Josh Fomon | April 15, 2021

Speedtest Global Index Market Analyses Now Available for 21 Countries

Speedtest Global Index^™ Market Analyses from Ookla® identify key data about internet performance in countries across the world. This quarter we’ve provided updated analyses for 21 markets about top mobile and fixed broadband providers as well as device and chipset manufacturers and some city-level data. Click a country in this list to see highlights or scroll through the article to learn about all 21 markets:

United States | Canada | China

Algeria

Mobile provider Ooredoo attained the best Speed Score^™ and Consistency Score^™ in Algeria during Q1 2021.
DJEZZY had the best 4G Availability in Algeria.
Devices from Apple provided the fastest mean download speeds in Algeria during Q1 2021 with 20.86 Mbps, 47.1% faster than Samsung.

Austria

A1 was the fastest mobile operator in Austria with a Speed Score of 66.21 while yesss! ranked second at 58.60.
yesss! edged out A1 for Consistency Score, earning a 93.8% to A1’s 93.5%.
Magenta blazed ahead of the competition with the fastest fixed broadband Speed Score of 123.45 and highest Consistency Score with 85.8%.

Belgium

Speedtest Intelligence® shows that Telenet had the fastest fixed broadband in Belgium during Q1 2021 with a Speed Score of 97.13, and it had the fastest Speed Score on mobile at 69.74.
Telenet also had the best fixed broadband Consistency Score with 87.9%, while BASE had the best mobile Consistency Score with 92.9%.
Ghent edged out Antwerp for Belgium’s fastest median download speed over mobile and fixed broadband.

Canada

In Q1 2021, Shaw was the fastest fixed broadband provider in Canada with a Speed Score of 164.40, edging out Rogers.
The fastest mobile provider was TELUS with a Speed Score of 87.54. Videotron had the highest mobile Consistency Score at 91.3%.
TELUS and Bell Canada tied for the lowest median latency for fixed broadband at 6 ms.
Newfoundland and Labrador had the fastest median fixed broadband speed among Canada’s provinces at 112.64 Mbps.
Calgary had Canada’s fastest median fixed broadband speed of any major city at 115.40 Mbps.

China

Speedtest Intelligence shows that China Mobile was the fastest mobile operator in China during Q1 2021 with a Speed Score of 101.62.
Competition for fastest median 5G performance was high, but China Telecom outpaced other providers with a 316.02 Mbps median download speed. Speedtest® results show that China Mobile’s 5G performance was second fastest with a median download speed of 308.44 Mbps and China Unicom was third.
Huawei’s P40 5G had the fastest median 5G download speed among the most popular devices in China at 291.77 Mbps. This contributed to Huawei’s top position as the device manufacturer with the fastest median download speed with a combined median download speed of 89.11 Mbps. That was 79.4% faster than the next fastest manufacturer, Apple.
China Telecom was the fastest fixed broadband provider, achieving a Speed Score of 107.10.
Tianjin was the Chinese city with the fastest fixed broadband with tests showing median download speeds of 180.61 Mbps, 29.7% faster than the next fastest city, Chengdu.

Denmark

According to Q1 data from Speedtest Intelligence, YouSee was the fastest mobile operator in Denmark with a Speed Score of 86.40.
Hiper was the fastest fixed broadband provider in Denmark with a Speed Score of 205.32.
The iPhone 12 Pro Max 5G was the fastest popular device in Denmark, with a median download speed of 96.90 Mbps.

Finland

Telia was the fastest fixed broadband provider in Finland during Q1 2021 with a Speed Score of 77.05. Telia was also the most consistent, earning a Consistency Score of 80.3%.
DNA had the fastest mobile Speed Score (61.73) as well as the highest Consistency Score (93.6%).
DNA also had the fastest 5G performance with a median download speed of 337.21 Mbps.

Hong Kong (SAR)

During Q1 2021, China Mobile Hong Kong was the fastest mobile provider in Hong Kong, achieving a Speed Score of 65.16.
Huawei’s P40 Pro 5G edged out Samsung’s Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G as the fastest popular device in Hong Kong. The P40 Pro 5G achieved a median download speed of 150.67 Mbps, beating the Galaxy 220 Ultra 5G by 1.5 Mbps.
Samsung had the best combined performance by a major cell phone manufacturer with its devices reaching mean download speeds of 76.41 Mbps.
Devices using Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 5G had the fastest mean download speed of any chipset at 137.76 Mbps. Devices with Hisilicon’s Kirin 990 came in second at 136.52 Mbps.

Hungary

Magyar Telekom had the fastest mobile Speed Score in Hungary during Q1 2021, as well as the best mobile Consistency Score (90.9%) and highest 4G availability (97.7%).
DIGI beat out Vodafone as the fastest fixed broadband provider in Hungary by attaining a Speed Score of 138.74 to Vodafone’s 137.06 and UPC’s 134.08.
Apple devices had the fastest median mobile download speeds among popular manufacturers at 36.59 Mbps.

Kenya

Safaricom had the fastest Speed Score among mobile providers in Kenya during Q1 2021 at 29.80 as well as the top mobile Consistency Score (86.3%) and highest 4G Availability (88.1%).
Mombasa had the fastest mean mobile download speed at 27.79 Mbps while Nairobi was the fastest over fixed broadband with a download speed of 22.65 Mbps.
Faiba had the fastest fixed broadband Speed Score at 22.70 and best Consistency Score at 44.0%.

Luxembourg

POST was Luxembourg’s fastest mobile operator in Q1 2021 as well as Luxembourg’s most consistent. POST had a Speed Score of 86.31 and a Consistency Score of 95.9%.
Orange had the best 4G Availability in Luxembourg at 98.7%.
Apple beat out Samsung as the fastest popular device manufacturer by earning a median download speed of 51.13 Mbps to Samsung’s 46.40 Mbps.
Tango had the fastest fixed broadband Speed Score at 120.35, while Eltrona had the best fixed broadband Consistency Score with 85.9%.

Malta

Mobile providers GO and epic were in close competition for the fastest Speed Score in Q1 2021. GO beat out epic by a fraction by scoring 47.82 to epic’s 47.36.
Apple devices had the fastest mean download speed in Malta among popular manufacturers at 51.31 Mbps.
Melita had the fastest fixed broadband Speed Score at 118.58 and highest fixed broadband Consistency Score at 84.2%.

Morocco

Maroc Telecom was the fastest provider for both fixed broadband and mobile in Morocco during Q1 2021. Maroc Telecom achieved the fastest mobile Speed Score (54.32) and the highest mobile Consistency Score (92.0%).
Maroc Telecom also narrowly beat out inwi for the highest 4G Availability with 91.5% to inwi’s 91.3%.
Apple devices had the fastest mean download speed in Morocco among popular manufacturers at 50.31 Mbps.
Casablanca had the fastest fixed broadband speeds, achieving a mean download speed of 25.93 Mbps while Marrakesh had the fastest mean mobile download speed at 38.33 Mbps.

Nigeria

During Q1 2021, tests showed that Airtel had Nigeria’s fastest mobile Speed Score (27.18) and best mobile Consistency Score (84.7%).
Port Harcourt had the fastest mean mobile download speed in Nigeria at 23.02 Mbps.
ipNX was the fastest fixed broadband provider with a Speed Score of 18.00. ipNX also had the best fixed broadband Consistency Score at 36.2%.

Portugal

Vodafone was the fastest fixed broadband provider in Portugal during Q1 2021 with a Speed Score of 113.75, the lowest mean latency (11 ms) and highest Consistency Score (81.9%).
MEO was the fastest mobile operator with a Speed Score of 46.92.
OnePlus had the fastest mean download speed of any popular device manufacturer at 56.93 Mbps.
Among Portugal’s most populous cities, Vila Nova de Gaia had the fastest mean fixed broadband download speed at 155.61 Mbps, while Braga had the fastest mean mobile download speed at 70.95 Mbps.

Serbia

During Q1 2021, SBB was Serbia’s fastest fixed broadband provider with a Speed Score of 78.09 and showed the highest Consistency Score of any provider at 81.3%.
Speedtest Intelligence revealed that Telenor narrowly edged out VIP for the fastest mobile Speed Score at 50.63 to VIP’s 50.47.
Telenor had the highest mobile Consistency Score with 93.4%. Telenor also delivered the highest 4G Availability in Serbia with 90.3%.
Devices using Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X55 5G delivered Serbia’s fastest median mobile download speeds at 76.14 Mbps.

Slovakia

During Q1 2021, UPC beat out Antik for the fastest fixed broadband operator in Slovakia with a Speed Score of 113.17 to Antik’s 110.46.
Antik had the lowest median fixed broadband latency in the country at 3 ms.
Orange had the fastest mobile Speed Score in the country with a score of 52.41, followed by Telekom at 49.09.
Devices using Samsung’s Exynos 2100 chipset achieved the fastest median download speed (70.13 Mbps).

South Africa

Speedtest Intelligence shows that MTN had the fastest mobile download Speed Score in South Africa during Q1 2021 at 54.38.
MTN also had the highest 4G Availability in the country with 90.5%.
Cool Ideas was the fastest fixed broadband provider in South Africa with a Speed Score of 37.80, followed by Afrihost at 31.32 and Webafrica at 30.87.
Johannesburg had the fastest mean fixed broadband download speed at 53.48 Mbps and the fastest download speed over mobile at 54.64 Mbps.

Taiwan

According to a Speedtest Intelligence, Chunghwa Telecom was the fastest mobile operator in Taiwan during Q1 2021 with a Speed Score of 71.73.
FarEasTone had the fastest median download speed on 5G at 361.48 Mbps.
Sony’s Xperia 1 II 5G achieved the fastest mean download speed among popular devices (181.93 Mbps). Apple devices overall attained the fastest mean mobile download speed among popular manufacturers (82.57 Mbps).
Taichung had the fastest mean download speed among Taiwan’s most populous cities at 83.35 Mbps. Taipei was second fastest with 80.50 Mbps.

