Global 5G SA rollouts are gaining momentum after a sluggish start, with China, India, Singapore, and the U.S. maintaining a substantial lead
The telecoms industry is approaching the midpoint of the 5G technology cycle, with capital investment in radio access network (RAN) expansion slowing significantly in developed markets over the last two years as the initial 5G coverage layer nears maturity. Many advanced operators are now prioritizing network densification while cautiously transitioning to a new 5G core architecture with standalone (SA), seeking to unlock new monetization opportunities through the enhanced flexibility, agility, and performance that 5G SA enables.
The interplay of high interest rates driving up the cost of capital, challenges in monetizing the initial non-standalone (NSA) architecture, and the technical complexity of the new 5G core—demanding an entirely new skill set to support implementation—has weighed on the global rollout of 5G SA, with significant regional disparities persisting in commercialization progress.
For the first time, and with the goal of offering deeper insight into the state of 5G SA worldwide, Ookla® has created a high-resolution downloadable poster based on Speedtest Intelligence® data, providing a unified view of the global reach of both 5G NSA and 5G SA networks in 2024. This visual is part of a flagship global study in collaboration with Omdia, comparing the competitiveness of leading regions and countries in 5G SA deployment, performance, and monetization.
Key Takeaways:
Asia Pacific remains at the forefront of global 5G SA deployment
In 2024, seven of the top ten countries by 5G SA reach were in Asia Pacific, with China (77.1% 5G SA sample share), India (51.1%), and Singapore (37.5%) leading globally. The region’s strong position has been driven by a higher number of multi-operator 5G SA deployments (as seen in China and Australia), extensive low-band rollout (such as Reliance Jio’s use of the 700MHz band for deep nationwide coverage in India), and favorable demographics, including very high urbanization in countries like Singapore.
Asia Pacific leads the world in 5G SA reach
Speedtest Intelligence® | 2024
Outside of Asia Pacific, the United States also ranks highly in 5G SA reach, despite only one of its three largest operators engaging in a commercial launch to date. In contrast, just two European countries—Spain and Austria—make the top ten, highlighting the region’s slow pace of 5G SA deployment and the broader decline in its global competitiveness in mobile network infrastructure during the 5G cycle.
Spectrum diversity propels the U.S. to a leading position in 5G SA performance
The U.S. has distinguished itself with significantly higher 5G SA reach than competing regions like Europe while also delivering superior median download speeds. In Q4 2024, median download speeds on 5G SA in the U.S. reached 388.44 Mbps, a substantial increase from 305.36 Mbps in the same period the previous year, and well ahead of Asian competitors such as Japan (254.18 Mbps) and China (224.82 Mbps).
The U.S.’s strong performance has been driven by T-Mobile’s post-merger 5G SA buildout—the first globally—which balanced nationwide reach with network depth. Its “layer cake” strategy combined a broad 600 MHz rollout, initially launched as 5G NSA in 2019 before transitioning to 5G SA in 2020, with mid-band deployments in the 2.5 GHz band. This approach has allowed T-Mobile to more extensively implement features like carrier aggregation and Voice over NR (VoNR) on its maturing 5G SA network, lending it a competitive edge in both availability and key performance metrics such as download speed and latency.
South Korea led the world in Q4 2024 with the highest median 5G SA download speeds at 746.25 Mbps, driven by its exclusive use of the 3.5 GHz band. However, it continues to trail its regional peers in 5G SA reach due to the challenging propagation characteristics exhibited by this spectrum and the limited commercialization beyond a single operator, KT.
5G SA enhances download speeds and latency globally, yet uplink advancements remain underutilized
Globally, 5G SA networks are delivering significantly improved performance across key metrics compared to the non-standalone architecture. In Q4 2024, median latency—a key beneficiary of transitioning to the 5G core—was nearly 20% lower on 5G SA networks compared to 5G NSA networks in Europe and China, and more than 25% lower in the United States and Japan. Similarly, median download speeds on 5G SA were more than 57% higher in Europe and 84% higher in China than those on non-standalone networks.
