Tag: Kuwait

Ookla Research™ Articles
| January 12, 2024

Bahrain’s 5G Gaming Performance and Investments are Aligned with its Aspirations to Become a Regional Hub

5G

Bahrain took the lead in 5G gaming performance across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the Middle East during the first half of 2023, based on Ookla Speedtest Intelligence® data. This article examines the gaming performance on Bahrain’s 5G networks, evaluates their suitability for multi-player on-device and cloud gaming services, and discusses local initiatives to position Bahrain as the regional gaming hub.

Key takeaways

  • Bahrain’s 5G Game Score™ was the highest in the Middle East at 87.64 out of 100 during Q1-Q2 2023. This exceptional network performance helps to deliver a good gaming experience. With ultra-fast 5G speeds (413.69 Mbps) and low latency (72 ms), most casual gamers can expect a top-notch multi-player gaming experience.
  • Bahrain’s pro-gaming policies and initiatives helped to attract international companies and foster a burgeoning local gaming ecosystem. The vibrant start-up landscape, bolstered by supportive business-friendly policies, funding, and access to tech-savvy talent, helped to attract international gaming studios and emerge local ones.
  • Bahrain faces competition from its neighbors to become a regional gaming hub. However, it can leverage its advanced networking infrastructure and reputation as a technology incubator to attract companies and entrepreneurs who want to trial new ideas and technologies for gaming and transform them into ventures that serve the region.

Bahrain leads the Middle East in terms of 5G Game Score and latency

The cellular infrastructure is critical for the growth of mobile gaming. Advanced network systems that offer speed, reliability, and low latency are pivotal to seamless gaming experiences and thus, the gaming industry. The growing popularity of mobile devices and portable gaming also pushes the boundaries of what mobile games can do. 

Recognizing this, Ookla has devised a new metric, Game Score, to measure the gaming experience. This score considers various network parameters that impact gaming, including download and upload speeds, latency, and jitter. Game Score is based on Ookla’s consumer-initiated Speedtest Intelligence results for download and upload speeds, as well as Consumer QoE’s™ latency and jitter measurements taken on actual game servers. 

Each component is scored on a scale of 0-100 and then combined in a weighted average to produce a Game Score. A higher score signifies a better gaming experience for the user. You can find more details about the Game Score methodology here.

In a recent article, we presented the Game Scores for the six GCC countries. Bahrain led the Middle East region during the first half of 2023 with the highest 5G Game Score at 87.64. The U.A.E. and Qatar trailed closely with scores of 85.59 and 85.23, respectively, reflecting the high-quality mobile network performance in these markets that provides excellent gaming experiences. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Oman received lower Game Scores.

Chart of 5G Game Score, Gulf Countries

Gamers in Bahrain can enjoy a great multi-player gaming experience over 5G

Looking more closely at two main components of the Game Score – download speed and game latency – we can assess how well Bahrain’s 5G network supports multi-player gaming services.

  • Download speed is crucial for ensuring uninterrupted gameplay and maintaining high-quality streaming. High download speeds are also important for downloading digitally distributed games and updates. Download speed requirements for online mobile gaming vary depending on the game type (for example, cloud gaming needs higher bandwidth than a game played on a smartphone) and the gamer profile (for example, competitive gamers will require higher bandwidth than casual players)
  • Game latency is a measure of latency to popular gaming server locations. It impacts the speed at which a gamer’s response is reflected in gameplay and is particularly important for games where quick reactions are crucial. Low latency also means smoother and lag-free gaming.

For this analysis, we consider two types of multi-player games to account for variations in network requirements and user expectations. The table below outlines the minimum requirements for casual gamers (who make up the majority of gamers) for download speed and latency for on-device and cloud games.

List of Network Requirements for Mobile Games

Ookla’s data shows that Bahrain significantly exceeds the speed requirement for both game types, with a median download speed of 413.69 Mbps during Q1-Q2 2023. This implies that gamers should not face delays in downloading games, loading games, or applying patches.

Bahrain has also the lowest latency in the Gulf region at 72 ms and should provide smooth gameplay for most casual games. Yet, some multiplayer shooters, racing, fighting, and multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games might experience some lag, particularly if streamed from a cloud server outside the country. There’s room for operators to enhance conditions for multiplayer games, especially for competitive gamers.

It should be noted that the gaming experience can be affected by other factors besides 5G network quality. The location of the game server, for example, can influence latency. If the game server is outside the country or region then the quality of international connectivity matters more. Since Bahrain has a small land mass and a high population density, game servers, and international gateways are likely to be close to gamers. This partially explains why its game-related metrics are better than those of other countries in the region.

Chart of Median Download Speed and Latency in Bahrain vs. Minimum Requirements for Games

Bahrain made the digital sector, including gaming, central to its economic expansion. The government and various regulatory authorities have fostered a favorable business environment to attract investments from global technology companies. Operators have also supported the country’s ambition to become the regional ICT hub by developing advanced digital infrastructure and nurturing local talent.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, Bahrain prioritized ICT as a key sector for economic growth and diversification, setting targets to achieve 100% broadband coverage and increase the number of start-ups by 20% by the end of 2026. According to the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), mobile broadband penetration of the population reached 146.0%, and fixed broadband penetration of households reached 69% in Q3 2023. 

Bahrain was among the first countries in the Middle East to launch 5G in 2019. The three mobile operators, Batelco, stc, and Zain, have invested in its expansion, achieving 100% 5G commercial network coverage. Operators are also upgrading their 5G infrastructure to improve throughput and reduce latency by deploying 5G Standalone (SA) and 5G Advanced (5.5G). For example, stc tested 5G SA in May 2022 and 5G network slicing in October 2023. Batelco deployed a cloud-native 5G core and tested 5G SA in April 2022. Zain trialed 5G SA in 2022 and implemented 5G carrier aggregation using a mid-band frequency.

Furthermore, Batelco’s parent company, Beyon, announced an investment of over $250 million to support the country’s digital transformation. This includes the development of the country’s biggest data center. In 2022, stc announced that it plans the region’s largest technology park, which includes a new data center. These new facilities will supplement existing data centers and strengthen the country’s position as a regional digital infrastructure center.

The country’s extensive and high-quality network infrastructure underpinned its ‘Cloud First Policy’ which encouraged public and private organizations to migrate to the cloud. This strategy has proven successful in attracting major hyperscalers like AWS which established three ‘regional availability zones’ in 2019 in Bahrain.

Pro-graming policies and initiatives helped attract international companies and develop a local gaming ecosystem

This influx of international cloud service providers has caught the attention of game publishers eager to cater to their fans in the region. Take Epic Games, the publisher of Fortnite, as an example. They set up a local server over AWS infrastructure to boost game response times and stimulate interest in e-sports. They expected latency to improve between 20% and 50% for players in the Gulf region and India. Similarly, Riot Games set up a local server in Bahrain for its game Valorant.

Bahrain has a vibrant start-up landscape in the Middle East region bolstered by supportive government policies, funding schemes, and a pool of young, tech-savvy talent. As part of the Bahrain Economic Vision 2030, the government established Tamkeen, an agency designed to promote private sector development and digital services adoption. Tamkeen has been involved in initiatives such as setting up a training program for video game development and the creation of the ‘D11 Gaming Hub’, designed to strengthen the e-sports ecosystem in Bahrain.

Thanks to these efforts, Bahrain attracted foreign gaming studios, like The Stories Studio, to establish a local office. It has also nurtured a burgeoning local game production industry, with award-winning gaming studios, such as Juego Studios and Regnum Studio, and a host of start-ups offering a range of products, solutions, and services for the gaming industry. Bahrain also aspires to be a leading e-sports competition destination in the Middle East, having already hosted global events like the BLAST Pro Series Global Final, NVTC Tournament, and GIRLGAMER Festival.

Operators have also taken proactive steps to capitalize on the growing demand for gaming in recognition of its potential to diversify revenue, increase customer engagement, and differentiate their services. For example:

  • Batelco introduced a mobile gaming portal in 2022.
  • stc launched the ‘stc play’ app, hosted multiple e-sport tournaments, and bundled gaming packages with its mobile data and home services.
  • Zain introduced a mobile game pass with a dedicated data allowance for popular games. It also partnered with the Bahraini Esports Federation and gaming platform provider Playhera to organize e-sports tournaments. Most recently, it launched the ‘Zain Esports Lab’ in collaboration with Tamkeen to host e-sports leagues, provide training to gamers, and offer professional opportunities for e-sports enthusiasts.

Bahrain harbors grand ambitions to strengthen its standing as a regional gaming hub

As part of the Telecommunications, ICT, and Digital Economy Sector Strategy 2022-2026, the Bahraini government aims to consolidate its reputation as a regional innovation center while continuing to lure large technology companies. Part of this strategy revolves around making the country an even more attractive destination for gaming companies to cater to the rapidly expanding base of casual gamers, e-sports enthusiasts, and professional players across the Middle East.

In November 2023, the TRA also unveiled the Sixth National Telecommunication Plan (NTP6). The plan outlines the government’s strategic three-year approach and general policies for the telecommunications sector. Bahrain’s objective is to continue to lead the way in ICT and telecommunications infrastructure development within the GCC region and aspire to be among the global top 10 in this sector.

BCG reported that the Middle East boasts the highest gaming penetration in the world, with over 60% of the population identifying as gaming enthusiasts. The audience for live-streaming games is projected to surpass 200 million in 2025, making the Middle East one of the fastest-growing regions for gaming, outpacing even China.

