift in the market, with all operators moving away from a hyper-focus on price competition and toward ‘more for more’ pricing strategies, supporting improved profitability and renewed ARPU growth in the market with inflation-linked tariffs.
Poland Has Led Regional ARPU Growth Since Mid-Band 5G Deployments Started
Analysis of GSMA Intelligence Data | % Change in Mobile ARPU (Q1 2023 vs Q1 2025)
Low-band activation and network sunset progress set to reinforce mid-band 5G gains
With Poland’s telecom regulator, UKE, having set among Europe’s most ambitious coverage obligations for recent mid- and low-band spectrum auctions, operators are unlikely to delay commercial deployments in the newly acquired 700 and 800 MHz bands. These deployments are expected to start next month and will be crucial for establishing a national 5G coverage layer that, for the first time, extends deep indoors and into rural areas. This expanded coverage will also support wider rollout of voice over LTE (VoLTE) services, accelerating the 3G sunset and freeing up additional spectrum in the 900 MHz band.
We will revisit shortly to assess how Polish operators are progressing with deploying their new low-band spectrum and how effectively it is complementing the ongoing 3G sunset.
Polska galopuje do odzyskania konkurencyjności 5G w Europie dzięki wdrożeniu średniego pasma częstotliwości
Polscy operatorzy przyśpieszyli z wdrażaniem 5G w średnim paśmie, próbując przejąć rosnący segment rynku premium.
Polska, która spóźniła się z przeprowadzeniem aukcji na średnie pasmo, w ostatnich latach pozostawała w tyle za swoimi europejskimi rówieśnikami w zakresie wdrażania 5G. Opóźnienie to odbiło się na globalnej konkurencyjności kraju pod względem wydajności sieci mobilnych i spowolniło postępy w realizacji sztandarowych celów Komisji Europejskiej w zakresie wdrażania 5G, które wymagają powszechnego zasięgu 5G w każdym państwie członkowskim UE do końca dekady.
Niniejszy artykuł analizuje stan polskiego rynku telefonii komórkowej i jego szerszą regionalną konkurencyjność 5G w kontekście trwających wdrożeń średniego pasma. Kolejny raport oceni długoterminowy wpływ komercjalizacji niedawno przyznanego niskiego pasmana potrzeby pokryciowe 5G.
Kluczowe wnioski:
Intensywne wydatki kapitałowe na wdrożenie średniego pasma napędzają znaczny wzrost wydajności 5G u polskich operatorów od pierwszego kwartału 2024 r., pozycjonując kraj przed regionalnych konkurentów w ciągu ostatniego roku. Mediana prędkości pobierania 5G w Polsce wzrosła o ponad 50% do 160,30 Mb/s w okresie od I kwartału 2024 r. do I kwartału 2025 r., w oparciu o dane Speedtest Intelligence®, dzięki czemu Polska po raz pierwszy wyprzedziła Czechy, Rumunię i Słowację pod względem wydajności 5G. Pomimo tego postępu, Polska nadal pozostaje w tyle za swoimi regionalnymi rówieśnikami pod względem spójności sieci 5G, która jest miarą tego, jak niezawodnie zestawione połączenie mobilne pozostaje “wystarczająco szybkie” do normalnego użytkowania.
T-Mobile i Orange przewyższają Play i Plus pod względem prędkości i wybranych wskaźników jakości doświadczenia usług (QoE). Różnice w strategiach, jak szybko i szeroko polscy operatorzy wdrożyli swoje aktywa widma w średnim paśmie, doprowadziły do rozbieżnego profilu rynku od pierwszego kwartału 2024 r., przy czym T-Mobile i Orange znacznie zwiększyły swoją przewagę w zakresie prędkości nad rywalami. Pomiędzy I kwartałem 2024 r. a I kwartałem 2025 r. mediana prędkości pobierania 5G wzrosła aż o 72% w Play (do 122,64 Mb/s), 86% w T-Mobile (do 201,76 Mb/s) i 90% w Orange (do 222,10 Mb/s) – przy jednoczesnym spadku o ponad 10% w Plusie (do 116,76 Mb/s).
Inwestycje sieciowe zwiększyły zasięg 5G w Polsce, ale nadal utrzymują się znaczne różnice regionalne. W ujęciu krajowym dostępność sieci 5G wzrosła z 28,5% w I kwartale 2024 r. do 43,1% w I kwartale 2025 r., co wynikało z dalszego wdrażania dynamicznego współdzielenia widma (DSS) i aktywacji widma w średnim paśmie, dzięki czemu Polska wyprzedziła pod względem dostępności sieci 5G regionalne kraje takie jak Bułgaria, Rumunia i Węgry. Niemniej jednak do IV kwartału 2024 r. utrzymywała się wyraźna luka w zasięgu między najlepiej i najgorzej obsługiwanymi województwami w kraju, przy czym dostępność 5G w zaludnionym województwie mazowieckim (47,2%) była dwukrotnie wyższa niż w województwie lubuskim (23,6%).
Wyłączenia sieci 3G (ang. “3G sunset”) powodują gwałtowny spadek czasu spędzonego na 3G w 2024 r., ponieważ polscy operatorzy reorganizują widmo dla 4G (ang. “refarming”), ale ma to ogromny wpływ na dostępność usług w miejscach mniej zurbanizowanych.Podczas gdy T-Mobile pozostał jedynym polskim operatorem, który w pełni zakończył proces wygaszania sieci 3G do pierwszego kwartału 2025 r., zarówno Orange, jak i Play czynią obecnie znaczne postępy w zakresie refarmingu widma 3G 900 MHz i 2100 MHz na potrzeby 4G. Czas spędzony na 3G spadł poniżej 3% dla obu operatorów do końca 2024 roku. Natomiast abonenci Plusa nadal spędzali znacznie więcej czasu w sieci 3G – 13,41% na koniec 2024 roku.
W ciągu ostatniego roku polscy operatorzy byli jednak zamknięci w intensywnymwyścigu, aby dogonić swoich regionalnych kolegów we wdrażaniu 5G, napędzanym przez rygorystyczne obowiązki w zakresie zasięgu nałożone przez polskiego regulatora telekomunikacyjnego (UKE), falę wsparcia finansowego z Brukseli i rosnące dążenie do konkurowania o większy udział w poszerzającym się segmencie rynku premium w kraju, w którym wydajność sieci stała się kluczowym wyróżnikiem konkurencyjnym.
Polski rynek telefonii komórkowej jest dziś zdominowany aktywnością wdrożeniową, stąd operatorzy zwiększają wydatki kapitałowe do najwyższych poziomów od lat, aby wyposażyć tysiące stacji bazowych w widmo średniego pasma, przyspieszyć wyłączanie sieci 3G i położyć podwaliny pod uruchomienie samodzielnej sieci 5G (SA) w nadchodzących latach. Taką falę aktywności można zwłaszcza zauważyć po zakończeniu aukcji 700/800 MHz pod koniec marca tego roku, w której wszyscy polscy operatorzy po raz pierwszy zabezpieczyli widmo 5G w niskim paśmie – torując sobie drogę do poprawy zasięgu 5G na obszarach wiejskich i głęboko wewnątrz budynków (ang. “deep in-building”) w miastach oraz uzupełniając krajowe plany udostępniania widma 5G.
Podczas gdy wydatki kapitałowe na 5G spowolniły w dużej części Europy, Polska doświadcza inną dynamikę ze względu na późne aukcje na częstotliwości
Polska znacznie spóźniła się z udostępnieniem dedykowanych częstotliwości 5G w “pionierskich” pasmach zidentyfikowanych przez Komisję Europejską jako krytyczne dla terminowej komercjalizacji i wdrożenia 5G w państwach członkowskich UE. Krajowa aukcja częstotliwości pasma środkowego (3,6 GHz), początkowo planowana na połowę 2020 r., była wielokrotnie opóźniona – o ponad trzy lata – z powodu pandemii i przedłużającego się procesu legislacyjnego w zakresie bezpieczeństwa.
