Tag: Thailand

Ookla Research™ Articles
| March 16, 2025

Checking In with Speed: Wi-Fi Performance in Luxury Hotels Across APAC’s Top Business Hubs

Hong Kong

For business travelers, fast and reliable Wi-Fi is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity. In today’s digital-first business environment, seamless connectivity enables real-time communication, access to cloud-based applications, and virtual meetings, all of which are critical for productivity and efficiency. A hotel’s Wi-Fi quality plays a major role in a business traveler’s accommodation choice, making high-speed internet a key differentiator for luxury hotels in APAC’s top business cities.

Key Takeaways

  • Only five out of the selected 20 hotels provided Wi-Fi with a median download speed of at least 100 Mbps. The majority of selected hotels fall into either the good performers category (50–100 Mbps) or the laggards category (below 50 Mbps). Leading hotels such as The Peninsula Tokyo and Rosewood Hong Kong demonstrate the benefits of investing in high-quality Wi-Fi infrastructure. 
  • Having a strong national broadband infrastructure does not guarantee fast hotel Wi-Fi. Even in cities with strong broadband infrastructure like Singapore, inconsistent hotel speeds highlight the need for better in-house network optimization. Raffles Singapore and InterContinental Singapore, for example, recorded some of the lowest speeds at 21.35 Mbps and 20.03 Mbps, respectively, underscoring the importance of proper Wi-Fi setup for a better guest experience.
  • Wi-Fi performance in APAC luxury hotels strongly correlates with the adoption of modern technology and effective frequency band usage. Top-performing hotels lead with 47.1% of tests conducted on Wi-Fi 6 and a high reliance on the 5 GHz band (88.4%), delivering faster speeds and more stable connections. In contrast, hotels with download speeds less than 50 Mbps relied heavily on outdated standards, with 75.2% of tests conducted on Wi-Fi 4 and Wi-Fi 5 and only 69.8% of their tests using the faster 5 GHz band. 

Connectivity is a key factor for business travelers in APAC

The Asia-Pacific (APAC) region remains a major hub for global business travel, driven by strong economic growth and dynamic markets. In 2023, business travel spending in APAC surged by 41%, reaching US$567 billion, with projections to exceed US$800 billion by 2027. The top five business meeting destinations in APAC; Singapore, Tokyo, Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Sydney, serve as major business hubs, attracting professionals from around the world.

This report analyzes Wi-Fi performance in selected 5-star hotels across the five cities: Singapore, Tokyo, Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Sydney, with the addition of hotels in Bali, a key location for international conventions and events such as the G20 Bali Summit, the APEC Summit, and the World Bank Annual Meeting.

Map: List of selected hotels and location (cities)

Map of locations of select 5-star hotels in APAC

APAC luxury business hotels show mixed Wi-Fi performance

Using Speedtest Intelligence® data, we analyzed median download speeds inside and around selected hotel properties throughout 2024. This year-long period allows us to assess Wi-Fi performance and stability under varying hotel occupancy levels and guest profiles. To ensure data reliability, we excluded hotels with insufficient measurement samples and focused only on the most commonly used Wi-Fi network at each hotel—typically the one freely accessible to guests.

Chart of Wi-Fi Performance for Select Hotels in Asia Pacific

The Wi-Fi download speeds of selected hotels across major APAC business destinations show significant variation, with some properties delivering top-tier connectivity while others fall short. In a similar report that analyzed Wi-Fi download speeds of luxury hotels in the MENA region, we categorized the results to three groups of hotels based on Wi-Fi download speed:

  1. Top performers are hotels that offer exceptionally fast Wi-Fi, with median download speeds exceeding 100 Mbps. Such speeds provide seamless connectivity for business travelers, enabling ultra-high-definition video conferencing, large file transfers, and lag-free virtual collaboration. These results suggest that these hotels have made significant investments in high-performance Wi-Fi infrastructure, ensuring a premium experience for their guests.
  2. Good performers offer solid Wi-Fi performance, ranging between 50 Mbps and 100 Mbps. These speeds are sufficient for most business activities, including video conferencing, cloud-based work, and high-speed browsing. While they don’t reach the top-tier speeds of the leading hotels, they still provide a strong and stable connection for business travelers.
  3. Performance laggards include hotels with a median download speed below 50 Mbps, which may impact business travelers relying on high-speed internet for seamless virtual meetings, large data transfers, or streaming-intensive work applications. 

Top performers represent 23.8% of the properties reviewed in this report. The Peninsula Tokyo is a leader, offering nearly double the speed (188.57 Mbps) of the next best hotel, Rosewood Hong Kong (113.21 Mbps). The InterContinental Grand Stanford Hong Kong also secured a position among the top performers, with a reported download speed of 109.74 Mbps, reinforcing Hong Kong’s strong presence in high-quality hotel Wi-Fi infrastructure.

The good performers category included properties such as Island Shangri-La Hong Kong (99.33 Mbps), Four Seasons Hotel Sydney and Tokyo (99.05 Mbps and 80.68 Mbps respectively), Mandarin Oriental Bangkok (88.58 Mbps), The Ritz-Carlton Tokyo (73.46 Mbps), and Marina Bay Sands Singapore (70.51 Mbps). These speeds are sufficient for most business activities, including video conferencing, online collaboration, and cloud-based applications. Notably, hotels in Bali, such as W Seminyak Bali and The St. Regis Bali Resort performed well, recording download speeds of 56.63 Mbps and 50.25 Mbps respectively, suggesting that luxury resorts catering to international business events are prioritizing strong internet connectivity. The presence of multiple Four Seasons properties in this range also indicates that while this chain generally provides good connectivity, they do not always reach the highest tier of performance.

Almost all of the cities have hotels in the laggards’ category. Despite Singapore’s strong fixed broadband infrastructure, and consistently topping Speedtest Global Index fixed broadband ranking, hotel Wi-Fi performance varied significantly. This suggests that the issue is most likely with the Wi-Fi network configuration rather than national broadband capacity. Raffles Singapore and InterContinental Singapore recorded some of the lowest speeds in the list, at 21.35 Mbps, and 20.03 Mbps respectively.

Modern Wi-Fi technology boost hotel connectivity performance 

Many factors influence Wi-Fi performance, including network design and the number of users connected to each access point (AP). Wi-Fi technology has also evolved significantly, with each generation introducing key improvements in speed, efficiency, and capacity. Rolling out modern, well-configured Wi-Fi equipment enhances reliability while maximizing the performance benefits of newer Wi-Fi technology.

Speedtest Intelligence data reveals a clear correlation between Wi-Fi standards and network performance across the three categories. Top performers reported more test samples on Wi-Fi 6 (47.1%), with a smaller share using Wi-Fi 5 (32.9%) and Wi-Fi 4 (20.0%). In contrast, good-performing hotels reported 61.9% of samples were on Wi-Fi 5, with only 21% utilizing Wi-Fi 6. Performance laggards rely more on older Wi-Fi 4 and Wi-Fi 5 setups, with a combined total of 77.7% of test samples reported on these two Wi-Fi standards.

Test Distribution by Wi-Fi Standard for Different Hotels’ Performance Levels
Source: Speedtest Intelligence | Jan 2024 – Dec 2024

The distribution of Wi-Fi frequency bands further demonstrates the impact of network optimization on hotel performance. Hotels in the Top Performers category conducted 88.4% of their tests on the 5 GHz frequency band, followed by 80.8% for Good Performers hotels. Performance Laggards reported the lowest distribution at 64.6%.

Test Distribution by Frequency Band for Different Hotels’ Performance Levels
Source: Speedtest Intelligence | Jan 2024 – Dec 2024

Meeting the needs of modern business travelers

Reliable, high-speed Wi-Fi is essential for business travelers in luxury hotels. Poor connectivity disrupts productivity, affects virtual meetings, and leads to guest dissatisfaction. To remain competitive, hotels must invest in strategic Wi-Fi planning and infrastructure upgrades to meet the increasing connectivity demands of business travelers.

Effective Wi-Fi planning requires upgrading to modern standards such as Wi-Fi 6E or 7, thereby unlocking wider channels in the  6 GHz band to help alleviate congestion, and optimizing network capacity for high-density environments. Hotels must assess access point placement, bandwidth allocation, interference management, and simultaneous device connections to ensure a seamless experience for guests.

To address these connectivity gaps, professional Wi-Fi design solutions like Ekahau help hotels optimize network configurations from the outset. These tools enable precise access point placement, configuration, and performance monitoring, ensuring reliable coverage and high-speed connectivity across all areas of the hotel. Proper planning and investment in advanced Wi-Fi infrastructure are critical for delivering a seamless and high-quality digital experience for business travelers.

Ookla can assist hospitality property managers in designing Wi-Fi networks, monitoring their performance, and optimizing them. Please contact us to learn more about Speedtest Intelligence and Ekahau.

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.

Hong Kong
WiFi

About the Author

Affandy Johan

Ookla Research™ Articles
| December 22, 2024

Ringing in the New Year - How do 5G Networks Cope Under Stress?

Analyst Download

5G Networks Support NYE Festivities Across Major Cities

Major events present a unique challenge for mobile networks, particularly sporting events where users congregate in concentrated numbers, and where sharing of video to social media, and to friends and family is a key use case. Ringing in the New Year is another case in point – for many years network operators published statistics on the number of voice calls made, messages sent, and the amount of data traffic their networks handled. While the rise of over-the-top (OTT) communications platforms such as WhatsApp have put a damper on these press releases, there remains a sizeable impact on operators’ networks. For example, Belgian operator Proximus noted a 95% increase in mobile data traffic on New Year’s Eve in 2023 compared to 2022. The trend isn’t uniform across markets, with Australia’s Telstra consistently seeing lower data usage on New Year’s Eve, with its customers using 30% less data than average, according to a news source. What is clear is that the New Year presents network operators with the challenge of serving sufficient bandwidth to customers attending major New Year celebrations, allowing them to share the moment, but also to support the mass wishing of “Happy New Year” across a variety of channels.

We reviewed Speedtest Intelligence data for New Year’s Eve 2023/24, to analyse how 5G networks coped with the surge in demand and change in traffic patterns at New Year, across a selection of major cities featuring some of the largest New Year celebrations around the globe. We focused in on median performance alongside the 10th percentile, in order to evaluate the spread of performance from the median user to those experiencing more challenging network conditions which would impact their experience at New Year.

Worst 10% of Speedtest samples reveal network challenges

We zeroed in on 5G upload performance first. Network operators universally allocate more spectral capacity to the downlink, as most mobile use cases lean more heavily on downloading data to the end-user device. However, the usage profile at the New Year is different, with video sharing, video streaming and calling, as well as uploading content to social media, more prevalent. These are all activities that are supported by uplink from the device.

Our data shows a significant gap between upload performance for the median user, and those in the lower 10th percentile – those experiencing the worst 10% of performance samples. Half the cities in our analysis recorded 10th percentile upload performance of less than 1 Mbps, with speeds ranging from 0.30 Mbps in Berlin, to 6.09 Mbps in Dubai. These sub-par speeds make it nearly impossible to upload photos or videos.

User Experience – Assessing the Worst 10% of Performance Samples on New Year's Eve
Speedtest data, New Year's Eve 23/24, 8pm – 1am

It was a similar picture for New Year revellers based on download speeds and latency. Despite more capacity being allocated to the downlink, performance for the lowest 10% of samples tumbled significantly compared to the median experience, with cities in APAC (Bangkok, Hong Kong, Sydney and Tokyo) in particular suffering, recording 10th percentile 5G download speeds of less than 10 Mbps. Latency was more of a mixed story across cities. At one end of the scale, Tokyo recorded a variance in latency between the median and 90th percentile (the worst 10% of latency samples) of just 19 ms, while Sydney saw a much wider gap of almost 200 ms. At 200 ms of latency users are likely to experience frustratingly slow loading times, unresponsive applications, and poor video quality.

Our data also showed the degree to which New Year usage pulled down 5G performance for the worst 10% of samples. New York, and cities in Europe saw less of an impact at New Year’s Eve compared to their global counterparts. Berlin, London, New York and Paris saw 5G download speeds for 10th percentile drop by between 1.13 Mbps and 6.88 Mbps. In contrast, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Sydney saw performance drop by between 15.13 Mbps and 21.44 Mbps. Dubai and Rio de Janeiro recorded the largest variance, however with faster 5G speeds they still outpaced the remaining markets by a significant margin. Upload performance for the worst 10% of samples followed a similar trend to download, however latency performance was more varied. Berlin, Dubai, New York, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo saw very little difference between New Year Eve latency performance and the Q4 2023 average. However, Paris, Hong Kong and London saw an increase in latency for the worst 10% off samples of between 22 ms and 36 ms, while Bangkok and Sydney fared worst, with an increase of 61 ms and 171 ms respectively.

Impact of New Year's Eve Traffic on Users With the Worst 10% of Samples
Speedtest data, Q4 2023 vs New Year's Eve 23/24, 8pm – 1am

Addressing network pain points

Addressing network pain points for users affected by poor performance in dense urban areas is a challenging task. For major events like the recent Paris Olympics, which we reported on earlier this year, network operators will typically deploy temporary network assets such as cells on wheels (CoWs) to add extra network capacity, which can then be removed once the event concludes. Network operators can also look to build private networks, to provide dedicated capacity to support the operations of the event, including routing traffic for broadcasting purposes. However, city authorities also have an important role to play here, as highlighted in our recent whitepaper with Dublin City Council and the City Telecoms Association. Having a holistic view of network performance and its evolution across a city, as well as international benchmarks, provides city authorities with the data and insights to engage more constructively with network operators and regulators, and help introduce more effective policies to deliver meaningful change for end-users. We’ll continue to benchmark and report on city and state performance, based on Speedtest Intelligence data. For more information, please contact us.

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.

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About the Author

Mark Giles

Ookla Research™ Articles
| April 14, 2024

Early 5G Results for the Samsung Galaxy S24 Family: How do New S24 Models Stack up to Previous Generations and iPhone 15’s on 5G? 