The GCC region is particularly ripe for growth in terms of active gamers and e-sports participants, thanks to its youthful demographic, substantial disposable income, access to affordable high-speed connectivity, and the ongoing development of gaming infrastructure. The market is bound to expand as gaming becomes more mainstream and as more female users and older demographics engage in gaming.

Statista predicts that the gaming industry in Bahrain (including in-game ads and live streaming) will generate over $38 million in 2023 and grow to over $53 million by 2027. Mobile games constitute the largest segment, with a market value nearing $12 million in 2023, expected to grow to more than $18 million by 2027. This is driven by the increasing number of players, expected to reach nearly 400,000 users by 2027. 

These figures show that the domestic gaming market in Bahrain is relatively small because of the limited population. That is why the opportunity lies in serving the larger and growing gaming audience in the Middle East and fostering a local gaming ecosystem that can scale up to serve the region.

However, Bahrain faces stiff competition from its neighbors seeking to diversify their economies through digital services. For example, Saudi Arabia invested in major gaming studios such as Capcom and Activision Blizzard via the Public Investment Fund (PIF), its sovereign fund, and has a national gaming and e-sports strategy. U.A.E. encourages global gaming producers to establish a local presence and hosts major game tournaments and events.

Bahrain should leverage its unique advantages, such as its advanced connectivity infrastructure, skilled workforce, and favorable business environment. Its track record as a technology incubator can also position it as an ideal place to test new ideas, technologies, monetization models, and regulations to support innovative gaming services.

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.

5G

About the Author

Karim Yaici

Ookla Research™ Articles
| September 8, 2021

Despite All Odds, Global Internet Speeds Continue Impressive Increase

Global Speeds


“A lot has changed” we wrote in our 2019 global roundup of internet speeds based on the Speedtest Global Index™. Little did we know how much was about to change. But two things remain the same: the internet is getting faster and the Speedtest Global Index is still a fantastic resource for tracking improvements on a global and country level (if we do say so ourselves). Today we’re taking a look back at how much internet speeds have increased over the past four years and which countries have seen some of the largest gains.

Mobile download speed jumped 59.5% over the last year globally, fixed broadband up 31.9%

The global mean of download speeds improved over the last 12 months on both mobile and fixed broadband to 55.07 Mbps and 107.50 Mbps, respectively, in July 2021. Mobile saw an increase of 59.5% when comparing July 2020 to July 2021 and fixed broadband saw an increase of 31.9%, according to the Speedtest Global Index.

ookla_global-index_world-speeds_0921-1

Looking further back, mean download speed over mobile was 98.9% faster in July 2021 than in July 2019, 141.4% faster when comparing July 2021 to July 2018, and 194.0% faster when comparing July 2021 to June 2017, the month we began tracking speeds on the Speedtest Global Index. Over the last two years there were only two months when the global average for mobile download speed did not show an upward slope: February and March 2020. Speeds began increasing again in April 2020, but did not recover to pre-February levels until May 2020. This coincides with initial lockdowns due to COVID-19 in many countries.

On fixed broadband, mean download speed was 68.2% faster in July 2021 than in July 2019, 131.3% faster in July 2021 than in July 2018, and 196.1% faster in July 2021 than in June 2017. There was a similar dip in download speed over fixed broadband in March of 2020 as we saw on mobile. The speed increased again in April 2020 but did not recover to a pre-March level until April 2020.

Top 10 rankings are somewhat constant over three years, U.S. and Canada slip off in 2021

There has been surprising parity of which countries continue to occupy the top 10 spots on the Speedtest Global Index in July of each year. However, the lists for mobile and fixed broadband are radically different, with only one country (South Korea) showing up on both lists in 2021.

ookla_fastest-countries_mobile_0921

The United Arab Emirates and South Korea maintain their first and second place rankings for mobile in both 2020 and 2021 and China and Qatar merely flip-flop for third and fourth place. It’s interesting to see Australia and Canada decline in the rankings although their speeds have increased dramatically during the past three years. 5G is shifting mobile rankings where even countries with 5G (which few countries had in 2019) need a strong 5G focus to maintain their presence at the top of the list lest they be outpaced by other countries with larger investments in 5G.

ookla_fastest-countries_fixed_0921

The fixed broadband rankings are more dynamic than those on mobile. Monaco traveled up and down the top 10 from sixth place in 2019 to 10th in 2020 to first place in 2021. Singapore ranked first or second in all three years and Hong Kong (SAR) was in the top four. Romania was solidly in fifth place while South Korea dropped lower in the ranking every year. Chile and Denmark both debuted in the top 10 in 2021 and the United States dropped off the list.

Most of the top 10 countries perform well for fixed and mobile

We were curious to see if countries that made the top 10 in July 2021 for either mobile or fixed broadband were also performing well on the other medium, so we plotted the percentage difference from the global average for mobile download speed against download speed on fixed broadband. Note that the global average increased between 2020 and 2021 and that Liechtenstein and Monaco are not included in this comparison as they did not have sufficient samples to be listed on both axes.

2020/2021 chart of leading country performance again global averages

Most countries that made the top 10 in July 2021 for either mobile or fixed broadband were performing well over the global average for both at that point in time. South Korea and the U.A.E. stood out with mean mobile download speeds that were more than 240% faster than the global average and fixed broadband downloads that were more than 70% faster than the global average. China’s mobile download speed was more than 180% faster than the global average and the country was more than 70% faster than the global average for fixed broadband. Switzerland’s mobile and fixed broadband download speeds were close to 100% faster than the global average.

Chile and Thailand are in a quadrant that shows both had faster than average fixed broadband download speeds, but their mobile download speeds were slower than the global average in July 2021. Australia, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Saudi Arabia were in the opposite quadrant with faster than average mobile speeds and below average fixed broadband speeds.

Comparing the chart for July 2021 to that of July 2020, we saw a wide variety of outcomes. Countries with increases compared to the global average on mobile and fixed broadband included Australia, Cyprus, Denmark, Hong Kong, Romania and the U.A.E. Chile and Norway showed dramatic increases compared to the global average on fixed broadband and declines on mobile. Bulgaria, China, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Switzerland increased on mobile but showed little change on fixed. South Korea and Qatar increased on mobile compared to the global average and declined on fixed. Singapore and Thailand declined on both mobile and fixed broadband compared to the global average.

We’re interested to see how global speeds and rankings change over time as individual countries and their providers choose to invest in different technologies. Track your country’s performance using monthly updates on the Speedtest Global Index. Check the Ookla 5G Map™ for up-to-date information on 5G deployments where you live, and if you want more in-depth analyses, subscribe to Ookla Research™.

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

Global Speeds

About the Author

Isla McKetta

Ookla Research™ Articles
| September 4, 2019

In-Depth Analysis of Changes in World Internet Performance Using the Speedtest Global Index

Global Speeds

A lot has changed in the two years since 2017 when we first began ranking mobile and fixed broadband speeds of countries around the world with the Speedtest Global IndexTM. 5G is being deployed around the world and fiber continues to make gigabit speeds a reality in more and more countries. We’ve been tracking it all and are here to report on how much speeds have increased, which countries are leading internet performance and which are falling behind, and what trends we see across continents.

World mobile speed increased 21.4% with fixed broadband up 37.4%

World-Download-Speeds-2019-OG2

Looking just at the last year, the world’s mean download speed over mobile increased 21.4% from 22.81 Mbps in July 2018 to 27.69 Mbps in July 2019. Mean upload speed over mobile increased 18.1% from 9.13 Mbps to 10.78 Mbps. The world average for download speed over fixed broadband increased 37.4% from 46.48 Mbps in July 2018 to 63.85 Mbps in July 2019. Mean upload speed over fixed broadband increased 48.9% from 22.52 Mbps to 33.53 Mbps.

Shake-ups in the country rankings for internet performance

Fastest-Countries-Mobile-2018-2019

Mobile speeds in the fastest countries have skyrocketed in the past year which has dramatically shifted the rankings. South Korea, which was not even in the top ten a year ago, saw a 165.9% increase in mean download speed over mobile during the past 12 months, in large part due to 5G. Switzerland’s mean download speed increased 23.5%. Canada’s was up 22.2%, Australia 21.2%, the Netherlands 17.3%, UAE 11.1%, Malta 10.3% and Norway 5.8%. Qatar remained in the top ten, although the country’s mean download speed over mobile actually dropped 1.4% from July 2018 to July 2019.

Individual mobile operators can make a huge difference in a country’s speeds. In 2017 we were excited to see Telenor uncap their mobile speeds, which drove Norway to the top of the Speedtest Global Index. A big part of South Korea’s mobile success in the past year is the way KT, LG U+ and SK Telecom banded together to release 5G at the same time. Switzerland has also benefited from 5G and Sunrise leads the country with 262 5G deployments across the country while Swisscomm has 52.

Fastest-Countries-Fixed-2018-2019

Fixed broadband rankings on the Speedtest Global Index have not changed as dramatically during the past 12 months as those on mobile. Singapore remains the fastest country with an increase in mean download speed over fixed broadband of 5.6%. Taiwan had the largest jump in speeds among the top 10 with a 166.5% improvement in fixed download speed between July 2018 and July 2019. Mean download speed over fixed broadband increased 52.4% in South Korea, 26.4% in Macau, 21.7% in Romania, 21.0% in Switzerland, 19.3% in the United States and 3.5% in Hong Kong.

Monaco and Andorra did not have enough tests to qualify for the Speedtest Global Index one year ago, but massive fixed broadband improvements in both countries inspired us to lower our test count threshold for inclusion and also share these smaller countries’ success stories.