European 5G SA Users Benefit from Markedly Lower Latency and Higher Download Speed
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q4 2024
Notwithstanding these improvements, 5G SA’s full potential remains largely untapped in Europe. Advanced uplink capabilities unlocked by the technology—such as higher-order MIMO and carrier aggregation—remain limited to a few operators in leading markets like the United States, highlighting the still nascent profile of the device and equipment ecosystems for 5G SA.
A detailed analysis of the state of 5G SA around the world is featured in Ookla’s flagship report, produced in collaboration with Omdia, on regional competitiveness in the technology.
Ookla will be at Mobile World Congress this year, located at Booth 2I28 in Hall 2. Please drop by to discuss the state of connectivity in your market, and how Ookla’s network insights can help deliver better connected experiences.
Ookla retains ownership of this article including all of the intellectual property rights, data, content graphs and analysis. This article may not be quoted, reproduced, distributed or published for any commercial purpose without prior consent. Members of the press and others using the findings in this article for non-commercial purposes are welcome to publicly share and link to report information with attribution to Ookla.
Check out the full report available now with the complete results for all 50 states.
Affordable, reliable, high-speed broadband is considered a necessity in the U.S. because it enables people to access online classes, secure health care assistance, register for basic government services, handle their banking needs and participate in many other essential services.
It’s also critical to the economic viability of every state because it supports remote workers, enables businesses to operate more efficiently and attracts new enterprises to an area.
But many states have struggled to make broadband service available to 100% of their residents primarily because service providers are focused on providing it to areas where it’s most profitable. Using Ookla’s Speedtest Intelligence® data, this report identifies the states that are currently delivering the minimum standard for fixed broadband speeds as established by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to the highest percentage of Speedtest users. It also singles out the states that need the most improvement when it comes to delivering the minimum standard for broadband to their residents.
Key takeaways
Connecticut, North Dakota, Delaware and six other states are the top performing states because they have the highest percentage of Speedtest users that meet the FCC’s minimum standard for fixed broadband speeds of 100 Mbps downstream and 20 Mbps upstream. While comparing small, densely populated states with larger, sparsely populated states may seem unfair, we thought it was important to note the current performance of each state so we can track their progress in future reports.
New Mexico, Arizona and Minnesota saw the biggest improvement in the percentage of Speedtest users getting the FCC’s minimum standard for fixed broadband speeds (100 Mbps down/20 Mbps up) between the first half of 2023 and the first half of 2024.
Washington, Alaska, Illinois and Oregon have the most prominent digital divide of all the 50 states. These four states have the biggest gap between the percentage of rural Speedtest users vs. the percentage of urban Speedtest users that get FCC’s minimum standard of broadband speeds of 100 Mbps downstream/20 Mbps upstream.
Not surprisingly, less than 40% of the Speedtest users of Alaska, Montana and Wyoming (which are three of the least densely populated states in the U.S.), are receiving the minimum broadband speeds of 100 Mbps downstream/20 Mbps upstream.
Broadband in the spotlight
The COVID-19 pandemic put a spotlight on the importance of having broadband access and the role it played in allowing people to continue working and receiving access to healthcare as well as keeping students in school. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 provided $3.2 billion to help low-income households in the U.S. pay for broadband access during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This sudden focus on broadband accessibility, also prompted Congress to pass the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 which set aside $42.5 billion for the Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program and provided funding for every state to expand its broadband services. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) runs the BEAD program and the funding is being used for planning, infrastructure, and adoption programs in all 50 states, Washington, DC and several U.S. territories.
BEAD initially provided $100 million to every state with the remainder of the funding to be divided among the 50 states based upon their unserved and underserved populations. As of September 18, 2024, 44 eligible entities have been approved for both the Volume 1 and Volume 2 phases of BEAD. Volume 1 of the state’s proposal details the list of locations that are eligible for BEAD funding as well as a description of how certain entities can dispute the eligibility status of the various locations. Volume 2 includes each state’s description of how it plans to select ISPs and its overall broadband objectives. Once approved for both phases, states can then get access to the money that has been allocated for them.