Consumer

Consumers around the world eagerly awaited Samsung’s release of the latest line of its flagship Galaxy S series of smartphones on February 1, 2024. Was the wait worth it? In this article, we analyze how the Samsung Galaxy S24 family measures up against its predecessors in terms of 5G speed and latency during its first several weeks on the market (February 1 – March 24, 2024). 

With new chipsets and technologies alongside plenty of other cool new features in Galaxy S24 devices, we examined early results from Speedtest® users in 15 select countries around the world to see whether the Galaxy S24 lineup — comprising the S24, S24+, and S24 Ultra models — outpaced Samsung’s earlier S22 and S23 families for 5G performance. Additionally, we’ve compared the 5G speeds and latency of Apple’s iPhone 15 family — including the iPhone 15, 15 Pro, and 15 Pro Max — against Samsung’s offerings.

It’s important to note that device performance metrics can vary significantly from one country to another. Factors such as government and mobile operator investments in 5G infrastructure, spectrum allocations, and the extent of 5G network deployment all contribute to these variations.

Key takeaways:

  • The Samsung Galaxy S24 family showed a statistically significant lead for median 5G download speeds in seven out of 15 countries in this study. On the other hand, the Apple iPhone 15 family posted the fastest 5G speeds in only one country. It’s worth noting, however, that speed differences between Galaxy S24 devices and iPhone 15’s were relatively minor in some of the countries analyzed (see the charts below for details). 
  • The S24 family recorded the lowest median 5G multi-server latency in 10 of 15 countries, whereas iPhone 15 devices offered the highest median 5G latency in 10 markets.
  • Samsung Galaxy S22 models unsurprisingly offered the slowest median 5G download speeds in eight countries, while the Galaxy S23 family was slowest in four countries. 
  • Devices in the Galaxy S24 family experienced the fastest median 5G upload speed in 13 of the 15 countries examined for this analysis. However, upload speeds were much slower than 5G download speeds, ranging from 11.83 Mbps to Mbps to 66.52 Mbps, with median 5G upload speeds of 50 Mbps or better found in only three countries (South Korea, Qatar, and the U.A.E.). 

To learn more about what speeds mean in real-world terms, check out our article looking at how much speed users need for a variety of daily mobile activities.

Take me straight to the data!

Asia Pacific | Middle East & Africa | Europe | North America 

New chipsets and modems in the Galaxy S24 family 

Everyone wants to know if the newest technology is worth the upgrade when they’re investing in an expensive new smartphone. Each device within the Galaxy S24 family has various upgrades (including new AI features), but when it comes to features that impact speed and latency performance, here’s a look at the chipsets and modems for each line of smarthpones in our study:

  • Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra models use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset globally, while the S24 and S24+ use it only in Canada, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the United States. The Samsung Exynos 2400 is used elsewhere for the S24 & S24+.
  • The Galaxy S23 series uses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 worldwide, while Samsung S22 models use an Exynos 2200 chipset in Europe and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 elsewhere. 
  • Galaxy S24 devices utilize the Snapdragon X75 5G modem, S23 models have a Qualcomm Snapdragon X70 modem, while S22 models have a Qualcomm Snapdragon X65 modem.
  • Apple iPhone 15 models use Apple’s A16 Bionic chipset, while iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max models use the A 17 Pro chip. All devices in the Apple iPhone 15 family utilize Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X70 5G modem. 

Do you own one of these devices? See how your speeds compare by taking a quick Speedtest. And to learn more about mobile and fixed broadband performance in cities and regions across the world, visit the Speedtest Performance Directory™, where you’ll find ISP recommendations, insights on mobile and fixed broadband performance, and more. 

Digging into the Data: Where does the Samsung Galaxy S24 Family Lead its S22, S23, and iPhone 15 Counterparts Around the Globe? 

Early findings from Speedtest Intelligence® reveal that the latest Galaxy S24 family outperformed its predecessors — especially S22 models — in terms of 5G speed across several of the countries we analyzed. While differences in speed between devices were minimal in some countries, S24 models showed significant speed advantages over previous generation Samsung devices in markets like Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and others. 

Does that mean users in those locations should upgrade immediately? Not necessarily. The decision to upgrade depends on various factors, from price to features to performance and more. However, if speed is your primary concern, the Galaxy S24 series is a compelling option, especially for consumers currently utilizing devices from the Galaxy S22 lineup, which is now over two years old.

Read on to see our complete analysis of all 15 countries in this study or select a region below to dig into more localized results. 

Asia Pacific | Middle East & Africa | Europe | North America 

Asia Pacific

“> Chart of Samsung Galaxy S24 Family vs. Its Earlier Counterparts in Hong Kong
“> Chart of Samsung Galaxy S24 Family vs. Its Earlier Counterparts in India
“> Chart of Samsung Galaxy S24 Family vs. Its Earlier Counterparts in Indonesia
“> Chart of Samsung Galaxy S24 Family vs. Its Earlier Counterparts in Japan
“> Chart of Samsung Galaxy S24 Family vs. Its Earlier Counterparts in Philippines
“> Chart of Samsung Galaxy S24 Family vs. Its Earlier Counterparts in South Korea
“> Chart of Samsung Galaxy S24 Family vs. Its Earlier Counterparts in Thailand

Consumers in Hong Kong who want new features might want to upgrade

Speedtest Intelligence data revealed strong performance for all device families in Hong Kong, with the new Galaxy S24 family performing particularly well, boasting a median 5G download speed of 165.74 Mbps and the lowest median 5G multi-server latency in the market at 21.74 ms. However, the S24’s median 5G download speed was statistically comparable to that of its older Samsung and iPhone 15 peers, making the choice to upgrade currently more about new features than about performance.

Bottom line: With strong — and similar — 5G download speeds across all device families in Japan, upgrading to a new Galaxy device isn’t a must just yet, unless you want to enjoy the S24 family’s new features.

5G speeds were fast across the board in India, where the Samsung Galaxy 24 family held a slight edge 

In the early days following the release of the Galaxy S24 series in India, the latest Samsung models led for both 5G download speeds and 5G multi-server latency. While 5G speeds impressed across all device families in India — all notched speeds of at least 273.78 Mbps — Galaxy S24 models posted the top median 5G download speed at 302.43 Mbps and the lowest median 5G multi-server latency at 41.56 ms. On the other hand, Galaxy S22 devices showed the slowest — but still impressive — speeds in India at 273.78 Mbps, while the Samsung Galaxy S23 was just a tick behind at 279.93 Mbps. The iPhone 15 family, meanwhile, clocked in with a median 5G download speed of 285.78 Mbps.

Bottom line: Consumers in India currently using S22 devices might want to upgrade to an S24 model, given the nearly 30 Mbps speed advantage the new devices provided in this study. However, with excellent 5G speeds across all device families and similar speeds for devices in the S22, S23, and iPhone 15 families, users might not feel a huge difference in their 5G experience from one device to another. 

Samsung Galaxy enthusiasts in Indonesia needn’t rush to upgrade to an S24 device — yet

In contrast with what our results showed in most countries, the iPhone 15 family emerged as the leader in Indonesia with a median 5G download speed of 80.49 Mbps. All three Samsung Galaxy families trailed with speeds ranging from 55.61 Mbps for the S24 family to 69.24 Mbps for S23 models. While the iPhone 15 family’s 5G speed was nearly 25 Mbps faster than that of S24 devices, it’s worth noting that the difference among all three Samsung Galaxy models was only about 14 Mbps, and our results revealed no statistical difference in median 5G download speeds between the S22 and S23 families. 

Bottom line: Despite the iPhone 15 providing the top speeds in the market, the Galaxy S24 could hold greater long-term potential for consumers in Indonesia, especially when compared to older Samsung models. Equipped with a newer processor and modem, the S24 could see quicker speeds over time as Indonesia’s 5G networks evolve. In the meantime, users shouldn’t experience notable disparities in speed or latency among all three Samsung device families analyzed. 

No clear advantage to upgrading to a new Galaxy S24 in Japan

People in Japan who upgraded to a Galaxy S24 device likely haven’t seen a performance boost just yet. While all four device families performed similarly well in Japan, there was no statistical difference in the median 5G download speeds offered by all three Galaxy families, with speeds ranging from 110.48 Mbps to 118.93 Mbps across all three Galaxy devices. The iPhone 15 lineup also had a strong speed at 125.48 Mbps. 

Bottom line: With generally similar median 5G download speeds across all device families in Japan, users who are considering upgrading to a new Galaxy smartphone might want to wait. While we anticipate the S24’s speeds to surpass those of its predecessors over time, 5G speeds in the market were quite close across all three Galaxy device families in the early days of the S24’s release. 

For users in the Philippines who want the fastest 5G, Galaxy S22 users may want to upgrade. 

Samsung Galaxy S24 users in the Philippines might have noticed a modest improvement to their 5G speeds compared to those on older S23 and S22 models since they upgraded, as the Galaxy S24 family’s median 5G download speed of 157.38 Mbps was about 20 Mbps faster than that of Galaxy S22’s (137.68 Mbps) and a little over 15 Mbps faster than the Galaxy S23 family (140.06 Mbps). Meanwhile, the iPhone 15 family’s median 5G download speed of 120.04 Mbps trailed all three Samsung Galaxy families in the market.

Bottom line: For users in the Philippines seeking the fastest possible 5G experience, upgrading to an S24 device is worth considering. However, it’s worth noting that the differences in speed between devices wasn’t as stark as that in some other countries, and upgrading likely isn’t for everyone just yet.

Samsung Galaxy S24 and iPhone 15 much faster on 5G in South Korea than S22 devices 

In South Korea, home to the first widespread 5G launch in the world, our results reflected outstanding 5G speeds, with the iPhone 15 and Samsung Galaxy S24 families posting similar median 5G download speeds of 598.64 Mbps and 590.28 Mbps, respectively. The S22 family, meanwhile, offered the “slowest” 5G speeds in South Korea, posting an excellent median 5G download speed of 475.42 Mbps, while Galaxy S23 devices came in at 511.82 Mbps.

Bottom line: 5G users in South Korea can expect remarkable 5G speeds across the board, regardless of their device. However, Samsung Galaxy loyalists who currently use S22 models might want to consider moving to an S24 model, given that the S24 family was over 100 Mbps faster than Galaxy S22’s, while also offering the top median 5G upload speed in the market at 55.22 Mbps. For users who prioritize the fastest 5G experience, Galaxy S24’s and iPhone 15’s are both worth a look.

Samsung Galaxy S24 family provides top 5G download speeds in Thailand 

In Thailand, Speedtest Intelligence showed that the Galaxy S24 family delivered the fastest median 5G download speed in the market at 171.27 Mbps. That speed marks a notable improvement of roughly 35 Mbps over the S22’s 132.60 Mbps and the S23’s 135.55 Mbps. The Galaxy S24 family also offered the lowest median 5G multi-server latency in Thailand at 32.46 ms. The iPhone 15 family provided the second-fastest median 5G download speed in the market at 147.53 Mbps.

Bottom line: If you’re thinking of upgrading from an S22 or S23 device, our findings suggest that the Galaxy S24 might be the right choice. With faster 5G speeds compared to previous generations, coupled with low latency, smartphones in the Galaxy S24 family should allow for quick content downloads and smooth connectivity overall.

Middle East and Africa 

“> Chart of Samsung Galaxy S24 Family vs. Its Earlier Counterparts in Nigeria
“> Chart of Samsung Galaxy S24 Family vs. Its Earlier Counterparts in Qatar
“> Chart of Samsung Galaxy S24 Family vs. Its Earlier Counterparts in U.A.E.

Excellent 5G speeds in Nigeria, but too soon to tell if you should upgrade for performance 

In Nigeria, 5G speeds were impressive overall, from the Galaxy S23 family’s median 5G download speed of 281.67 Mbps to the new Galaxy S24’s speed of 383.97 Mbps. However, in these early days of the S24 lineup’s release, we are still waiting to see how things stabilize in the market before we can make a firm recommendation on whether to upgrade. 

Bottom line: For users who like to have the latest gear and/or want the new features offered by the S24 lineup, upgrading is certainly worth considering. But with fast 5G speeds in general, users on any of the device families we looked at should see a quick download experience in general. 

Samsung Galaxy S24 by far the fastest 5G in Qatar 

Home to some of the fastest 5G speeds in the world, Qatar showcased impressive median 5G download speeds across all three device families analyzed. The Galaxy S24 family led the pack with a jaw-dropping median 5G download speed of 971.49 Mbps and the top median 5G upload speed in the market at 66.52 Mbps. The Galaxy S22 and S23 families trailed, albeit with great median 5G download speeds of 675.06 Mbps and 758.49 Mbps, respectively. The iPhone 15 family also had a strong showing in Qatar, posting a median 5G download speed of 788.97 Mbps. 

Bottom line: Consumers in Qatar with older Galaxy S22 or S23 devices might want to make the switch, given that the S24 family’s remarkable median 5G download speed of nearly 1 Gbps was much faster than those of either the Galaxy S23 or especially S22 families.

Galaxy S24 a good option for Samsung fans in the U.A.E.

In the U.A.E., which is home to outstanding 5G speeds in general, the Samsung Galaxy S24 and iPhone 15 families delivered the top median 5G download speeds in the market at 828.11 Mbps and 819.48 Mbps, respectively. When compared to its earlier generation Samsung predecessors, the S24 family held a commanding speed advantage, boasting speeds that were at least 170 Mbps higher than those of either the S22 (639.33 Mbps) or S23 (657.79 Mbps) families. 

Bottom line: With median 5G download speeds ranging from 639.33 Mbps to 828.11 Mbps, consumers in the U.A.E. will likely enjoy fantastic speeds regardless of device model. However, for current S22 or S23 users hoping to boost their speeds, the Galaxy S24 family stands out as a good choice.

Europe

“> Chart of Samsung Galaxy S24 Family vs. Its Earlier Counterparts in France
“> Chart of Samsung Galaxy S24 Family vs. Its Earlier Counterparts in Spain
“> Chart of Samsung Galaxy S24 Family vs. Its Earlier Counterparts in the U.K.