Technologies paving the way: 5G and gigabit

The presence of 5G is not enough to change a market

As discussed above, 5G has the potential to rocket a country to the top of the mobile rankings on the Speedtest Global Index. In practice, we’ve seen 5G speeds that were over 1000% faster than those on LTE.

Mobile-Download-Speeds-by-Country

In reality, though, unless 5G is commercially available widely across a country and from all mobile operators (as was the case in South Korea), the change in speeds at the country level is not that significant. Though commercial 5G was launched widely across Switzerland by Sunrise and Swisscom in April 2019, the country’s mean download speed only increased 2.8% in the three months since. The average mobile download speed in the U.S. has actually declined slightly since 5G was initially deployed. This is because 5G is still only available in a very limited number of markets to consumers with 5G-capable devices.

Visit the Ookla 5G Map for the latest on 5G deployments across the globe.

Gigabit is a game-changer, if you can get it

Unlike 5G, fiber connections have been rolling out since 2007, opening up the possibility of gigabit-speed fixed broadband. That said, it’s costly and time-intensive to lay miles and miles of fiber so progress has varied widely across the globe.

Gigabit-Test---Performance_Singapore-1

Geographically small countries like Singapore have the advantage when it comes to fiber, because It’s easier and cheaper to lay fiber optic cable across the country’s small footprint. Singaporean internet service providers (ISPs) have used this advantage to go beyond mere gigabit and offer connections as fast as 10 Gbps. This is reflected both in Singapore’s dominance of the fixed rankings on the Speedtest Global Index and in the fact that 2.87% of their total Speedtest results over fixed broadband are gigabit-speed (800 Mbps or higher).

Gigabit-Test---Performance_Brazil-1

Brazil offers a good contrast for how difficult it can be for gigabit to reach the masses. While the first Brazilian ISP to offer fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) initially did so in 2007, easy access to gigabit speeds was slow to follow. However, that may be starting to change. Between June and July 2019 we saw a large uptick in gigabit-speed results in Brazil, where the proportion of gigabit speed tests increased from 0.02% of total fixed broadband tests to 0.17%. This corresponded with a large increase in mean download speed at the country level.

Comparing world mobile and fixed broadband at a glance

We were curious to see just how different internet performance experiences were around the world, so we plotted average mobile download speed against average download speed on fixed broadband. All of the graphs below use a percentage difference from the global average, a number that changed between 2018 and 2019.

fade-Performance-vs-Global---Quadrant-All

Speed Leaders

There was not much change in the list of countries that showed above-average download speeds on both mobile and fixed broadband between July 2018 and July 2019, the “Speed Leaders.” What did change was that fixed broadband speeds increased significantly enough among the group to bring the whole pack closer to Singapore and Hong Kong. On the mobile axis, South Korea’s major increase in download speed made that country more of an outlier, pushing the boundaries of what great performance can look like.

Fixed-Focused countries

Between July 2018 and July 2019 we saw the number of countries considered to be “Fixed-Focused” (having faster download speeds over fixed broadband than the world average while their average mobile download speeds were slower than average) increase. Ireland was the only country that solidly fit this category in 2018. Thailand and Chile started near the midline for fixed speeds and below-average for mobile speeds in 2018. 2019 found both countries squarely in the Fixed-Focused category. Israel also edged into this category as their mobile download speed fell between July 2018 and 2019.

Mobile-Focused countries

The “Mobile-Focused” category saw the most movement between July 2018 and July 2019 as some countries (the UAE and Qatar) increased their fixed speeds sufficiently to join the Speed Leaders. Meanwhile, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s mobile download speed increased year-over-year to move them into the Mobile-Focused quadrant. Georgia’s mobile download speed decreased enough to move them from Mobile-Focused to Speed Laggers.

It will be interesting to see how many of these Mobile-Focused countries double down on their mobile investments and explore 5G alternatives to fixed broadband.

Speed Laggers

No country wants to be in the position of having slower than average mobile and fixed broadband speeds. We saw 57 countries in this “Speed Laggers” quadrant in July 2018 and 78 in July 2019. This increase is mostly due to our expansion of the number of countries we consider for the Speedtest Global Index based on test count. There were enough countries in this category that we’ve considered them separately by continent below.

Regional views of mobile and fixed broadband performance

Mobile-and-Fixed-Broadband-Improvement-by-Continent-02

We aggregated Speedtest results by continent to analyze mobile and fixed broadband performance by continent.

Mobile-and-Fixed-Performance-by-Continent-01

Asia had the highest percentage increase in mobile download speed followed by North America, Oceania, South America, Africa and Europe. Oceania had the fastest mean download speed in July 2019. North America placed second, Europe third, Asia fourth, South America fifth and Africa sixth.

On the fixed broadband side, South America saw the highest percentage increase in download speed. Asia came in second, Europe third, Africa fourth, North America fifth and Oceania sixth. North America had the fastest mean download speed in July 2019. Europe was second, Asia third, and Oceania fourth. As we saw with mobile, South America and Africa again ranked fifth and sixth, respectively.

A zoomed-in view of the speed quadrants separated by continent offers a more detailed view of each country’s role in these rankings.

Africa mostly lags in internet speeds

2019-Performance-vs-Global---Africa

In July 2019, all but two African countries in the Speedtest Global Index fell into the Speed Laggers category, having mobile and fixed broadband speeds that were below global averages. The exceptions were South Africa and Guinea, which both had fast enough mobile speeds to place them in the mobile-focused quadrant.

Asian markets show a wide breadth of internet performance

2019-Performance-vs-Global---Asia

Asia was the most diverse continent we examined in terms of internet performance. We saw a plurality of countries in each of the four quadrants in July 2019. Most of the Speed Leaders were in East Asia: China, Hong Kong (SAR), Japan, Macau (SAR), South Korea, and Taiwan. If we include Singapore, another Speed Leader, these are among the wealthiest nations in Asia (using GDP per capita). Two of Asia’s Fixed-Focused countries are in Southeast Asia (Malaysia and Thailand) and one is in the Middle East (Israel).

The Speed Laggers category contained countries from South Asia (including Afghanistan, India and Pakistan), Southeast Asia (Brunei, Cambodia, the Philippines and Vietnam) and the Middle East (Jordan). Mobile-Focused countries in Asia were mostly Middle Eastern, including Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

European mobile performance is mostly strong, fixed varies

2019-Performance-vs-Global---Europe

With the exception of Ireland, the European countries on the Speedtest Global Index fell into the Speed Leaders, Mobile-Focused, and Speed Laggers categories. All of the Speed Laggers (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia and the Ukraine) were from Eastern Europe. Countries from Southeast Europe (including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, Moldova, Serbia and Slovenia) and Central Europe (Austria and the Czech Republic) made up the bulk of the Mobile-Focused category.

Speed Leaders included countries from the Baltics (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), the Nordics (Denmark, Norway and Sweden), Central Europe (Poland and Romania), and Western Europe (including Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain).

North American internet performance is sharply divided

2019-Performance-vs-Global---North-America

Canada and the U.S. are the only two North American countries in the Speed Leaders category. Panama is the only North American country under Fixed-Focused. Mexico and all of the Central American countries fall into the Speed Laggers category. There are no North American countries that are Mobile-Focused.

Each country in Oceania has a very different internet story

2019-Performance-vs-Global---Ocean

Oceania is represented in three of the four quadrants: Speed Leaders (New Zealand), Mobile-Focused (Australia) and Speed Laggers (Papua New Guinea) with Fiji straddling the divide between Speed Laggers and Mobile-Focused.

South America mostly lags in mobile and fixed internet speeds

2019-Performance-vs-Global---South-America

Most of the South American countries represented on the Speedtest Global Index are in the Speed Laggers quadrant (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela). Chile is an exception, being part of the Fixed-Focused group, as is Uruguay which sits in Mobile-Focused.

Global internet speeds are improving on average and 5G and gigabit are compounding those advances where available. However, not all countries are benefitting equally. We’ll be interested to see how 5G continues to push mobile speeds in the next year and also whether 5G Wi-Fi becomes a game changer for fixed broadband. Remember to check the Speedtest Global Index on a monthly basis for updated country rankings. And take a Speedtest to make sure your experience is represented in your country’s averages.

Editor’s Note: This article was edited on September 10, 2019 to correct an error in the labeling on the first image. The colors in a later image were updated for consistency.

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

Global Speeds

About the Author

Isla McKetta

Ookla Research™ Articles
| March 13, 2020

Tracking COVID-19’s Impact on Global Internet Performance (Updated July 20)

Global Speeds

We are no longer updating this article as internet speeds in most countries have stabilized to pre-pandemic levels. For ongoing information about internet speeds in specific countries, visit the Speedtest Global IndexTM or contact our press team.

Ookla® closely monitored the impact of COVID-19 on the performance and quality of global mobile and broadband internet networks in the early days of the pandemic. We shared regular information based on Ookla data to assist in the understanding of this unprecedented situation. You can still download the July 20, 2020 CSV here which contains all the public data we tracked in this article. If you are looking for information on internet or online service outages, please check Downdetector®.

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

Global Speeds
Ookla for Good
coronavirus

About the Author

Ookla

Ookla Research™ Articles
| December 18, 2022

Stable and Expanding: The State of Worldwide 5G in 2022

Global Speeds


5G is no longer a new technology, however, consumers in many countries are still waiting to see the full benefits of 5G (or even to connect to 5G at all). We examined Speedtest Intelligence® data from Q3 2022 Speedtest® results to see how 5G performance has changed since last year, where download speeds are the fastest at the country level, and how satellite technologies are offering additional options to connect. We also looked at countries that don’t yet have 5G to understand where consumers are seeing improvements in 4G LTE access.