United States

Speedtest Intelligence revealed that T-Mobile overtook AT&T in Q1 2021 as the fastest mobile operator in the United States, achieving a Speed Score of 50.21 to AT&T’s 48.38.
T-Mobile also had the fastest 5G performance of any operator, achieving a median download speed of 82.35 Mbps while having the highest 5G time spent in the country at 65.4%.
OnePlus devices had the fastest mean download speed among popular devices at 50.79 Mbps.
Qualcomm had all five of the fastest chipsets in the United States. The Snapdragon X55 5G was fastest with a median download speed of 66.63 Mbps, followed by the Snapdragon 888 5G at 64.63 Mbps and the Snapdragon 865 at 56.50 Mbps.
Verizon was the fastest fixed broadband provider with a Speed Score of 160.07, outperforming Cox and XFINITY, which scored 153.57 and 139.33, respectively.
Spectrum displayed the most consistent speeds among fixed broadband providers with a Consistency Score of 88.3%.

Verizon had the best median fixed broadband latency at 8 ms, while Cox ranked second (12 ms) and XFINITY third (14 ms).

Vietnam

Viettel achieved Vietnam’s fastest mobile and fixed broadband during Q1 2021. Viettel showed a Speed Score of 59.76 for fixed broadband and 38.55 for mobile.
Vinaphone had the best mobile Consistency Score with 91.1%.
Viettel had the highest 4G Availability with 94.4%.
Xiaomi’s Mi 10T Pro 5G achieved the fastest mean download speed at 80.17 Mbps and beat out Samsung’s Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G, which had a median download speed of 59.96 Mbps.

Read the full market analyses and follow monthly ranking updates on the Speedtest Global Index.

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About the Author

Josh Fomon

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Josh Fomon | July 15, 2021

Speedtest Global Index Market Analyses Now Available for 37 Countries

Speedtest Global Index^TM Market Analyses from Ookla® identify key data about internet performance in countries across the world. This quarter we’ve provided updated analyses for 37 markets that includes details on fastest mobile and fixed broadband providers, performance of most popular devices and chipsets and internet speeds in cities. Click a country on the list below to see highlights or scroll through the article to learn what Speedtest Intelligence® revealed in all 37 markets:

Africa and the Middle East

Asia and Oceania

China | Hong Kong (SAR) | IndonesiaMalaysia | Singapore | TaiwanVietnam

Europe

North and South America

Argentina | Brazil | CanadaEcuador | Mexico | PeruUnited States

Africa and the Middle East

Algeria

For the second quarter in a row, mobile provider Ooredoo had the highest Speed Score^™ (24.27) and Consistency Score^™ (84.5%) in Algeria during Q2 2021.
Apple devices achieved a mean download speed of 26.37 Mbps during Q2 2021, 26.4% faster than Apple’s speeds in Q1 2021 (20.86 Mbps).
The Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max 5G was the fastest popular device in Algeria with a mean download speed of 38.15 Mbps.

Jordan
Fixed broadband provider Orange had the highest Speed Score (70.99) and Consistency Score (72.6%) in Jordan during Q2 2021.
Umniah achieved the fastest mobile Speed Score at 34.28 and best Consistency Score at 93.4%.
Amman had the fastest median fixed broadband download and upload speeds among the most populous cities in Jordan at 43.27 Mbps and 40.29 Mbps, respectively.
Among popular mobile devices, Apple’s iPhone 12 Pro Max 5G narrowly beat out the iPhone 12 Pro 5G for fastest median download and upload speeds at 36.06 Mbps and 17.90 Mbps.

Kenya
Mobile provider Safaricom had the highest Speed Score (27.54) and Consistency Score (84.0%) in Kenya during Q2 2021, though both these scores were slightly lower than in Q1 2021.
For fixed broadband, Faiba was the provider that had the best Speed Score (23.19) and Consistency Score (43.9%) in Kenya during Q2 2021.
Mombasa had the fastest mean mobile download and upload speeds in Kenya’s most populous cities at 32.12 Mbps and 17.13 Mbps, respectively.
Eldoret had the fastest mean fixed broadband download speed in Kenya during Q2 2021 at 23.68 Mbps. Nairobi dropped three places from the fastest city for mean fixed broadband download speed during Q1 2021.

Morocco
Fixed broadband provider Orange beat out Q1 2021 winner Maroc Telecom for fastest provider in Morocco with a Speed Score of 19.27, a 35.0% increase from Q1 2021.
For fixed broadband, Maroc Telecom continued to have the best Consistency Score at 32.4% during Q2 2021.
On mobile, Maroc Telecom achieved the best Speed Score (59.24) and Consistency Score (92.6%) during Q2 2021.
Salé surpassed Marrakesh as the fastest city among Morocco’s most populous cities with the fastest mobile download and upload speeds at 40.78 Mbps and 13.80 Mbps, respectively.

Nigeria
For the second quarter in a row, mobile provider Airtel had the fastest Speed Score in Nigeria at 28.82 during Q2 2021. While MTN was second, it improved its Speed Score 37.9% quarter over quarter, 18.70 to 25.78.
MTN edged out Airtel’s Q1 2021 top spot for best Consistency Score on mobile during Q2 2021, 83.4% to Airtel’s 82.5%.
Fixed broadband provider ipNX continued to have the best Speed Score (19.25) and Consistency Score (39.6%) in Nigeria during Q2 2021.
Port Harcourt continued to have the best mobile mean download speeds of any Nigerian city at 26.34 Mbps, but Kano made huge strides forward, improving its download speed by 61.8% over Q1 2021.

Qatar
Ooredoo had the best mobile and fixed broadband Speed Scores in Qatar during Q2 2021 at 149.01 and 69.45, respectively.
5G performance was extremely competitive with Ooredoo achieving the fastest median 5G download speed at 393.89 Mbps, while Vodafone achieved 354.27 Mbps.
Ooredoo also had the best fixed broadband Consistency Score at 81.5%.
Vodafone had the best mobile Consistency Score at 93.7%, edging out Ooredoo’s 92.9%.
Umm Salal Muhammed had the fastest median mobile and fixed broadband download speeds in Qatar at 147.65 Mbps and 80.57 Mbps, respectively.
Speedtest Intelligence reveals that among popular devices, Samsung’s Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G achieved the fastest median mobile download speed at 284.32 Mbps, edging out Apple’s iPhone 12 Pro Max 5G (278.42 Mbps).

South Africa
Speedtest Intelligence shows Cool Ideas had the fastest fixed broadband Speed Score (45.76) and Consistency Score (65.4%) during Q2 2021. That was an increase in Speed Score of 21.1% from Q1 2021.
Among mobile providers, MTN had the fastest Speed Score (60.44) and best Consistency Score (90.5%).
Apple devices had the fastest combined mean download speed at 52.59 Mbps and fastest mean upload speed at 12.22 Mbps during Q2 2021. The iPhone 12 Pro Max 5G took top honors as the fastest popular device, achieving a mean download speed of 93.36 Mbps.
Johannesburg had the fastest mean fixed broadband and mobile download speeds during Q2 2021 at 61.85 Mbps and 58.06 Mbps, respectively.

Tunisia
During Q2 2021, Ooredoo achieved the highest mobile Speed Score in Tunisia at 46.47.
Tunisie Telecom edged out Ooredoo for the highest fixed broadband Speed Score with 9.07 and 8.28, respectively.
Apple’s iPhone 12 Pro Max 5G had the fastest mean download speed in Tunisia among popular devices during Q2 2021 at 73.21 Mbps.
Among popular chipsets, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X55 5G had the fastest mean download speed at 70.43 Mbps.
Sfax had the fastest mean mobile download speed in Tunisia during Q2 2021 at 45.53 Mbps.

Turkey
Speedtest Intelligence revealed mobile provider Turkcell had the highest Speed Score and Consistency Score in Turkey during Q2 2021 at 61.39 and 93.2%, respectively.
For fixed broadband, Turksat Kablo had the highest Speed Score (35.67).
During Q2 2021, Turknet had the highest Consistency Score for fixed broadband at 66.6%.
Istanbul had the fastest mean fixed broadband and mobile download speed at 40.16 Mbps and 50.21 Mbps, respectively.
Among top device manufacturers, Apple beat out Samsung for fastest mean download speed at 51.62 Mbps to 41.69 Mbps.

Asia and Oceania

China
According to Speedtest Intelligence, China Telecom was the fastest fixed broadband provider in China during Q2 2021 with a Speed Score of 117.02, 9.3% higher than Q1 2021.
However, China Mobile continued to have the highest Consistency Score in China for fixed broadband during Q2 2021 at 90.0%, edging out China Telecom’s 86.8% and China Unicom’s 86.5%.
China Mobile achieved the highest Speed Score (113.06) and Consistency Score (92.1%) among China’s top mobile providers during Q2 2021.
During Q2 2021, China Telecom achieved a median 5G download speed of 304.55 Mbps, edging out China Mobile’s 303.44 Mbps. China Unicom was third at 292.04 Mbps.
Among top device manufacturers, Huawei had the fastest median download speed at 86.33 Mbps in China during Q2 2021. Vivo followed at 56.68 Mbps, then Xiaomi (56.48 Mbps), Oppo (55.35 Mbps) and Apple (49.65 Mbps).
Among popular devices, Huawei also dominated. The Huawei P40 Pro 5G had the fastest median download speed in China during Q2 2021 at 287.18 Mbps.
During Q2 2021, Huawei’s Kirin 9000 5G was the fastest chipset in China, achieving a median download speed of 284.74 Mbps.
Tianjin had the fastest median fixed broadband download speed among China’s most populous cities at 199.91 Mbps, 10.7% faster than its first place Q1 2021 results.
Hangzhou had the fastest median mobile download speed among China’s most populous cities at 72.97 Mbps, followed closely by Shenzhen at 70.74 Mbps and Nanjing at 69.22 Mbps.