Te opóźnienia w dostępności częstotliwości przyczyniły się do tego, że Polska odbiega od reszty Europy zarówno w wymiarze ekonomicznym, jak i technicznym wdrażania 5G. Do niedawna polscy operatorzy komórkowi wykazywali niższą kapitałochłonność (inwestowali mniejszą część swoich przychodów) w porównaniu do innych europejskich operatorów. Większość ich wydatków przeznaczono na modernizację 4G i przygotowanie do wyłączenia 3G, zamiast budować nową warstwę pojemności 5G w średnim paśmie lub rozszerzać zasięg 5G przy użyciu niskich częstotliwości (700 MHz).
Rosnące nakłady Orange na sieć mobilną odzwierciedlają rozwój sieci 5G
Analiza rachunków Orange Polska | 2020–2024
Analiza danych finansowych opublikowanych przez Orange, największego operatora komórkowego w Polsce pod względem liczby abonentów, potwierdza, że era niższej kapitałochłonności (w porównaniu z innymi krajami w Europie) dobiegła końca. Niedawne aukcje częstotliwości wywołały nowy cykl inwestycyjny, a Orange podwoił wydatki na sieć mobilną w ciągu ostatnich trzech lat. Play również gwałtownie zwiększył swoje inwestycje, jego francuska spółka dominująca Iliad poinformowała w zeszłym roku o zainwestowaniu rekordowych kwot w infrastrukturę mobilną Play.
Udział Play w nakładach inwestycyjnych Grupy Iliad gwałtownie rośnie wraz z przyspieszeniem rozbudowy sieci 5G
Analiza rachunków Grupy Iliad | 2020–2024
Tymczasem od strony technicznej opóźnienie aukcji częstotliwości 5G w Polsce oznaczało, że trzech z czterech operatorów w kraju było zmuszonych w dużym stopniu polegać na dynamicznym współdzieleniu widma (ang. “Dynamic Spectrum Sharing” – DSS) – technologii, która pozwala 4G i 5G działać w tym samym paśmie i “dynamicznie” dostosowywać się do zapotrzebowania na pojemność danej technologii – w celu zapewnienia wczesnego zasięgu 5G w paśmie 2100 MHz w oczekiwaniu na aukcje częstotliwości. Strategia ta spowodowała, że początkowa wydajność 5G w Polsce bardziej przypominała typową dla sieci 4G, ponieważ wdrożenia DSS są zwykle oparte na nośnej 10 MHz, w której część pojemności jest nadal zarezerwowana dla sygnałów 4G, co powoduje, że prędkości 5G z DSS są o około 15-25% niższe niż gdyby pasmo było przeznaczone wyłącznie dla 5G.
Ograniczenia wykorzystania DSS do zapewnienia “doświadczenia 5G” zostały zilustrowane przewagą prędkości utrzymywaną przez Plusa na wcześniejszym etapie wdrażania 5G. Co ważne, Plus był jedynym polskim operatorem, który nie polegał na DSS i zamiast tego przeznaczył pełną nośną 40 MHz w paśmie 2600 MHz (TDD) na 5G, zanim na początku ubiegłego roku częstotliwości średniego pasma stały się dostępne. Przed uruchomieniem pasma 3,5 GHz, gdy pozostali operatorzy byli nadal w pełni zależni od DSS w zakresie zasięgu 5G, średnia prędkość pobierania 5G Plusa wynosząca 133,34 Mb/s była aż o 77% wyższa niż w T-Mobile, 81% wyższa niż w Orange i 92% wyższa niż w Play.
Intensywne wdrażanie średniego pasma podnosi regionalną konkurencyjność Polski w zakresie 5G i zmienia dynamikę operatorów
Polscy operatorzy w rekordowym czasie przechodzą od zakupu częstotliwości w średnim paśmie do masowego wdrożenia komercyjnego
Stłumiony popyt na częstotliwości średniego pasma w Polsce był widoczny, gdy operatorzy komórkowi, tacy jak Orange, T-Mobile i Play, uruchomili usługi komercyjne zaledwie trzy miesiące po nabyciu częstotliwości średniego pasma, szybko przechodząc od aukcji w październiku 2023 r. do komercyjnego uruchomienia do stycznia 2024 roku. T-Mobile poinformował, że jego średniopasmowa sieć 5G obejmowała już ponad 25% populacji Polski do kwietnia 2024 r., z ponad 2100 aktywnymi stacjami bazowymi, podczas gdy Orange ogłosił, że osiągnął 40% zasięgu do połowy czerwca.
To tempo wdrażania jest wyjątkowe jak na standardy europejskie i wskazuje na zwiększone tempo wdrażania możliwe w późniejszym okresie cyklu technologicznego 5G. Dla porównania, hiszpańska Telefónica (Movistar) potrzebowała około sześciu miesięcy, aby osiągnąć pierwsze 1000 stacji bazowych w średnim paśmie, a niemieccy operatorzy potrzebowali około dziewięciu miesięcy, aby osiągnąć ten sam kamień milowy.
Zasoby częstotliwości Plus w paśmie 2600 MHz TDD zapewniają mu zdecydowaną przewagę przepustowości
Każdy z operatorów zabezpieczył ciągły blok częstotliwości o szerokości 100 MHz w paśmie 3,5 GHz, który jest powszechnie wykorzystywany. Jednak Plus był znacznie wolniejszy w komercjalizacji tej alokacji na dużą skalę. Wcześniejsza strategia Plusa polegająca na wdrażaniu 5G w dedykowanym paśmie 2600 MHz (zamiast polegać na DSS), a później także na wykorzystaniu pasma 2100 MHz, dała mu większą elastyczność w opóźnianiu szerokiego wdrożenia średniego pasma, ponieważ wcześniej cieszył się znaczną przewagą prędkości 5G nad konkurentami, podczas gdy byli oni nadal silnie uzależnieni od wdrożeń DSS.
Wdrożenie średniego pasma zmienia rankingi wydajności 5G wśród polskich operatorów
Masowe wdrożenie nowej warstwy pojemności przez pozostałych trzech operatorów zdecydowanie zmieniło dynamikę wydajności 5G na polskim rynku i zmniejszyło przewagę Plusa. W ciągu jednego roku, między pierwszym kwartałem 2024 r. a pierwszym kwartałem 2025 r., Plus przesunął się z lidera rynku pod względem mediany prędkości pobierania 5G do jednego z wolniejszych, stając się jedynym polskim operatorem, który odnotował spadek prędkości 5G rok do roku, o 10%, co wskazuje na rosnące ograniczenia jego strategii 2600 MHz.
Orange i T-Mobile zyskują przewagę w wydajności 5G dzięki wdrożeniu pasma średniego
Speedtest Intelligence® | I kwartał 2023 – I kwartał 2025
Z kolei wdrożenie średniego pasma zwiększyło wydajność na pozostałej części rynku, a mediana prędkości 5G wzrosła aż o 72% w Play, 86% w T-Mobile i 90% w Orange między 1. kwartałem 2024 r. a 1. kwartałem 2025 r. Podczas gdy Orange był liderem polskiego rynku w pierwszym kwartale ze średnią prędkością pobierania 5G wynoszącą 222,11 Mb/s, przewaga operatora znacznie się zmniejszyła wraz z postępem budowy średniego pasma T-Mobile, przy czym T-Mobile odnotowuje obecnie medianę prędkości pobierania 5G na poziomie 201,76 Mb/s, znacznie wyprzedzając odpowiednio trzeciego i czwartego Play (122,64 Mb/s) i Plusa (116,76 Mb/s).