5G speeds were stable at the global level

Graphic of 5G median speed performance worldwide.

In 2021, we discussed how an expansion of 5G access led to a decline in overall speed at the global level. This year showed a stabilization in overall speed, even as 5G access broadened, with a median global 5G download speed of 168.27 Mbps in Q3 2022 as compared to 166.13 Mbps in Q3 2021. Median upload speed over 5G slowed slightly to 18.71 Mbps (from 21.08 Mbps) during the same period. According to the Ookla® 5G Map™, there were 127,509 5G deployments in 128 countries as of November 30, 2022, compared to 85,602 in 112 countries the year prior.

South Korea and the United Arab Emirates led countries for 5G speeds

Chart of fastest countries for median 5G download speed

South Korea and the U.A.E. had the fastest median download speed over 5G at 516.15 Mbps and 511.70 Mbps, respectively, during Q3 2022, leading a top 10 list that included Bulgaria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Kuwait, New Zealand, Bahrain, and Brazil. Bulgaria, Singapore, Bahrain, and Brazil were new to the top 10 in 2022, while Norway, Sweden, China, and Taiwan fell out of the top 10.

Satellite became more accessible but performance slowed

2022 saw a proliferation of fast, low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite internet from Starlink across the world. Q1 2022 saw Starlink speeds increase year over year in Canada and the U.S., with Starlink in Mexico having the fastest satellite internet in North America, Starlink in Lithuania the fastest in Europe, Starlink in Chile the fastest in South America, and Starlink in Australia the fastest in Oceania.

Q2 2022 saw Starlink speeds decrease in Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand, the U.K., and the U.S. from Q1 2022 as Starlink crossed the 400,000 user threshold across the world. Starlink in Puerto Rico debuted as the fastest satellite provider in North America. Starlink outperformed fixed broadband averages in 16 European countries. Starlink in Brazil had the fastest satellite speeds in South America. And Starlink in New Zealand was the fastest satellite provider in Oceania.

During Q3 2022, Starlink performance dipped once again from Q2 2022 in Canada and the U.S., while remaining about the same in Chile. Starlink in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands had the fastest satellite speeds in North America, while Starlink in Brazil again was the fastest satellite provider in South America.

With Viasat, HughesNet, and Project Kuiper set to launch huge LEO constellations in 2023, consumers around the world are poised to have more fast satellite internet options, particularly as the European Commission makes its own play for a constellation and Eutelsat and OneWeb potentially merging.

5G Availability points to on-going challenges

5G Availability measures the proportion of Speedtest users with 5G-capable handsets, who spend a majority of time connected to 5G networks. It’s therefore a function of 5G coverage and adoption. We see wide disparity in 5G Availability among markets worldwide, with for example the U.S. recording 54.3% in Q3 2022, well ahead of markets such as Sweden and the U.A.E., with 8.6% and 8.3% respectively.

Chart of 5G availability in select markets, based on users with 5G-capable handsets

Critical levers for mobile operators to increase 5G Availability include:

  • Increasing 5G coverage by deploying additional base stations
  • Obtaining access to, or refarming, sub-GHz spectrum, to help broaden 5G coverage, as sub-GHz spectrum has superior propagation properties than that of higher frequency spectrum bands.
  • Encouraging 5G adoption among users with 5G-capable handsets.

Speedtest Intelligence points to 5G adoption challenges in some markets, with 5G Availability dropping in Bulgaria, South Korea, the Netherlands, and the U.A.E. As more users acquire 5G-capable devices, operators need to balance their pricing models to ensure users have sufficient incentives to purchase a 5G tariff.

Chart of percentage change in 5G availability in select markets, based on users with 5G-capable handsets

Where 5G continues to fail to reach

Speedtest Intelligence showed 29 countries in the world where more than 20% of samples were from 2G and 3G connections (combined) during Q3 2022 and met our statistical threshold to be included (down from 70 in Q3 2021). These are mostly countries where 5G is still aspirational for a majority of the population, which is being left behind technologically, having to rely on decades-old technologies that are only sufficient for basic voice and texting, social media, and navigation apps. We’re glad to see so many countries fall off this list, but having so many consumers on 2G and 3G also prevents mobile operators from making 4G and 5G networks more efficient. If operators and regulators are able to work to upgrade their users to 4G and higher, everyone will benefit.

Countries That Still Rely Heavily on 2G and 3G Connections
Speedtest IntelligenceⓇ | Q3 2021
Country 2G & 3G Samples
Central African Republic 76.2%
Turkmenistan 58.5%
Kiribati 51.6%
Micronesia 47.4%
Rwanda 41.1%
Belarus 39.7%
Equatorial Guinea 37.7%
Afghanistan 36.7%
Palestine 33.5%
Madagascar 27.5%
Sudan 27.4%
Lesotho 26.5%
South Sudan 26.3%
Benin 26.0%
Guinea 25.5%
Cape Verde 24.3%
Tonga 24.3%
Syria 23.4%
The Gambia 23.4%
Ghana 23.3%
Palau 22.9%
Niger 22.8%
Tajikistan 22.7%
Mozambique 22.4%
Guyana 21.8%
Togo 21.8%
Congo 21.1%
Moldova 20.8%
Saint Kitts and Nevis 20.0%

We were pleased to see the following countries come off the list from last year, having dropped below the 20% threshold: Algeria, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Barbados, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Burundi, Caribbean Netherlands, Cook Islands, Dominica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Gabon, Grenada, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Liberia, Mauritania, Namibia, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. While countries like Belarus, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Guinea, Guyana, Madagascar, Palestine, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tajikistan, Togo, and Turkmenistan are still on this list, they have improved the percentage of their samples on these outmoded technologies when compared to last year by at least 10 points. Palestine improved by more than 50 points. 2G and 3G samples in Kiribati increased 3.2 points when comparing Q3 2022 to Q3 2021.

We’re glad to see performance levels normalize as 5G expands to more and more countries and access improves and we are optimistic that 2023 will bring further improvements. Keep track of how well your country is performing on Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index™ or track performance in thousands of cities worldwide with the Speedtest Performance Directory™.

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

Global Speeds

About the Author

Isla McKetta

Ookla Research™ Articles
| April 19, 2021

Saudi 5G Is Fast, and New Spectrum Allocations Should Make it Faster

Spectrum

pdf_download_button_ar-1

Saudi Arabia has a new plan to allocate or improve 23 GHz of spectrum to boost 5G speeds and coverage and potentially best other countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), This region has been ahead of the 5G curve since early days with Qatar launching commercially available 5G in 2018 and Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates following soon after in 2019.

It’s good company to be in, but having such technologically advanced neighbors can obscure the progress Saudi Arabia has made and how well the country is doing compared with the world. This article looks at mobile speeds and 5G adoption in GCC countries and then closely examines Saudi mobile performance, including information on fastest providers, time spent on 5G and how the new spectrum could improve performance.

UAE has fastest mobile speeds in GCC, Saudi Arabia third

ookla_median-mobile-speeds_gcc_0421_en
There was a wide range of median mobile speeds across the GCC over the past year, despite 5G presence in nearly all of the countries. United Arab Emirates (UAE) consistently had the fastest median download speed over mobile, with 100.99 Mbps during Q1 2021. Qatar was second with 90.92 Mbps during Q1 2021 and Saudi Arabia was third (67.61 Mbps). Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain formed a tight group at the bottom of the rankings with median download speeds of 42.52 Mbps, 37.52 Mbps and 36.76 Mbps, respectively, during Q1 2021. Of these countries, only Oman did not have commercially-available 5G until 2021.

Kuwait showed the largest increase in median download speed among GCC countries when comparing Q1 2020 to Q1 2021 at 84.0%. UAE saw the second largest increase (61.6%), Saudi Arabia third (48.2%), Qatar fourth (53.2%), Bahrain fifth (43.8%) and Oman sixth (21.6%).

Median upload speeds over mobile were much slower than download speeds in all GCC countries during 2020, as is often the case. UAE had the fastest upload speed during Q1 2021 at 23.62 Mbps. Qatar was second (21.96 Mbps), Saudi Arabia third (17.06 Mbps), Kuwait fourth (16.22 Mbps), Oman fifth (12.75 Mbps) and Bahrain sixth (10.17 Mbps).

5G adoption is highest in Saudi Arabia

The ratio of samples from devices that are connected to 5G to the number of samples from all 5G-capable devices speaks to the maturity of the 5G market in each country. Saudi Arabia had the highest ratio among GCC countries during Q1 2021. Qatar was second and UAE third, Kuwait fourth and Bahrain fifth. Oman, which only launched commercially-available 5G during Q1 2021, was a distant sixth.
ookla_5g-device-ratio_gcc_0421_en

Qatar had the highest 5G Availability

ookla_gcc_5g_availability_map_0421_en

One way to understand the state of a 5G network is by looking at 5G Availability — the proportion of users spending the majority of their time on 5G. Mobile users with 5G-capable devices in Qatar had the highest 5G Availability among GCC countries with 38.1% during Q1 2021. Saudi Arabia was second (31.9%), Kuwait third (31.8%), UAE fourth (30.5%) and Bahrain fifth (17.3%). 5G Availability in Oman, where 5G was not commercially available until Q1 2021, was 3.0%.