Galaxy 24 family clocked 5G speeds over 80 Mbps faster than those on S22 devices in France

In France, the Galaxy S24 family was the frontrunner, delivering the fastest median 5G download speed among all device families in the market at 292.15 Mbps. That marks a significant improvement of over 80 Mbps compared to the S22 family’s speed of 211.32 Mbps, along with a jump of more than 60 Mbps compared to the S23’s speed of 229.78 Mbps. Meanwhile, iPhone 15 users experienced the second-fastest median 5G download speed in the market at 257.15 Mbps, with 5G latency nearly identical to that of the S22 and S23 families.

Bottom line: For consumers currently using an S23 or especially an S22 model, upgrading to an S24 device is worth considering. Our results in France showed that the latest Samsung lineup delivered a superior 5G speed experience over older Galaxy models, especially those in the Galaxy S22 family.

Galaxy S24’s a good choice over S22 models in Spain

All four device families in Spain provided good 5G speeds, ranging from the S22’s median 5G download speed of 141.33 Mbps to the S24 family’s speed of 179.34 Mbps. While speeds recorded on S24, S23, and iPhone 15 devices were statistically similar, the difference in speed between the S24 and S22 was much starker, with the S24 nearly 40 Mbps faster than the S22. 

Bottom line: The decision to upgrade should be more straightforward for S22 users in Spain compared to those with S23 or iPhone 15 models, as the S24’s median 5G download speed of 179.34 Mbps was almost 40 Mbps faster than that of the S22 family. 

Samsung Galaxy S24 likely worth an upgrade from S22 in the U.K. 

In the U.K., Samsung Galaxy S24 models were the fastest in the market, with the S24’s median 5G download speed of 156.71 Mbps offering a speed gain of nearly 40 Mbps compared to the Galaxy S22 family. Galaxy S24 models also posted faster speeds than both the Galaxy S23 and iPhone 15 families, but the difference was less stark than it was with the S22 family, with Galaxy S22 models clocking in at 120.49 Mbps, Galaxy S23’s at 133.49 Mbps, and iPhone 15’s at 138.07 Mbps. 

Bottom line: U.K. consumers using either S22 or S23 models may want to look into upgrading to the S24 to enjoy faster speeds. That’s especially true for S22 users, given that the S24’s median 5G download speed was nearly 40 Mbps faster than that of S22 devices.

North America

“> Chart of Samsung Galaxy S24 Family vs. Its Earlier Counterparts in Mexico
“> Chart of Samsung Galaxy S24 Family vs. Its Earlier Counterparts in the United States

No major 5G speed boost for users in Mexico who upgraded to a Galaxy S24 

5G speeds in Mexico were impressive, with all device families posting median 5G download speeds of 176.53 Mbps or better. While Speedtest users of the Galaxy S24 family experienced the fastest median 5G download speed in the market at 197.42 Mbps, that speed marked only a modest improvement compared to Galaxy S22 devices (186.51 Mbps) and iPhone 15 models (193.73 Mbps). The Galaxy S23 family showed the slowest 5G speed in the market at 176.53 Mbps, coming in about 20 Mbps slower than Galaxy S24 models

Bottom line: For users eager to embrace the new features offered by Galaxy S24 devices or move on from S23 devices, an upgrade might be worthwhile. However, with fast 5G speeds across all device families in Mexico and only about 20 Mbps separating all four device families in our study, users likely won’t see a major change in their 5G experience by upgrading. 

Galaxy S22 users in the U.S. could get faster 5G with the S24 family. 

5G speeds in the U.S. had an impressive showing across the board, with median 5G download speeds of at least 232.46 Mbps across all device families. The Samsung Galaxy S24 family led the way with an excellent median 5G download speed of 306.90 Mbps and the lowest median 5G multi-server latency at 45.71 ms. Users of the Galaxy S24 family enjoyed speeds roughly 75 Mbps faster than those on S22 models (232.46 Mbps) and approximately 65 Mbps faster than those on S23 devices (241.60 Mbps). Meanwhile, the iPhone 15 family also offered a strong performance, with a median 5G download speed of 272.99 Mbps. 

Bottom line: Users of older Samsung device models in the United States may want to switch to one of the newer models to capitalize on the faster 5G speeds offered by S24 devices, though speeds were strong for all device families in this study. 

Ookla will continue monitoring how devices are performing 

We’ll continue to check in on device performance as new models enter the market, so stay tuned for further insights into mobile and fixed broadband performance in countries around the world. 

If you’ve recently made the switch to an S24 device, make sure you’re getting the speeds you need by downloading the iOS or Android Speedtest® app.

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.

Consumer
Devices
Hong Kong

About the Author

Dave Andersen

Ookla Research™ Articles
| July 29, 2024

Faster Speeds and the Promise of New Use Cases is Driving 5G SA Adoption

Hong Kong

The deployment of 5G networks is progressing as demand for faster and more reliable connectivity continues to grow. The standalone (SA) deployment model marks a significant milestone in the evolution of 5G, aiming to offer lower latency, increased bandwidth, and improved reliability compared to earlier network configurations. In this article, we use Ookla Speedtest Intelligence® data to track 5G SA deployments since Q2 2023, 5G SA service adoption, and examine its impact on network performance. We also highlight key regions and countries that made notable advancements in 5G SA infrastructure.

Key Takeaways:

  • India, the U.S., and Southeast Asia are at the forefront of 5G SA adoption. T-Mobile and SK Telekom were among the first to launch 5G SA in 2020, while Chinese operators and Jio in India lead in terms of active 5G SA users. Europe somewhat lags, with operators still hesitant due to the relatively low ROI on existing 5G investments and unclear business cases for 5G SA. However, Europe has the highest number of operators planning to launch it.
  • The U.A.E. and South Korea lead the world in 5G SA performance. 5G SA download speeds reached 879.89 Mbps and 729.89 Mbps, respectively. Their 5G SA upload speeds were also impressive, at 70.93 Mbps and 77.65 Mbps, respectively. This performance is a result of significant advancements made by local operators in deploying 5G SA and testing advanced features such as network slicing and mobile edge computing (MEC).
  • The change in speed of 5G SA varied widely between countries over a year. Speedtest Intelligence data shows that 5G SA performance declined in many countries between Q2 2023 and Q2 2024, primarily driven by increased user base and network traffic. Conversely, markets such as Canada and the U.S. improved their performance thanks to access to additional spectrum.

5G SA deployments are expected to increase this year as adoption gains momentum and ecosystem matures

Most existing 5G deployments use the non-standalone (NSA) model which uses the 4G core network. This model is faster to roll out, requires less investment, and maximizes existing network assets. Unlike 5G NSA, 5G SA uses a dedicated 5G core network, unlocking the full capabilities of 5G with better speed, latency, support for large numbers of devices, and more agile service creation. It also enables new features such as network slicing where an operator can dedicate a network segment to specific customers or use cases. Furthermore, the core network functions provided by a cloud-native architecture enable more scalability and automation than physical or virtualized architectures. However, this comes with higher infrastructure complexity, investment as well as staff training costs.  Many operators use NSA as a stepping stone towards SA, with a few exceptions, such as DISH in the U.S. and Jio in India, which adopted SA from the outset. Other scenarios for deploying 5G SA include an overlay for a public 5G NSA network or as a private network for enterprise use cases. 

The Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) identified 130 operators that had invested in public 5G SA networks as of the end of June 2024. 5G SA represented more than 37% of the 614 operators known to have invested in 5G either through trials or deployments. The GSA reported 1,535 commercially available devices, including handsets and fixed wireless access (FWA) customer premises equipment (CPEs), that support 5G SA, demonstrating the growing maturity of the device ecosystem. 

However, only 11 new 5G SA deployments in nine countries were recorded (out of 46 new 5G networks launched in 32 countries) in 2023, according to Analysys Mason, showing a slowdown in deployments. We expect the pace of 5G SA launches to accelerate in 2024 and beyond supported by the growing device ecosystem and commercial appetite for new 5G use cases. 

To identify where 5G SA access has been activated and the network expanded between Q2 2023 and Q2 2024, we used Speedtest Intelligence® data to identify devices that connect to 5G SA. The maps below confirm that the number of 5G SA samples increased year-on-year and that coverage has expanded beyond urban centers. However, mobile subscribers in most of Africa, Europe, Central Asia, and Latin America have yet to experience 5G SA.

Speedtest Samples That Use 5G Standalone

In the following sections, we examine the year-on-year changes in 5G SA performance across different regions and identify which countries are leading in the Developed Asia Pacific, the Americas, Emerging Asia Pacific, and Europe.

The developed Asia-Pacific (DVAP) region is at the forefront of 5G SA launches

Operators in this region boast 5G SA networks, with launches happening as early as 2020. Strong government support, operators’ technology leadership, and a high consumer appetite for high-speed internet services drove this rapid adoption.

South Korea is considered a pioneer in the adoption and deployment of 5G technology, with SK Telecom deploying one of the first 5G SA services in H1 2020, and supporting advanced features such as network slicing and mobile edge computing (MEC). Speedtest Intelligence data shows that the country led the region in download and upload speeds in Q2 2024. South Korea has one of the highest median speeds among the countries analyzed at 729.89 Mbps (download) and 77.65 Mbps (upload). The other top-performing country is the U.A.E with a median download speed of 879.89 Mbps and a median upload speed of 70.93 Mbps. 

All three service providers in Singapore commercialized 5G SA services, covering more than 95% of the country. Users experienced excellent download speed with a median value of 481.96 Mbps. However, Singapore lagged in upload speed with a median value of 32.09 Mbps.

Macau and Japan are second and third in the region with median download speeds of 404.22 Mbps and 272.73 Mbps, respectively. Mainland China followed with a median speed of 236.95 Mbps. Policies and initiatives such as network-sharing agreements and government subsidies supported 5G growth.

In Australia, TPG Telecom launched its 5G SA network in November 2021, following Telstra’s announcement in May 2020. However, the country lagged behind its regional peers with median download speeds and upload speeds of 146.68 Mbps and 17.69 Mbps, respectively.

The performance of most reviewed DVAP countries remained largely stable or slightly declined between Q2 2023 and Q2 2024. The only two exceptions are South Korea and Australia where performance improved by 12% and 18%, respectively. The most substantial declines were observed in upload speeds, while South Korea stood out with a 17% boost in performance.

5G Standalone Network Performance, Select Countries in Developed Asia Pacific
Source: Speedtest Intelligence® | Q2 2023 – Q2 2024
5G Standalone Network Performance, Select Countries in Developed Asia Pacific

T-Mobile and DISH Push 5G SA Coverage in the U.S.

In the U.S., T-Mobile launched its 5G Standalone (SA) network over 600 MHz spectrum in August 2020, becoming one of the first operators in the world to do so. This was followed by a faster service over 2.5 GHz mid-band spectrum in November 2022 which helped the operator to maintain its national lead in 5G performance. On the other hand, Verizon extensively tested 5G SA in 2023 but so far has been slow to deploy a nationwide SA network. DISH, another notable 5G SA operator, pioneered a cloud-native Open RAN-based 5G SA network in June 2023 and expanded coverage to 73% of the population by the end of that year. In Canada, Rogers Wireless launched the first 5G SA at the beginning of 2021, a year after introducing 5G NSA. 

In Brazil, the median download and upload speeds reached 474.65 Mbps and 32.36 Mbps in Q2 2024, respectively, exceeding those in Canada and the U.S. The main operators in Brazil, Claro, Telefonica (Vivo), and TIM have launched 5G SA over the 3.5 GHz band, making the service available to a large proportion of the population.

While download and upload speed improved in Canada and the U.S. between Q2 2023 and Q2 2024, according to Speedtest Intelligence, it declined in Brazil. The deployment of C-band has likely helped to increase download speed in both Canada and the U.S.

5G Standalone Network Performance, Select Countries in the Americas
Source: Speedtest Intelligence® | Q2 2023 – Q2 2024
5G Standalone Network Performance, Select Countries in the Americas

India leads in the Emerging Asian Pacific (EMAP) region with fast expansion to 5G SA network

India is at the forefront of the Emerging Asian Pacific region’s rapid 5G Standalone (SA) network expansion. However, according to Ookla’s Speedtest data for Q2 2024, the Philippines surpasses both India and Thailand with a median 5G SA download speed of 375.40 Mbps. Globe, the first mobile operator to introduce 5G Non-Standalone (NSA) in the Philippines, expanded its 5G outdoor coverage to 97.44% of the capital by the end of H1 2023. The company also launched 5G SA private networks in 2023, along with network slicing.

India follows closely behind the Philippines, with a median download speed of just under 300 Mbps. Jio has been a leader in enhancing 5G SA coverage since its launch in October 2022, while Bharti Airtel initially opted for NSA, with plans to transition to full 5G SA. 

Jio’s rapid coverage expansion and high throughput are supported by its access to mid-band (3.5 GHz) and low-band (700 MHz) frequencies. Additionally, all new 5G handsets released in India are SA-compatible, boosting the adoption of 5G SA services, and more than 90% of them support carrier aggregation and Voice over New Radio (VoNR). 

Thailand lags behind in median download speed for Q2 2024 but outperforms India and the Philippines in upload speed. It was among the first countries in the region to introduce 5G services, with operators quickly expanding coverage to reach over 80% of the population. AIS, the leading operator in Thailand, launched 5G NSA services in February 2020 using 700 MHz, 2.6 GHz, and 26 GHz bandwidths, followed by 5G SA in July 2020. The operator enabled VoNR in 2021. 

Unlike the DVAP region, countries in EMAP have experienced a more substantial decline in 5G SA network performance compared to Q2 2023. The rapid coverage expansion and adoption have likely increased the load on 5G SA infrastructure, putting pressure on the operators to scale up network capacity in the future to at least maintain a similar performance level.

5G Standalone Network Performance, Select Countries in Emerging Asia Pacific
Source: Speedtest Intelligence® | Q2 2023 – Q2 2024
5G Standalone Network Performance, Select Countries in Emerging Asia Pacific

Europe is home to the highest number of operators looking to deploy 5G SA

A growing number of European operators are offering or planning to offer 5G SA, driven by a maturing device ecosystem. However, many remain hesitant due to cost and the need to demonstrate clear business cases for 5G SA. GSMA Intelligence reports that Europe has the highest number of planned 5G SA launches, with 45 operators planning to deploy it as of Q1 2024.