Hong Kong (SAR)
For the second quarter in a row, China Mobile Hong Kong was the fastest mobile operator in Hong Kong, earning a Speed Score of 72.21 in Q2 2021, 10.8% higher than Q1 2021.
China Mobile Hong Kong also blazed ahead of the competition for the fastest 5G download speed, achieving a median speed of 218.60 Mbps during Q2 2021, 7.2% faster than its Q1 2021 results. Mobile provider 3 followed at 165.35 Mbps, csl at 134.75 Mbps and SmarTone at 124.31 Mbps.
Among top manufacturers during Q2 2021, Samsung had the fastest median download speed at 44.68 Mbps.
Samsung devices also took the top four spots for fastest popular devices in Hong Kong during Q2 2021 with the Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G achieving the top spot at 124.25 Mbps, edging out the Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G’s 123.28 Mbps.
During Q2 2021, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 5G achieved the fastest median download speed among modern chipsets at 111.91 Mbps.

Indonesia
According to Speedtest Intelligence, Biznet was Indonesia’s fastest fixed broadband provider during Q2 2021, earning a Speed Score of 40.66. MyRepublic was second at 35.63.
Biznet also had the highest Consistency Score in Indonesia during Q2 2021, edging out MyRepublic 66.6% to 63.5%.
Telkomsel was the fastest major mobile provider in Indonesia during Q2 2021, earning a Speed Score of 28.02. Telkomsel also achieved the top Consistency Score at 84.1%, beating out IM3 Ooredoo’s 83.5%.
Jakarta had the fastest mean fixed broadband download speed of Indonesia’s most populous cities at 32.86 Mbps, while Tangerang achieved the fastest mean mobile download speed at 24.69 Mbps.

Malaysia
During Q2 2021, Speedtest Intelligence reveals that TIME was the fastest fixed broadband provider in Malaysia, earning a Speed Score of 116.36. TIME also achieved the highest Consistency Score (86.7%).
On mobile, Digi edged out Maxis for the fastest mobile provider, earning a Speed Score of 30.20 to Maxis’ 29.92. U Mobile was third at 27.40.
Apple earned the top spot as Malaysia’s fastest device manufacturer during Q2 2021, with Apple devices achieving a mean download speed of 34.22 Mbps. Samsung was second at 28.77 Mbps and Huawei third at 27.68 Mbps.
Among Malaysia’s most populous cities, Nusajaya had the fastest mean fixed broadband speed during Q2 2021, achieving 125.88 Mbps download and 81.29 Mbps upload. Petaling Jaya was second, achieving 122.91 Mbps download and 82.56 Mbps upload.
Nusajaya also had the fastest mean mobile download speed at 38.51 Mbps during Q2 2021.

Singapore
Speedtest Intelligence shows ViewQuest was the fastest fixed broadband provider in Singapore in Q2 2021, achieving a Speed Score of 268.70.
During Q2 2021, Singtel was the fastest mobile provider in Singapore, achieving a Speed Score of 83.83.
Singtel also blew the competition away for fastest median 5G download speed at 189.55 Mbps during Q2 2021. M1 was second at 110.43 Mbps.
Apple edged out Samsung for fastest device manufacturer during Q2 2021, with Apple devices achieving a mean download speed of 87.66 Mbps to Samsung’s 85.48 Mbps. Oppo followed in third with 82.10 Mbps.

Taiwan
Speedtest Intelligence® reveals Chunghwa Telecom was the fastest mobile operator among top providers in Taiwan in Q2 2021 with a Speed Score of 66.47 on modern chipsets — edging out FarEasTone’s 64.46.
During Q2 2021, Chunghwa Telecom surpassed FarEasTone as the fastest 5G provider in Taiwan. Chunghwa Telecom achieved a blazing median download speed of 471.73 Mbps — 42.2% faster than its Q1 2021 median download speed.
FarEasTone had the highest Consistency Score in Taiwan during Q2 2021 at 92.1%. Chunghwa Telecom followed at 89.4% and Taiwan Mobile was third at 87.5%.
Among top device manufacturers during Q2 2021, Apple devices achieved the fastest mean download speed at 79.30 Mbps, edging out Oppo (77.53 Mbps) and Samsung (74.23 Mbps).
The Sony Xperia 1 II 5G had the fastest mean download speed at 235.44 Mbps during Q2 2021.

Vietnam
Viettel once again claimed the top spot as Vietnam’s fastest mobile and fixed broadband provider during Q2 2021, earning a mobile Speed Score of 44.16 and fixed broadband Speed Score of 66.77.
Viettel also achieved the best fixed broadband Consistency Score at 80.9%, tightly edging out FPT Telecom’s 80.0% and Vinaphone’s 79.6% for the fastest mean fixed broadband download speed
Vinaphone had the highest mobile Consistency Score at 94.1%.
Apple’s iPhone 12 Pro 5G had the fastest mean download speed at 99.43 Mbps.
Ho Chi Minh City overtook the top spot for the fastest mean fixed broadband download speed among Vietnam’s most populous cities with 77.14 Mbps (69.92 Mbps upload).
Hanoi edged out Ho Chi Minh City (43.70 Mbps) and Da Nang (43.22 Mbps) for fastest mean mobile download speed at 43.83 Mbps.

Europe

Austria
Magenta retained its top spot as Austria’s fastest fixed broadband provider, increasing its Speed Score 28.8% from Q1 2021 from 123.45 to 158.94 in Q2 2021.
Magenta also had the highest Consistency Score at 88.8% for fixed broadband in Q2 2021.
A1 was the fastest mobile provider in Austria during Q2 2021, achieving a Speed Score of 72.64. yesss! followed at 62.49.
For the second quarter in a row, yesss! narrowly edged out A1 for the highest mobile Consistency Score in Austria with yesss! achieving 93.7% and A1 achieving 93.4%. Magenta Telekom ad 3 followed at 90.5%.

Belgium
During Q2 2021 — much like Q1 2021 — Telenet and VOO had a fierce competition for Belgium’s fastest fixed broadband provider. However, Telenet earned the top spot again, achieving a Speed Score of 104.24 to VOO’s 102.64.
VOO also challenged Telenet for the highest Consistency Score for fixed broadband providers, but Telenet edged VOO out for the top place, 87.8% to 86.8%.
Among mobile providers, Telenet fended off competition from BASE as the fastest mobile provider, earning a mobile Speed Score of 72.34 to BASE’s 68.50.
Antwerp overtook Ghent for the fastest median fixed broadband download speed 81.31 Mbps to Ghent’s 80.13 Mbps.
However, Ghent retained its top place for fastest median mobile download speed among Belgium’s most populous cities achieving a median speed of 72.56 Mbps during Q2 2021.

Czechia
Speedtest Intelligence reveals T-Mobile was Czechia’s fastest mobile provider during Q2 2021, earning a Speed Score of 60.73.
However, Vodafone claimed the best mobile Consistency Score during Q2 2021, earning 94.6% to O2’s 91.1%.
There was no statistical winner for fastest median 5G download speed in Czechia during Q2 2021, though O2 achieved a median download speed of 128.01 Mbps and T-Mobile achieved 124.69 Mbps.
Vodafone dominated as Czechia’s fastest fixed broadband provider during Q2 2021. Vodafone achieved a Speed Score of 100.26.
Vodafone also had the best Consistency Score for fixed broadband during Q2 2021 at 79.4%.
Pilsen had the fastest mean fixed broadband speeds among Czechia’s most populous cities, achieving a mean download of 111.01 Mbps and a mean upload of 82.82 Mbps.

Denmark
During Q2 2021 in Denmark, Fastspeed was the fastest fixed broadband provider, earning a Speed Score of 303.16 — an increase of 47.7% from Q1 2021. Hiper was second at 231.14 and Fibia third at 164.80.
YouSee once again earned the top spot as Denmark’s fastest mobile provider during Q2 2021, achieving a Speed Score of 91.19.
An analysis of performance on some of the most popular phones in Denmark revealed the iPhone 12 Pro Max 5G had the fastest median download speed during Q2 2021 at 111.80 Mbps. The iPhone Pro 5G was second at 109.79 Mbps, edging out the iPhone 12 5G at 109.63 Mbps.

Finland
According to Speedtest Intelligence, DNA retained its top spot as Finland’s fastest mobile provider in Q2 2021, earning a Speed Score of 68.20. DNA also edged out Telia for the highest Consistency Score, achieving 90.9% to Telia’s 90.0%.
Telia overtook DNA in Q2 2021 as Finland’s fastest 5G provider, achieving a median download speed of 304.22 Mbps to DNA’s 276.20 Mbps.
Telia retained its top spot as the fastest fixed broadband provider during Q2 2021, increasing its Speed Score 11.2% from Q1 2021. Telia was also the most consistent, achieving a Consistency Score of 82.7%.
Among popular device manufacturers, OnePlus had the fastest median download speed in Finland during Q2 2021 at 67.23 Mbps. However, the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G had the fastest median download speeds among major devices at 121.57 Mbps.