5G in Saudi Arabia is much faster than global average

ookla_5g-download-speed_saudi-arabia_world_0421_en

We compared Saudi Arabia’s median download speed over 5G with an average of 5G download speeds around the world during Q1 2021 and found that Saudi Arabia’s 5G is 127% faster at 322.42 Mbps.

stc was the fastest operator in Saudi Arabia, Mobily had highest rating and NPS

Speedtest Consumer Sentiment™ data provides rich insights into customer satisfaction over time, as well as competitive benchmarking, by providing data on both customers’ overall satisfaction with their network providers (based on a five-star scale) and Net Promoter Score (NPS). This data set is gathered from single-question surveys presented to users at the end of a Speedtest. Operators and government regulators across the globe use this data to monitor improvements over time. A comparison of Q1 2021 ratings data from Saudi Arabia’s top providers to their speeds during the same period, we can explore the relationship between customer satisfaction and network performance.

ookla_median-mobile-speeds_saudi-arabia_0421_en

There was a wide spread among download speeds for Saudi Arabian mobile operators during Q1 2021 with stc showing the fastest median download and upload speeds at 76.81 Mbps and 19.71 Mbps, respectively. Mobily was second for download and upload speeds (62.36 Mbps and 13.29 Mbps, respectively) and Zain third (39.62 Mbps and 11.29 Mbps, respectively).

Mobily had the highest rating and the highest NPS among top providers in Saudi Arabia in Q1 2021. Substantively, there was not enough difference between the ratings of stc and Zain to determine a second and third ranking. stc was second for NPS and Zain third. It’s worth noting that the NPS was negative for all three operators, indicating that users were not likely on average to recommend the service to friends or family.

How Saudi Arabia will use additional spectrum to maximize performance

On March 30, Saudi Arabia’s Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) released the 3-year “Outlook for Commercial and Innovative Use of the Spectrum in Saudi Arabia.” The program includes a plan to make more than 23 GHz of spectrum available for innovative and commercial use: 4 GHz licensed, 6.2 GHz unlicensed and more than 13 GHz of lightly licensed spectrum. This balanced approach should maintain protection of key uses in their primary bands while supporting a range of technologies, including: mobile, satellite — including non-geostationary satellite orbit (NGSO), high altitude platform station (HAPS), air to ground and Wi-Fi/WiGig.

CITC will allocate the 600 MHz and 3800 – 4000 MHz bands for mobile use in 2021. The sub-1 GHz should help Saudi operators maximize the distance their 5G signals can travel as T-Mobile has done in the U.S.. This is important in a country with vast areas to span between major cities.

Meanwhile, the addition of the 3800 – 4000 MHz band to the already provided 3400-3800 MHz in the C-band should enable operators to add massive capacity to their networks and leverage the fully market-tested network infrastructure as well as a plethora of 5G capable devices. Specifically, with the recent mobile chipsets capable of FDD+TDD NR Carrier Aggregation, these provide a stepping stone and a smooth transition to standalone 5G, and allow operators to deploy an ideal mix of 5G coverage and capacity.

Saudi Arabia and the GCC as a whole are interesting markets to watch and we’ll continue using data from Speedtest Intelligence® to see if Saudi performance continues to improve and how the rankings shift as Oman ramps up their 5G program. For sneak peeks at how countries around the world are performing on a monthly basis, visit the Speedtest Global Index™.

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

Spectrum

About the Author

Isla McKetta

Ookla Research™ Articles
| February 22, 2021

Revisiting iPhone 12 5G Performance Across the Globe

Devices


As we previously covered, the iPhone 12 is finally allowing Apple enthusiasts to connect to 5G. We’re back with fresh data to see how user adoption and new 5G rollouts have affected performance worldwide.

Unique 5G-capable device counts have leveled off

After the launch of various iPhone 12 models, the daily count of unique devices worldwide that are capable of connecting to 5G spiked significantly compared to the year as a whole. The daily trend of unique 5G-capable devices as a percentage of the whole year is dramatically higher than before the iPhone 12 models launched, but has remained relatively steady since December.
Daily-Trend_5G-Capable-Devices_Year_0221

Pro 5G and Pro Max 5G are the most popular iPhone 12 models

We looked again at Speedtest® results from the launch date of each model, this time including data through the end of January, to see which iPhone 12 models are the most popular. This time we added five additional cities for a total of 20 major cities across the globe. We still found that most Speedtest users have opted for the “Pro” models.

The iPhone 12 Pro Max 5G showed the highest number of samples among iPhone models in Bangkok, Kuwait City, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Riyadh, Hong Kong, New York, London, Madrid and Sydney. This was a change for both London and Madrid, which had previously had more samples from the iPhone 12 Pro 5G.

The iPhone 12 Pro 5G showed the most samples in Seoul, Zürich, Berlin, Amsterdam, Warsaw, Helsinki, Rome, Barcelona and Tokyo. While the more affordable models were less popular than the Pro models across all the cities on our list, the iPhone 12 Mini saw the most adoption in Tokyo and the iPhone 12 5G saw the most adoption in Rome and Madrid.
iPhone-12-Model-Popularity_0221

Seoul tops list of iPhone 12 5G speeds

As before, we analyzed Speedtest Intelligence® data for iPhone 12 devices in these 20 cities and found that Seoul had the fastest median speed over 5G, followed by several of the major cities of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), namely Kuwait City, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Riyadh.

It is also interesting to observe that, in the highly dynamic European market where many different network rollout approaches are possible, 5G download speeds in seven of nine European cities fell between 135-160 Mbps range on the iPhone 12. Helsinki and Warsaw were the exceptions in Europe, with 241.98 and 61.14 Mbps median download speeds, respectively.
iPhone-12-5G-Median-Speeds_0221

Operator breakdown: iPhone 12 performance in select cities

We also expanded our operator analysis to 10 cities. The following charts include median 5G speeds over iPhone 12 models of top operators with sufficient samples.

Operator rankings did not change in the four cities we previously analyzed. LG U+ in Seoul, China Mobile Hong Kong in Hong Kong and KPN Mobile in Amsterdam still had the fastest median 5G download speeds over the iPhone 12 in their local markets.
iPhone-12-5G-Median-Speeds_Seoul_0221-1

iPhone-12-5G-Median-Speeds_Hong-Kong_0221

iPhone-12-5G-Median-Speeds_Amsterdam_0221

iPhone-12-5G-Median-Speeds_Madrid_0221

Barcelona showed similar speeds by operator to those in Madrid. We could not yet determine whether Vodafone or Orange’s 5G networks were fastest for iPhone 12, but both providers had a solid lead over Movistar in both Madrid and Barcelona.
iPhone-12-5G-Median-Speeds_Barcelona_0221

United Arab Emirates was the fastest country for mobile according to the January 2021 Speedtest Global Index™. As the capital and the second most populous city in the country, Abu Dhabi contributed to this average with median 5G download speeds of 396.06 Mbps on the iPhone 12 for Etisalat and 211.83 Mbps for du.
iPhone-12-5G-Median-Speeds_Abu-Dhabi_0221

In Bangkok, AIS showed the highest median 5G download speed over the iPhone 12 at 362.68 Mbps. TrueMove H followed at 242.22 Mbps. These two operators also had the highest number of Speedtest results over iPhone 12 among all operators analyzed for this article. Another popular operator in the region, DTAC, is not included in the chart due to limited iPhone 12 5G samples.
iPhone-12-5G-Median-Speeds_Bangkok_0221

Data from Speedtest Intelligence reveals that Sunrise had the fastest median 5G download speed over iPhone 12 by a considerable margin at 328.32 Mbps.
iPhone-12-5G-Median-Speeds_Zurich_0221

Telekom in Berlin comfortably had the fastest median 5G download speed over iPhone 12 at 249.16 Mbps.
iPhone-12-5G-Median-Speeds_Berlin_0221

As mentioned above, median 5G speeds over iPhone 12 lagged in Warsaw when compared with other European cities analyzed. This is likely due to the fact that the auction of 3.4-3.8 GHz bands did not take place as planned in Poland because of the pandemic. As of this analysis, Orange and T-Mobile’s 5G speeds for iPhone 12 devices were faster than Play, which trailed with 42.53 Mbps. We also saw 5G tests from Plus in Speedtest Intelligence, but the operator is not included in the above chart due to lack of iPhone 12 samples compared to other operators.
iPhone-12-5G-Median-Speeds_Warsaw_0221

We will continue to monitor how Apple’s 5G-capable devices impact the global market. Contact us to learn more about how Speedtest Intelligence can help you understand the latest developments in your market.

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.

Devices

About the Author

Erdem Koc

Ookla Research™ Articles
| December 20, 2021

Growing and Slowing: The State of 5G Worldwide in 2021

Global Speeds


5G continues to offer new and exciting ways of rethinking everything from streaming video to performing remote surgery. However, not everyone shares equally in these possibilities as many countries do not have access to 5G and even those that do, do not experience the same level of performance from their 5G connections. We examined Speedtest Intelligence® data from Q3 2021 Speedtest® results to see how 5G speeds have changed, where download speeds are the fastest at the country and capital level, where 5G deployments have increased and what worldwide 5G Availability looked like in Q3 2021. We also looked at countries that don’t yet have 5G to understand where consumers are seeing improvements in 4G access.

5G slowed down at the global level

Median-Speeds-Worldwide_1221-01

It’s common to see new mobile access technologies slow down as adoption scales, particularly early on in the tech cycle. Over the past year from Q3 2020 to Q3 2021, the median global 5G download speed fell to 166.13 Mbps, down from 206.22 Mbps in Q3 2020. Median upload speed over 5G also slowed to 21.08 Mbps (from 29.52 Mbps) during the same period.

More users are logging on to existing 5G networks, and we’re also at the stage in the evolution of 5G where countries that have historically had slower speeds are starting to offer 5G. In addition, the widespread use of dynamic spectrum sharing that has been used to boost early 5G coverage weighs on 5G download speeds. While the dip in speeds looks like a letdown, it’s more of a compromise to enable broader access. With additional spectrum and further deployments slated for 2022, we anticipate speeds will begin to pick up again.