Przewaga Plusa w spójności 5G maleje, gdy przewaga pasma 2600 MHz ustępuje wraz z wdrożeniem pasma średniego
Speedtest Intelligence® | I kwartał 2023 – I kwartał 2025
Pomimo utraty pozycji lidera pod względem mediany prędkości pobierania 5G, Plus nadal prowadzi w 10. percentylu (29,44 Mb/s w 1. kwartale 2025 r.), co oznacza, że abonenci w obszarach o najniższych wynikach nadal cieszą się stosunkowo lepszymi prędkościami niż abonenci konkurencyjnych sieci. Przewaga ta jest prawdopodobnie związana z mniejszą zależnością Plusa od DSS. Jednak T-Mobile (24,48 Mb/s) i Orange (21,88 Mb/s) szybko zmniejszają lukę, a ich 10-procentowe prędkości 5G zbliżają się teraz do Plusa. Spójność sieci 5G Plusa, mierzona jako odsetek próbek Speedtest spełniających minimalny próg pobierania i wysyłania 25/3 Mbps, również spadła w ciągu ostatniego roku, chociaż pozostaje liderem rynku.
Tymczasem pod względem wydajności wysyłania, sieć 5G Play była liderem na rynku w pierwszym kwartale 2025 r., odnotowując medianę prędkości 19,33 Mb/s, a następnie Orange (18,99 Mb/s), T-Mobile (17,32 Mb/s) i Plus (14,96 Mb/s).
W przeciwieństwie do znacznych wzrostów prędkości pobierania, jak dotąd istnieją ograniczone dowody na to, że wdrożenie średniego pasma znacznie poprawiło wydajność wysyłania, przy czym mediana prędkości wysyłania była o około 6% niższa w pierwszym kwartale 2025 r. w porównaniu z tym samym kwartałem ubiegłego roku. Rozbieżność ta wynika przede wszystkim z faktu, że wszyscy czterej operatorzy nadal wdrażają 5G w trybie non-standalone (NSA), nadal wymagają od urządzeń technologii 4G do obsługi ruchu wysyłania i warstwy sygnałowej. W związku z tym nowo dostępne widmo 3,5 GHz zwiększa przepustowość łącza w dół, ale pozostawia zatłoczoną ścieżkę łącza 4G w górę bez zmian.
Play zyskuje przewagę w wydajności wysyłania danych w sieci 5G
Speedtest Intelligence® | I kwartał 2023 – I kwartał 2025
Inwestycje operatorów we wdrażanie nowej warstwy przepustowości 5G zbiegły się w czasie z szerszymi działaniami w zakresie modernizacji sieci RAN, przekładając się na lepszą jakość usług doświadczanych przez użytkowników w kluczowych zastosowaniach, takich jak wideo streaming i przeglądanie stron internetowych. Na przykład mediana czasu ładowania strony internetowej w sieci T-Mobile poprawiła się o około 4% między 3. kwartałem 2024 r. a 1. kwartałem 2025 r., co stawia ją w czołówce pod tym względem. Tymczasem Orange był liderem pod względem wskaźników wideo, takich jak czas rozpoczęcia, rozdzielczość i nieprzerwane odtwarzanie w ostatnim kwartale.
5G napędza poprawę jakości doświadczeń (QoE) w zastosowaniach takich jak przeglądanie stron internetowych
Speedtest Intelligence® | I kwartał 2025
Inwestycje kapitałowe zwiększają zasięg 5G, ale przepaść cyfrowa między wsią a miastem w Polsce utrzymuje się
Podczas gdy inwestycje w DSS i wdrożenie średniego pasma umożliwiły polskim operatorom poczynienie znaczących postępów w zakresie dostępności 5G, która wzrosła w skali kraju z 28,5% w I kwartale 2024 r. do 43,1% w I kwartale 2025 r., regionalne różnice w zasięgu nadal są cechą charakterystyczną sieci mobilnej w Polsce.
Operatorzy nadali priorytet wdrożeniom 5G w najbogatszych i najbardziej zaludnionych częściach Polski, gdzie światłowody są mocno rozwinięte, w tym w województwach mazowieckim (Warszawa) i pomorskim (Trójmiasto). W tych województwach dostępność 5G osiągnęła ponad 40% pod koniec ubiegłego roku i przyczyniła się do osiągnięcia znacznie wyższych średnich prędkości pobierania niż średnia krajowa.
Dostępność 5G pozostaje wysoce zróżnicowana w Polsce poza obszarami zurbanizowanymi
Speedtest Intelligence® | Dostępność 5G (%) w IV kw. 2024
Natomiast województwa przygraniczne na południu i zachodzie kraju nadal doświadczają znacznie niższych poziomów dostępności 5G. Województwo lubuskie miało najniższą dostępność (23,6% na koniec ubiegłego roku), gdzie występuje mniejsza gęstość zaludnienia i niższe wydatki abonentów, co zmniejsza zachęty komercyjne operatorów do powszechnych inwestycji w 5G. Tendencja ta doprowadziła do powstania znacznej luki prędkości między województwami, a abonenci mobilni w Lubuskiem również doświadczają najniższej mediany prędkości pobierania (59,97 Mb/s) w Polsce, prawie 33% poniżej wiodącego województwa mazowieckiego.
Prędkości pobierania w sieciach mobilnych są niższe na mniej zurbanizowanych obszarach Polski
Speedtest Intelligence® | Mediana prędkości pobierania (Mbps) w IV kw. 2024
Wdrożenie średniego pasma poprawia konkurencyjność mobilną Polski, ale spójność 5G nadal ustępuje regionalnym konkurentom
Z punktu widzenia konkurencyjności regionalnej, intensywne wdrożenia średniego pasma skutecznie przełamały cykl słabej wydajności sieci mobilnej w Polsce, a mediana prędkości pobierania 5G wzrosła średnio o ponad 50% do 160,30 Mb/s między 1. kwartałem 2024 r. a 1. kwartałem 2025 r. Dzięki temu Polska po raz pierwszy wyprzedziła Czechy, Rumunię i Słowację pod względem prędkości pobierania 5G.
Pomimo postępów Polski we wdrażaniu 5G w średnim paśmie, utrzymujące się skutki polegania na DSS i ograniczonej różnorodności widma 5G aż do niedawnej aukcji 700/800 MHz oznaczają, że Polska nadal pozostaje w tyle za swoimi regionalnymi rówieśnikami pod względem spójności sieci 5G. W pierwszym kwartale 2025 r. 82% próbek Speedtest w Polsce spełniło minimalny próg wydajności 5G dla spójnego doświadczenia mobilnego, w porównaniu do 86% na Węgrzech, 89% w Rumunii i 93% w Bułgarii.
Nowo pozyskana różnorodność częstotliwości 5G daje polskim operatorom potężne narzędzie do stymulowania wzrostu ARPU
Wcześniejsza zależność Polski od DSS, wynikająca z ograniczonej różnorodności widma 5G, prawdopodobnie przyczyniła się do wolniejszego wzrostu średniego przychodu na użytkownika (ARPU) w porównaniu z sąsiednimi krajami na przestrzeni ostatnich lat. Polscy operatorzy początkowo wprowadzili taryfy z “5G bez dodatkowych kosztów” dodane do istniejących pakietów 4G, utrzymując ceny na stałym poziomie w celu obrony udziału w rynku (a tym samym utrzymując obniżone poziomy ARPU w porównaniu do regionalnych konkurentów). W połączeniu z zewnętrznym szokiem makroekonomicznym wywołanym znacznie wyższymi cenami energii, stagnacja poziomów ARPU stworzyła trudne warunki operacyjne na polskim rynku i wpłynęła na rentowność operatorów.
Intensywna konkurencja cenowa spowodowała erozję przychodów w Polsce w pierwszej połowie cyklu 5G
Analiza danych GSMA Intelligence | Zmiana procentowa ARPU w usługach mobilnych (I kw. 2020 vs I kw. 2023)
Z kolei na sąsiednich rynkach operatorzy byli w stanie wykorzystać wdrożenie częstotliwości w średnim paśmie zarówno jako korzyści techniczne, jak i marketingowe, przenosząc swoje strategie z konkurencji cenowej na zróżnicowanie oparte na usługach. Pozwoliło im to skuteczniej sprzedawać wyższe poziomy prędkości lub zarabiać na konkretnych rozwiązaniach, takich jak stały dostęp bezprzewodowy (FWA), dla którego działania wdrożone 5G w średnim paśmie nadaje się idealnie.