To help manage these federal funds every state and territory established a broadband office that is tasked with determining the extent of their broadband coverage problems and draft broadband strategies that will resolve the problem.
The FCC in March 2024 decided to revise its current definition of broadband as 100 Mbps downstream and 20 Mbps upstream, which is a substantial upgrade from its previous benchmark of 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload speed that was first established in 2015.
This is the first time in nearly a decade that the FCC raised the speed requirement. Although this new benchmark is being used throughout the U.S., many households still lack basic broadband services.
Top performing states
Using Ookla’s Speedtest Intelligence® data collected in the first half of 2024 we were able to compare the median download and upload speeds in all 50 states and identify the states that currently doing the best job of delivering the FCC’s minimum standard for fixed broadband speeds (100 Mbps downstream/20 Mbps upstream) to the highest percentage of Speedtest users.
At least 60% or more of the Speedtest users in Connecticut, North Dakota, Delaware, Maryland, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia are getting the FCC’s minimum standard for fixed broadband speeds of 100 Mbps downstream and 20 Mbps upstream. In Connecticut, which is the top state, 65.8% of Speedtest users are receiving the minimum broadband standard. But at just 65.8% that indicates that there is much more work ahead for states.
Interestingly, all nine of the states in this list have received final approval for both phases of BEAD funding. However, it’s unlikely that BEAD funding approval played any role in these nine states leading the rest of the country in delivering the minimum standard for broadband because BEAD funding isn’t expected to start impacting broadband deployment projects until 2025 at the earliest, with some states having to wait longer depending on their proposal status with NTIA.
Top performing U.S. states with over 60% of Speedtest users achieving broadband speeds
Rank
State
Percentage of Speedtest users achieving broadband speeds
BEAD funding approval
1
Connecticut
65.8
Yes
2
North Dakota
65.5
Yes
3
Maryland
63.7
Yes
4
Delaware
63.3
Yes
5
Rhode Island
62.7
Yes
6
Tennessee
62.2
Yes
7
Utah
61.8
Yes
8
New Hampshire
60.5
Yes
9
Virginia
60.1
Yes
Source: Ookla Speedtest data. *Note NTIA approval of BEAD funding is changing rapidly. While BEAD funds haven’t likely played a role in broadband deployments yet, they will in the future.
Southwestern US sees big improvements in broadband
New Mexico, Arizona and Minnesota saw the biggest improvement in the percentage of their residents getting the FCC’s minimum standard for fixed broadband speeds (100 Mbps down/20 Mbps up) between the first half of 2023 and the first half of 2024.
New Mexico leads the rest of the states with its gains in broadband in the past year. Ookla data indicates that New Mexico saw a 50% increase in the percentage of its population with access to the FCC’s minimum broadband speeds of 100 Mbps/20 Mbps. Arizona also saw a 45% jump in the percent of its population with access to the FCC’s minimum broadband speeds of 100 Mbps/20 Mbps.
Arizona, and specifically, the city of Mesa, AZ, has been a hotbed of activity for fiber deployments. In 2022 Google Fiber decided to deploy fiber to Mesa, AZ after the city council approved plans to bring a data center to the area. In addition, AT&T also announced plans to bring its fiber service to Mesa in 2023. These new fiber entrants are competing with existing broadband providers Cox Communications and Lumen.
U.S. states with largest year-on-year increase in Speedtest users achieving broadband speeds
Rank
State
Increase in Speedtest users obtaining broadband speeds (1H 2023 vs 1H 2024)
BEAD funding approval
1
New Mexico
50%
Yes
2
Arizona
45%
Yes
3
Nevada
37%
Yes
4
Minnesota
38%
No
5
Colorado
35%
Yes
6
Washington
35%
Yes
7
Oregon
32%
Yes
8
Wyoming
32%
Yes
9
Maine
30%
Yes
10
Utah
29%
Yes
Source: Ookla Speedtest data. *Note NTIA approval of BEAD funding is changing rapidly. While BEAD funds haven’t likely played a role in broadband deployments yet, they will in the future.