France
Speedtest Intelligence revealed a fierce competition for France’s fastest fixed broadband provider during Q2 2021, though Orange narrowly edged out Free with a Speed Score of 117.15 to 115.89.
SFR achieved the highest Consistency Score at 68.2%.
Orange earned the top spot as France’s fastest and most consistent mobile provider, earning a mobile Speed Score of 81.00 and a Consistency Score of 89.9%.
Orange also blew away the competition as France’s fastest 5G provider by achieving a median 5G download speed of 345.10 Mbps. SFR was next fastest at 204.98 Mbps.
Lyon achieved the fastest median fixed broadband download and upload speeds at 127.51 Mbps and 93.46 Mbps, respectively. Nice had the fastest median mobile download speed at 64.63 Mbps.

Germany
According to Speedtest Intelligence, Vodafone was Germany’s fastest fixed broadband provider during Q2 2021, earning a Speed Score of 120.68.
1&1 edged out Vodafone for the highest Consistency Score, 80.4% to Vodafone’s 79.3%.
For mobile providers, Telekom achieved the highest Speed Score (76.79) and Consistency Score (91.7%) during Q2 2021.
O2 was the fastest 5G provider during Q2 2021 earning the fastest median 5G download speed at 172.24 Mbps. Telekom followed at 154.30.
The iPhone 12 Pro 5G had the fastest median download speed among popular devices in Germany during Q2 2021, edging out the iPhone 12 Pro Max 5G 92.25 Mbps to 91.94 Mbps.

Hungary
Vodafone overtook DIGI as Hungary’s fastest fixed broadband provider in Q2 2021, achieving an 8.6% increase in Speed Score from 137.06 in Q1 2021 to 148.79. Vodafone retained the top spot for highest Consistency Score at 87.2% during Q2 2021.
Magyar Telekom retained its top spot as Hungary’s fastest and most consistent mobile provider during Q2 2021, earning a Speed Score of 52.59 and Consistency Score of 90.9%.
OnePlus overtook Apple during Q2 2021 as the fastest device manufacturer, with OnePlus devices achieving a combined median download speed of 47.29 Mbps to Apple’s 41.81 Mbps.
However, Apple’s iPhone 12 Pro Max 5G achieved the fastest median download speed among popular devices during Q2 2021, with an increase in download speed of 17.3% from 70.12 Mbps in Q1 2021 to 82.22 Mbps in Q2 2021.

Latvia
Speedtest Intelligence revealed that Balticom was the fastest and most consistent fixed broadband provider in Latvia during Q2 2021 achieving a Speed Score of 171.56 and Consistency Score of 90.5%.
LMT was the fastest provider in Latvia during Q2 2021 with a Speed Score of 41.13.
Tele2 narrowly edged out BITE and LMT as Latvia’s most consistent provider, earning a Consistency Score of 86.0% to BITE’s 85.1% and LMT’s 83.3%.
Olaine had the fastest median fixed broadband download and upload speeds, 94.16 Mbps and 94.51 Mbps, respectively.

Luxembourg
Tango retained its top spot as Luxembourg’s fastest fixed broadband provider during Q2 2021 by achieving a Speed Score of 125.73, an increase of 4.5% over Q1 2021.
Tango and Eltrona tied for the highest Consistency Score during Q2 2021 at 86.3%.
POST again was the fastest mobile provider in Luxembourg during Q2 2021, achieving an 18.3% increase in Speed Score from 86.31 in Q1 2021 to 102.09 in Q2 2021. POST also remained the most consistent provider with a Consistency Score of 96.3%.
Among Luxembourg’s most populous cities, Differdange achieved the fastest median fixed broadband download and upload speeds at 131.26 Mbps and 93.32 Mbps, respectively.
Ettelbruck had the fastest median mobile download and upload speeds at 117.76 Mbps and 21.64 Mbps, respectively.

Malta
Melita retained its top spot as Malta’s fastest and most consistent fixed broadband provider during Q2 2021, earning a Speed Score of 113.64 and Consistency Score of 83.9%.
GO was Malta’s fastest and most consistent mobile provider during Q2 2021, achieving a Speed Score of 56.36 and Consistency Score of 92.8%.
Among popular devices, Apple’s iPhone 12 Pro Max 5G achieved the fastest mean download speed at 75.81 Mbps.

Serbia
SBB retained its top spot as Serbia’s fastest and most consistent fixed broadband provider during Q2 2021 with a Speed Score of 81.09 and Consistency Score of 81.8%.
A1 knocked Telenor out of the top place during Q2 2021 as Serbia’s fastest mobile provider, achieving a Speed Score of 54.26 to Telenor’s 49.99.
A1 and Telenor tied for the most consistent provider by earning a Consistency Score of 92.5%. mts trailed at 91.0%
The fastest chipset in Serbia during Q2 2021 was Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X55 5G, which had a median download speed of 74.21 Mbps. Samsung’s Exynos 2100 was second at 57.97 Mbps and Hisilicon’s Kirin 990 at 57.49 Mbps.

Slovakia
Telekom knocked Orange out of first place as Slovakia’s fastest mobile operator during Q2 2021 with a Speed Score of 58.17 to Orange’s 56.22. Telekom increased its Speed Score 18.5% from Q1 2021 to Q2 2021.
UPC retained its top spot as Slovakia’s fastest and most consistent fixed broadband provider with a Speed Score of 139.35 — an increase of 23.1% from Q1 2021 — and a Consistency Score of 87.2%.
The Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max 5G had the fastest median download speed among popular devices at 86.11 Mbps during Q2 2021, an increase of 33.3% over Q1 2021.

Spain
DIGI sped ahead of the competition, earning its place as fastest and most consistent fixed broadband provider in Q2 2021 with a Speed Score of 259.90 and Consistency Score of 91.5%. Orange was second at 154.03, Movistar third (139.65) and Yoigo fourth (134.71).
Movistar provided the fastest and most consistent mobile experience among Spanish mobile providers with a Speed Score of 58.47 and Consistency Score of 90.8%.
Vodafone more than doubled its closest competitor as Spain’s fastest 5G provider by achieving a median download speed of 322.81 Mbps.
Madrid had the fastest median fixed broadband download and upload speeds at 142.97 Mbps and 111.48, respectively, as well as the fastest median mobile download speed at 41.66 Mbps. Barcelona trailed closely behind for fixed broadband at 134.73 Mbps download and 104.54 Mbps upload, as well as for mobile download at 40.10 Mbps.

North and South America

Argentina
Telecentro achieved the highest fixed broadband Speed Score (57.16) in Argentina during Q2 2021.
Speedtest Intelligence revealed Personal was the fastest mobile operator in Argentina during Q2 2021 with a Speed Score of 38.49.
Buenos Aires achieved the fastest mean fixed broadband download speed among Argentina’s most populous cities, recording a download speed of 77.79 Mbps.
For mobile download speeds, La Plata recorded the fastest mean mobile download speed in Argentina at 40.28 Mbps during Q2 2021.

Brazil
Speedtest Intelligence reveals Claro was the fastest and most consistent mobile operator in Brazil among top providers during Q2 2021, achieving the highest Speed Score of 42.61 and Consistency Score of 87.8%.
Vivo was the fastest fixed broadband provider among top providers in Brazil in Q2 2021 with a Speed Score of 93.23.
Among Brazil’s most populous cities, seven cities achieved mean fixed broadband download speeds of over 100 Mbps, with Goiânia having the fastest download and upload speeds at 130.15 Mbps and 76.98 Mbps, respectively.
Brasilia had the fastest mean mobile download speed at 43.74 Mbps.

Canada
Shaw and Rogers blazed above the competition for Canada’s fastest fixed broadband providers in Q2 2021, earning Speed Scores of 181.66 and 179.95, respectively.
Rogers edged out Shaw for the highest Consistency Score in Canada during Q2 2021 by earning 89.0% to Shaw’s 87.0%.
TELUS retained its top spot as the fastest mobile operator in Canada during Q2 2021, achieving a Speed Score of 82.93.
Videotron also retained its top spot during Q2 2021 as Canada’s most consistent mobile operator, achieving a Consistency Score of 89.6%.
Competition for the fastest median 5G download speed was competitive with no statistical winner during Q2 2021. Bell achieved a median download speed of 191.26 Mbps and TELUS achieved 184.45 Mbps.
Rogers achieved the highest 5G Availability in Canada during Q2 2021.
Newfoundland and Labrador retained its top spot as Canada’s fastest region for fixed broadband during Q2 2021, achieving a median download speed of 119.77 Mbps.
Calgary also retained its top spot among the most populous cities with the fastest median fixed broadband download speed at 129.60 Mbps. Winnipeg retained its top spot for mobile download speed by edging out Edmonton 93.12 Mbps to 91.25 Mbps.
Samsung devices had the fastest combined performance, achieving a median download speed of 70.72 Mbps. The Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G edged out the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G for the fastest popular device median download speed 141.44 Mbps to 137.97 Mbps.

Ecuador
According to Speedtest Intelligence, Netlife was Ecuador’s fastest and most consistent fixed broadband provider during Q2 2021, achieving a Speed Score of 38.72 and Consistency Score of 69.6%.
CNT was the fastest and most consistent mobile operator in Ecuador during Q2 2021, achieving a Speed Score of 38.11 and Consistency Score of 86.9%.

Mexico
Speedtest Intelligence reveals Telcel was Mexico’s fastest mobile operator during Q2 2021, earning a Speed Score of 47.80.
Telcel was also Mexico’s most consistent mobile operator, achieving a Consistency Score of 89.2%.
Veracruz showed the fastest mean mobile download and upload speeds among Mexico’s most populous cities during Q2 2021, recording a mean download speed of 46.24 Mbps and mean upload speed of 19.36 Mbps.
Apple devices had the five fastest mean download speeds in Mexico. The iPhone 12 Pro 5G narrowly beat out the iPhone 12 Pro Max 5G and iPhone 12 5G for the fastest popular device during Q2 2021, achieving respective speeds of 74.65 Mbps, 72.63 Mbps and 72.37 Mbps.