T-Mobile i Play wyprzedziły konkurentów w tempie wzrostu udziału subskrypcji w ostatnich latach
Analiza danych rynkowych UKE | 2019–2023
Podobnie, opóźniony termin polskiej aukcji 5G dla średniego pasma prawdopodobnie osłabił czynniki po stronie podaży, będące kluczowymi dla napędzania wzrostu konsumpcji danych z sieci mobilnych. W okresie od I kwartału 2020 r. do IV kwartału 2024 r. wolumen ruchu w sąsiedniej Bułgarii po raz pierwszy zrównał się z wolumenem w Polsce, wzrastając 4,8-krotnie w porównaniu do 2,6-krotnego wzrostu w Polsce.
W międzyczasie bułgarscy operatorzy wcześnie wykorzystali dostępność widma w średnim paśmie, aby agresywnie promować konkurencyjne rozwiązania FWA (główny czynnik napędzający ruch mobilny na rynkach rozwiniętych) i wprowadzić tanie taryfy nieograniczonej transmisji danych z mniejszymi ograniczeniami użytkowania.
Polska utrzymuje regionalne prowadzenie w wolumenach danych mobilnych, ale Bułgaria szybko nadrabia
Analiza danych GSMA Intelligence | 2020–2024
Od tego czasu polscy operatorzy starali się powtórzyć sukces Bułgarii, wprowadzając odrębny marketing dla swoich wdrożeń 5G w średnim paśmie, aby odróżnić nowsze wdrożenia 5G w średnim paśmie od wcześniejszych. T-Mobile oparł się na marce “5G Bardziej”, podczas gdy Plus użył sloganu marketingowego “5G Ultra”, aby wskazać dodatkowy wzrost wydajności odblokowany przez ich nowe sieci 5G w lokalizacjach, w których wdrożono dedykowane częstotliwości średniego pasma. Strategia ta stała się częścią szerszej zmiany na rynku, w której wszyscy operatorzy odchodzą od hiper-koncentracji opierającej się na konkurencji cenowej w kierunku strategii cenowych “więcej za więcej”, wspierając poprawę rentowności i ponowny wzrost ARPU.
Polska przoduje w regionalnym wzroście ARPU od momentu rozpoczęcia wdrożeń średniego pasma 5G
Analiza danych GSMA Intelligence | Zmiana procentowa ARPU w usługach mobilnych (I kw. 2023 vs I kw. 2025)
Aktywacja niskiego pasma i postępy w budowie sieci mają na celu wzmocnienie zysków 5G w średnim paśmie
W związku z tym, że polski regulator telekomunikacyjny, UKE, ustanowił jeden z najbardziej ambitnych zobowiązań dotyczących zasięgu w Europie dla ostatnich aukcji częstotliwości średniego i niskiego pasma, operatorzy raczej nie opóźnią komercyjnych wdrożeń w nowo nabytych pasmach 700 i 800 MHz. Oczekuje się, że wdrożenia te rozpoczną się w przyszłym miesiącu i będą miały kluczowe znaczenie dla ustanowienia krajowej warstwy zasięgu 5G, która znacznie poprawi pokrycie ciężko dostępnych miejsc wewnątrz budynków w miastach i zdalnych obszarów wiejskich. Rozszerzony zasięg będzie również wspierał szersze wdrażanie usług głosowych przez LTE (VoLTE), przyspieszając schyłek 3G i uwalniając dodatkowe widmo w paśmie 900 MHz.
Wkrótce powrócimy do tego tematu, aby ocenić, jak polscy operatorzy radzą sobie z wdrażaniem nowych częstotliwości niskopasmowych i jak skutecznie uzupełniają trwający proces wygaszania 3G.
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.
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.
Market consolidation has reshaped Taiwan’s telecom market and the remaining operators now must prepare for the next phase
Taiwan’s mobile telecommunications market has undergone a major transformation, marked by market consolidation and a rapid, government-backed 5G deployment. This has reshaped the competitive landscape, moving from a five-player market to one dominated by three major operators: Chunghwa Telecom (CHT), Far EasTone (FET), and Taiwan Mobile (TWM). The mergers of Far EasTone with Asia Pacific Telecom and Taiwan Mobile with Taiwan Star have rebalanced market shares and enabled these operators to leverage expanded spectrum assets and achieve greater economies of scale.
Key Takeaways:
Between the 1H 2024 and the 1H 2025, Taiwan’s 5G Availability increased from 62.1% to 69.3%. The nation lags behind regional leaders such as Hong Kong (83.9%) and South Korea (77.1%), but it is ahead of countries such as Singapore (67.9%) and India (60.5%). The timing of commercial 5G network launches, along with differences in spectrum access and market dynamics, influence each market’s reported 5G Availability.
All three major Taiwanese operators showed improved 5G Availability, with FarEasTone leading at 72.4%, surpassing Chunghwa Telecom’s 69.8% and Taiwan Mobile’s 66.5%. From the 1H 2024 to the 1H 2025, Taiwan Mobile showed the largest gain, with an increase of 8.5 percentage points, followed by FarEasTone with a gain of 6.9 percentage points, and Chunghwa Telecom with 5.9 percentage points.
Despite FarEasTone’s lead in 5G Availability, Chunghwa Telecom holds a significant lead in performance. Chunghwa Telecom’s median download speed of 344.25 Mbps is 31.6% higher than FarEasTone’s and 54.1% higher than Taiwan Mobile’s. Chunghwa also recorded the highest median upload speed at 34.52 Mbps and the lowest multi-server latency at 23 ms.
A significant portion of 5G-capable devices are not using the 5G network, with 40.1% of users having a 5G-capable device but not connecting to 5G. Even for those who are connected, users spend more than double the time on 4G than on 5G. This presents an opportunity for operators to increase 5G connection time through network modernization.
Taiwan’s 5G Availability nears 70%, behind Thailand and other regional leaders
Speedtest Intelligence® data from the first half of 2025 shows Taiwan’s 5G Availability (the percentage of users on 5G-capable devices that spend most of the time with access to 5G networks) stands at 69.3%, placing it somewhere in the middle tier when compared to some of its selected neighboring countries. Taiwan’s 5G Availability is significantly behind regional leaders, such as Hong Kong at 83.9% and South Korea at 77.1%, but ahead of countries like Singapore at 67.9% and India at 60.5%. Factors such as the timing of commercial launches, spectrum access, and market dynamics, which include affordability and availability of 5G devices, influence each market’s reported 5G Availability.
Taiwan's 5G Availability (%) Compared to Neighboring Countries
Speedtest Intelligence® | 1H 2025
South Korea and Hong Kong benefited from their early commercialization of 5G, which gave them a significant head start. South Korea, for instance, was the first country globally to launch commercial 5G services in April 2019, and has maintained its high availability through aggressive nationwide deployment strategies. Similarly, Hong Kong’s operators moved quickly after the initial spectrum release, leveraging the city’s compact urban geography and the use of low-band spectrum to deliver near-universal coverage efficiently.
Strategic deployment and market consolidation drive Taiwan’s 5G Availability
Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile, and FarEasTone secured significant holdings in the highly sought-after 3.5 GHz C-band during 2020 5G spectrum auction, with Chunghwa acquiring 90 MHz, FarEasTone 80 MHz, and Taiwan Mobile 60 MHz. While all three also won mmWave spectrum in the 28 GHz band, the C-band has emerged as the primary driver of both network performance and availability.
Since the auction, the market has been reshaped by two major mergers: Taiwan Mobile’s acquisition of Taiwan Star and FarEasTone’s acquisition of Asia Pacific Telecom (APT). These mergers have not only reduced the number of main operators from five to three but, more importantly, have led to the aggregation of spectrum, allowing the merged entities to create larger, more efficient bandwidth blocks. Taiwan Mobile’s merger with Taiwan Star enabled the company to combine their respective C-band holdings, forming a single 100 MHz block. Similarly, FarEasTone’s merger doubled its 28 GHz spectrum from 400 MHz to 800 MHz on top of the 80 MHz of the 3.5 GHz band it initially acquired.