South Korea had the fastest 5G in the world

ookla_5g-download_performance_countries_1221-01-1

South Korea had the fastest median download speed over 5G during Q3 2021, leading a top 10 list that included Norway, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Sweden, China, Taiwan and New Zealand. Sweden, China, Taiwan and New Zealand were new to the top 10 in 2021 while South Africa (whose 5G was brand new last year), Spain and Hungary fell out of the top 10.

5G expanded to 13 additional countries

ookla_5G-map_1221-01

According to the Ookla® 5G Map™, there were 5G deployments in 112 countries as of November 30, 2021. That’s up from 99 countries on the same date a year ago. The total number of deployments increased dramatically during the same time period with 85,602 deployments on November 30, 2021 compared to 17,428 on November 30, 2020, highlighting the degree to which 5G networks scaled during the year. Note that there are often multiple deployments in a given city.

Seoul and Oslo lead world capitals for 5G

ookla_5g-download_performance_capitals_1221-01

Speedtest Intelligence data from Q3 2021 shows a wide range of median 5G speeds among global capitals. Seoul, South Korea and Oslo, Norway were in the lead with 530.83 Mbps and 513.08 Mbps, respectively; Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Doha Qatar followed. Brasilia, Brazil had the slowest median download speed over 5G on our list, followed by Warsaw, Poland; Cape Town, South Africa and Rome, Italy. Stockholm, Sweden and Oslo, Norway had some of the the fastest median upload speeds over 5G at 56.26 Mbps and 49.95 Mbps, respectively, while Cape Town had the slowest at 14.53 Mbps.

The U.S. had the highest 5G Availability

The presence of 5G is only one indicator in a market, because even in markets where 5G has launched, coverage and adoption can be pretty low. We analyzed 5G Availability to see what percent of users on 5G-capable devices spent the majority of their time on 5G, both roaming and on-network during Q3 2021.

ookla_5g-availability_countries_1221-01

The United States had the highest 5G Availability at 49.2%, followed by the Netherlands (45.1%), South Korea (43.8%), Kuwait (35.5%) and Qatar (34.8%). Brazil had the lowest 5G Availability on our list at 0.8%, followed by Sweden (1.5%), South Africa (2.7%), New Zealand (2.9%) and Hungary (3.6%).

Not all 5G networks are created equal

Ookla Speedtest Intelligence data shows a growing disparity in the performance of 5G networks worldwide, even among the pioneer markets who were among the first to launch the new technology. We see leading markets such as South Korea, Norway, the UAE and China pulling well ahead of key European markets, the U.S. and Japan on 5G download speeds, creating what increasingly looks like two tiers of 5G markets.

ookla_5g-download_performance_1221-01

Part of the reason for this divergence is access to key 5G spectrum bands, with Verizon and AT&T in the U.S. for example, soon to deploy their C-band spectrum holdings for 5G use. However, what really seems to separate these markets is the level of 5G network densification. The number of people per 5G base station ranges from 319 in South Korea and 1,531 in China, to 4,224 in the EU and 6,590 in the US, according to the European 5G Observatory’s International Scoreboard during October 2021.

Despite the noise around 6G, 5G still has a long way to run

Median 5G mobile download speeds across these markets are respectable relative to the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) IMT-2020 target of 100 Mbps for user experienced download data rates. However, 5G Speedtest® results in each market demonstrate significant variability, with the bottom 10th percentile only recording speeds in excess of the IMT-2020 target in South Korea and Norway, and falling significantly short in many other markets, with Spain, Italy and the U.S. below 20 Mbps.

The story gets worse for upload speeds, where no market’s median speed broke the IMT-2020 recommended 50 Mbps, and where the bottom 10th percentile lay in single digits across the board. Operators are clearly prioritizing download speeds over upload, which makes sense given the asymmetric nature of demand, with most consumer applications requiring higher download speeds. However, as operators increasingly look to target the enterprise market with 5G connectivity and consumer demand for services such as video calling and mobile gaming continues to rise, operators will need to boost upload speeds.

ookla_5g-upload_performance_1221-01-1

Demand for mobile internet bandwidth continues to grow, up 43% year-on-year in Q3 2021 according to Ericsson’s latest mobility report. Looking ahead to 2022, operators will need to increase the capacity of their 5G networks to tackle this growing demand while driving network speeds to new heights. We’ve seen the impact the deployment of new spectrum can have on congested networks during 2021, with Reliance Jio witnessing a bump in 4G LTE performance and consumer sentiment following its acquisition of additional spectrum in India.

Where 5G still fails to reach

Speedtest Intelligence showed 70 countries in the world where more than 20% of samples were from 2G and 3G connections (combined) during Q3 2021 and met our statistical threshold to be included. These are mostly countries where 5G is still aspirational for a majority of the population. As excited as we are about the expansion of 5G, we do not want to see these countries left behind. Not only are 2G and 3G decades old, they are only sufficient for basic voice and texting, social media and navigation apps. To deliver rich media experiences or video calling, users need access to 4G or higher. Having so many consumers on 2G and 3G also prevents mobile operators from refarming that spectrum to make 4G and 5G networks more efficient.

Countries That Still Rely Heavily on 2G and 3G Connections
Speedtest IntelligenceⓇ | Q3 2021
Country 2G & 3G Samples
Central African Republic 89.9%
Palestine 84.7%
Yemen 72.4%
Turkmenistan 71.8%
Micronesia 56.3%
Madagascar 55.0%
Belarus 53.2%
Rwanda 51.7%
Kiribati 48.4%
Equatorial Guinea 47.6%
Afghanistan 44.4%
South Sudan 43.4%
Guyana 42.3%
Guinea 37.0%
Angola 36.8%
Cape Verde 35.9%
Tajikistan 35.6%
Zimbabwe 34.7%
Benin 34.4%
Togo 33.8%
Ghana 33.0%
Sierra Leone 31.7%
Antigua and Barbuda 30.2%
Vanuatu 30.1%
Lesotho 30.0%
Syria 29.6%
Moldova 29.4%
Saint Kitts and Nevis 28.9%
Mozambique 28.8%
Sudan 28.4%
Palau 28.3%
Grenada 28.1%
Tanzania 27.6%
Uganda 27.5%
Niger 27.5%
Gabon 27.5%
Haiti 27.4%
Suriname 27.4%
Tonga 27.3%
Liberia 27.0%
Namibia 26.7%
Swaziland 26.5%
The Gambia 26.3%
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 26.3%
Dominica 26.3%
Somalia 26.1%
Cook Islands 26.0%
Zambia 25.9%
Barbados 25.7%
Armenia 25.5%
Algeria 25.4%
Papua New Guinea 25.2%
Jamaica 24.5%
Venezuela 24.2%
Ethiopia 24.1%
Uzbekistan 24.0%
El Salvador 23.5%
Honduras 23.1%
Nigeria 23.0%
Solomon Islands 22.8%
Caribbean Netherlands 22.7%
Botswana 22.3%
Anguilla 21.7%
Mauritania 20.6%
Saint Lucia 20.5%
Bosnia and Herzegovina 20.3%
Burundi 20.3%
Ecuador 20.2%
Ukraine 20.1%
Trinidad and Tobago 20.0%

We were pleased to see the following countries come off the list from last year, having dropped below the 20% threshold: Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belize, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, DR Congo, Iraq, Kenya, Laos, Libya, Maldives, Mali, Mauritius, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Tunisia. While countries like Palestine, Suriname, Ethiopia, Haiti and Antigua and Barbuda are still on this list, they have improved the percentage of their samples on these outmoded technologies when compared to last year (dropping 10-15 points, respectively), 2G and 3G samples in Belarus increased 6.7 points when comparing Q3 2021 to Q3 2020.

We’re excited to see how performance levels will normalize as 5G expands to more and more countries and access improves. Keep track of how well your country is performing on Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index™.

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

Global Speeds
Consumer

About the Author

Isla McKetta

Ookla Research™ Articles
| December 10, 2020

Massive Expansions and Huge Improvements in Speed: The Worldwide Growth of 5G in 2020

Global Speeds

The rapid expansion of 5G in countries across the globe was a bright spot in a year that needed one. But just how great is the news? We examined Speedtest Intelligence® data from over 60.5 million Speedtest® results during Q3 2020 to see how much speeds have improved, where download speeds are the fastest at the country and capital level, where 5G deployments have increased and what worldwide 5G coverage looks like now. We also looked at countries where 5G doesn’t yet reach to understand where good news might be on the horizon.

We have only included countries with commercially available 5G on these lists in order to provide a more accurate view of the performance consumers can reasonably expect. While our data shows results for many countries where 5G is not yet commercially available, these tests are likely results from engineers testing their own networks. In addition, we’re only providing analysis for countries with more than 200 samples during Q3 2020. The bars shown in our charts are 95% confidence intervals, which represent the range of values in which the true value is likely to be. Countries marked in tables with an asterisk first launched 5G commercially in 2020.