Elisa in Finland was one of the first operators in the region to launch 5G SA in November 2021. Other notable examples of SA implementations include Vodafone in Germany (April 2021) and the UK (June 2023), Bouygues Telecom (2022) in France, Three in Austria, Wind Tre in Italy (both in 2022), Orange and Telefónica in Spain, and TDC Denmark in 2023. 

The recent 5G SA launch in Spain may explain why that country saw such high speeds, with Speedtest Intelligence reporting download and upload speeds of 614.91 Mbps and 56.93 Mbps, respectively, in Q2 2023. However, Spain experienced a significant drop in performance in 2024, with speeds falling to 427.64 Mbps (download) and 30.55 Mbps (upload). Despite this decline, Spain continued to outperform the UK and Germany.

5G Standalone Network Performance, Select Countries in Europe
Source: Speedtest Intelligence® | Q2 2023 – Q2 2024
5G Standalone Network Performance, Select Countries in Europe

While 5G SA deployments appear to have slowed in 2023 compared to previous years, we expect momentum to increase from 2024 due to rising enterprise demand for private networks and interest in network slicing, as well as consumer demand for immersive gaming and VR applications.  The ecosystem’s maturity and the availability of more network equipment and devices supporting 5G SA will also stimulate the market. According to the GSA, 21% of operators worldwide investing in 5G have included 5G SA in their plans.

Interestingly, the growing popularity and adoption of 5G SA have impacted its performance, with many markets seeing some degradation compared to 2023, according to Speedtest Intelligence.  Nonetheless, 5G SA still offers a markedly faster download speed than 5G NSA. Beyond speed, 5G SA promises new capabilities, such as network slicing, that have started to emerge in the most advanced markets but will take time to become a reality for most consumers and enterprises worldwide.

We will continue to track the deployments of 5G SA and monitor their impact on network global performance. For more information about Speedtest Intelligence data and insights, please contact us.

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.

Hong Kong
macau

About the Author

Karim Yaici

Ookla Research™ Articles
| September 3, 2024

Asia-Pacific Subscribers Will Benefit from More 5G Mid-band Spectrum

Spectrum

In the dynamic landscape of 5G deployment across the Asia-Pacific region, the strategic selection of spectrum frequency bands plays a pivotal role. The mid-band range, notably C-band (3.3-4.2 GHz), stands out as a key enabler, offering the ideal balance of broad coverage and high capacity. In this article, we use Ookla Speedtest Intelligence® data to highlight the relationship between spectrum bands and network performance.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • Mid-band is important for unlocking the full potential of 5G. The mid-band spectrum offers a balance of speed and range and is the preferred choice for most 5G deployments globally. Speedtest Intelligence® showed that C-band was present in 62.1% of global Speedtest consumer-initiated 5G samples in the first half of 2024.
  • Markets with a higher proportion of included C-band samples experienced faster 5G speeds. Global Speedtest Intelligence samples that included C-band were 1.7 times faster than lower mid-band spectrum and 4.27 times faster than sub-1-GHz low-band based on 1H 2024 data. Data also indicates that for markets with a higher reported proportion of included C-band samples typically experienced faster 5G speeds and improved overall network performance.
  • Operators face the challenge of balancing the need for broad 5G coverage with the desire for better performance. Some APAC markets experienced a decline in speed as 5G services and availability have increased. Malaysia, with its unique single-wholesale 5G network, showed declining 5G median download speeds, falling from 506.96 Mbps in Q2 2023 to 387.39 Mbps in Q2 2024, as 5G Service increased from 9.4% in Q2 2023 to 26.5% in Q2 2024. Thailand, on the other hand, achieved a 5G Service of 65.4% in Q2 2024, but reported a lower 5G median download speed of 135.30 Mbps due to the lack of C-band allocations.

Mid-band spectrum dominates 5G deployments

In our previous report on spectrum and performance, we discussed how the effectiveness of 5G networks depends on the strategic use of spectrum bands. Regulators allocate spectrum for 5G networks across three ranges: low-band (sub-1GHz), mid-band spectrum (frequencies between 1 GHz and 6 GHz), and high-band or mmWave spectrum (24 GHz and above), each with unique characteristics and capabilities. An operator’s spectrum holdings play a crucial role in determining its 5G deployment strategy and the range of services and experiences it can offer.

Mid-band spectrum occupies a strategic position in the 5G landscape, offering a blend of range and speed that is critical for realizing the full potential of 5G networks. It occupies a middle ground between the extensive reach of low-band spectrum and the high-speed but limited-range capabilities of high-band or mmWave spectrum, making it a crucial enabler of high-speed connectivity and low latency. , offering a blend of range and speed that is critical for realizing the full potential of 5G networks. It occupies a middle ground between the extensive reach of low-band spectrum and the high-speed but limited-range capabilities of high-band or mmWave spectrum, making it a crucial enabler of high-speed connectivity and low latency. 

Global Breakdown of Spectrum Bands Used in 5G Deployments (%)
GSMA | Q1 2024

Due to mid-band’s ability to balance coverage and performance, it is the preferred choice in 5G deployment. According to GSMA Intelligence’s Spectrum Navigator, out of the 295 operators that have launched commercial 5G networks globally, as of the end of Q1 2024, 72% utilized mid-band spectrum. 

Within the mid-band spectrum, the C-band spectrum, which includes n77 (3,300–4,200MHz), n78 (3,300–3,800MHz), and n79 (4,500MHz), has emerged as the de facto standard for 5G deployment. GSMA Intelligence reported that 186 out of 295 operators worldwide (63%) use bands n77 or n78 for their 5G network, showing a clear preference for the C-band spectrum. Additionally, Speedtest Intelligence® data from the first half of 2024 revealed that C-band was present in 62.1% of global Speedtest consumer-initiated 5G samples where spectrum information is available.

Proportion of Included Spectrum Band (%)
Speedtest Intelligence® | 1H 2024

APAC region mirrors the global trend of prioritizing mid-band spectrum for 5G deployment

We analyzed 5G networks in selected Asia Pacific (APAC) and top-performing markets from the Gulf region using Speedtest data from the first half of 2024 to gain insights into the spectrum bands utilized by operators. It’s important to note that operators will employ differing strategies in order to optimize spectrum utilization and the user experience. Consumer-initiated Speedtest samples will attempt to saturate a network connection, and operators will tend to serve this capacity demand through the spectrum bands with the highest capacity, and where required supplement this capacity through carrier aggregation. This active testing gives a better indication of the maximum throughput and state of the network, in contrast with background idle-state testing, which will often camp on lower frequency bands and more specifically on 4G-LTE. For many of these selected markets, it is evident that the mid-band spectrum is the cornerstone of 5G deployments, reported in 81.5% of user samples with spectrum information. Within the mid-band, 73.1% of total test samples included C-band.

Chart of Spectrum Band Distribution Based on Primary Reported Band

Speedtest Intelligence reveals a strong preference for C-band in certain APAC markets. For instance, in South Korea, New Zealand, and Malaysia, the recorded 5G test samples were exclusively reported on the C-band spectrum.

South Korean and New Zealand operators have successfully deployed nationwide 5G access in both markets using the allocated C-band spectrum. In South Korea, all three major operators acquired spectrum in the 3.5 MHz (mid-band) and 28 MHz (high-band) through the auction process in 2018. While all operators prioritized and successfully deployed 5G on the 3.5GHz spectrum, their 28 GHz mmWave band licenses were revoked after failing to meet the deployment conditions set by the country’s regulator, the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT). This underscores that deploying 5G on the C-band for the operators has been sufficient to meet the operators requirements so far.

In Malaysia, 5G deployment is facilitated through its single wholesale network provider, Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB), utilizing the 3.5 GHz band for traffic, with 700 MHz serving as the Non-Standalone (NSA) 5G anchor band.

The allocation of C-band for 5G deployment varies across the APAC region. In some markets, 5G deployment relies more on low-band and lower mid-band spectrum range to enable broader outdoor 5G coverage and improved penetration inside buildings in urban and suburban areas. Thailand, one of the first markets to launch 5G in the Asia-Pacific region, has successfully launched 5G services using both 700 MHz and 2.6 GHz bands. The full allocation of C-band is still pending, which may challenge the country’s ability to fully leverage the capabilities of 5G technology. 

Similarly, Indonesia has yet to allocate the C-band spectrum for 5G, which could be challenging due to broadcast and fixed satellite operators’ traditional use of this spectrum. Extensive refarming work may be needed to ensure that mobile operators have access to the spectrum without interference.

5G performance hinges on the spectrum bands used

Data from Speedtest Intelligence from 1H 2024 shows a large variation in 5G download speeds depending on the included frequency in the 5G test samples globally, from a high 1.3 Gbps for samples that included high-band (mmWave) to a more moderate 75.17 Mbps for low band.

Median 5G Download (Mbps) by Included Spectrum Bands
Speedtest Intelligence® | 1H 2024

Samples that included lower-range mid-band spectrum provided 2.48 times better performance compared to the sub-1GHz low-band, with a median download speed of 187.80 Mbps. While samples that included the upper mid-band, i.e., C-band, the preferred spectrum band used for 5G deployment globally, had significantly higher download speeds at 322.38 Mbps, or 1.7 times faster than lower mid-band spectrum, and more than 4 times faster than sub 1-GHz low-band.

C-Band driving improved performance

Chart of Median 5G Download Speed Against Proportion of Included C-band Samples (%)

Drilling further into the selected markets, our data indicates that markets with a higher proportion of C-band samples in the tests, generally had faster median 5G download speeds.

Operators in the UAE, Qatar, and South Korea have ample spectrum allocation, with each operator being provided at least 100 MHz of contiguous C-band spectrum, partially explaining the strong 5G performance in those markets.

United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, and Kuwait have consistently secured top positions in Ookla’s Speedtest Global IndexTM for median download speed over all technologies. This is driven by strong 5G performance, with Speedtest Intelligence data reporting median 5G download speeds in 1H 2024 of 667.99 Mbps in the UAE and 610.67 Mbps in Qatar, while Kuwait maintained a reasonably fast 366.79 Mbps during the same period.

The strong 5G performance can be partly attributable to the combination of ample spectrum access and extensive 5G coverage underpinned by fierce competition among operators. The Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA) in the UAE has reported that as of Q1 2024, the 5G network covers more than 98% of the populated areas. Additionally, Qatar has made massive investments in building robust 5G networks for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

In APAC, South Korea continues to solidify its position as a regional leader in 5G deployment, showcasing median 5G download speeds of 524.99 Mbps in 1H 2024. South Korean regulator, MSIT, has set strict milestones and requirements after allocating 100 megahertz in the 3.5 GHz band to all three major operators. This move has prompted the operators to accelerate their 5G rollouts with extensive network densification, as evidenced by deploying more than 115,000 5G sites across 85 cities, covering most metropolitan areas and ensuring the country was among the first to reach nationwide population coverage.

Balancing 5G Service and network performance with increasing user demands

Chart of Median 5G Download Speed Against 5G Service (%)

As the adoption of 5G technology continues to expand, operators face the challenge of balancing the need for extensive 5G coverage and high performance to meet the growing demands for advanced use cases. Ookla’s 5G Service metric measures the percentage of known geospatial locations where a 5G-enabled device has access to 5G Service. When comparing 5G service and performance in selected Asia-Pacific markets, apart from some outliers, we noticed that there is typically a trade-off between performance and coverage when operators deploy 5G using a range of spectrum bands.

Median 5G Download (Mbps) and 5G Service (%) Quarterly Trend in Selected APAC Markets
Source: Speedtest Intelligence® | Q2 2023 – Q2 2024
Median 5G Download (Mbps) and 5G Service (%) Quarterly Trend in Selected APAC Markets

In Hong Kong, 5G Service is widespread at 95.7% as of Q2 2024, thanks to a combination of low-band, mid-band, and C-band spectrum. However, with an average of 75 MHz in C-band allocated to operators, download speeds are constrained at 135.50 Mbps.

Singapore, where all three operators have commercialized 5G SA, reported well-balanced 5G Service and download performance. In Q2 2024, Singapore 5G Service was at 80.3%, and the median download speed was 341.49 Mbps. This is due to the operators’ optimal combined use of the 2.1GHz mid-band spectrum and 3.5 GHz C-band spectrum nationwide.

Despite initially achieving some of the fastest 5G speeds in the region, Malaysia, with its unique 5G deployment strategy through a nationwide single wholesale network, has experienced a decline in speed as 5G services and availability have increased. Overall, the country’s 5G download speed has fallen from 506.96 Mbps in Q2 2023 to 387.39 Mbps in Q2 2024, as 5G Service increased significantly from 9.4% in Q2 2023 to 26.5% in Q2 2024. The 100 MHz C-band spectrum allocated to the SWN provider, shared among five 5G providers, appears constrained as 5G Service and availability increase, leading to declining median speeds. GSMA Intelligence data estimates that the adoption of 5G technology in Malaysia was 10.1% in Q2 2023 and increased to 37.0% in Q2 2024. The rapid adoption of 5G technology is impacting performance and will continue to do so as adoption rates increase and traffic demand per connection rises. This underscores the importance of ongoing spectrum management to maintain high-performance 5G networks and effectively address the increasing demands and new 5G use cases.

It was observed that in markets leveraging lower-band spectrum for wider 5G coverage, there was a trade-off between extensive coverage and performance. Thailand, for example, underscores the critical role of C-band spectrum in unlocking 5G’s full potential. Despite achieving 65.4% 5G Service in Q2 2024, the lack of C-band allocations has limited 5G performance to a median download speed of 135.30 Mbps. This highlights the importance of incorporating C-band spectrum alongside low-band and lower mid-band frequencies to deliver optimal 5G speeds and capabilities.

Wider contiguous spectrum is needed for future 5G networks

5G has been the fastest mobile generation rollout to date, surpassing one billion connections by the end of 2022, rising to 1.6 billion connections at the end of 2023 and 5.5 billion by 2030. As the number of 5G connections continues to grow, sustaining a good user experience becomes more important, underscoring the need to maintain and enhance network capacity.