Proportion of 5G Spectrum Samples
Speedtest Intelligence® | 1H 2025
Speedtest Intelligence data from the first half of 2025 highlights that C-band spectrum, a crucial mid-band frequency, accounts for the vast majority—85.5%—of all 5G Speedtest samples collected across Taiwan’s mobile networks. FarEasTone and Chunghwa Telecom showed a heavy reliance on the C-band, with 98.0% and 85.3% of their samples, respectively, originating from C-band. Taiwan Mobile, while still predominantly using C-band (78.6%), shows a more significant proportion of samples from the low-band at 21.1%, compared to its competitors. This reflects Taiwan Mobile’s strategic use of lower frequencies, which became more accessible following its merger with T Star.
Between the first half of 2024 and the first half of 2025, Taiwan’s 5G Availability for all providers combined increased from 62.1% to 69.3%. All three major operators demonstrated an improvement in 5G Availability. According to Speedtest Intelligence data from the first half of 2025, FarEasTone leads the market with 72.4% 5G Availability, which also saw 6.9 percentage points year-over-year improvement from 65.5% in 1H 2024. Chunghwa Telecom improved its 5G Availability from 63.9% to 69.8%, a gain of 5.9 percentage points while Taiwan Mobile 5G Availability grew from 58.0% to 66.5%, an increase of 8.5 percentage points.
Chunghwa Telecom’s higher speeds indicate performance does not always correlate with network availability
The 5G performance results of Taiwan’s mobile operators show a more pronounced distinction than their 5G Availability scores. Based on Speedtest Intelligence data from the first half of 2025, Chunghwa Telecom held a commanding lead across both download and upload speeds, reaching a median download of 344.25 Mbps. This speed was 31.6% higher than FarEasTone’s and 54.1% higher than Taiwan Mobile’s. Chunghwa also recorded the highest median upload speed at 34.52 Mbps and the lowest multi-server latency at 23 ms.
FarEasTone, while leading in 5G Availability, fell behind Chunghwa in median download and upload speeds, with a reported median speed of 261.17 Mbps and 28.92 Mbps, respectively. This difference clearly indicates that broader 5G Availability does not always translate to the same level of speed performance. Taiwan Mobile, meanwhile, trailed both rivals, with the lowest median download and upload speeds.
Proportion of 5G-capable devices shows opportunities for better adoption
Of all devices taking a Speedtest, only 46.7% were 5G-capable devices that were connected to a 5G network when running a Speedtest. A large portion, 40.1%, were 5G-capable but are yet to be connected to a 5G network, while 13.2% were non-5G devices. This suggests that despite the widespread availability of 5G-capable devices, a substantial percentage of users are either not on a 5G plan or are operating in areas with limited 5G coverage, a key area for operator focus.
Proportion of Devices Taking Speedtest in Taiwan
Speedtest Intelligence® | 1H 2025
The operators already have a base of consumers who own 5G-capable devices, with varying levels of success in converting 5G-capable devices into active 5G connections. Chunghwa Telecom demonstrates the most effective user adoption strategy, with 88.3% of its customer base owning 5G-capable devices, and 50.6% of its users conducting tests on 5G in 1H 2025. Chunghwa’s performance is further highlighted by its low proportion of non-5G devices at just 11.1%, indicating a more modern device base compared to its rivals. In contrast, both FarEasTone and Taiwan Mobile trail the market in converting 5G-capable devices to active 5G connections. With 45.5% for FarEasTone and 45.0% for Taiwan Mobile, both operators fall below the national average. Additionally, both show a higher proportion of non-5G devices, 14.6% for FarEasTone and 14.8% for Taiwan Mobile, suggesting a potential lag in device modernization.
5G-capable devices still spend most of their connected time on 4G network
Even with a growing number of 5G-capable devices, Taiwan’s mobile users still spend the majority of their time on the 4G network. This trend is consistent across all three major operators. Data from the first half of 2025 shows that for all 5G-capable devices, time spent on 4G is more than double the time spent on 5G.
Proportion of Time Spent on Technology (5G-capable devices)
Speedtest Intelligence® | 1H 2025
Chunghwa Telecom demonstrates the highest proportion of users spending time on 5G, with 5G-capable devices spending 32.4% of their time on the 5G network. In contrast, both FarEasTone and Taiwan Mobile trail the market, with their 5G-capable devices spending only 27.8% and 27.7% of their time on 5G, respectively. For all operators, the proportion of time spent on 4G is far higher, reaching 66.2% for Chunghwa Telecom and over 70% for both FarEasTone and Taiwan Mobile.
Spectrum choice can also play a big role in shaping the time users spend on a 5G network. Techniques like Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) allow operators to use the same frequency bands for both 4G and 5G simultaneously, facilitating a more rapid and cost-effective rollout of 5G services. Operators should also prioritize densifying their 5G networks by expanding indoor coverage and adding more small cell sites in high-traffic areas. These efforts would reduce the reliance on 4G for stability and a wider range of services, ultimately increasing the time spent on 5G and validating the significant network investments.
We will keep a close eye on the progress and effectiveness of 5G implementation in Taiwan and its regional neighbours. To find out more about Ookla Speedtest data, get in touch.
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.
Affandy Johan is the Industry Analyst at Ookla Research. He utilizes Ookla's data to develop insightful analyses covering various factors and aspects impacting the market. Affandy has extensive experience in the telecom industry, having worked for major vendors and operators in the Asia Pacific region.
From Vulnerability to Resilience: How Portugal’s Mobile Networks Handled the Iberian Peninsula Blackout | Da Vulnerabilidade à Resiliência: Como as Redes Móveis Portuguesas Reagiram ao Apagão na Península Ibérica
Robust power redundancy markedly reduced outage impacts for one operator, while limited backup systems led to widespread service collapse for another, highlighting the importance of resilience planning and investment.
Mobile operators, equipment vendors, and policymakers throughout Europe are grappling with the challenge of hardening telecom infrastructure to withstand increasingly frequent and severe disruptions caused by power outages, sabotage, and extreme weather events.
Earlier this year, the Iberian grid blackout placed Portugal’s mobile operators at the coalface of this resilience challenge, creating a real-world stress test of their infrastructure on an unprecedented scale. Effective power redundancy, supported by battery and generator backups, coupled with energy conservation measures that strategically adjusted network configurations to preserve site availability, emerged as critical tools for limiting outage impact.
However, new analysis of Ookla® background signal scan data from the outage reveals that each operator’s ability to mitigate the disruption varied significantly, offering important lessons for future improvements in Portugal and beyond. This research builds upon our earlier findings in Spain, where we cross-referenced crowdsourced ‘no service’ data with satellite imagery to demonstrate that the profile of network disruptions and recovery moved in lockstep with power grid developments.
Key Takeaways:
At the height of the network disruptions on the evening of April 28th, more than one in three mobile network users in Portugal was left without service. The voltage drop triggered by the grid collapse rapidly cascaded through Portugal’s mobile networks, driving the share of users experiencing total service loss (unable to call, text, or use data as sites went dark) from a pre-blackout baseline below 0.1% to over 10% within two hours. At the peak late on April 28th, as battery and generator backups were progressively depleted, more than 60% of users across the worst-affected areas of Portugal were left without service.
While severe network outages affected all Portuguese operators during the blackout, mobile users on DIGI’s network were significantly more likely to experience a total loss of service. With up to 90% of DIGI subscribers left without any mobile coverage for over twenty-four hours, the outage exposed critical gaps in redundancy across multiple infrastructure layers, from mobile sites at the edge all the way to the core, potentially reflecting the limitations of DIGI’s less mature network buildout in Portugal.