Sparse population equals inferior broadband
Not surprisingly, the most sparsely populated states in the U.S. tend to also have the smallest percentage of their population receiving the FCC’s minimum broadband speeds. Building broadband networks in rural states is incredibly expensive, and in some areas the terrain can make it nearly impossible. For example, in Alaska, where the ground may be frozen for many months out of the year, it’s difficult to dig trenches to install fiber.
Ookla’s Speedtest data collected in the first half of 2024 found that less than 40% of the residents of Alaska, Montana and Wyoming (which are three of the most sparsely populated states in the U.S.), receive the minimum broadband speeds of 100 Mbps downstream/20 Mbps upstream.
The digital divide is still evident in many states
A big part of the impetus behind the federal government’s BEAD program is to finally close the gap between those with and without access to broadband, or what is commonly referred to as the digital divide.
But there are still many states that have a prominent gap between the number of rural and urban residents that have access to the FCC’s minimum standard of broadband speeds of 100 Mbps downstream/20 Mbps upstream.
Using the Census Bureau’s urban-rural classification and Ookla data compiled in the 1H of 2024, Washington, Alaska, Illinois and Oregon have the biggest digital divide compared to the other 50 states. For example, while 61.1% of urban Speedtest users in Washington state receive broadband speeds of 100 Mbps/20 Mbps, only 28.7% of its rural Speedtest users receive those same speeds.
Breaking Down the Digital Divide
Percentage of urban and rural Speedtest users in each state with access to broadband speeds of 100/20 Mbps.
Broadband speeds are improving but more work is needed
U.S. broadband networks offer faster and more reliable connectivity to more people today than they did just a few years ago, however there’s still a large percentage of the U.S. population without adequate access to broadband connectivity.
Thanks to new funding such as the BEAD program, there are many efforts underway to improve modern broadband networks. We expect to see these advancements in 2025 as more states start to put their BEAD funding into action.
We will provide semi-annual updates on the broadband speed performance of providers in the 50 states and also to track the improvements that states are making to bridge the digital divide. 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.
The global digital divide continues to widen. While nearly a quarter of consumer broadband subscribers in developed markets now use gigabit plans – projected to reach 50% by 2029 – developing countries often struggle to keep pace. This emerging “digital divide 2.0” represents not only a gap in access to basic connectivity, but also in the quality of broadband infrastructure. With pioneering countries like Singapore implementing nationwide 10-gigabit strategies, advanced markets are rapidly deploying high-speed fiber networks, whereas emerging markets often struggle to maintain even basic connectivity standards.
To better understand these disparities, comprehensive network data can offer valuable insights into connectivity performance. The Fiber Development Index (FDI) – a collaboration between Ookla, the World Broadband Association (WBBA), and Omdia – benchmarks fiber development across 93 countries by analyzing infrastructure development, market trends, and quality of experience measurements. Using median download and upload speeds, latency, and jitter data from Speedtest Intelligence, the FDI provides crucial insights into actual broadband performance and availability worldwide.
In this article, we’ll examine the current state of global broadband development, explore what sets market leaders apart, and analyze some key challenges facing U.S. broadband expansion. For deeper insights into these topics, including expert analysis from Ookla, the WBBA, and Omdia, watch our full webinar!
Global Broadband Trends
The demand for high-speed broadband continues to surge, with fixed broadband growing at a remarkable rate. Between 2020 and 2023, fixed broadband saw 20% growth compared to just 5% for mobile broadband, and similar growth is projected over the next few years. Three key factors drive this increased demand for gigabit and multi-gigabit connectivity:
Connected devices: The number of connected devices per household typically doubles every five years, with projections showing an average of a staggering 45 devices per household by 2030.
High-bandwidth applications: Modern applications demand increasingly higher speeds, from 50 Mbps for 4K video to 300 Mbps for 8K content, with next-generation XR applications requiring speeds up to 1 Gbps.
Cloud shift: Usage patterns are rapidly evolving from primarily saving files locally to accessing cloud-based services for storage and computing, a transition accelerated by XR and AI applications.
Looking ahead to 2028-2029, about half of all fixed broadband connections worldwide are expected to be gigabit-capable. This shift to fiber networks, which enable both higher speeds and improved latency, is necessary to support these evolving demands.