Peru
Among Peru’s top providers, Claro was the fastest mobile provider during Q2 2021, achieving a Speed Score of 36.91.
Apple devices achieved the highest mean download speeds among top device manufacturers during Q2 2021, recording a mean download speed of 40.32 Mbps.
Among popular mobile devices, the Apple iPhone 12 Pro 5G had the fastest mean download speed at 80.30 Mbps. The Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max 5G was second at 77.02 Mbps and the Apple iPhone 12 5G third at 75.63 Mbps.

United States
Speedtest Intelligence reveals Verizon was the fastest fixed broadband provider in the United States during Q2 2021, earning a Speed Score of 170.22 — 6.3% increase over Q1 2021.
Speedtest Intelligence also reveals that T-Mobile was the fastest and most consistent mobile operator in the United States during Q2 2021, achieving a median download speed of 54.13 Mbps and a Consistency Score of 84.8%.
After looking at tests taken only on 5G, T-Mobile achieved the fastest median 5G download speed during Q2 2021 at 99.84 Mbps, a 21.2% increase over Q1 2021.
During Q2 2021, T-Mobile had the best 5G Availability of 69.0%.
Mobile download speeds blazed ahead in the most populous U.S. cities during Q2 2021 with Tampa, Florida supplanting St. Paul, Minnesota as the fastest city for median mobile download speed during Q2 2021 at 79.75 Mbps, an increase of 14.6% over St. Paul’s fastest median speed during Q1 2021.
San Antonio, Texas knocked Gilbert, Arizona out of first place as the fastest city for fixed broadband among the United State’s most populous cities, edging out Raleigh, North Carolina with a median download speed of 183.60 Mbps to Raleigh’s 183.04 Mbps.
Read the full market analyses and follow monthly ranking updates on the Speedtest Global Index. Want to see how your internet speeds compare? Take a Speedtest® now.

About the Author

Josh Fomon

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Isla McKetta | January 24, 2018

GOOOOAL: Which World Cup Finalist Scored the Fastest Internet in their Capital City?

Whether you call it soccer or football, everyone calls the World Cup fun. We couldn’t wait for the actual match-ups in June, so we decided to pit the qualifying countries against one another to see who has the fastest internet speeds in their capital cities. The results might surprise you.

Get ready to watch Russia best Brazil and Portugal defeat Iran; meanwhile, Argentina and Nigeria and Belgium and England are preparing for penalty shoot-outs.

Using data from Speedtest Intelligence for Q3-Q4 2017, we’ve calculated which capital cities of World Cup-qualifying countries have the fastest mobile and fixed broadband speeds. We also took a peek at the fastest carriers and internet service providers (ISPs) in each capital using Speed Score, a comprehensive metric that combines measures of internet performance at all levels.

Mobile winners

Iceland’s sixth place ranking for mobile download speed in the Speedtest Global Index^TM virtually assured that Reykjavík would come out at the top of the list of fastest World Cup contenders. Canberra represents Australia well with a second place finish for mobile download speeds among World Cup capitals. And Brussels, Belgium barely surpasses Bern, Switzerland for a third place finish.

**Mobile Internet Speeds**
Capitals of World Cup Qualifying Countries | Q3 – Q4 2017
Country	Capital City	Average Download (Mbps)	Average Upload (Mbps)
Iceland	Reykjavík	55.49	21.53
Australia	Canberra	44.24	12.60
Belgium	Brussels	42.52	16.74
Switzerland	Bern	42.02	17.52
South Korea	Seoul	41.85	14.15
Denmark	Copenhagen	41.78	18.29
Croatia	Zagreb	41.16	16.40
Sweden	Stockholm	40.12	12.63
Spain	Madrid	38.30	14.02
Portugal	Lisbon	30.60	11.39
Serbia	Belgrade	30.33	12.49
France	Paris	29.03	9.26
Poland	Warsaw	26.94	9.84
Germany	Berlin	25.83	9.51
England	London	25.09	11.49
Russia	Moscow	21.89	8.49
Japan	Tokyo	19.89	7.10
Uruguay	Montevideo	19.82	11.49
Mexico	Mexico City	19.11	11.51
Peru	Lima	18.33	12.90
Tunisia	Tunis	18.27	8.07
Brazil	Brasília	18.00	8.64
Morocco	Rabat	17.32	9.76
Colombia	Bogotá	16.87	9.50
Nigeria	Abuja	16.17	6.76
Iran	Tehran	15.05	7.04
Argentina	Buenos Aires	13.77	7.70
Egypt	Cairo	13.15	6.33
Panama	Panama City	12.89	8.45
Saudi Arabia	Riyadh	12.28	8.88
Senegal	Dakar	8.85	3.81
Costa Rica	San José	5.97	3.33

Looking at the group draw, Group A fares the worst with 16th place Moscow, Russia being the capital city with the fastest mobile downloads in the group. In Group B, Spain comes out on top. Australia wins Group C, Iceland takes Group D, Switzerland leads Group E and South Korea has the fastest mobile download speed in Group F. Belgium finishes first in Group G and Poland prevails in Group H, despite a 13th place finish overall.

From a regional perspective, European capitals top the rankings with all 14 European World Cup capitals sitting in the top half of the list. Latin American, Middle Eastern and African cities fare worst. Asia’s two contenders are split with Seoul boasting the fifth fastest mobile download speed among World Cup capitals and Tokyo, Japan coming in 17th.

The fastest World Cup capital in Latin America (Montevideo, Uruguay) shows a 64.3% slower mobile download speed than Reykjavík. First place among African World Cup capitals, Rabat, Morocco is 68.8% slower than Reykjavík for mobile downloads. And Tehran, Iran, the fastest World Cup capital in the Middle East, is 72.9% slower than Reykjavík.

Fastest carriers

We also looked into which carriers were fastest in each of the 32 World Cup capital cities.

With Speed Scores ranging from 8.89 in Dakar, Senegal to 46.57 in Brussels, mobile carrier Orange was fastest in four cities and tied for fastest in one. Vodafone was fastest in both Lisbon, Portugal and Madrid, Spain with comparable Speed Scores in the two locations. The rest of the cities show the diversity of fastest carriers that you might expect from a worldwide competition.

**Fastest Carriers Speeds**
Capitals of World Cup Qualifying Countries | Q3 – Q4 2017
Country	Capital City	Fastest Carrier	Speed Score
Argentina	Buenos Aires	Personal	16.15
Australia	Canberra	Telstra	50.21
Belgium	Brussels	Orange	46.57
Brazil	Brasília	Claro	24.72
Colombia	Bogotá	Avantel	20.93
Costa Rica	San José	ICE	8.30
Croatia	Zagreb	Hrvatski Telekom	49.35
Denmark	Copenhagen	TDC / Telia	45.34 / 45.09
Egypt	Cairo	Orange	16.50
England	London	EE	36.83
France	Paris	Orange	33.15
Germany	Berlin	Telekom	53.54
Iceland	Reykjavík	Nova	64.61
Iran	Tehran	MTN IranCell	15.89
Japan	Tokyo	SoftBank	27.26
Mexico	Mexico City	AT&T	20.26
Morocco	Rabat	inwi	20.51
Nigeria	Abuja	MTN	29.23
Panama	Panama City	Cable & Wireless Panama / Movistar	14.85 / 14.80
Peru	Lima	Entel Peru	20.73
Poland	Warsaw	T-Mobile	36.07
Portugal	Lisbon	Vodafone	42.44
Russia	Moscow	MegaFon	37.06
Saudi Arabia	Riyadh	Zain	13.20
Senegal	Dakar	Orange	8.89
Serbia	Belgrade	Vip mobile	45.56
South Korea	Seoul	LG U+	50.03
Spain	Madrid	Vodafone	40.17
Sweden	Stockholm	Telia	54.49
Switzerland	Bern	Sunrise / Swisscom	42.14 / 41.91
Tunisia	Tunis	Ooredoo / Orange	19.90 / 19.89
Uruguay	Montevideo	Antel	20.35

Fixed broadband winners

Given that Iceland ranks second in the world for fixed broadband download speed on the Speedtest Global Index and has the world’s highest gigabit user penetration (GUP), we’re not surprised to see Reykjavík shut out the competition by coming out on top of World Cup contenders for fixed broadband speed, too. Seoul, South Korea comes in second for fixed broadband download speed among World Cup capitals and Paris, France takes third.

**Fixed Broadband Internet Speeds**
Capitals of World Cup Qualifying Countries | Q3 – Q4 2017
Country	Capital City	Average Download (Mbps)	Average Upload (Mbps)
Iceland	Reykjavík	142.89	154.28
South Korea	Seoul	130.75	131.96
France	Paris	112.58	55.86
Sweden	Stockholm	98.77	66.68
Spain	Madrid	86.59	73.43
Japan	Tokyo	75.88	70.46
Denmark	Copenhagen	72.74	52.13
Switzerland	Bern	68.82	54.44
Poland	Warsaw	62.57	16.19
Portugal	Lisbon	55.80	30.97
England	London	52.53	16.12
Germany	Berlin	46.84	9.52
Russia	Moscow	45.25	42.96
Belgium	Brussels	43.25	9.63
Panama	Panama City	29.11	5.93
Australia	Canberra	28.85	12.46
Serbia	Belgrade	26.45	5.59
Croatia	Zagreb	26.20	11.40
Mexico	Mexico City	24.11	10.14
Uruguay	Montevideo	23.02	5.82
Argentina	Buenos Aires	22.03	4.26
Brazil	Brasília	21.57	5.29
Saudi Arabia	Riyadh	20.93	9.05
Peru	Lima	18.15	3.51
Colombia	Bogotá	13.43	6.48
Morocco	Rabat	11.83	2.51
Iran	Tehran	9.33	4.18
Costa Rica	San José	8.79	4.29
Nigeria	Abuja	8.07	5.27
Tunisia	Tunis	7.82	4.49
Senegal	Dakar	7.42	3.11
Egypt	Cairo	5.61	1.92

Group A again suffers on the fixed side with leader Russia coming in 13th based on Moscow’s fixed broadband download speed. Spain’s still the front-runner of Group B. France takes Group C, Iceland wins Group D, Switzerland tops Group E, South Korea reigns over Group F, England heads up Group G and Japan starts Group H based on average download speeds over fixed broadband in their respective capitals.