5G downloads were 954% faster than 4G at the global level

The worldwide median download speed over 5G was 954% faster than that over 4G during Q3 2020. Median upload speed over 5G was 311% faster than that over 4G. Consumers are eagerly adopting the new technology and many have wanted to measure the full throughput capacity of their network connection. In Q3 2020 alone, there were 4,324,788 Speedtest results over 5G.
Median-Speeds-Worldwide_1220-1

United Arab Emirates had the fastest 5G

United Arab Emirates topped the list of countries with the fastest top 10% 5G download speed in Q3 2020. Top 10% (or 90th percentile) measures the speeds seen by the fastest 10% of users and is a way to gauge what each country’s networks are capable of. Saudi Arabia was second for top 10% 5G download speed, Norway third, Spain fourth and Japan fifth.
Fastest-Countries-Top-5G-Download-Speed_1220-2

Another way to measure 5G performance is to look at median 5G download speed, which is a better predictor of the kind of performance most 5G customers can expect. Norway was the country with the fastest median download speed over 5G during Q3 2020. U.A.E. was second in this category, South Africa third, Saudi Arabia fourth and Spain fifth.
Fastest-Countries-Median-5G-Download-Speed_1220-2

It’s notable that Japan was on the list of 10 countries with the fastest top 10% 5G download speed but not on the list of 10 countries with the fastest median download speed over 5G. No matter how fast a country’s mobile infrastructure is, many other factors go into median 5G speeds, including device adoption and spectrum allocation.

Abu Dhabi tops list of 5G speeds in world capitals

Our examination of 5G performance for 18 world capital cities with 5G during Q3 2020 found that Abu Dhabi had the fastest median download speed over 5G at 546.81 Mbps. Riyadh was second, Madrid third, Seoul fourth and Kuwait City fifth. As we saw at the country level, median upload speed was much lower than download speed.
Median-5G-Performance-Capitals_1220-2

How 5G performance and time spent compare within regions

We looked more closely at 5G performance across several intergovernmental organizations and trade blocs to get a better sense of how countries are performing in comparison to their neighbors and trade partners. We also calculated Time Spent on 5G, the proportion of time that users with 5G-capable devices spent on 5G, for each country.

Italy had the fastest 5G among G7 countries, U.S. the slowest

Italy had the fastest median download speed over 5G of all the G7 countries. Japan was second, Canada third, the U.K. fourth and Germany fifth. The U.S. had the highest Time Spent on 5G, followed by Canada. For a deeper analysis of 5G in the U.K., read our previous coverage. Because France launched commercially available 5G only within the last couple of weeks, we have not included it on this table.
5G-Performance-G7-Countries_1220

South Africa was the only country in the African Union with sufficient 5G to rate

As we saw above, South Africa’s impressive median download speed over 5G ranked the country third in the world during Q3 2020. South Africa was only one of two countries in the African Union to have commercially available 5G during Q3 2020. The other, Madagascar, did not have sufficient samples to properly analyze. Time Spent on 5G in South Africa was very low, an indication that 5G is not yet widely available there.
5G-Performance-Africa_1220

South Korea had the fastest 5G in APEC countries, U.S. the slowest

A median download speed over 5G of 411.11 Mbps put South Korea comfortably at the top of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries with the fastest 5G during Q3 2020. Thailand was second, Australia third, China fourth and Taiwan fifth. 5G speeds represented the largest improvement over 4G in the Philippines where the median download speed over 4G during Q3 2020 (9.36 Mbps) was substantially lower than that of other countries on this list.

South Korea and the U.S. tied for highest Time Spent on 5G among APEC countries during Q3 2020, followed by Hong Kong and Taiwan.
5G-Performance-APEC_1220

Spain had the fastest 5G in the E.U., Poland the slowest

Spain showed the fastest median download speed over 5G among the 11 European Union (E.U.) countries with sufficient 5G samples to rank during Q3 2020. Hungary was second, Finland third, Romania fourth and Ireland fifth. Spain’s median download speed over 5G also represented the largest gain over 4G among all of these countries, partially because Spain had the second slowest median download speed over 4G. France is not included on this list because 5G did not become commercially available in the country until after Q3 2020.

The Netherlands had the highest Time Spent on 5G among E.U. countries during Q3 2020, indicating that customers with 5G phones are able to spend far more time on 5G there than in other E.U. countries. Denmark was second for Time Spent on 5G among EU countries in Q3 2020 and Finland third.
5G-Performance-EU_1220

U.A.E had the fastest 5G in Gulf Cooperation Council Countries

With the second fastest median download speed over 5G in the world, U.A.E. was also the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) country with the fastest 5G during Q3 2020. Saudi Arabia was second and Qatar third. While Oman does have commercially available 5G, there were insufficient samples in the country during Q3 2020 to properly analyze performance.

5G represented the largest improvement over 4G in Kuwait and Bahrain, countries that had slower median download speeds over 4G than their neighbors.

Time Spent on 5G was relatively high in all the GCC countries on this list, except Bahrain, when compared to other countries in the world during Q3 2020. Qatar showed the highest Time Spent on 5G among GCC countries in Q3 2020 at 16.0%. U.A.E. was second and Saudi Arabia third.
5G-Performance-GCC_1220

Brazil was the only MERCOSUR country with sufficient 5G to rate

Brazil’s median download speed over 5G of 84.60 Mbps during Q3 2020 may not seem fast for 5G, but it still puts Brazil well ahead of other countries in the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR), most of which do not yet have 5G at all. We did see 5G results in Colombia, but there were insufficient samples to properly compare.

Time Spent on 5G in Brazil during Q3 2020 was not quite one percent, indicating that customers do not have much access to 5G yet.
5G-Performance-MERCOSUR_1220

The U.S., Europe and Asia see widespread 5G coverage

Data from Cell Analytics™ shows a global view of 5G coverage in Q3 2020. This map, based on 5G connectivity data for opted-in Speedtest users, shows that 5G is spreading rapidly across the U.S., Europe, the Arabian Peninsula and Asia. In other regions, 5G is primarily available in larger cities, if at all.
Global-5G-Coverage_1220

99 countries worldwide had 5G, in 14,643 total cities

The number of countries with 5G deployments increased 62.3% between Q3 2019 and Q3 2020, with 99 countries having 5G deployments at the end of Q3 2020, according to the Ookla 5G Map™. There were 14,643 cities worldwide with 5G deployments at the end of Q3 2020, a 1,671% increase over Q3 2019. The total number of deployments worldwide was 17,046. The counts here and throughout this section include commercially available 5G as well as 5G networks with limited availability and those in pre-release.

Countries with the Most 5G Cities
Ookla 5G Map™ | Q3 2020
Country Numbers of Cities with 5G
United States 7,583
Germany 2,312
Austria 1,104
Netherlands* 1,009
Switzerland 554
Thailand* 325
Ireland 214
Puerto Rico 187
United Kingdom 169
Kuwait 97

The U.S. had the most cities with 5G deployments at the end of Q3 2020 with 7,583. Germany was second, Austria third, the Netherlands fourth and Switzerland fifth. A deployment is when a provider has some level of 5G presence in a city. A city can have multiple deployments when more than one provider is present.

Countries with the Largest Growth in Number of Deployments
Ookla 5G Map™ | Q3 2020
Country 5G Deployments as of Q3 2020 % Change Q3 2020 vs Q3 2019
Netherlands* 1,071 50,350%
Thailand* 451 32,401%
United States 7,808 21,566%
Germany 2,417 11,460%
Canada* 93 7,600%
Austria 1,173 4,918%
Ireland 236 4,180%
Poland 81 3,150%
Japan* 75 2,050%
Oman 50 2,000%

The Netherlands showed the largest percentage change in the number of 5G deployments between Q3 2019 and Q3 2020 with a 50,350% jump from two deployments in Q3 2019 to 1,071 in Q3 2020. Thailand saw the second largest percentage increase, the U.S. third, Germany fourth and Canada fifth.

Most early trials and commercial deployments of 5G spectrum allocations around the world have been centered around fallow swaths of the mid-band (3.3 GHz – 4.2 GHz) spectrum. With the recent commercialization of Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) across all major 5G infrastructure vendors, there is now increasing demand for 5G support on many existing 4G frequencies, ranging from 600 MHz to 2.5 GHz. In unique 5G markets like Japan, there is an additional need for the 4.5 GHz band as well as the millimeter wave (FR2).

In the United States, early deployments leveraged millimeter wave frequency bands in the 28 GHz and the 39 GHz, which delivered impressive speeds in a very constrained footprint. The rapid 5G deployment in the 600 MHz band has added a substantial nationwide 5G footprint — and with that, much wider 5G availability for many more Americans. With the recent merger between T-Mobile and Sprint, the deployment of 2.5 GHz spectrum has been significantly accelerated, which should improve both network efficiency and user experience on T-Mobile’s network. Additionally, next year’s availability of 5G Carrier Aggregation will allow T-Mobile to combine 600 MHz with 2.5 GHz to deliver improved 5G speeds on top of the existing nationwide footprint. In addition, DSS has recently been deployed by AT&T and Verizon, which allows operators to choose from existing low-band spectrum assets (850 MHz) and deliver both LTE and 5G at the same time. This feature alone doesn’t add a significant boost in perceived user experience, but will certainly improve the 5G footprint.

China showed the highest percentage of 5G test samples

Another way to measure 5G adoption is to look at the proportion of samples taken over 5G relative to the total number of samples on all technologies. Speedtest Intelligence is uniquely positioned to measure global growth in 5G because of the worldwide adoption of Speedtest apps. China had the highest percentage of 5G Speedtest results compared to other mobile technology types in Q3 2020 at 18.9%. South Korea was second, Hong Kong third, Puerto Rico fourth and Qatar fifth.