Fiber Development Index (FDI) Findings
The Fiber Development Index provides unprecedented visibility into global broadband development, analyzing 93 countries across multiple metrics including investment patterns (infrastructure funding, market incentives, regulatory policies) and real-world performance data.
To enable meaningful comparisons between markets at different stages of development, the FDI organizes countries into three distinct clusters:
Cluster One – Advanced Markets: These highly developed fiber broadband markets – such as Singapore, the UAE, and Qatar – demonstrate the impact of strong government support and clear national strategies. Singapore highlights cluster one success stories, with its nationwide fiber initiative.
Cluster Two – Transitioning Markets: Markets with developed broadband infrastructure actively expanding their fiber adoption. France, Chile, Switzerland, Australia, and the Netherlands have all improved their FDI rankings through expanded fiber coverage and improved performance metrics.
Cluster Three – Emerging Markets: Regions with low overall broadband penetration often face fundamental connectivity challenges. However, success stories like Peru, which jumped 11 spots in the FDI rankings, show how targeted investment and regulatory improvements can accelerate development.
This clustering approach shows that successful fiber deployment isn’t only about current performance; it’s also about the trajectory of improvement and the policies enabling that growth. For example, while Switzerland and Hungary show similar fiber penetration rates, Switzerland’s higher FDI ranking reflects its continued investment in core networks – illustrating how infrastructure commitment can shape a country’s development path.
Solutions and Best Practices
Understanding what drives success in leading markets can help guide countries working to close their own digital divides. From Singapore’s comprehensive strategy for fiber deployment to Peru’s improvements in regulatory policy and infrastructure investment, successful countries share a few key characteristics in their regulatory approaches and usage of data-driven decision making:
Effective Regulatory Framework: Leading markets implement detailed national broadband plans with specific targets and timelines. They streamline municipal approvals, promote infrastructure sharing, and provide financial incentives through universal service funds.
Data-Driven Planning: Speedtest Intelligence metrics provide granular data on network performance – including speeds, latency, and jitter, among other KPIs – revealing where networks are underperforming against FCC broadband speed standards. These insights help operators target infrastructure investments for maximum impact.
Market-Specific Strategies: Success looks different across markets. For example, while Singapore pursues its nationwide 10-gigabit fiber service, other countries are focused on expanding basic fiber coverage. Speedtest Intelligence metrics can help countries set realistic goals based on their current development stage.
U.S. Broadband Progress
To see how these global trends and challenges play out in a specific market, the U.S. presents a unique example of broadband development, with significant variations across states in both coverage and performance. In early 2024, the FCC raised its minimum broadband speed standard from 25/3 Mbps (25 download/3 upload) to 100/20 Mbps (100 download/20 upload), setting a higher bar for adequate connectivity.
Speedtest Intelligence data from the first half of 2024 reveals how service providers, regulators, and state governments are both making progress and facing persistent challenges in meeting these new standards.
State Leadership: New Jersey leads the nation with 66.4% of Speedtest users achieving FCC minimum standards of 100 Mbps download speed and 20 Mbps upload speed, followed by Connecticut, North Dakota, and Maryland.
Urban-Rural Divide: The gap between rural and urban connectivity access varies dramatically by state. Washington state in particular shows a stark urban-rural divide, with 61.1% of urban residents having access to the FCC’s minimum broadband standards, compared to just 28.7% of rural residents. Delaware demonstrates more equity, with 69.2% of urban residents and 66.8% of rural residents having access to these same standards.
Infrastructure Challenges: Geographic and terrain factors significantly impact deployment costs and feasibility. States like Alaska face unique challenges with frozen ground and vast distances between population centers, making traditional fiber deployment particularly complex and expensive. Data-driven approaches can help identify where alternative solutions might be more practical.
Breaking Down the Digital Divide
Percentage of urban and rural Speedtest users in each state with access to broadband speeds of 100/20 Mbps.
To learn more about connectivity performance in U.S. states, check out our recent analyst report looking at broadband speeds across the 50 states.