European capitals again fare well, with 12 of the 14 placing in the top half of fastest World Cup capitals for fixed broadband download speed. Belgrade, Serbia and Zagreb, Croatia rank 17th and 18th, respectively. Tokyo ranks much better for fixed broadband download speed than for mobile, which puts both Asian World Cup capitals in the top six.

With the exception of Panama City, Panama, which ranks 15th, all Latin American World Cup capitals are in the bottom half of the list for download speed over fixed broadband. As are all Middle Eastern and African capital cities.

Panama City’s fixed broadband download speed is 79.6% slower than Reykjavík’s. Riyadh, Saudia Arabia boasts the title of fastest World Cup capital in the Middle East, but is still 85.4% slower for fixed broadband downloads than Reykjavík. The fastest World Cup capital in Africa — Rabat, Morocco — is 91.7% slower than Reykjavík.

Fastest providers

Comparing Speed Scores for fixed broadband across World Cup capitals, Vodafone had wins in Berlin, Germany and Lisbon and Orange took Paris and tied for first in Madrid. The rest of the fastest ISPs vary by location as listed below:

**Fastest ISPs Speeds**
Capitals of World Cup Qualifying Countries | Q3 – Q4 2017
Country	Capital City	Fastest ISP	Speed Score
Argentina	Buenos Aires	Cablevisión Fibertel	21.72
Australia	Canberra	iiNet	33.23
Belgium	Brussels	Telenet	66.95
Brazil	Brasília	NET Virtua	27.30
Colombia	Bogotá	ETB	19.17
Costa Rica	San José	Cabletica	8.28
Croatia	Zagreb	vip	30.23
Denmark	Copenhagen	Fiberby	103.26
Egypt	Cairo	TE Data	4.84
England	London	Hyperoptic	117.40
France	Paris	Orange	107.20
Germany	Berlin	Vodafone	55.46
Iceland	Reykjavík	Nova	278.06
Iran	Tehran	Mobin Net	11.74
Japan	Tokyo	So-net	118.05
Mexico	Mexico City	Axtel	45.83
Morocco	Rabat	Maroc Telecom	9.25
Nigeria	Abuja	MTN	10.73
Panama	Panama City	Cable Onda	25.08
Peru	Lima	Movistar	16.64
Poland	Warsaw	UPC	82.72
Portugal	Lisbon	Vodafone	61.80
Russia	Moscow	MGTS	62.00
Saudi Arabia	Riyadh	STC	16.46
Senegal	Dakar	Tigo	6.42
Serbia	Belgrade	SBB	34.60
South Korea	Seoul	KT	162.45
Spain	Madrid	Masmovil / Orange	101.52 / 101.34
Sweden	Stockholm	Ownit	158.78
Switzerland	Bern	Fiber7	241.93
Tunisia	Tunis	TOPNET	7.61
Uruguay	Montevideo	Antel	22.01

Did your team not come out as expected? Or are you defending a tight match? Take a Speedtest on Android, iOS or on the web and we’ll check back in on scores closer to the main event.

About the Author

Isla McKetta

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Isla McKetta | September 4, 2019

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

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 Index^TM. 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.

About the Author

Isla McKetta

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Ookla | March 13, 2020

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

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 Index^TM 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^®.

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Ookla

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Sylwia Kechiche | November 30, 2022

A Gigabit Society Requires a Data-Driven Regulatory Approach: Key Takeaways From Ookla's Southeastern Europe Regulatory Summit

Ookla®, in partnership with Ibis Solutions, hosted the inaugural Southeast Europe Regulatory Summit on November 4, 2022 in Belgrade, Serbia with participants from across Europe and a guest speaker from Saudi Arabia. The summit examined how crowdsourced data can support regulators and drive effective policymaking while reflecting on the regional telecommunication landscape, its challenges, opportunities, and how to ensure consumers have good quality of experience (QoE).

Key Takeaways

Spectrum is key when it comes to 5G. CST shared how data-driven, evidence-based policy decisions enabled a 5G rollout.
The European Commission’s goal of gigabit connectivity is one of the driving forces behind the rollout of fiber networks. So far, the progress is mixed across the region in terms of fiber network rollout and adoption.
Good quality data and sharing best practices is essential for effective policymaking. Crowdsourced data helps measure progress and assess real service performance experienced by end users.

A data-driven approach to 5G rollouts will bear fruit

The majority of countries across southeast Europe have launched 5G, including Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, and Slovenia. However, Serbia, Albania, and Bosnia and Herzegovina are still yet to auction dedicated 5G spectrum.

Within Southeast Europe, 5G Availability (the proportion of users of 5G capable devices who spend the majority of their time on 5G networks) reached almost 50% in Cyprus. Yet, four out of seven countries had 5G Availability below 10% in Q3 2022. 5G performance depends heavily on the 5G spectrum holding. As a rule of thumb, the larger the share of the C-Band spectrum, the faster the 5G download speed, while access to low-band spectrum has an impact on 5G Availability.

Therefore, having a spectrum roadmap is key to ensuring effective spectrum assignment. Salem Askar, a Senior Specialist in the QoS Department at CST (Communication, Space and Technology Commission), shared how data-driven decision-making informed the development of its spectrum strategy. This resulted in Saudi Arabia improving its mobile performance, and its ranking in the Ookla’s Global Index – from 105th place in September 2017 to 10th place in October 2022.

CST committed to a new, evidence-based approach to spectrum assignment drawing from technology trials and consultations with network operators, device and chipset manufacturers, infrastructure providers, end users, and network data providers, including Ookla. Most notably, CST needed data to expand its analysis of spectrum usage, the performance of various bands, and existing network infrastructure to see where investments had been made within certain bands (e.g., extra capacity in specific bands in urban areas and coverage of rural areas using adequate bands). If you would like to find out more, read this case study. Looking ahead, CST properties revolve around the improvement of citizens’ lives by giving them access to minimum speeds of 100 Mbps, releasing more spectrum for 5G and beyond.

However, spectrum is just one part of the 5G puzzle. Konstantinos Masselos, President of Hellenic Telecommunications and Post Commission and BEREC Vice Chair 2022, shared that BEREC’s focus extends beyond 5G spectrum allocation. That includes following up on developments for a number of relevant issues covering the whole 5G ecosystem (i.e., end user, interoperability, new business models and value chains, privacy, Quality of Service (QoS), roaming, roll out, security, state aid) and identifying regulatory challenges. A key focus area is sustainability and how to make networks not only faster but also more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. BEREC’s work on 5G aims to contribute to the maximum benefit for end users in terms of availability, pricing, quality, security, and other choices.

Regulatory incentives propel the move to fiber

The demand for gigabit-capable broadband access increased over the past few years, mainly due to the increasing number of people working from home and the growth in service availability. According to Speedtest Intelligence®, Romania had the fastest 5G speeds in Q3 2022, with a median fixed download speed of 131.96 Mbps and 94.29 Mbps upload speed. These speeds are not a surprise given that Romania has one of the highest Fiber to the Home/ Building (FTTP/B) penetration rates across the region — nearly 54% of households — which is partially driven by government-backed fixed infrastructure projects such as RoNet, and the special attention given to rural and disadvantaged areas. Slovenia is also progressing well in terms of access to fiber, thanks to the Slovenian government’s introduction of a next-generation broadband network development plan, which is in line with the EU’s ‘gigabit society’ plan. It is aiming to provide internet access to all households in rural or urban areas with at least 100 Mbps that can be upgradable to gigabit speed. Serbia’s growth in FTTP/B connections is gaining pace as well, with Yettel’s entry into the fixed segment in November 2021 resulting in increased market competition. Pavle Mijuskovic, Deputy Executive Director, the Department for Electronic Communication Networks and Services (EKIP) of Montenegro shared that (FTTH/B) networks covered around 70% of households, while the real subscriptions are much lower — only about 45% of households. The need to close the gap in rural areas is something that Montenegro focuses on now. Mr. Mijuskovic also highlighted that widespread fiber rollout necessitated a change in the way infrastructure is deployed: putting cables underground at lower power grades and reusing the post or street lights to deliver fiber to households.

During the panel session, Mr. Masselos shared his view that “development of broadband to the home is a very important topic,” with regulatory actions in place to achieve a target of all homes across the EU to have ‘gigabit connectivity’ by 2030. He brought attention to the fact that in Greece there is a significant gap between fiber rollout and adoption. Despite improvements in Fiber to the Premise (FTTP) coverage, which stood at roughly 20% of households in 2021 (an increase from 7% in 2019) the actual take-up is in the low single-digit partially because of the higher cost of fiber subscription. Greece is also looking to promote open wholesale networks to increase coverage and prevent overbuilding of fiber networks. With regards to FTTH deployment and adoption, Mr. Masselos emphasized the need to formulate policies that will encourage investment and will also support the demand side so that fiber infrastructure is accessible and economically viable in the long term. In addition to being available, services over FTTH/FTTP must also be competitively priced.