MEO’s network demonstrated significantly greater resilience across Portugal during the April 28th blackout, illustrating how deep and widely deployed battery reserves can materially flatten and delay outage impacts triggered by power loss. At the peak of service disruption six to eight hours after the power loss, MEO’s subscribers were on average half as likely to lose service as those on NOS’s network, four times less likely than Vodafone’s subscribers, and six times less likely than DIGI’s. As a result, at least tens of thousands more MEO subscribers likely stayed connected for calls, texts, and data throughout April 28th.
The variation in outage impact between operators in Portugal was significantly greater than in Spain, revealing much deeper asymmetry in the level of power resilience across Portugal’s mobile networks. As in Spain, however, the pattern of service restoration reflected the geographically phased re-energisation of the power grid, with network disruptions persisting later into the night in Lisbon than in Porto, consistent with transmission operator REN’s blackstart process, which began in the north and moved south.
Blackout cascaded through Portugal’s mobile networks, forcing aggressive energy conservation measures as traffic demand surged and power backups were depleted
When the grid-wide collapse severed power to virtually all of mainland Portugal at 11:33 local time on April 28th, mobile sites were immediately forced off mains electricity and had to rely on batteries or generator backups, triggering a nationwide race between grid restoration and the exhaustion of backup reserves across telecom networks. Sites lacking any power autonomy vanished immediately (such as dense urban small cells), triggering a stepwise collapse in overall network density that resembled a cliff drop followed by a gradually declining tail.
The sudden loss of residential electricity rendered fixed networks and in-home Wi-Fi CPEs unusable, forcing users onto mobile networks and unleashing a massive surge in traffic that put intense pressure on capacity, particularly in urban areas. This was reflected in a rapid degradation of mobile network performance across all metrics, as illustrated in analysis of Speedtest Intelligence® data published in our earlier research.
The spike in demand on the country’s mobile infrastructure occurred just as operators were racing to implement aggressive energy conservation measures to extend the life of backup power at mobile sites. These efforts included phased 5G switch-offs (as 3.5 GHz massive MIMO radios typically draw two to three times the power of a low-band 4G sector), prioritizing core voice and text services, and reducing cell-edge transmit power where network loads were light.
Blackout produced a composite outage curve made of one large step (DIGI) superimposed on several peaked pulses (Vodafone, NOS, and MEO)
Although all of Portugal’s mobile operators implemented similar energy conservation measures during the blackout, the depth and distribution of power autonomy within each operator’s site portfolio, including the partially shared footprint between NOS and Vodafone, ultimately shaped their network resilience. This is evident in the distinct outage trajectories revealed by analysis of background signal scan data, which shows whether a device could connect to any network (2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G) based on a very large, geographically diverse sample across Portugal.
DIGI’s still-nascent network, which is leaner and heavily concentrated in cities (therefore making deployment of power autonomy more challenging at space-constrained rooftop sites), proved particularly brittle. Within four hours of the voltage drop, the share of subscribers on its network with no signal shot up from less than 0.1% to more than 90%, a classic step-function collapse. The operator’s entire radio layer appeared to disappear almost simultaneously, driven by shallow site-level batteries and little layered fallback. In addition, network access remained crippled for more than a day, likely pointing to a catastrophic failure of deeper elements such as the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) in Lisbon, which may have lacked geo-redundancy or sufficient power autonomy.
While Vodafone’s outage curve did not exhibit the same cliff-like profile as DIGI’s, instead following more of a triangular or peaked pulse shape, it still reached a very sharp peak. The heterogeneous distribution of backup power across Vodafone’s site footprint produced a multi-step survival curve, with each autonomy band expiring (for example, sites with four-hour batteries) causing another visible kink in the aggregate outage trajectory.
By 19:30 local time, almost 70% of Vodafone’s subscribers were left without service as the last reserves of backup power began to deplete ahead of grid restoration. While this was still materially lower than the more than 90% service loss seen on DIGI’s network in Portugal, it was nearly twice as high as the peak outage experienced by any operator in Spain on April 28th. Service was, however, rapidly restored on Vodafone’s network from 20:00 in a phased geographic sequence, aligning with the restoration of the grid, with the no service ratio falling below 5% by midnight.
Unlike other operators in Portugal, Vodafone and NOS have extensive RAN sharing, with a joint venture owning and operating actively shared sites in rural and interior areas, while sites in urban areas are passively shared. Despite this, the outage profile for NOS was notably less severe. This indicates that NOS’s network features relatively deeper power resilience in locations where its infrastructure is not actively shared, compared with Vodafone’s independently managed sites. On NOS’s network, the proportion of subscribers without service peaked early at nearly 30%, closely resembling the impact profile of the worst-affected operator in Spain, and remained at this level until power was restored.
The merits of widely deployed and deep battery reserves in flattening and delaying the outage curve (much like masks and vaccines suppress infection spread during a pandemic) were clearly demonstrated in MEO’s case. Its outage peak was lower and the tail shorter, with the proportion of subscribers left without service peaking at just over 16%, which was the best performance observed across Spain and Portugal on April 28th.
Outage experience demonstrates the role of power autonomy and geo-redundancy in hardening telecom infrastructure against external shocks
When the grid collapsed, every Portuguese operator reached for the same first lever by killing off the power-hungry 5G layer, but what happened next diverged. The breadth and depth of each operator’s power autonomy (at the site level) and the extent of geo-redundancy (at the core level), along with their ability to cascade lower-band layers, throttle traffic, and reshuffle spectrum, dictated how much of their network stayed online and for how long during the blackout.
The pronounced asymmetry in outage impacts observed across operators’ subscriber bases highlights the urgent need to harden mobile networks and raise all infrastructure layers to a higher baseline of resilience ahead of future severe events. There is now broad consensus, which is expected to be enshrined in the European Commission’s forthcoming Digital Networks Act (DNA), that telecom networks are critical infrastructure essential for societal functioning, and that even brief service disruptions can quickly escalate into serious public safety risks.
Da vulnerabilidade à resiliência: Como as redes móveis portuguesas reagiram ao apagão na Península Ibérica
Uma forte redundância energética atenuou significativamente os efeitos da falha para um dos operadores, enquanto a escassez de sistemas de reserva provocou a interrupção generalizada dos serviços noutro, evidenciando a importância do planeamento e do investimento em resiliência.
Os operadores móveis, fornecedores de equipamentos e reguladores em toda a Europa estão a enfrentar o desafio de reforçar a infraestrutura das telecomunicações para resistir a interrupções cada vez mais frequentes e graves causadas por falhas de energia, sabotagem e fenómenos meteorológicos extremos.
No início deste ano, o apagão da rede ibérica colocou os operadores móveis portugueses na linha da frente deste desafio de resiliência, criando um teste real de resistência das infraestruturas numa escala sem precedentes. A redundância energética eficaz, apoiada por baterias e geradores de reserva, aliada a medidas de poupança de energia que ajustaram estrategicamente as configurações da rede para preservar a disponibilidade dos sites, revelou-se uma ferramenta crucial para limitar o impacto das falhas de energia.
No entanto, uma nova análise dos dados de monitorização passiva de sinal da Ookla® durante a falha revela que a capacidade de cada operador para mitigar a interrupção variou significativamente, oferecendo lições importantes para futuras melhorias em Portugal e além-fronteiras.
Esta investigação baseia-se nas conclusões anteriores obtidas em Espanha, onde cruzámos dados crowdsourced de “sem serviço” com imagens de satélite para demonstrar que o perfil das perturbações e da recuperação das redes evoluiu em paralelo com a situação da rede elétrica.
Principais conclusões:
No auge das perturbações na rede, na noite de 28 de abril, mais de um em cada três utilizadores de redes móveis em Portugal ficou sem serviço. A queda de tensão desencadeada pelo colapso da rede elétrica propagou-se rapidamente nas redes móveis do país, fazendo com que a proporção de utilizadores com perda total de serviço (sem possibilidade de fazer chamadas, enviar mensagens ou utilizar dados, à medida que os sites ficavam inoperacionais) subisse de um valor inferior a 0,1 % antes do apagão para mais de 10 % em menos de duas horas. No pico, já no final do dia de 28 de abril, à medida que as baterias e os geradores de reserva se esgotavam progressivamente, mais de 60 % dos utilizadores nas zonas mais afetadas de Portugal ficaram sem serviço.