Future Outlook
The path toward closing the digital divide requires a multi-faceted approach that combines strategic infrastructure investments, supportive regulatory policies, and data-driven decision making. While fiber remains the gold standard for future-proof connectivity, a hybrid approach incorporating fixed wireless access and satellite technology may offer interim solutions for challenging deployments.
Looking ahead, the industry faces several key developments:
Accelerating Gigabit Adoption: The shift from basic broadband to gigabit connectivity will continue, with projections showing 50% of connections reaching gigabit speeds by 2029.
Investment Priorities: BEAD funding and similar initiatives worldwide will shape deployment strategies, particularly in underserved areas.
Technology Integration: Markets will likely adopt hybrid approaches, using a mix of fiber, fixed wireless, and satellite technology to ensure complete coverage.
Understanding this evolving landscape requires comprehensive network intelligence. Ookla’s complementary datasets – combining Speedtest’s crowdsourced performance metrics, RootMetrics’ controlled drive testing data, and Downdetector’s service outage monitoring – provide stakeholders with the complete picture needed to make informed decisions about broadband development.
For a deeper dive into global broadband development, including detailed analysis of the Fiber Development Index and expert insights from WBBA and Omdia, watch our full webinar on demand!
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.
After years of decline in international rankings, can the UK’s largest telecoms merger in decades revive competition in network quality?
In this special year-end article, we examine the past year in UK telecoms, assessing the country’s global competitiveness, evaluating 5G SA rollouts and monetisation strategies, highlighting the growing trend of convergence and looking ahead to what the market may bring in 2025.
The State of the UK’s Mobile Networks
The UK continued to trail its developed peers in mobile performance in 2024
Reports of mobile not-spots, outages and peak-time congestion dominated discussions around the UK’s mobile networks this year, with high-profile publications highlighting their underperformance compared to developed peers elsewhere in Europe and North America. Particular attention has been drawn to indoor coverage deficits—where over 80% of mobile traffic originates today—and lingering blackspots along key rail corridors nationwide.
Consumer research published by Ookla earlier this year, based on a survey of over 2,000 smartphone users in the UK and US, revealed significantly higher dissatisfaction among UK mobile users. Quality of experience (QoE) issues, such as slow-loading web pages (37%) and interrupted video streams (19%), were prominent, with over a quarter of UK respondents also reporting service interruptions or outages at least once a month. These experiences are likely driving a higher propensity to churn, with 27% of users planning to switch operators within the next twelve months citing coverage as their primary reason.
Analysis of Speedtest Intelligence® data underscores UK consumers’ concerns, revealing the country’s stark international underperformance. Over the past eight years, the UK has shifted from being a G7 leader to a laggard in mobile download speeds at the 10th percentile—a key measure of baseline network performance, as it reflects the experience of users with the slowest connections. These speeds are now lower in the UK than in all but one other G7 country (Japan), with the gap to the leader (France) now widening rapidly on a year-on-year basis.
Outside the G7, the UK recorded the lowest Consistency score in Europe (82.56%) during Q2-Q3 2024, ahead of only Ireland. This metric reflects the percentage of consumer-initiated Speedtest samples meeting minimum speed thresholds: 5 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload on 4G, and 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload on 5G. Market-wide Consistency in the UK saw only slight increases over the year, primarily driven by improvements in the performance of 4G networks.
Investments in RAN upgrades and site expansion are driving progress in coverage and QoE moving into 2025
Notwithstanding the challenges, there is evidence that the performance of the UK’s mobile networks improved notably during the year, as reflected in other key indicators. Speedtest Intelligence data revealed a reduction in market-wide latency to 51.83 ms, reflecting progress across three of the four operators. Moreover, the observed quality of experience for bread-and-butter activities such as gaming and video streaming moved in the right direction again after a decline last year.
Significant investments in RAN upgrades and site expansions, bolstered in part by the government’s 4G-focused Shared Rural Network (SRN) initiative, contributed to substantial improvements in network coverage across all operators over the year. Overall 5G Availability in the UK rose by nearly 10 percentage points to 36.25% between 2023 and 2024, while 4G Availability increased from 93.8% to 95.7% during the same period.