The power of data in understanding a digital divide

The vast majority of operators in the region plan to retire copper networks and migrate their DSL users over to FTTH/P. As such, fiber investment will remain a priority for telcos and will often be supported by subsidies, EU funding, and co-investment. At the European level, the policy goal is for every European household to have access to high-speed internet coverage by 2025 and gigabit connectivity by 2030. Regulators, alongside BEREC and the European Commission, work to promote connectivity and enable access to high-speed networks. Therefore, it’s vital to understand the real service performance as experienced by end users. Bryan Darr, Vice President, Smart Communities at Ookla shared how crowdsourced data can be used by governments to help them measure progress.

Darr shared a snapshot of fixed network performance in Central Serbia by layering the speeds with the fastest speeds on top, providing evidence of where broadband speeds are being met and where they are not (see map above). Whereas fiber penetration is increasing across Serbia, there are still areas where users do not experience speeds beyond 25 Mbps (red dots on the map). What our data reveals is that good performance tends to be centered in urban and metropolitan areas. Similarly, the OECD report “Bridging Digital Divides in G20 Countries” found that in rural areas of the EU and G-20 countries, fixed broadband download speeds are close to 50% slower than speeds in cities and urban hubs.

Similarly, using Ookla Cell Analytics™ data we can identify poor coverage areas and assist with network planning to optimize mobile network connectivity and performance. It all starts with understanding service availability, including signal strength (RSRP), signal quality (RSRQ), and areas of high demand. Customer throughput depends on capacity; even though there might be a high signal strength and good network quality, the actual speed is determined by network capacity which depends on the number of devices within this location.

Good quality data and sharing best practices is the best tool in the regulator’s arsenal

Mr. Masselos shared that good quality data is a necessity for efficient policymaking and EETT has done work in this space already. For example, by looking at broadband prices versus performance and QoS across Greece and other countries, “we see these comparisons cannot be one dimensional, but two dimensional. I feel we need to do more of these types of analyses and develop relevant methodologies.” Mr. Askar of CST echoed this sentiment by saying that to achieve goals regulators ought to bring knowledge from different parts of the world. Pavle Mijušković of EKIP stressed that to overcome the digital divide there is a need to use a combination of all available technologies to provide services. Furthermore, he suggested the improvement of capacities and capabilities will help drive digital transformation and strengthen the digital awareness of society.

Ookla’s Co-Founder and CEO Doug Suttles summed up the event by saying that a hidden benefit Ookla can provide is to “figure out the best practices, as relationships with operators in 150 countries help a lot on that. Having regulators exchange knowledge on how to create better connectivity for cost-effectiveness, is vital to our industry.” Our event partner, Ibis Solutions, a software products vendor in the southeast Europe region, also underlined the potential of Ookla metrics for regulatory agencies such as public portals with new features. Vladimir Rakić, Software Development Director at Ibis Solutions summarized the summit by saying “attending regulatory agencies recognized how crowd metrics could help address massive outages or network performance issues that further result in a huge amount of user complaints.”

Ookla’s mission is to measure, understand, and help improve connected experiences. Events such as this regulatory summit help with the cross-pollination of ideas and best practices. Telecom regulators who attend Ookla’s future summits will also be able to facilitate discourse on related topics, challenges, ideas on elevating the subscriber experience in their respective regions, and how to improve their country’s rank on the Speedtest Global Index™. If you are a regulator looking to make more data-driven, evidence-based policy decisions, inquire here.

About the Author

Sylwia Kechiche

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Isla McKetta | February 20, 2019

An Expansive Analysis of European Mobile Roaming Speeds and Behaviors

Last year we took a look at how free roaming was working out for EU citizens in terms of speeds and latency. This year we’ve expanded our analysis to all European countries and included data on Wi-Fi roaming behavior. We’ve also added a little insight into how roaming might affect download speeds for visitors to Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona from February 25- 28, 2019.

Except where noted, this analysis is based on Speedtest data from Android devices on 4G LTE cellular connections during Q3-Q4 2018. We included data on any country with greater than 30 samples in all categories.

Most Europeans experience slower downloads while roaming

Roaming traffic is subject to deals struck between individual mobile operators on how that traffic will be prioritized, so roaming speeds can depend not only on the country of origin but also the country of destination and the plan a subscriber has selected.

Consider the following table where an Albanian experiences a mean download speed of 54.56 Mbps at home and then 38.47 Mbps while roaming elsewhere in Europe. This is expected as a roamer does not usually have a direct relationship with the mobile operator handling their data and calls abroad.

**Mean Mobile Download Speeds in Europe**
Speedtest Data | Q3-Q4 2018
Country	Local Speed (Mbps)	Roaming Speed (Mbps)	% Difference
Austria	38.23	35.78	-6.4%
Belarus	16.15	19.49	20.7%
Belgium	52.58	35.42	-32.6%
Bulgaria	47.28	32.35	-31.6%
Croatia	43.83	43.60	-0.5%
Cyprus	37.13	20.58	-44.6%
Czech Republic	44.91	13.43	-70.1%
Denmark	48.83	34.89	-28.6%
Estonia	36.43	38.98	7.0%
Finland	39.33	38.20	-2.9%
France	39.94	34.97	-12.5%
Germany	33.77	28.57	-15.4%
Greece	41.35	38.08	-7.9%
Hungary	49.57	28.19	-43.1%
Iceland	69.27	35.58	-48.6%
Ireland	28.23	31.49	11.6%
Italy	32.18	43.12	34.0%
Kazakhstan	22.93	13.80	-39.8%
Latvia	30.88	33.79	9.4%
Liechtenstein	56.48	36.66	-35.1%
Lithuania	41.49	33.43	-19.4%
Luxembourg	50.91	25.08	-50.7%
Malta	56.34	34.27	-39.2%
Montenegro	45.45	49.97	10.0%
Netherlands	56.06	33.86	-39.6%
Norway	68.49	38.69	-43.5%
Poland	28.74	29.71	3.4%
Portugal	32.06	36.95	15.3%
Romania	36.64	30.74	-16.1%
Russia	20.91	20.47	-2.1%
Serbia	43.41	21.64	-50.1%
Slovakia	33.47	31.80	-5.0%
Slovenia	35.51	36.41	2.5%
Spain	36.07	22.37	-38.0%
Sweden	44.87	34.59	-22.9%
Switzerland	47.59	30.36	-36.2%
Turkey	38.19	28.77	-24.7%
Ukraine	26.07	25.48	-2.3%
United Kingdom	30.84	38.76	25.7%

Residents of the Czech Republic will face massive speed disappointment when roaming through the rest of Europe. Other countries with much better speeds at home than abroad include Luxembourg, Serbia, Iceland and Cyprus.

In ten European countries, citizens experience faster mobile downloads while roaming than they do at home. These include: Italy, the United Kingdom, Belarus, Portugal, Ireland, Montenegro, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Slovenia. Most of these are among the slowest countries on this list, so it would make sense that their citizens would experience better speeds elsewhere in Europe than they do at home.

Europeans are connected to Wi-Fi most of the time

Customers sometimes try to get better speeds and avoid roaming fees (for those outside the E.U.) and data overages by connecting to Wi-Fi. The following table compares the percentage of time spent on Wi-Fi by a resident of a country with that of a visitor to the country.

**Percentage of Time Spent on Wi-Fi in Europe**
Speedtest Data | Q3-Q4 2018
Country	Local Customers	Visitors	% Difference
Albania	61.9%	59.8%	-3.4%
Andorra	73.6%	69.0%	-6.2%
Armenia	61.5%	68.1%	10.7%
Austria	65.6%	36.7%	-44.1%
Azerbaijan	67.0%	70.7%	5.5%
Belarus	63.9%	58.3%	-8.9%
Belgium	71.1%	32.9%	-53.7%
Bosnia and Herzegovina	71.9%	66.0%	-8.2%
Bulgaria	65.2%	46.8%	-28.2%
Croatia	66.1%	41.0%	-38.0%
Cyprus	70.9%	58.4%	-17.7%
Czech Republic	75.1%	38.9%	-48.1%
Denmark	70.4%	52.9%	-24.9%
Estonia	61.2%	45.6%	-25.4%
Finland	56.6%	47.1%	-16.7%
France	60.2%	43.1%	-28.5%
Georgia	61.4%	62.2%	1.3%
Germany	72.2%	42.4%	-41.3%
Greece	73.5%	52.2%	-28.9%
Hungary	71.9%	35.0%	-51.3%
Iceland	65.7%	58.2%	-11.4%
Ireland	67.2%	52.4%	-22.0%
Italy	64.1%	48.9%	-23.7%
Kazakhstan	57.7%	64.7%	12.3%
Latvia	60.9%	43.8%	-28.1%
Liechtenstein	71.7%	58.2%	-18.9%
Lithuania	66.8%	43.3%	-35.1%
Luxembourg	63.6%	26.0%	-59.1%
Macedonia	65.3%	52.9%	-18.9%
Malta	74.3%	58.0%	-22.0%
Moldova	67.2%	67.3%	0.2%
Montenegro	63.6%	65.2%	2.5%
Netherlands	73.0%	42.5%	-41.7%
Norway	74.7%	59.7%	-20.1%
Poland	62.5%	48.1%	-23.1%
Portugal	69.1%	54.7%	-20.9%
Romania	62.4%	48.7%	-21.9%
Russia	58.8%	65.9%	12.2%
San Marino	66.8%	39.7%	-40.6%
Serbia	68.6%	61.2%	-10.7%
Slovakia	69.6%	35.1%	-49.6%
Slovenia	63.3%	26.4%	-58.3%
Spain	70.8%	53.0%	-25.2%
Sweden	71.8%	44.9%	-37.4%
Switzerland	62.4%	47.2%	-24.4%
Turkey	61.7%	73.0%	18.4%
Ukraine	61.5%	62.4%	1.5%
United Kingdom	71.3%	54.0%	-24.3%

Finland showed the lowest time spent on Wi-Fi by residents at 56.6%. Kazakhstan was second at 57.7% followed by Russia (58.8%), France (60.2%) and Latvia (60.9%). The Czech Republic showed the highest time spent on Wi-Fi by residents at 75.1%. Norway was second at 74.7% followed by Malta (74.3%), Andorra (73.6%) and Greece (73.5%).