The increasing data traffic and the proliferation of data-intensive applications and services drive the demand for greater contiguous mid-band spectrum, particularly in the 3.3-4.2 GHz C-band range. Allocating additional spectrum would also help mobile operators meet the ITU’s minimum technical performance requirements for download speeds of 100 Mbps and upload speeds of 50 Mbps in densely populated urban areas. 

We will continue to monitor spectrum demands and monitor their impact on network global performance. For more information about Speedtest Intelligence data and insights, please get in touch.

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

Spectrum
Hong Kong

About the Author

Affandy Johan

Ookla Research™ Articles
| June 17, 2024

Your Guide to Airport Wi-Fi and Mobile Performance at 50+ Global Airports in 2024

Consumer

Airports around the world have been packed with travelers this year, which puts extra stress on the Wi-Fi. With summer travel already well in swing in the northern hemisphere, we’re back with fresh data for our series on airport Wi-Fi performance to help you plan for connectivity at all your connections. You’ll find information about Wi-Fi on free networks provided by the individual airports as well as mobile speeds at some of the busiest airports in the world during Q1 2024. Read on for a look at internet performance at over 50 of the world’s busiest airports with data on download speed, upload speed, and latency.

Key takeaways

  • The seven fastest airports for downloads over Wi-Fi were in the United States: San Francisco International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, and Harry Reid International Airport.
  • Six U.S. airports had the fastest uploads over Wi-Fi: San Francisco International Airport, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, and John F. Kennedy International Airport.
  • The fastest mobile download speeds on our list were at Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar, Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport in China, and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in the U.S.
  • Eight of the 10 airports with the fastest mobile upload speeds were in China.

9 airports have 100+ Mbps Wi-Fi download speeds

Speedtest Intelligence® showed seven of the nine airports with median Wi-Fi download speeds over 100 Mbps were in the U.S.:

  • San Francisco International Airport (173.55 Mbps),
  • Newark Liberty International Airport (166.51 Mbps),
  • John F. Kennedy International Airport (151.59 Mbps),
  • Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (151.28 Mbps),
  • Seattle–Tacoma International Airport (137.31 Mbps),
  • Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (119.92 Mbps), and
  • Harry Reid International Airport (107.84 Mbps).

Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France and China’s Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport rounded out the list with median download speeds of 107.13 Mbps and 101.01 Mbps, respectively. Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Sea–Tac had the lowest median multi-server latency on Wi-Fi of any of the airports surveyed during Q1 2024.

Hover on the pins on the map below to see full details for download and upload speeds as well as latency at all the airports analyzed.

Fixed Broadband Internet Speeds Over Free Wi-Fi at Global Airports
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q1 2024
A map showing fixed broadband speeds in selected global airports.

At Ookla®, we’re dedicated to making sure the networks you depend on are always at their best. With Ekahau®, our Wi-Fi solution, we know firsthand just how challenging it can be to optimize Wi-Fi at airports, especially when you have up to 900 people waiting at each boarding gate during the busiest travel times. While the speeds achieved by these top airports are impressive, we saw two smaller U.S. airports with median Wi-Fi download speeds over 200 Mbps during our U.S.-only analysis of airport Wi-Fi in the fall.

Six airports on our list use multiple SSIDs for their Wi-Fi networks for different terminals or to take advantage of the coverage advantages of 2.4 GHz and the speed advantages of 5 GHz frequencies. We have included data for all the SSIDs with sufficient samples in the map and reported in the text on the best result when using multiple SSIDs results in dramatically different speeds.

Eighteen airports on our list had median Wi-Fi download speeds of less than 25 Mbps. Mexico City International Airport in Mexico had the lowest median Wi-Fi download speed at 5.11 Mbps, followed by:

  • Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Vietnam (7.07 Mbps),
  • Beijing Capital International Airport in China (9.45 Mbps),
  • Cairo International Airport in Egypt (10.62 Mbps), and
  • Tokyo Haneda Airport in Japan (11.37 Mbps).

You may struggle with everything from video chatting to streaming at any airport with a download speed below 25 Mbps. Latency is also a factor in performance so if your airport is one of the three with a median Wi-Fi latency over 60 ms, a mobile hotspot may be a better option for a stable connection.

Wi-Fi 6 has arrived

Our analysis shows at least 15 airports on our list were using the new Wi-Fi 6 standard in their Wi-Fi setup. Wi-Fi 6 uses Multi-User Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MU-MIMO) and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) to increase performance and throughput, especially when serving multiple devices. This offers a real advantage at a large public location like an airport. In order to get maximum benefit from Wi-Fi 6, consumers would need to be using Wi-Fi 6-compatible devices. Speedtest data shows a fairly even split between airports that saw faster download speeds on Wi-Fi 6 and airports where Wi-Fi 6 results were comparable to those on other earlier Wi-Fi generations.

As you know, international travel can be complicated. Even if the airport offers free Wi-Fi, you may encounter other barriers to access. For example, a local number is required in Cairo to receive the access code to connect to the airport Wi-Fi. And while we’d love to include other large airports like Nigeria’s Murtala Muhammed International Airport in future Wi-Fi analyses, they currently do not offer free Wi-Fi so we have included mobile data below.

11 airports show mobile speeds over 200 Mbps

Speedtest® data shows mobile speeds massively outpaced Wi-Fi, with 14 airports showing faster median downloads over mobile than the fastest airport for Wi-Fi. Hamad International Airport in Qatar had the fastest median download speed over mobile on our list at 442.49 Mbps during Q1 2024, followed by:

  • Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport (341.19 Mbps),
  • Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (295.94 Mbps),
  • Shanghai Pudong International Airport (264.71 Mbps),
  • Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport (258.42 Mbps), and
  • Istanbul Airport (255.51 Mbps).

Mobile Network Speeds at Global Airports
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q1 2024

Fastest mobile speeds at airports in Africa and South America

Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Kenya had the fastest mobile download speeds of the four African airports we analyzed at 88.12 Mbps during Q1 2024. São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport in Brazil was the faster of the two Latin American airports analyzed with a median download speed of 55.44 Mbps.

Airports with slow mobile speeds

Mobile can’t fix everything, because six airports came in with a median mobile download speed below 25 Mbps. Mexico City International Airport was again at the bottom with 8.75 Mbps, followed by:

  • Josep Tarradellas Barcelona–El Prat Airport (15.21 Mbps),
  • Orlando International Airport (15.84 Mbps),
  • Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (20.37 Mbps),
  • Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (20.96 Mbps), and
  • Indira Gandhi International Airport (21.80 Mbps).

Latency on mobile was generally higher than that on Wi-Fi with 46 airports showing a Wi-Fi latency lower than the lowest latency on mobile, 27.51 ms at China’s Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport. As noted above, latency is an important factor in performance, so it might be worth investigating the airport Wi-Fi by running a Speedtest if your mobile performance seems to lag.

Airport Wi-Fi or mobile? Connecting on your next trip

We created a quick guide to help you decide whether to try out the Wi-Fi or simply use the local mobile network if you have access. Use it to compare free airport Wi-Fi performance against mobile performance for the 52 airports we have both Wi-Fi and mobile data for during Q1 2024. Twenty-six airports had faster mobile internet than airport Wi-Fi. Eight airports had faster Wi-Fi than mobile, and seven airports showed only a slight distinction between Wi-Fi and mobile or download speeds over 100 Mbps on both, so we gave both the green check marks. We were able to include more airports in the mobile analysis because there were more mobile samples to analyze at those airports than there were samples over Wi-Fi.

Chart of Comparing Airport Wi-Fi and Mobile Speeds at World Airports

The averages reported here are based on real-world data, so your experience may differ, especially on a busy travel day. Take a Speedtest® at the airport to see how your performance compares. Cheers to safe travels and rapid connections wherever you’re flying.

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.

Consumer

About the Author

Isla McKetta

Ookla Research™ Articles
| January 20, 2021

ICYMI: Ookla Data and Research from December 2020

Global Speeds


Highlights from the Speedtest Global IndexTM

Global-Index-Tweet-Image-Dec-2020

These are the top stories from December 2020:

  • Thailand has climbed two spots on fixed broadband to reach first place for the first time.
  • On mobile, Qatar climbed two spots to land in first place for mobile. While the country has ranked among the top five for the past year, this is the first time the country has reached the top spot.
  • Hungary has been steadily climbing the fixed broadband chart and currently ranks seventh.
  • Kuwait has reached sixth place, its highest mobile ranking to date, most likely due to an expanding 5G market.

New Global Index Market Analyses

United States

AT&T had the fastest Speed ScoreTM in the U.S. on mobile in Q4 2020. Washington, DC showed the fastest median mobile download speed while Gilbert, AZ was the fastest city for fixed broadband.

Canada

Bell showed the fastest median download speed on 5G during Q4 2020. The city of Edmonton had the fastest mean download speed over fixed broadband and mobile.

China

China Telecom showed the fastest Speed Score on fixed broadband. China Telecom was also fastest on mobile 5G and had the highest 4G Availability on mobile. China Mobile showed the fastest Speed Score on mobile.

France

Lyon showed the fastest mean download speed over fixed broadband while Nice was fastest on mobile. Orange had the fastest Speed Score on mobile overall and on 5G. Free was the fastest provider for fixed broadband.

Indonesia

Telkomsel was the fastest mobile operator in Indonesia during Q3-Q4 2020 while Biznet was the fastest ISP. IM3 Ooredoo had the highest 4G Availability among mobile operators.

New Global Index Market Analyses are also available for:

Articles worth a second look

2020 Recap: How the Internet Held Up During a Global Pandemic


This comprehensive report reveals how speeds over fixed broadband held up in 2020 using data from Speedtest Intelligence®.

Apple has 5G! But How Fast is the iPhone 12?


Find out how Apple’s iPhone 12 series performed in select cities around the world in Q4 2020.

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

Maria Gómez

Ookla Research™ Articles
| July 27, 2021

Oslo Tops the List of World Capitals with the Fastest 5G in Q1-Q2 2021

Global Speeds

Mobile operators are rapidly expanding 5G deployments across the globe, with 16,410 new 5G deployments across 109 countries added to the Ookla 5G Map™ in June 2021 alone. Huge investments in 5G are being made to increase performance, especially in major cities. We used Speedtest Intelligence® to see which world capitals have the best 5G speeds and availability, based on locations with commercially available 5G during Q1-Q2 2021.

Oslo, Norway was the fastest world capital for 5G during Q1-Q2 2021

ookla_fastest_5g_download_speed_world_capitals_0721

The race for fastest 5G performance among world capitals was extremely competitive during Q1-Q2 2021. Oslo, Norway had the fastest 5G of any world capital, clocking in with a median download speed of 526.74 Mbps. Seoul, South Korea had the second fastest median download speed over 5G at 467.84 Mbps; Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates was third (421.26 Mbps); Doha, Qatar fourth (413.40 Mbps) and Stockholm, Sweden fifth (401.30 Mbps). Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (384.66 Mbps); Kuwait City, Kuwait (338.97 Mbps), Muscat, Oman (318.95 Mbps); Beijing, China (291.19 Mbps); and Taipei, Taiwan (287.86 Mbps); rounded out the top 10. Helsinki, Finland showed a median 5G download speed of 279.59 Mbps; Sofia, Bulgaria 260.55 Mbps; Canberra, Australia 258.39 Mbps; Bangkok, Thailand 253.73 Mbps; Manama, Bahrain 249.71; Dublin, Ireland 223.01; Luxembourg City, Luxembourg 209.98 Mbps; Paris, France 208.48 Mbps and Bucharest, Romania 203.44 Mbps.

We saw median 5G download speeds between 150 Mbps and 200 Mbps in the following world capitals during Q1-Q2 2021: Ottawa, Canada (196.11 Mbps); Hanoi, Vietnam (195.99 Mbps); Bratislava, Slovakia (188.23 Mbps); Madrid, Spain (183.37 Mbps); Bern, Switzerland (175.69 Mbps); Rome, Italy (171.79 Mbps); London, United Kingdom (167.50 Mbps); Tokyo, Japan (167.02 Mbps); Athens, Greece (164.95 Mbps); Copenhagen, Denmark (162.75 Mbps); Ljubljana, Slovenia (158.50 Mbps); Hong Kong (153.78) and Washington, D.C., United States (151.80 Mbps).

Cape Town, South Africa was the slowest world capital for 5G in Q1-Q2 2021

ookla_slowest_5g_download_speed_world_capitals_0721

Speedtest Intelligence shows Capetown, South Africa had the slowest median download speed over 5G during Q1-Q2 2021 at 53.33 Mbps. Other world capitals with slower median 5G download speeds included: Brasilia, Brazil (62.18 Mbps); San Juan, Puerto Rico (72.59 Mbps); Warsaw, Poland (80.18 Mbps); Singapore (111.20 Mbps); Manila, Philippines (112.23 Mbps); Prague, Czechia (116.30 Mbps); Budapest, Hungary (137.54 Mbps); Amsterdam, Netherlands (139.75 Mbps); Zagreb, Croatia (140.92 Mbps); Vienna, Austria (144.93 Mbps); Jerusalem, Israel (145.17 Mbps); and Berlin, Germany (148.16 Mbps).

Capitals not mentioned on either of these lists did not have sufficient 5G samples during Q1-Q2 2021 to be included in this report.

The fastest 5G speeds are yet to come

5G is rapidly improving across the world and we’re eager to see how countries, cities and operators continue to perform during Q3 2021 and beyond. If you want to see how your 5G network performs against these benchmarks, please download the Android or iOS app, and take a Speedtest®. Learn more about 5G provider performance in select cities here, and visit the Ookla 5G MapTM to see which providers are offering 5G in your area.

Editor’s note: This article was updated on July 28 to reorganize the content for clarity.