Embora todas as operadoras portuguesas tenham sido afetadas por graves falhas na rede durante o apagão, os utilizadores móveis da rede DIGI foram significativamente mais propensos a experienciar uma perda total de serviço. Com até 90 % dos assinantes da DIGI sem qualquer cobertura móvel durante mais de vinte e quatro horas, a falha expôs lacunas críticas na redundância em vários níveis da infraestrutura, desde as antenas móveis na periferia até ao núcleo da rede, refletindo potencialmente as limitações do desenvolvimento menos amadurecido da rede da DIGI em Portugal.
A rede da MEO demonstrou uma resiliência significativamente maior em todo o território português durante o apagão de 28 de abril, mostrando como as reservas robustas e amplamente implantadas de baterias podem atenuar e atrasar de forma significativa os impactos das falhas de energia. No pico da interrupção do serviço, entre seis e oito horas após a perda de energia, os assinantes da MEO tinham, em média, metade da probabilidade de perder o serviço comparativamente aos da NOS, quatro vezes menos do que os da Vodafone e seis vezes menos do que os da DIGI. Como resultado, provavelmente dezenas de milhares de assinantes da MEO mantiveram-se conectados para chamadas, mensagens e dados ao longo de todo o dia 28 de abril.
A variação do impacto das interrupções entre operadores em Portugal foi significativamente maior do que em Espanha, revelando uma assimetria muito mais profunda no nível de resiliência energética das redes móveis portuguesas. No entanto, tal como em Espanha, o padrão de restabelecimento do serviço refletiu a reenergização faseada geograficamente da rede elétrica, com as perturbações a persistirem até mais tarde durante a noite em Lisboa do que no Porto, em conformidade com o processo de arranque da rede de transporte da REN, que começou no norte e avançou para sul.
O apagão propagou-se pelas redes móveis de Portugal, obrigando a medidas agressivas de poupança de energia, à medida que a procura de tráfego aumentava e as reservas de energia se esgotavam
Quando o colapso de toda a rede cortou a energia em praticamente todo o território português continental, às 11h33, hora local, do dia 28 de abril, as antenas móveis foram imediatamente desligadas da corrente elétrica principal e tiveram de recorrer a baterias ou geradores de reserva, desencadeando uma corrida nacional entre a restauração da rede e o esgotamento das reservas de energia nas redes de telecomunicações. As infraestruturas que não dispunham de qualquer autonomia energética desapareceram imediatamente (como as “small cells”— micro- e pico-células), desencadeando um colapso gradual da densidade global da rede que se assemelhou a uma queda abrupta seguida por uma diminuição gradual.
A súbita perda de eletricidade residencial tornou as redes fixas e os equipamentos de Wi-Fi domésticos (CPE) inutilizáveis, obrigandoos utilizadores a recorrer às redes móveis e desencadeando um aumento massivo de tráfego que exerceu uma pressão intensa sobre a capacidade, em especial nas áreas urbanas. Isto refletiu-se numa rápida degradação do desempenho das redes móveis em todas as métricas, conforme ilustrado na análise dos dados Speedtest Intelligence® publicada na nossa investigação anterior.
O aumento súbito da procura na infraestrutura móvel do país ocorreu precisamente quando as operadoras estavam a correr para implementar medidas agressivas de poupança de energia para prolongar a duração da energia de reserva nos sites móveis. Esses esforços incluíram o desligamento faseado do 5G (já que os rádios MIMO de 3,5 GHz normalmente consomem duas a três vezes a potência de um setor 4G de baixa frequência), priorizando os principais serviços de voz e texto e reduzindo a potência de transmissão de ponta das células quando as cargas de rede eram baixas.
O apagão produziu uma curva de falha composta por um grande salto (DIGI) sobreposto a vários picos distintos (Vodafone, NOS e MEO)
Embora todos os operadores móveis em Portugal tenham implementado medidas semelhantes de poupança de energia durante o apagão, o grau e a distribuição da autonomia energética da infraestrutura de rede de cada operador, incluindo a infraestrutura parcialmente partilhada entre a NOS e a Vodafone, acabaram por moldar a resiliência das suas redes. Isso é evidente nas trajetórias distintas de falhas reveladas pela análise dos dados de monitorização passiva de sinal, que indicam se um dispositivo conseguia ligar-se a uma das redes (2G, 3G, 4G ou 5G), com base numa amostra ampla e geograficamente diversificada de todo o território português.
A rede ainda em fase inicial da DIGI, com uma cobertura mais limitada e fortemente concentrada em áreas urbanas (o que torna a implantação da autonomia de energia mais difícil em infraestruturas no topo de edifícios), revelou-se particularmente frágil. Quatro horas após o colapso da rede elétrica, a percentagem de assinantes da sua rede sem qualquer sinal disparou de menos de 0,1 % para mais de 90 %, um colapso abrupto e generalizado, típico de um corte súbito. Toda a infraestrutura de rádio da operadora parece ter desaparecido quase em simultâneo, impulsionada por baterias de curta duração ao nível dos sites e com pouca redundância em camadas superiores. Além disso, o acesso à rede permaneceu severamente comprometido por mais de um dia, apontando provavelmente para uma falha catastrófica de elementos mais profundos, como o Evolved Packet Core (EPC) em Lisboa, que pode ter carecido de redundância geográfica ou de autonomia energética suficiente.
Embora a curva de falhas da Vodafone não tenha apresentado o mesmo perfil de queda abrupto como a DIGI, seguindo mais uma forma triangular, ainda assim atingiu um pico muito acentuado. A distribuição heterogénea da autonomia energética na rede em toda a área de cobertura da Vodafone produziu uma curva de sobrevivência em várias etapas, com cada faixa de autonomia a esgotar-se (por exemplo, locais de rede com baterias de quatro horas) a provocar um novo ressalto visível na trajetória do apagão.
Por volta das 19h30, hora local, quase 70 % dos assinantes da Vodafone estavam sem serviço, à medida que as últimas reservas de energia de apoio começaram a esgotar-se antes do restabelecimento da rede elétrica. Embora este valor seja significativamente inferior aos mais de 90 % de perda de serviço verificados na rede da DIGI em Portugal, representava quase o dobro do pico de interrupção registado por qualquer operador em Espanha no dia 28 de abril. O serviço, contudo, foi rapidamente restabelecido na rede da Vodafone a partir das 20h00, seguindo uma sequência geográfica faseada, em consonância com a reposição da rede elétrica, com a taxa de ausência de serviço a cair para menos de 5 % à meia-noite.
Ao contrário de outros operadores em Portugal, a Vodafone e a NOS partilham extensivamente a RAN, uma joint venture que possui e opera infraestruturas partilhadas ativamente em áreas rurais e do interior, enquanto nas zonas urbanas as infraestruturas são partilhadas de forma passiva. Apesar disso, o perfil de interrupções da NOS foi notavelmente menos grave. Isto indica que a rede da NOS apresenta uma resiliência energética relativamente maior nos locais onde a sua infraestrutura não é ativamente partilhada, em comparação com os geridos de forma independente pela Vodafone. Na rede da NOS, a proporção de subscritores sem serviço atingiu um pico precoce de quase 30 %, assemelhando-se de perto ao perfil de impacto do operador mais afetado em Espanha, mantendo-se neste nível até a energia ser restabelecida.
Os méritos das reservas de baterias amplas e profundamente distribuídas na atenuação e no adiamento da curva de falhas (de forma semelhante às máscaras e vacinas na contenção da propagação de infeções durante uma pandemia) ficaram claramente demonstrados no caso da MEO. O pico da interrupção foi menor e a retoma mais rápida, com a proporção de assinantes sem serviço a atingir um pouco mais de 16 %, o melhor desempenho observado em toda a Península Ibérica no dia 28 de abril.