When it comes to time spent on Wi-Fi by visitors, Luxembourg had the lowest percentage at 26.0%. Slovenia was second at 26.4% followed by Belgium (32.9%), Hungary (35.0%) and Slovakia (35.1%). Turkey showed the highest time spent on Wi-Fi by visitors at 73.0%. Azerbaijan was second at 70.7% followed by Andorra (69.0%), Armenia (68.1%) and Moldova (67.3%).

Luxembourg saw the largest difference in time spent on Wi-Fi between residents and visitors with visitors using Wi-Fi 59.1% less than residents. Slovenia was close behind at 58.3%, followed by Belgium (53.7%) and Hungary (51.3%). On the other end of the spectrum, visitors to Turkey were on Wi-Fi 18.4% longer than residents followed by Kazakhstan (12.3%) and Russia (12.2%).

Roaming dramatically increases latency in Europe

Because roaming signals are routed through a user’s home network, latency is always an issue in roaming. Speedtest data shows that latency while roaming is a much larger issue for residents of some countries than it is for others.

**Comparing European Latency In-Country and Abroad**
Speedtest Data | Q3-Q4 2018
Country	Local Latency (ms)	Roaming Latency (ms)	% Difference
Austria	24	83	245.8%
Belarus	32	75	134.4%
Belgium	24	81	237.5%
Bulgaria	24	126	425.0%
Croatia	32	86	168.8%
Cyprus	20	194	870.0%
Czech Republic	24	86	258.3%
Denmark	24	98	308.3%
Estonia	23	78	239.1%
Finland	26	104	300.0%
France	42	87	107.1%
Germany	33	87	163.6%
Greece	27	137	407.4%
Hungary	22	94	327.3%
Iceland	18	163	805.6%
Ireland	34	114	235.3%
Italy	52	116	123.1%
Kazakhstan	35	164	368.6%
Latvia	24	94	291.7%
Liechtenstein	40	90	125.0%
Lithuania	26	108	315.4%
Luxembourg	23	73	217.4%
Malta	18	141	683.3%
Montenegro	18	42	133.3%
Netherlands	26	81	211.5%
Norway	36	109	202.8%
Poland	33	104	215.2%
Portugal	27	102	277.8%
Romania	26	131	403.8%
Russia	42	161	283.3%
Serbia	22	76	245.5%
Slovakia	30	69	130.0%
Slovenia	21	69	228.6%
Spain	45	118	162.2%
Sweden	30	118	293.3%
Switzerland	26	75	188.5%
Turkey	26	115	342.3%
Ukraine	35	116	231.4%
United Kingdom	37	107	189.2%

Residents of Cyprus saw an average latency of 194 ms while roaming in Europe. The country with the second highest latency for residents roaming abroad was Kazakhstan at 164 ms, followed by Iceland (163 ms). Russia (161 ms) and Malta (141 ms). In contrast, Montenegro had a lower latency for residents roaming abroad than Italy did for residents using their mobile phones locally.

Roaming performance at MWC

MWC, the largest mobile conference in the world, has Barcelona teeming with visitors from across the globe all trying to connect to their home networks. During February 2018 we saw an average download speed of 34.31 Mbps while roaming in Barcelona and a mean latency of 201 ms. Visitors from the U.K. saw an average download speed of 49.00 Mbps and a mean latency of 111 ms, while those from Italy averaged a download of 32.88 Mbps and a latency of 128 ms.

What will the performance look like at this year’s conference? Schedule a meeting or come see us in Hall 2 at Booth 2i25 to learn more about our roaming data.

About the Author

Isla McKetta

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Isla McKetta | October 8, 2018

Just How Much Does Roaming Affect Mobile Performance in Southeast Europe?

This week the Wholesale Agreements and Solutions Group (WAS) will be meeting in Rovinj, Croatia as part of a GSMA working group to discuss the big deals that will affect worldwide roaming speeds over the next year. That made us curious — what kinds of roaming speeds might these telecom execs experience while they’re deciding our roaming fate?

We looked into Speedtest Intelligence® data from over 2.7 million consumer-initiated tests in Southeast Europe during Q1-Q2 2018 on devices using LTE networks to see how median speeds and latency were affected as mobile users roamed around the region. Roaming speeds include Android results only.

Though we expected to see a general decline in speeds and increase in latency (the time it takes for data to travel from your phone to the nearest server and back) while roaming, we were surprised by how much a person’s home country affected their mobile roaming experience.

Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro are excluded from this analysis due to insufficient sample size during the examined time period. Data for Serbia includes the disputed region of Kosovo.

There’s no correlation between local download speed and decrease in roaming speed

**Median Local vs. Roaming Download Speeds**
Southeast Europe
Q1-Q2 2018 | 4G LTE
Country	Local Download (Mbps)	Roaming Download (Mbps)	% Difference
Bulgaria	37.97	18.21	-52.0%
Croatia	34.50	31.67	-8.2%
Greece	33.61	27.87	-17.1%
Romania	28.47	20.89	-26.6%
Serbia	34.19	30.32	-11.3%
Slovenia	26.26	28.26	7.6%
Turkey	29.93	21.75	-27.3%

Slovenians are the only Southeast Europeans who see better mobile speeds while traveling than they do at home. Considering Slovenia’s local mobile download speed is the lowest on this list, we can presume that residents are encountering better infrastructure abroad and seeing better speeds as a result.

That does not that mean that countries with the fastest local download speeds see the largest declines in speed when roaming. For example, Bulgaria shows the fastest median mobile download speed in Southeast Europe and sees the largest declines in download speed when roaming. But Croatia, which has the second fastest mobile download speed in Southeast Europe, shows the second smallest decline in download speed when roaming.

On the other hand, Romania, which ranks sixth on our list for median local download speed shows the third largest decline when roaming. While Turkey, which ranks fifth in the region for local download speed, shows the second largest decline when roaming.

In fact, roaming speed is affected by in-country infrastructure and also by how operators prioritize out of country traffic. These decisions are made between each individual operator in each individual country, often at meetings like those in Rovinj this week where operators negotiate who has access to what networks and how much that access should cost them. This is why some operators offer extensive roaming packages and why those often come at a cost.

Roaming dramatically increases latency

Latency is measured in milliseconds, and a mobile user usually won’t notice a lag between taking an action on their phone and seeing an expected result when latency is low. Even in Croatia, the country with the highest local latency on our list, latency is very close to what the rest of the countries experience.

**Median Local vs. Roaming Latency**
Southeast Europe
Q1-Q2 2018 | 4G LTE
Country	Local Latency (ms)	Roaming Latency (ms)	% Difference
Bulgaria	23	135	487.0%
Croatia	26	84	223.1%
Greece	23	144	526.1%
Romania	24	118	391.7%
Serbia	19	31	63.2%
Slovenia	19	67	252.6%
Turkey	24	130	441.7%

However, latency can skyrocket when roaming as some operators route a user’s traffic back through their home country, which leads to a much different user experience. This is definitely what we found in our analysis of Southeast Europe. As we saw with download speed, the percentage change between local and roaming latency was not correlated to local latency.

For example, Slovenia and Serbia show the same median local latencies (19 ms), but Slovenia shows a large increase in latency while Serbia’s increase is the smallest on our list.

This is because latency, like roaming speed, is a lot more complex than simply what infrastructure consumers are on. There’s also the matter of network agreements… the very deals that telecom execs are hammering out right now in Rovinj.

Are you at WAS? Stop by booth 23. We’d love to share a sneak peek of our roaming data with you. We have the insights and data for use in decisioning, sales, negotiation and quality steering related to wholesale and roaming solutions.

About the Author

Isla McKetta

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Africa and the Middle East

Asia and Oceania

Europe

North and South America

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Josh Fomon

GOOOOAL: Which World Cup Finalist Scored the Fastest Internet in their Capital City?

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Mobile winners

Fastest carriers

Fixed broadband winners

Fastest providers

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Isla McKetta

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

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

Shake-ups in the country rankings for internet performance

Technologies paving the way: 5G and gigabit

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

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

Comparing world mobile and fixed broadband at a glance

Speed Leaders

Fixed-Focused countries

Mobile-Focused countries

Speed Laggers

Regional views of mobile and fixed broadband performance

Africa mostly lags in internet speeds

Asian markets show a wide breadth of internet performance

European mobile performance is mostly strong, fixed varies

North American internet performance is sharply divided

Each country in Oceania has a very different internet story

South America mostly lags in mobile and fixed internet speeds

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Isla McKetta

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

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Ookla

A Gigabit Society Requires a Data-Driven Regulatory Approach: Key Takeaways From Ookla's Southeastern Europe Regulatory Summit

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Key Takeaways

A data-driven approach to 5G rollouts will bear fruit

Regulatory incentives propel the move to fiber

The power of data in understanding a digital divide

Good quality data and sharing best practices is the best tool in the regulator’s arsenal

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Sylwia Kechiche

An Expansive Analysis of European Mobile Roaming Speeds and Behaviors

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Most Europeans experience slower downloads while roaming

Europeans are connected to Wi-Fi most of the time

Roaming dramatically increases latency in Europe

Roaming performance at MWC

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Isla McKetta

Just How Much Does Roaming Affect Mobile Performance in Southeast Europe?

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There’s no correlation between local download speed and decrease in roaming speed

Roaming dramatically increases latency

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Isla McKetta