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

Josh Fomon

Ookla Research™ Articles
| January 18, 2022

Speedtest Global Index Market Analyses Now Available for 41 Countries

Global Speeds

Speedtest Global IndexTM Market Analyses from Ookla® identify key data about internet performance in countries across the world. This quarter we’ve provided updated analyses for 41 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 41 markets:

Africa and the Middle East

Algeria | Jordan | Kenya | Morocco | Nigeria
Qatar | South Africa | Tunisia | Turkey

Asia and Oceania

China | Hong Kong (SAR) | New Zealand | Philippines | Singapore
Taiwan | Thailand | Vietnam

Europe

Austria | Belgium | Czechia | Denmark | Estonia
Finland| France | Germany | Hungary | Luxembourg
Malta | Poland | Slovakia | Spain

North and South America

Argentina | Brazil | Canada | Chile | Colombia
Ecuador | Guatemala | Mexico | Peru | United States

Africa and the Middle East

Algeria

  • Mobile provider Ooredoo had the highest Speed Score™ (25.05) and Consistency Score™ (82.0%) in Algeria during Q4 2021.
  • Apple devices were the fastest devices in Algeria during Q4 2021, achieving a mean download speed of 26.44 Mbps.
  • Xiaomi’s Redmi K40 5G and Apple’s iPhone 12 Pro Max 5G took the top spots among popular devices with mean download speeds at 35.71 Mbps and 35.40 Mbps, respectively, during Q4 2021.

Jordan

  • Speedtest Intelligence found Umniah was once again the fastest mobile operator in Jordan during Q4 2021, earning a Speed Score of 34.82.
  • Umniah also had the highest Consistency Score at 94.2% during Q4 2021.
  • For the third quarter in a row, fixed broadband provider Orange held the fastest Speed Score at 81.62 during Q4 2021.
  • Fixed broadband provider DAMAMAX had the highest Consistency Score at 86.2% during Q4 2021.
  • Among popular mobile devices in Jordan, Apple’s iPhone 12 Pro Max 5G edged out the iPhone 12 5G for fastest median download at 38.91 Mbps to 38.35 Mbps, respectively, during Q4 2021.
  • Amman had the fastest median fixed broadband and mobile download speeds among Jordan’s most populous cities at 57.31 Mbps and 19.99 Mbps, respectively, during Q4 2021.

Kenya

  • Mobile provider Safaricom had the highest mobile Speed Score (29.67) in Kenya during Q4 2021.
  • Airtel edged out Safaricom for highest mobile Consistency Score (83.1%) during Q4 2021.
  • For fixed broadband, Faiba had the highest Speed Score (28.58) and Consistency Score (52.0%) in Kenya for the third quarter in a row during Q4 2021.
  • Apple took four out of the top five spots among popular devices in Kenya during Q4 2021, with the iPhone 12 Pro Max 5G achieving the highest mean download speed at 39.19 Mbps.
  • Mombasa had the fastest mean mobile download and upload speeds among Kenya’s most populous cities at 30.32 Mbps and 17.05 Mbps, respectively.
  • Mombasa also had the fastest mean fixed broadband download speed at 22.91 Mbps during Q4 2021.

Morocco

  • Mobile operator Maroc Telecom achieved the highest Speed Score (67.26) and Consistency Score (93.4%) during Q4 2021, both increases from Q3 2021 results.
  • Salé (44.92 Mbps), Marrakesh (44.32 Mbps) and Fes (43.57 Mbps) took the top spots for fastest mean mobile download speeds among Morocco’s most populous cities during Q4 2021.

Nigeria

  • For the fourth quarter in a row, mobile provider Airtel had the fastest Speed Score in Nigeria at 35.35 during Q4 2021 — a slight increase from 33.43 during Q3 2021.
  • Airtel maintained the top spot for highest Consistency Score on mobile during Q4 2021 at 87.5% to MTN’s 85.8%.
  • Fixed broadband provider ipNX once again had the fastest Speed Score (22.05) and highest Consistency Score (42.8%) in Nigeria during Q4 2021.
  • The iPhone 12 Pro 5G was the fastest popular device in Nigeria during Q4 2021, achieving a mean download speed of 47.20 Mbps.
  • Kano retained the top spot among Nigeria’s most populous cities for fastest mean mobile download speed at 29.35 Mbps during Q4 2021.

Qatar

  • Ooredoo had the fastest Speed Score over mobile in Qatar for the third quarter in a row at 156.85 during Q4 2021.
  • 5G performance in Qatar was extremely competitive with Vodafone overtaking Ooredoo for the fastest median 5G download speed during Q4 2021 at 421.42 Mbps to Ooredoo’s 390.59 Mbps.
  • Vodafone had the highest mobile Consistency Score in Qatar at 93.2%, beating out Ooredoo’s 87.7% during Q4 2021.
  • Ooredoo had the fastest fixed broadband Speed Score at 77.45 and highest Consistency Score at 81.1% in Qatar during Q4 2021.
  • Apple’s iPhone 13 Pro Max beat out the iPhone 13 Pro for fastest popular device in Qatar during Q4 2021 with a median download speed of 431.49 Mbps to 399.06 Mbps, respectively. All top five devices during Q4 2021 achieved median download speeds greater than 240 Mbps.
  • Al Khor once again had the fastest median mobile download speed among Qatar’s most populous cities at 137.43 Mbps during Q4 2021 .
  • Umm Salal Muhammed had the fastest fixed broadband download speeds in Qatar at 90.79 Mbps during Q4 2021.

South Africa

  • Speedtest Intelligence shows Cool Ideas had the fastest fixed broadband Speed Score (54.46) and highest Consistency Score (73.0%) for the second quarter in a row during Q4 2021.
  • Among mobile operators, MTN had the fastest Speed Score (65.21) and highest Consistency Score (89.1%) during Q4 2021.
  • Apple devices had the fastest combined median download speed in South Africa at 37.98 Mbps and fastest median upload speed at 7.66 Mbps during Q4 2021.
  • The iPhone 13 Pro Max took top honors as the fastest popular device in South Africa during Q4 2021, achieving a median download speed of 97.59 Mbps, much faster than the Q3 2021 winning speed of 79.56 Mbps.

Tunisia

  • During Q4 2021, Ooredoo achieved the highest mobile Speed Score in Tunisia at 51.46, a slight increase from Q3 2021.
  • Tunisie Telecom had the highest fixed broadband Speed Score in Tunisia at 10.70 Mbps during Q4 2021.
  • Apple’s iPhone 13 Pro Max had the fastest mean download speed in Tunisia among popular devices at 77.55 Mbps during Q4 2021.
  • Among popular chipsets, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X60 5G had the fastest mean download speed in Tunisia at 77.08 Mbps during Q4 2021.
  • Gabes and Kairouan had the fastest mean mobile download speeds among Tunisia’s most populous cities at 50.78 Mbps and 50.47 Mbps, respectively, during Q4 2021.

Turkey

  • Speedtest Intelligence revealed mobile provider Turkcell had the highest Speed Score and Consistency Score in Turkey during Q4 2021 at 71.49 and 94.6%, respectively. Both scores were slight increases from Q3 2021.
  • For fixed broadband in Turkey, TurkNet had the highest Speed Score (44.60) and Consistency Score (75.0%) during Q4 2021.
  • Istanbul had the fastest mean fixed broadband and mobile download speed among Turkey’s most populous cities at 53.29 Mbps and 54.05 Mbps, respectively, during Q4 2021.
  • Among top device manufacturers, Apple beat out Samsung for fastest mean download speed in Turkey at 59.20 Mbps to 45.02 Mbps, respectively, both slight increases from Q3 2021.

Asia and Oceania

China

  • According to Speedtest Intelligence, China Telecom was the fastest fixed broadband provider in China during Q4 2021 with a Speed Score of 152.31, a moderate gain over Q3 2021.
  • On mobile, China Mobile achieved the highest Speed Score (161.10) and Consistency Score (92.9%) among China’s top providers during Q4 2021 — both increases from Q3 2021.
  • During Q4 2021, China Telecom achieved the fastest median 5G download speed at 300.00 Mbps, ahead of China Mobile (295.44 Mbps) and China Unicom (287.73 Mbps).
  • Among top device manufacturers, Huawei had the fastest median download speed at 130.28 Mbps in China during Q4 2021 — a substantial gain over Q3 2021’s top speed of 96.66 Mbps. Oppo followed at 103.57 Mbps, then Apple (101.52 Mbps), Vivo (98.26 Mbps) and OnePlus (94.78 Mbps).
  • Among popular devices in China, Huawei’s Mate 40 Pro 5G edged out Apple’s iPhone 13 Pro Max for the fastest median download speed during Q4 2021 at 284.81 Mbps to 270.06 Mbps. All five top devices achieved download speeds above 250 Mbps.
  • During Q4 2021, MediaTek’s Dimensity 700 5G chipset had the fastest median download speed in China at 291.77 Mbps during Q4 2021.
  • Tianjin once again had the fastest median fixed broadband download speed among China’s most populous cities at 247.84 Mbps, a moderate rise from its Q3 2021 results.
  • Tianjin also had the fastest median mobile download speed among China’s most populous cities at 139.19 Mbps during Q4 2021, edging out Shenzhen’s 130.27 Mbps. Across all major cities, there was a noticeable rise in speeds from Q3 2021 results.

Hong Kong (SAR)

  • China Mobile Hong Kong was the fastest mobile operator in Hong Kong for the fourth quarter in a row, earning a Speed Score of 84.79 in Q4 2021, a moderate increase from Q3 2021.
  • China Mobile Hong Kong once again showed the fastest 5G download speed, achieving a median speed of 179.20 Mbps during Q4 2021, a decline from its Q3 2021 results. Mobile provider 3 followed at 169.40 Mbps, then SmarTone at 148.15 Mbps and csl at 127.24 Mbps.
  • Among top device manufacturers in Hong Kong during Q4 2021, Apple overtook Samsung for fastest median download speed 50.30 Mbps to 45.20 Mbps.
  • During Q4 2021, the iPhone 13 Pro Max retained the top spot among popular devices in Hong Kong with a median download speed of 128.22 Mbps.
  • Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X60 5G was the fastest chipset in Hong Kong for median download speed at 114.13 Mbps during Q4 2021.

New Zealand

  • During Q4 2021, Vodafone was the fastest mobile operator in New Zealand, earning a Speed Score of 83.72, a moderate increase from Q3 2021.
  • Vodafone also achieved the fastest median 5G download speed in New Zealand at 344.06 Mbps during Q4 2021, an increase from Q3 2021. Spark followed at 298.85 Mbps.
  • For fixed broadband, MyRepublic blazed ahead in New Zealand with a Speed Score of 233.83 during Q4 2021.
  • The Apple iPhone 13 had the fastest median download speed among popular devices in New Zealand at 193.18 during Q4 2021, a huge increase over Q3 2021’s top speed of 92.26 Mbps.
  • Among popular device manufacturers, Apple took the top spot for the fastest median download speed in New Zealand at 51.64 Mbps during Q4 2021.
  • Hamilton overtook Christchurch for the fastest median mobile download speed at 80.98 Mbps during Q4 2021.
  • Wellington took the top spot for fastest median fixed broadband download and upload speed at 133.59 Mbps and 84.21 Mbps, respectively, during Q4 2021.

Philippines

  • During Q4 2021, Smart had the highest Speed Score (68.78) among top mobile operators in the Philippines, a moderate increase from Q3 2021.
  • Smart also had the fastest median 5G download speed in the Philippines during Q4 2021 at 220.89 Mbps, much faster than Globe’s 117.93 Mbps.
  • Competition for the fastest popular device wasn’t close during Q4 2021, with the iPhone 13 Pro Max dominating the closest competitor — the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G — for fastest median download at 113.82 Mbps to 78.89 Mbps.
  • Caloocan retained top spot for fastest median download speed among the Philippines’ most populous cities at 25.24 Mbps during Q4 2021, a slight increase from its top speed in Q3 2021 of 22.05 Mbps.

Singapore

  • Speedtest Intelligence shows MyRepublic overtook ViewQuest as the fastest fixed broadband provider in Singapore in Q4 2021, achieving a Speed Score of 258.01 to ViewQuest’s 254.53.
  • Singtel was the fastest mobile provider in Singapore during Q4 2021, achieving a Speed Score of 113.80, a moderate increase from its Q3 2021 Speed Score of 99.74.
  • Singtel also blazed ahead of the competition for fastest median 5G download speed in Singapore at 289.01 Mbps during Q4 2021 — a notable rise from its median 5G download speed of 248.45 during Q3 2021.
  • The Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max was the fastest popular device in Singapore during Q4 2021, achieving a median download speed of 138.40 Mbps.
  • Apple beat out Samsung for fastest device manufacturer in Singapore during Q4 2021, with Apple devices achieving a median download speed of 75.81 Mbps to Samsung’s 64.68 Mbps.

Taiwan

  • During Q4 2021, Chunghwa Telecom had the fastest median 5G download speed in Taiwan at 429.63 Mbps. FarEasTone followed at 309.35 Mbps, then Taiwan Mobile (285.05 Mbps), GT (242.23 Mbps) and TSTAR (147.95 Mbps).
  • FarEasTone had the highest Consistency Score in Taiwan during Q4 2021 at 93.9%, followed closely by Chunghwa Telecom (92.1%) and Taiwan Mobile (91.9%).
  • Among top device manufacturers during Q4 2021, Apple devices achieved the fastest median download speed in Taiwan at 63.02 Mbps, a moderate increase over Q3 2021.
  • The Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max had the fastest median download speed among popular devices in Taiwan at 168.43 Mbps during Q4 2021.
  • The Qualcomm Snapdragon X60 5G had the fastest median download speed among popular chipsets in Taiwan at 139.56 Mbps during Q4 2021.
  • Taipei had the fastest median mobile download speed among Taiwan’s most populous cities at 56.60 Mbps in Q4 2021, followed by New Taipei (52.54 Mbps), Taichung (51.69 Mbps) and Taoyuan (51.47 Mbps).

Thailand

  • Speedtest Intelligence revealed that AIS had the fastest Speed Score on mobile in Thailand at 74.02 during Q4 2021, beating out TrueMove H (68.12) and dtac (26.05).
  • AIS also had the fastest median 5G download speed in Thailand during Q4 2021 at 289.12 Mbps, followed by TrueMove H (217.84 Mbps) and dtac (35.73 Mbps).
  • Apple was the fastest major device manufacturer in Thailand with Apple devices achieving a median download speed of 43.82 Mbps during Q4 2021.
  • The Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max was the fastest popular device in Thailand, edging out the iPhone 13 Pro for fastest median download at 158.97 Mbps to 152.09 Mbps during Q4 2021.