A experiência do apagão demonstra o papel da autonomia energética e da geo-redundância no reforço da resiliência da infraestrutura das telecomunicações face a choques externos
Quando a rede elétrica colapsou, todos os operadores portugueses tentaram a mesma primeira alavanca: desligar a camada de 5G, intensiva em consumo energético. Mas a partir daí, os caminhos divergiram. A extensão e a robustez da autonomia energética de cada operador (ao nível das infraestruturas) e o grau de geo-redundância (ao nível do núcleo), juntamente com a capacidade de cascatear camadas em bandas inferiores, limitar o tráfego e reconfigurar o espectro, ditaram quanto da sua rede permaneceu operacional, e durante quanto tempo, durante o apagão.
A acentuada assimetria nos impactos do apagão observada entre as bases de clientes dos diferentes operadores realça a necessidade urgente de reforçar as redes móveis e elevar todos os níveis da infraestrutura a um patamar mais robusto de resiliência, em antecipação a futuros eventos graves. Existe um consenso alargado, que se prevê que venha a ser consagrado no futuro Digital Networks Act (DNA) da Comissão Europeia, de que as redes de telecomunicações são infraestruturas críticas essenciais para o funcionamento da sociedade, e que mesmo interrupções breves do serviço podem rapidamente transformar-se em riscos sérios para a segurança pública.
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.
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.
Indoor connectivity challenges have intensified as modern insulation materials, the shift to mid-band spectrum, and the sunset of 3G networks prevent outdoor mobile sites from reliably penetrating buildings
As much as 80% of all mobile data usage originates from indoor environments like homes, offices and shops. However, mobile networks were initially designed with an ‘outside-in’ approach—relying on outdoor towers to deliver coverage, with the expectation that the signal would reach indoors without being specifically optimised to do so. This strategy helped minimise deployment costs and was based on the assumption that indoor connectivity could be provided by low-band spectrum layered over the macro mobile network, with higher data rate demands met by home broadband and public Wi-Fi networks indoors.
Consumers have come to rely on mobile data to serve their indoor browsing needs and expect performance parity as they move around from home, work, the shops, and everywhere in between. Even where Wi-Fi and related features like VoWiFi are available and sufficiently fast, in-building mobile coverage remains critical for last resort access to basic telephony features like calling and texting to ensure reliable access to emergency service networks. Indeed, in many advanced European markets, operators and regulators prioritise routing 112 emergency calls over mobile networks using VoLTE rather than Wi-Fi, as VoLTE offers greater reliability and quality of service through dedicated voice packet routing on mobile networks.
But if indoor connectivity is so important, why is it still so lacklustre? While there is no one easy answer, there are a few clear contributing factors.
More mid-band spectrum in 5G networks introduces new propagation challenges
One of the biggest barriers to good indoor connectivity lies in how networks are designed, and this challenge is becoming more common with the deployment of 5G. The trend towards higher frequency spectrum for 5G (e.g. 3.5 GHz mid-band) limits the ability of the existing mobile network site grid to provide high-speed mobile coverage deep indoors. This is due to the more constrained propagation characteristics of this spectrum. Simply put, the signals that mid-band 5G networks rely on struggle to penetrate the materials in their path when the user is indoors.
Lower frequency signals do not face this problem to the same extent, but their utility has become more limited over time. While the lower frequency spectrum (e.g. 800/900 MHz with 3G/4G and 700 MHz more recently with 5G) traditionally used to provide in-building mobile coverage previously sufficed, the significant increase in the density of devices and the intensity of their data traffic demands mean these frequencies alone are unable to support the higher performance attributes often expected with 5G, particularly in dense urban settings.
Because of this, the traditional approach of outside-in network design, where signals are transmitted from the macro coverage layer of a lattice or monopole-based high site into a cluster of buildings, is no longer fit for purpose in the absence of investment in network densification if demands for reliably fast connectivity indoors are to be met.
Modern insulation materials turn buildings into Faraday cages
Network design is not the only contributing factor to the profile of signal propagation. While it is true that the signals typically used for 5G networks struggle to travel through buildings, some materials present a bigger challenge than others.
The use of modern insulation materials in new-build and retrofitted developments is posing a significant challenge for mobile operators. Take low-E glass, for example – a type of energy-efficient glass with a microscopic coating designed to reduce energy consumption, which is becoming a commonplace alternative to double glazing. Low-E glass has a significant negative impact on radio signal propagation, and with its growing use in retail and office buildings, the indoor connectivity problem is set to worsen, especially with the use of higher frequency bands
As these kinds of construction materials – those that significantly increase signal attenuation and effectively turn buildings into Faraday cages – become more widely used, network design and building design must go hand-in-hand. Otherwise, the ability of 5G signals to penetrate newer buildings will continue to be diminished.
Technology sunsets require deep network modernization to replicate legacy coverage footprints
The sunset of legacy network technologies like 2G (in markets such as Switzerland and the US) and 3G (in most developed markets) has introduced further challenges as operators seek to preserve indoor coverage levels while upgrading equipment and repurposing frequencies.The process of improving network performance and optimising long-term operating costs with technology sunsets is not as simple as removing and replacing outdated equipment. Operators need to ensure legacy end user devices are upgraded to take advantage of 4G and 5G networks and that older mobile sites are refreshed with modern radio equipment to ensure there is full continuity in coverage levels.
Time Without Service Rose Across All Polish Operators in 2024 as the 3G Sunset Advanced
Speedtest Intelligence® | FY 2023 – 2024
Analysis of Speedtest Intelligence data has revealed a concerning trend of increased time spent on 2G networks or with no service at all in several advanced markets where operators have been slower to repurpose spectrum employed by legacy technologies upon sunsetting 3G. This has manifested in increased reports of dropped calls and other mobile connectivity issues, particularly in areas where decommissioned 3G coverage has yet to be fully replaced by 4G or 5G networks.
Policy goals and incentives place emphasis on outdoor coverage, treating indoor access as incidental
Governments and regulators around the world have historically focused headline policy goals on achieving outdoor population coverage targets. This model has overlooked the importance of indoor mobile coverage, contributing to poor outcomes throughout in-building environments and a lack of public data on the extent of indoor coverage gaps. Some countries, like Ireland and Germany, have made progress by mandating minimum coverage levels at buildings and infrastructure of national importance as part of spectrum licence conditions. In the Irish context, for example, this includes a requirement to provide a minimum 30 Mbps service across key infrastructure sites like train stations and hospitals, as well as community hubs and tourist locations.
These types of progressive policies, as well as those being adopted by city governments to increase building access for mobile sites through amendments to planning and zoning conditions on future renewals and large-scale commercial and residential developments, can play a positive role in stimulating better indoor coverage outcomes by re-aligning deployment incentives and removing obstacles.
New deployment models, richer data insights, and greater policy oversight can drive better indoor outcomes
While consumers expect consistently high-performing in-building mobile performance, the path to get there is not a simple one. There is no one-stop solution to the indoor connectivity problem.
That said, the neutral host model is emerging as a key solution to improve in-building mobile outcomes, providing multi-operator access to promote fair competition and share deployment costs, typically based on small cell solutions like the Ericsson Radio Dot. Freshwave (UK) and Proptivity (Sweden) are early examples of neutral host specialists leading the charge in this space.
While the scaling up of small cell deployments at the street and building level, enabled by the neutral host model, is key to improving indoor performance, there are other factors at play. Operators must prioritise repurposing the spectrum in the wake of 3G sunsetting, and building developers and the planning system should take better account of the accommodations needed to host radio equipment. But if indoor connectivity is truly to see a material improvement, these changes should be underpinned by progressive regulatory policies that measure indoor coverage levels and provide better incentives to improve in-building mobile outcomes and remove barriers to deployment.
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.
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.