Countries with the Most 5G
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q3 2020
Country 5G Samples as a % of Total
China 18.9%
South Korea 15.8%
Hong Kong (S.A.R.)* 7.9%
Puerto Rico 6.7%
Qatar 5.7%
United States 5.5%
Netherlands* 4.9%
United Arab Emirates 4.6%
Kuwait 4.6%
Australia 4.2%

What 5G will look like in 2021

With recently announced device chipset advancements expected in 2021, including 5G Carrier Aggregation, operators will be able to combine two 5G frequency bands in the sub-6GHz (FR1) range, allowing not only faster speeds, but also greater coverage. More importantly, the ability to combine Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) and Time Division Duplexing (TDD) FR1 channels will enable operators to leverage low-band frequencies (sub-1GHz) for uplink transmissions (user device to cell site), while combining the low-band with the mid-band (2.5 GHz, 3.5 GHz) on the downlink. This should significantly expand the availability of fast 5G download speeds across larger geographies.

Similarly, DSS — which is a stepping stone to standalone 5G and allows for the simultaneous delivery of 4G and 5G technology on the same spectrum slice — will enable operators to combine already-deployed FDD spectrum with dedicated mid-band spectrum for an enhanced standalone 5G experience. This will unlock the full potential of 5G networks, such as ultra low latency and network slicing, while delivering an improved mobile experience to users.

Where 5G fails to reach

During Q3 2020 Speedtest Intelligence showed 55 countries in the world (with more than 200 samples) where more than 20% of samples were from 2G and 3G connections (combined). These are countries where, in many cases, 5G is still aspirational. As excited as we are about the expansion of 5G, we do not want to see these countries left behind.

Countries That Still Rely Heavily on 2G and 3G Connections
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q3 2020
Country 2G & 3G Samples 4G Samples
Turkmenistan 74.9% 25.1%
Rwanda 52.3% 47.7%
Iraq 49.4% 50.6%
Belarus 46.5% 53.5%
Afghanistan 46.0% 54.0%
Antigua and Barbuda 40.2% 59.8%
Tajikistan 40.2% 59.8%
Suriname 39.7% 60.3%
Haiti 37.7% 62.3%
Syria 37.5% 62.5%
Ghana 36.0% 64.0%
Ethiopia 35.0% 65.0%
Mozambique 34.7% 65.3%
Benin 34.3% 65.7%
Angola 34.1% 65.9%
El Salvador 32.5% 67.5%
Moldova 31.8% 68.2%
Venezuela 30.3% 69.7%
Tanzania 30.0% 70.0%
Papua New Guinea 29.5% 70.5%
Jamaica 29.4% 70.6%
Sudan 29.2% 70.8%
Algeria 29.0% 71.0%
Namibia 28.5% 71.5%
Zimbabwe 28.5% 71.5%
Somalia 28.4% 71.6%
Nicaragua 28.1% 71.9%
Armenia 28.1% 71.9%
Bosnia and Herzegovina 28.1% 71.9%
Uzbekistan 27.8% 72.2%
Cameroon 27.5% 72.5%
Zambia 27.4% 72.6%
Uganda 26.6% 73.4%
Trinidad and Tobago 26.6% 73.4%
Honduras 26.5% 73.5%
Bangladesh 26.3% 73.7%
Burkina Faso 26.0% 74.0%
Ukraine 25.8% 74.2%
Nigeria 25.7% 74.3%
DR Congo 24.6% 75.4%
Costa Rica 24.3% 75.7%
Botswana 24.1% 75.9%
Libya 22.9% 77.1%
Azerbaijan 22.9% 77.1%
Ecuador 22.8% 77.2%
Mali 22.4% 77.6%
Mongolia 21.8% 78.2%
Maldives 21.6% 78.4%
Mauritius 21.3% 78.7%
Tunisia 21.0% 79.0%
Belize 20.7% 79.3%
Laos 20.5% 79.5%
Kenya 20.3% 79.7%
Paraguay 20.1% 79.9%
Côte d’Ivoire 20.0% 80.0%

In markets where 4G layers haven’t been deployed or substantially covered, end users fall back to the circuit-switched network (2G, 3G). These decades-old network technologies should be sufficient for basic voice and texting, social media, and navigation apps, but cannot deliver rich media experiences or video calling. Unfortunately, many countries on this list are places where consumers rely primarily on mobile phones for their internet connectivity.

5G is radically changing the speeds and capabilities of mobile networks around the world. If the current growth rate continues, it won’t be long before most nations have access to 5G. But there are nations and subsets of subscribers who may not see the benefits of 5G for years to come. We will continue reporting on 5G achievements across the globe and watching speeds in general on the Speedtest Global Index™.

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

Global Speeds

About the Author

Isla McKetta

Ookla Research™ Articles
| October 1, 2019

How 5G is Changing the Global Mobile Landscape

Global Speeds

Five months ago, we started using the Ookla 5G MapTM to track 5G across the world. In the months since, 5G deployments have increased exponentially — where we saw 294 around the world in May, today there are more than that in Switzerland alone. Today we’re exploring where 5G is gaining the most traction, including an analysis of how much faster 5G is than 4G in various markets.

Countries with the most 5G deployments

The Ookla 5G Map reveals that Switzerland is winning the race of 5G expansion with more than twice as many commercially available deployments as second-place South Korea. Kuwait has the third largest number of 5G deployments in the world.

Ookla_Countries-with-the-most-5G-deployments-2

It’s interesting to note that of the world’s six largest economies, three do not have commercially available 5G at all (China, Japan and India). China does have 29 locations where 5G is in pre-release (with 5G network hardware in place but not yet accessible to consumers). Japan is expected to launch 5G in 2020 and 5G will likely be available in India in 2021.

The other three largest economies (the U.S., Germany and the U.K.) do feature among the 10 countries with the most commercially available 5G deployments, although they individually have many fewer deployments than Switzerland, South Korea and Kuwait.

5G downloads are at least 300% faster than 4G

In theory, 5G could eventually offer download speeds about 1300% faster than those on 4G. Real-world factors affect those numbers, though, so we examined data from Speedtest IntelligenceTM to see what consumers actually experienced in several key markets between June and August 2019.

Comparing Mean Speeds on 5G and 4G
SpeedtestⓇ Results | June-August 2019
Country 4G Download (Mbps) 4G Upload (Mbps) 5G Download (Mbps) 5G Upload (Mbps) % Difference Download
Australia 60.59 16.37 258.18 33.25 326.1%
Bahrain 28.80 13.43 311.41 29.43 981.3%
Kuwait 34.02 18.36 352.93 23.24 937.4%
Qatar 62.27 17.57 303.57 36.78 387.5%
Saudi Arabia 42.11 16.50 395.04 33.75 838.1%
South Korea 64.79 14.66 393.07 30.33 506.7%
Switzerland 50.65 20.10 362.75 43.12 616.2%
United Arab Emirates 59.23 20.12 334.27 32.07 464.4%
United Kingdom 31.03 11.47 181.87 18.34 486.1%
United States 34.33 9.98 477.42 21.93 1290.7%

The mean download speed over 5G was fastest in the U.S. and also showed the largest percent difference when compared with mean download speed over 4G. Saudi Arabia had the second fastest mean download speed over 5G with South Korea coming in a close third. On the other end of the spectrum, the U.K. had the slowest mean download speed over 5G. Australia was the second slowest and Bahrain third slowest. Bahrain showed the second highest percent improvement when comparing 4G and 5G download speeds, though, and Kuwait was third. Australia showed the lowest percent increase between 4G and 5G download speeds and Qatar had the second lowest.

Mean upload speeds over 5G are less remarkable, though in almost every country we analyzed they represent a 50-120% improvement over those available on 4G. Kuwait was the exception, with only a 26.6% improvement in mean upload speed when using 5G rather than 4G. The U.S. and Bahrain were nearly tied for most improved with increases of 119.7% and 119.1%, respectively, when comparing mean upload speed on 5G to that on 4G. Switzerland had the fastest mean upload speed over 5G, Qatar was second and Saudi Arabia third. Mean upload speed over 5G was the slowest in the U.K., second slowest in the U.S. and third slowest in Kuwait.

5G Share of 4G/5G SpeedtestⓇ Samples
June-August 2019
Country % 5G
South Korea 12.72%
Australia 1.31%
United Arab Emirates 0.65%
Kuwait 0.64%
Switzerland 0.59%
Qatar 0.43%
United Kingdom 0.30%
United States 0.20%
Bahrain 0.09%
Saudi Arabia 0.03%

The 5G share of the tests taken on either 4G or 5G differs widely among the countries on our list. South Korea was clearly on top with 5G accounting for nearly 13% of Speedtest 4G/5G samples. This is not surprising given that one South Korean mobile operator already has 1 million 5G subscribers. Australia had the second largest percentage of 5G tests and the U.A.E. third. Saudi Arabia had the smallest percentage of 5G results.

OoklaⓇ is your go-to resource for ongoing 5G analysis

Ookla will continue to analyze 5G speeds as operators across the globe make this significant improvement in their networks. We’re uniquely capable of measuring 5G speeds because Speedtest uses a client and server testing engine capable of measuring high-speed connections (up to 10 Gbps) that dynamically scales the number of connections to the server in order to saturate and accurately measure the client-side connection. This allows us to measure the full extent of real-world performance and overcome the effects of network bottlenecks such as TCP slow start and means we are unique in our ability to measure 5G.

In addition, Ookla has partnered with operators and device manufacturers all over the world to implement accurate in-app 5G detection — even as Android Pie, which powers the current generation of 5G devices, does not natively identify 5G connection types. Through this approach, we’re able to properly configure the parameters of a Speedtest and measure 5G tests.

Keep watching this space for future analyses or contact us to learn more about how our data can help you.

To get a broader understanding of how 5G is changing the mobile landscape, read our previous coverage here:

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

Global Speeds

About the Author

Isla McKetta