Vietnam

  • Viettel once again claimed the top spot as Vietnam’s fastest mobile provider during Q4 2021, earning a mobile Speed Score of 48.23, just faster than Vinaphone (45.51).
  • Viettel overtook Vinaphone for the highest mobile Consistency Score in Vietnam during Q4 2021 at 91.2%.
  • For fixed broadband, Vinaphone overtook Viettel as Vietnam’s fastest fixed broadband provider during Q4 2021, earning a Speed Score of 75.49 to Viettel’s 73.38. FPT Telecom followed at 71.10.
  • Apple’s iPhone 13 Pro Max had the fastest median download speed among popular devices in Vietnam at 72.39 Mbps during Q4 2021.
  • Ho Chi Minh City retained the top spot for the fastest median fixed broadband download and upload speeds among Vietnam’s most populous cities at 75.10 Mbps and 72.48 Mbps, respectively, during Q4 2021.
  • Da Nang retained the top spot for fastest median mobile download speed among Vietnam’s most populous cities at 43.88 Mbps during Q4 2021.

Europe

Austria

  • Magenta retained its top spot as Austria’s fastest fixed broadband provider with a Speed Score of 123.76 during Q4 2021. LIWEST was the closest competitor (85.16).
  • Magenta also had the highest Consistency Score in Austria for fixed broadband at 88.7% in Q4 2021.
  • A1 was once again the fastest mobile provider in Austria during Q4 2021, achieving a Speed Score of 74.06. Operator 3 followed at 58.01.
  • A1 also had the highest mobile Consistency Score in Austria during Q4 2021 at 93.2%.
  • The Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max had the fastest median download speed among popular devices in Austria at 116.24 Mbps during Q4 2021.

Belgium

  • Telenet decisively claimed its spot as Belgium’s fastest fixed broadband provider during Q4 2021, earning a Speed Score of 128.13. VOO followed at 109.76.
  • Among mobile operators, Telenet edged out BASE for the fastest Speed Score in Belgium at 65.61 to 65.59, respectively, during Q4 2021. It should be noted that Telenet owns the BASE brand. Proximus followed at 62.96 then Orange at 47.23.
  • Competition for fastest popular mobile device was tight in Belgium, with the iPhone 13 mini and iPhone 13 Pro achieving median download speeds of 98.53 Mbps and 98.31 Mbps, respectively.
  • Once again, Ghent retained its top place for fastest median mobile download speed among Belgium’s most populous cities, achieving a median speed of 79.69 Mbps during Q4 2021.
  • Competition for the fastest median fixed broadband download speed among Belgium’s most populous cities was close with Antwerp achieving a median download speed at 83.51 Mbps and Ghent achieving 83.02 Mbps during Q4 2021.

Czechia

  • Speedtest Intelligence reveals T-Mobile was Czechia’s fastest mobile provider during Q4 2021, earning a Speed Score of 69.69, a moderate increase from 58.82 during Q3 2021.
  • Competition was extremely tight for highest mobile Consistency Score in Czechia during Q4 2021, with T-Mobile achieving 93.9%, followed by O2 (93.4%) and Vodafone (93.2%).
  • Vodafone dominated as Czechia’s fastest fixed broadband provider during Q4 2021, achieving a Speed Score of 99.16, a slight increase from Q3 2021.
  • Vodafone once again had Czechia’s highest Consistency Score for fixed broadband during Q4 2021 at 77.6%.
  • Pilsen had the fastest median fixed broadband speed among Czechia’s most populous cities during Q4 2021, achieving a median download of 59.37 Mbps.
  • Pilsen edged out Brno for the fastest median mobile download speed at 63.65 Mbps to Brno’s 63.26 Mbps during Q4 2021.

Denmark

  • Fastspeed was once again Denmark’s fastest fixed broadband provider, earning a Speed Score of 301.58 during Q4 2021. Hiper followed at 260.78.
  • YouSee overtook Telenor as Denmark’s fastest mobile operator, earning a Speed Score of 101.72 to Telenor’s 91.91. Telia (89.84) and 3 (77.89) followed.
  • An analysis of performance on some of the most popular phones in Denmark revealed the iPhone 13 Pro edged out the iPhone 13 Pro Max for the fastest median download speed during Q4 2021 148.17 Mbps to 144.68 Mbps.

Estonia

  • According to Speedtest Intelligence, Elisa was the fastest fixed broadband provider in Estonia during Q4 2021, achieving a Speed Score of 85.58.
  • Telia once again had the fastest mobile Speed Score in Estonia at 85.27 during Q4 2021, a slight increase from Q3 2021.
  • The Apple iPhone 13 Pro was the fastest popular device in Estonia, earning a median download speed of 107.31 Mbps during Q4 2021. The iPhone 13 Pro Max followed closely at 105.15 Mbps.
  • Among major cell phone manufacturers, OnePlus had the fastest median download speed in Estonia at 70.40 Mbps during Q4 2021, a moderate increase from Q3 2021.

Finland

  • According to Speedtest Intelligence, DNA retained its top spot as Finland’s fastest mobile provider in Q4 2021, earning a Speed Score of 86.43, a moderate increase from 79.26 during Q3 2021. DNA also edged out Telia for the highest Consistency Score 94.2% to 92.5%.
  • Telia beat out Elisa and DNA in Q4 2021 for the fastest 5G download speed in Finland, achieving a median download speed of 273.07 Mbps to DNA’s 243.87 Mbps and Elisa’s 231.13 Mbps.
  • Lounea overtook Telia as the fastest fixed broadband provider in Finland during Q4 2021, earning a Speed Score of 122.33 to Telia and Elisa’s 98.06.
  • Lounea also took the top spot for Finland’s highest fixed broadband Consistency Score at 90.2% during Q4 2021.
  • Among popular device manufacturers, OnePlus had the fastest median download speed in Finland at 80.49 Mbps during Q4 2021, a moderate increase from Q3 2021. However, the Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max had the fastest median download speed among popular devices at 157.23 Mbps.

France

  • Speedtest Intelligence revealed a fierce competition for France’s fastest fixed broadband provider during Q4 2021, with Bouygues narrowly edging out Free and Orange with a Speed Score of 135.66 to 134.09 and 134.07, respectively.
  • Orange once again earned the top spot as France’s fastest and most consistent mobile provider with a mobile Speed Score of 99.88 and a Consistency Score of 90.5% during Q4 2021.
  • During Q4 2021, Orange blew away the competition as France’s fastest 5G provider by achieving a median 5G download speed of 342.29 Mbps, slightly slower than in Q3 2021. SFR followed at 232.09 Mbps.
  • The Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max was the fastest popular device in France during Q4 2021, edging out the iPhone 13 Pro with a median download speed of 149.83 Mbps to 136.57 Mbps.
  • During Q4 2021, Lyon achieved the fastest median fixed broadband download and upload speeds at 161.82 Mbps and 109.91 Mbps, respectively. Nice had the fastest median mobile download speed at 88.39 Mbps.

Germany

  • According to Speedtest Intelligence, Vodafone was once again Germany’s fastest fixed broadband provider during Q4 2021, earning a Speed Score of 130.99.
  • Telekom achieved the highest Speed Score (91.86) and Consistency Score (91.5%) among German mobile operators during Q4 2021.
  • Telekom retained the top spot for the fastest median 5G download speed in Germany at 187.99 Mbps during Q4 2021.
  • The iPhone 13 Pro Max had the fastest median download speed among popular devices in Germany during Q4 2021, edging out the iPhone 13 Pro 131.71 Mbps to 127.45 Mbps.

Hungary

  • Vodafone retained its top spot as Hungary’s fastest fixed broadband provider in Q4 2021, edging out Telekom with a Speed Score of 156.98 to 151.40. Vodafone also had the highest Consistency Score at 87.2% during Q4 2021.
  • Telenor overtook Magyar Telekom as Hungary’s fastest and most consistent mobile provider during Q4 2021, earning a Speed Score of 69.40 and Consistency Score of 90.8%.
  • Apple devices took the top spot among major device manufacturers in Hungary during Q4 2021, achieving a median download speed of 45.14 Mbps, a slight increase from Q3 2021.
  • The Apple 13 Pro dominated as the fastest popular device in Hungary during Q4 2021, achieving a median download speed of 93.66 Mbps.

Luxembourg

  • Eltrona overtook Tango as Luxembourg’s fastest fixed broadband provider during Q4 2021 by achieving a Speed Score of 131.60 to Tango’s 127.96.
  • POST was again the fastest mobile operator in Luxembourg during Q4 2021, achieving a large increase in Speed Score from 109.64 in Q3 2021 to 123.86 in Q4 2021.
  • POST also remained the most consistent mobile operator in Luxembourg with a Consistency Score of 96.9% during Q4 2021.
  • The iPhone 13 Pro was the fastest popular device in Luxembourg, achieving a median download speed of 161.69 Mbps during Q4 2021.
  • Differdange once again achieved the fastest median fixed broadband download and upload speeds among Luxembourg’s most populous cities at 140.24 Mbps and 94.55 Mbps, respectively, during Q4 2021.
  • Ettelbruck had the fastest median mobile download speed in Luxembourg at 113.73 Mbps Q4 2021.

Malta

  • Melita retained its top spot as Malta’s fastest and most consistent fixed broadband provider during Q4 2021, earning a Speed Score of 128.11 and Consistency Score of 84.6%, both moderate increases from Q3 2021.

Poland

  • Speedtest Intelligence revealed that UPC was the fastest and most consistent fixed broadband provider in Poland during Q4 2021 achieving a Speed Score of 184.12 and Consistency Score of 88.8%.
  • T-Mobile had the highest Speed Score and Consistency Score among mobile operators in Poland during Q4 2021 at 61.88 and 93.7%, respectively.
  • Mobile operator Plus had the fastest median 5G download speed in Poland at 158.74 Mbps during Q4 2021.
  • The iPhone 13 Pro Max was the fastest popular device in Poland during Q4 2021, achieving a median download speed of 81.93 Mbps.
  • Warsaw had the fastest fixed broadband download speed among Poland’s most populous cities at 132.99 Mbps during Q4 2021.
  • Łódz edged out Warsaw for the fastest mobile download speed in Poland 47.23 Mbps to 45.09 Mbps.

Slovakia

  • Orange retained the top spot as Slovakia’s fastest mobile operator during Q4 2021 with a Speed Score of 60.65, edging out Telekom’s 57.50.
  • Telekom had the highest mobile Consistency Score in Slovakia during Q4 2021 at 93.4%.
  • UPC retained its top spot as Slovakia’s fastest and most consistent fixed broadband provider with a Speed Score of 145.52 and a Consistency Score of 87.3%.
  • The Apple iPhone 13 Pro had the fastest median download speed among popular devices in Slovakia at 80.74 Mbps during Q4 2021.

Spain

  • Movistar once again provided the fastest and most consistent mobile experience among Spanish mobile providers with a Speed Score of 62.67 and Consistency Score of 90.9% during Q4 2021 — both moderate increases from Q3 2021.
  • Vodafone was again Spain’s fastest 5G provider by a wide margin during Q4 2021, achieving a median download speed of 277.11 Mbps, a noticeable dip from Q3 2021.
  • The Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max had the fastest median download speed in Spain at 95.55 Mbps during Q4 2021.
  • During Q4 2021, Madrid had the fastest median mobile download speed in Spain at 44.96 Mbps, edging out Barcelona at 44.28 Mbps.

North and South America

Argentina

  • Speedtest Intelligence revealed Personal remained Argentina’s fastest mobile operator during Q4 2021 with a Speed Score of 39.30.
  • La Plata edged out Buenos Aires for mobile download speeds in Argentina’s most populous cities with a median speed of 27.26 Mbps to Buenos Aires’ 25.65 Mbps during Q4 2021.

Brazil

  • Speedtest Intelligence reveals Claro remained the fastest and most consistent mobile operator in Brazil among top providers during Q4 2021, achieving a Speed Score of 48.10 and Consistency Score of 88.7%, both slight increases from Q3 2021.
  • Claro achieved the fastest median 5G download speed in Brazil at 71.16 Mbps during Q4 2021, followed by TIM (56.21 Mbps) and Vivo (55.95 Mbps).
  • Vivo edged out Oi and Claro for fastest Speed Score over fixed broadband in Brazil 105.49 to 99.62 and 98.44, respectively, during Q4 2021.
  • Among popular device manufacturers during Q4 2021, Apple had the fastest median download speed in Brazil at 30.68 Mbps. Apple devices took four out of five top spots among popular devices in Brazil with the iPhone 13 Pro Max achieving the fastest mean download speed at 59.00 Mbps.
  • For fixed broadband speeds among Brazil’s most populous cities, Brasilia edged out Goiânia for the fastest median download speed 105.01 Mbps to 102.93 Mbps during Q4 2021.
  • Brasília also had the fastest median mobile download speed among Brazil’s most populous cities at 35.08 Mbps during Q4 2021, a slight increase from Q3 2021.

Canada

  • Shaw was Canada’s fastest fixed broadband provider in Q4 2021, earning a Speed Score of 197.22, a moderate increase from Q3 2021.
  • Rogers edged out Shaw for the highest fixed broadband Consistency Score in Canada during Q4 2021 with 89.0% to Shaw’s 87.7%.
  • TELUS retained its top spot as the fastest mobile operator in Canada during Q4 2021, achieving a Speed Score of 98.29, a notable increase from Q3 2021.
  • Videotron remained Canada’s most consistent mobile operator during Q4 2021, achieving a Consistency Score of 91.2%.
  • Competition for the fastest 5G was fierce during Q4 2021 with no statistical winner. Bell and TELUS achieved median 5G download speeds of 171.39 Mbps and 167.74 Mbps, respectively. Bell had the fastest median 5G download speed when looking at the full period of Q3-Q4 2021.
  • There was no statistical winner for highest 5G Availability in Canada during Q4 2021, with Rogers at 41.3% and TELUS at 39.9%.
  • New Brunswick was Canada’s fastest province for fixed broadband during Q4 2021, achieving a median download speed of 132.65 Mbps. Newfoundland and Labrador was the fastest province for mobile in Canada at 81.94 Mbps during Q4 2021.
  • St. John’s achieved the fastest median fixed broadband and mobile download speeds among Canada’s most populous cities at 166.11 Mbps and 160.48 Mbps, respectively.
  • Google devices had the fastest combined performance in Canada during Q4 2021, achieving a median download speed of 83.98 Mbps.
  • The iPhone 13 Pro Max was the fastest popular device in Canada during Q4 2021, with a median download speed of 144.24 Mbps.

Chile

  • According to Speedtest Intelligence, Claro was the fastest mobile operator in Chile with a Speed Score of 26.18 during Q4 2021, a slight increase from Q3 2021. Claro also had the highest Consistency Score at 81.0%.
  • The Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G had the fastest mean download speed among popular devices in Chile at 84.29 Mbps during Q4 2021, edging out the Xiaomi 11T Pro.
  • Among device manufacturers in Chile during Q4 2021, Samsung had the fastest mean download speed at 30.13 Mbps, edging out Xiaomi (27.32 Mbps). Apple, Motorola and Huawei followed.
  • Valparaíso had the fastest mobile download speed in Chile during Q4 2021, achieving a mean of 33.59 Mbps. Temuco and Viña del Mar were close followers at 31.25 Mbps and 27.74 Mbps, respectively.

Colombia

  • Tigo was the fastest mobile operator in Colombia during Q4 2021, achieving a Speed Score of 24.02. WOM followed at 19.24. Tigo also had the highest Consistency Score at 82.9%.
  • Among popular devices in Colombia during Q4 2021, the Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max edged out the iPhone 12 Pro Max 5G for fastest mean download speed at 33.91 Mbps to 31.12 Mbps.
  • Barranquilla edged out Cali for the fastest mean mobile download speed among Colombia’s most populous cities at 22.41 Mbps to 22.21 Mbps during Q4 2021.

Ecuador

  • According to Speedtest Intelligence, Netlife was Ecuador’s fastest and most consistent fixed broadband provider during Q4 2021, achieving a Speed Score of 43.58 and Consistency Score of 74.0%.
  • CNT was the fastest and most consistent mobile operator in Ecuador during Q4 2021, with a Speed Score of 35.82 and Consistency Score of 88.6%.
  • During Q4 2021, the Apple iPhone 12 Pro 5G was the fastest popular device in Ecuador, recording a mean download speed of 40.01 Mbps. Apple devices took all of the five top spots on this list.
  • Guayaquil had the fastest fixed broadband among Ecuador’s most populous cities during Q4 2021, earning a mean download speed of 42.86 Mbps. This edged out Quito’s mean download of 41.27 Mbps.
  • Machala had the fastest mean mobile download speed in Ecuador during Q4 2021 at 28.25 Mbps.

Guatemala

  • According to Speedtest Intelligence, Claro was the fastest and most consistent mobile operator in Guatemala during Q4 2021, achieving a Speed Score of 37.29 and Consistency Score of 87.0%.
  • Tigo was the fastest and most consistent fixed broadband provider in Guatemala during Q4 2021 with a Speed Score of 20.89 and Consistency Score of 41.3%.
  • The Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max was the fastest popular device in Guatemala during Q4 2021, edging out the iPhone 12 5G with a mean download speed of 49.31 Mbps to the iPhone 12 5G’s 48.68 Mbps.
  • Villa Canales had the fastest mean mobile download speed among Guatemala’s most populous cities at 37.93 Mbps, during Q4 2021.
  • Villa Nueva had the fastest mean fixed broadband download speed in Guatemala at 30.04 Mbps during Q4 2021.

    Mexico

    • Speedtest Intelligence reveals Telcel remained Mexico’s fastest mobile operator during Q4 2021, earning a Speed Score of 46.91.
    • Telcel was also Mexico’s most consistent mobile operator, achieving a Consistency Score of 87.6% during Q4 2021.
    • Totalplay was the fastest and most consistent fixed broadband provider in Mexico during Q4 2021, achieving a Speed Score of 50.37 and Consistency Score of 73.7%
    • Apple devices had the five fastest mean download speeds among popular phones in Mexico during Q4 2021. The iPhone 13 Pro Max narrowly beat out the iPhone 12 Pro 5G for the fastest popular device during Q4 2021, achieving respective speeds of 69.45 Mbps and 68.36 Mbps.
    • Veracruz once again showed the fastest mean mobile download and upload speeds among Mexico’s most populous cities during Q4 2021, recording a download speed of 45.09 Mbps and mean upload speed of 19.04 Mbps.
    • Monterrey beat out Mexico City for the fastest fixed broadband download speed, earning a mean speed of 75.10 Mbps to Mexico City’s 70.99 Mbps during Q4 2021.

    Peru

    • According to Speedtest Intelligence, Winet Telecom was Peru’s fastest fixed broadband provider during Q4 2021 by a wide margin, achieving a Speed Score of 99.23. Winet Telecom also had the highest Consistency Score on fixed broadband at 90.6% during Q4 2021.
    • Claro was the fastest mobile operator in Peru during Q4 2021, earning a Speed Score of 36.91.
    • Claro also had the highest mobile Consistency Score in Peru during Q4 2021, narrowly edging out Entel at 78.1% to 77.5%.
    • Among major device manufacturers, Apple devices achieved the fastest mean download speed by a wide margin in Peru during Q4 2021, achieving 43.46 Mbps to Samsung’s 25.41 Mbps.

    United States

    • Speedtest Intelligence reveals Verizon was once again the fastest fixed broadband provider in the United States during Q4 2021, earning a Speed Score of 201.10, much higher than in Q3 2021 when it achieved 178.38.
    • T-Mobile was once again the fastest and most consistent mobile operator in the U.S. during Q4 2021, achieving a median download speed of 90.65 Mbps and a Consistency Score of 87.3% — both large increases over Q3 2021.
    • Looking at tests taken only on 5G, T-Mobile achieved the fastest median 5G download speed during Q4 2021 at 187.12 Mbps — a significant increase from 135.17 Mbps during Q3 2021.
    • During Q4 2021, T-Mobile also had the best 5G Availability in the U.S. at 61.4%.
    • T-Mobile had the highest 5G Consistency Score at 81.5% during Q4 2021.
    • The iPhone 13 Pro Max and iPhone 13 Pro were the fastest popular devices in the U.S. during Q4 2021 at 90.58 Mbps and 89.61 Mbps, narrowly faster than the Google Play 6 5G (89.05 Mbps).
    • Among popular device manufacturers in the U.S., Google devices were the fastest, achieving a median download speed of 60.82 Mbps during Q4 2021.
    • Looking at the fastest chipsets in the U.S., there was no statistical winner during Q4 2021, with the Qualcomm Snapdragon X60 5G achieving 88.56 Mbps and the Google Tensor 86.73 Mbps.
    • Jersey City, New Jersey had the fastest median mobile download speed in the U.S. at 107.20 Mbps during Q4 2021. Tampa, Florida (106.50 Mbps) and Washington, DC (103.49 Mbps) were the only other U.S. cities to achieve median mobile download speeds above 100 Mbps.
    • Charlotte, North Carolina had the fastest fixed broadband speed among the U.S.’s most populous cities during Q4 2021, edging out Raleigh, North Carolina 204.61 Mbps to 202.93 Mbps.

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

Josh Fomon

Ookla Research™ Articles
| November 21, 2022

Details on the Fastest 5G Mobile Devices (Just in Time for Black Friday and Cyber Monday)

Devices

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are just a few days away, so Ookla® wanted to help you navigate those deals with hard data on the fastest 5G popular devices. We used Speedtest Intelligence® to look at 5G performance data in the 10 countries with the highest number of connected mobile devices according to GSMA that also had an established 5G market during Q3 2022. As a reminder, we already looked at the newer models in the Apple iPhone 14 and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 earlier this quarter, right after both device models launched.

Our analysis examined the five fastest popular 5G devices in a given country. To be included, a device had to have a market share of greater than or equal to 0.5% of all devices and a minimum sample size of 100 devices in a given market. Each market we examined included only 5G samples from every 5G provider in a given country. That means performance most likely varies network to network and country to country, but this provides a snapshot of what you might typically expect.

It should be noted that some newer device models like the iPhone 14, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4, and Google Pixel 7 launched in select markets on different days and may not have been included in our Q3 2022 analysis.

Fastest 5G devices in Brazil

chart of fastest 5g device performance in Brazil

According to Speedtest Intelligence, there was no statistically fastest 5G device in Brazil during Q3 2022, though every device on our list exceeded a median 5G download speed of 300 Mbps. That means each of these devices would make an excellent, fast choice if you can connect to 5G. 

The Motorola Moto G 5G Plus had a median 5G download speed of 358.39 Mbps, the Xiaomi Poco X4 Pro 5G at 355.43 Mbps, the Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max at 344.44 Mbps, the Apple iPhone 13 mini at 341.21 Mbps, and the Apple iPhone 13 at 336.04 Mbps. That being said, the new iPhone 14 models and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 were also very fast in our recent launch article. 

5 devices vie for fastest 5G in China

chart of fastest 5g device performance in China

Competition for the fastest popular 5G mobile device was very close in China, with no statistically fastest device during Q3 2022. The OnePlus 9 5G had a median 5G download speed of 349.15 Mbps, the Huawei P40 5G was at 344.41 Mbps, the Huawei Mate 30 5G at 344.23 Mbps, the Huawei Mate 40 5G at 332.39 Mbps, and the Huawei Mate 40 Pro 5G at 328.25 Mbps. Every device on this list would make an excellent choice if you are looking for an upgrade.

New iPhones top fastest 5G devices in Germany

chart of fastest 5g device performance in Germany

German iPhone users have a clear mandate: Upgrade your phone! During Q3 2022, the Apple iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max had the fastest median 5G download speeds in the country among popular 5G devices at 181.09 Mbps and 177.98 Mbps, respectively. The iPhone 13 Pro (148.87 Mbps) and iPhone 13 Pro Max (148.08 Mbps) followed, then the OnePlus 9 Pro 5G at 140.93 Mbps.

Sony Xperia and Samsung Galaxy 20 among fastest 5G devices in Japan

chart of fastest 5g device performance in Japan

Japanese 5G consumers saw Sony devices take three out of the top five spots among the fastest popular 5G devices in Q3 2022. While there was no statistical winner, the Sony Xperia 1 II 5G had a median 5G download speed of 224.68 Mbps, the Samsung Galaxy S20 5G was at 189.22 Mbps and the Sony Xperia 1 IV at 184.90 Mbps. Any one of these three devices would make an excellent choice for an upgrade.

Many options for fastest 5G devices in the Philippines

chart of fastest 5g device performance in Philippines

Consumers in the Philippines have a handful of top 5G devices they can upgrade to, with no statistical winner for fastest 5G device during Q3 2022. The Samsung Galaxy A53 had a median 5G download speed at 199.90 Mbps, the Huawei Nova 7 5G was at 192.80 Mbps, the Huawei Nov 7 SE 5G at 188.32 Mbps, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G at 185.85 Mbps, and the Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G at 183.54 Mbps.

Tight competition for fastest 5G devices in South Africa

chart of fastest 5g device performance in South Africa

Speedtest Intelligence shows competition for the fastest popular 5G was incredibly tight in South Africa, with no statistically fastest 5G device during Q3 2022. The Samsung Galaxy S22+ had a median 5G download speed of 228.31 Mbps during Q3 2022, the Apple iPhone 13 mini was at 226.44 Mbps, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra at 218.26 Mbps, the Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max at 212.94 Mbps, and the Apple iPhone 13 Pro at 211.73 Mbps. 

Consumers looking to upgrade their phone have some great options here, and we suspect the new Apple and Samsung models are incredibly competitive with these devices.

Dead heat on fastest 5G devices in Thailand

chart of fastest 5g device performance in Thailand

Consumers in Thailand have many options when considering an upgrade, with no statistical winner among the top five fastest 5G devices. The Apple iPhone 14 Pro had a median 5G download speed of 236.35 Mbps, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra was at 233.15 Mbps, the Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max at 232.80 Mbps, the Xiaomi Redmi K40 5G at 229.30 Mbps, and the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G at 228.29 Mbps.

iPhone dominates fastest 5G devices in the United Kingdom

chart of fastest 5g device performance in United Kingdom

U.K. Apple users should celebrate, with iPhone models taking the top five spots for the U.K.’s fastest 5G devices. While there was no statistically significant fastest device, the new iPhone 14 Pro Max had a median 5G download speed of 171.24 Mbps, the iPhone 13 Pro Max was at 165.49 Mbps, the iPhone 14 Pro at 158.24 Mbps, the iPhone 13 mini at 157.42 Mbps, and the iPhone 13 Pro at 154.50 Mbps. 

Fastest 5G devices in the United States are new iPhones

chart of fastest 5g device performance in United States

Speedtest Intelligence reveals the new Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max and iPhone 14 Pro were the fastest popular 5G devices in the U.S. with a median 5G download speed of 177.21 Mbps and 175.08 Mbps, respectively, during Q3 2022. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 was a close third at 162.50 Mbps, while the Galaxy S21+ 5G and Galaxy S22 Ultra rounded out the top five at 140.06 Mbps and 137.42 Mbps, respectively. Ookla data shows there’s a pretty strong case you should consider upgrading your Apple or Samsung device in the U.S., which we highly recommend.

Older iPhones keeping up with fastest 5G devices in Vietnam

chart of fastest 5g device performance in Vietnam

5G consumers in Vietnam were in the enviable position of receiving very fast 5G speeds during Q3 2022. While there was no statistical winner for fastest 5G device, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra had a median 5G download of 286.77 Mbps, the Apple iPhone 12 5G was at 278.32 Mbps, the iPhone 13 Pro at 270.99 Mbps, the iPhone 13 Pro Max at 266.99 Mbps, and the iPhone 13 at 259.35 Mbps. We suspect users who upgrade to the newest Apple and Samsung models will reap the rewards of even faster speeds.

Ookla will continue evaluating device performance

The launch of the new iPhone 14 and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 models has already shown that new devices are speeding ahead and we’ll be monitoring results for the rest of the year. If you end up getting a great Black Friday deal to upgrade your phone, be sure to download the iOS or Android Speedtest® app to make sure your mobile operator is delivering the speeds you need.

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

Josh Fomon