Ofcom noted, however, that there remains a substantial rural-urban divide in terms of 5G deployment progress in the UK, with 5G deployed on 42% of sites in urban areas, compared with just 16% of sites in rural areas, at the end of 2024.
Progress in the 3G sunset underlines the importance of supporting new measures to improve indoor connectivity outcomes
The shutdown of 3G networks, which reportedly accounted for less than 1% of traffic but over a quarter of operators’ RAN electricity consumption in some cases, has played an important role in freeing up spectrum for 4G and 5G. EE, for instance, has expanded its refarmed 2100 MHz spectrum deployments (n1) for 5G, increasing channel bandwidth from 15 MHz to 20 MHz during the year.
Speedtest Intelligence data reveals a decrease in overall 3G General Availability in the UK from 3.43% last year to 1.60% in 2024, indicating the percentage of users falling back to and mainly using 3G networks more than halved in the period. A potential consequence of the 3G sunset, however, is an increased reliance on 2G networks, particularly in deep indoor environments—the percentage of overall users that spend the majority of their time on 2G increased from 0.37% in 2023 to 0.76% this year.
By the end of 2025, all four of the UK’s mobile operators are expected to have completed their 3G sunsets. Reducing the propensity to fall back to 2G and enhancing the handover experience to 4G and 5G networks are likely to remain key priorities for operators’ RAN strategies. Progress in enhancing the indoor mobile network experience in the UK, enabled by deployment models such as Boldyn Networks’ small cell rollout on the London Underground and new in-building neutral host solutions from companies like Freshwave and Proptivity, will be key and may benefit from policy support.
Merger approval transforms spectrum landscape and provides certainty moving into 2025
The successful approval of the merger between Three and Vodafone by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) brings much-needed certainty to the market heading into 2025. This decision is expected to encourage long-term commitments to capital spending on network upgrades across all operators in the UK market, not just required by the merged entity for integrating its networks and complying with the CMA’s behavioural remedies. With the consolidation and redistribution of spectrum benefiting both the merged entity and Virgin Media O2 (VMO2), two of the three in-market operators will have more headroom to expand network capacity where needed.
Research published by Ookla earlier this year examined the impact of operator consolidation on network quality outcomes across Europe and a sample of other high-income countries. It found that a three-player market structure—now set to define the UK market following the merger—tends to be associated with higher median download speeds, improved network consistency and more positive consumer sentiment in the markets where it is present over time.
The UK leads Europe in the commercialisation of 5G SA
While the UK lags behind its developed peers in mobile network performance, it has emerged as a global leader in the commercial rollout of the standalone (SA) 5G architecture. It remains the only European country with three commercially available 5G SA networks at the end of 2024, as VMO2 and EE joined Vodafone this year in launching the technology, primarily targeting dense urban areas in cities and towns. Ofcom reported that there were 3,300 5G SA-capable sites by the end of 2024, representing 15% of all reported 5G sites and carrying 3% of the UK’s overall monthly mobile traffic.
Controlled network testing by RootMetrics®, an Ookla company, on EE’s 5G network in Birmingham in October confirmed the significant latency improvements unlocked by the SA architecture. With 115 MHz of channel bandwidth observed across much of EE’s SA deployments along the test route, the operator stands out as the closest European equivalent to T-Mobile in the US which, like EE, has distinguished itself through extensive SA spectrum allocation spanning multiple carriers from low-band to mid- and high-bands.
In addition to upgrading traditional rooftop and monopole sites for 5G SA, operators like VMO2 are deploying street-level 5G SA small cells in increasing numbers to boost network capacity in high-footfall areas. This approach to network densification is expected to accelerate next year as macro site grid upgrades mature and operators collaborate with local authorities to streamline deployment processes for street-level mobile infrastructure.
Stimulating consumer demand for 5G SA proves a challenge, with bundling emerging as a key sales strategy
On a business level, each operator has adopted a distinct strategy to market 5G SA in the UK, highlighting the persistent challenges of monetising 5G investments as far as mid-way through the technology cycle. Vodafone led the charge with a consumer-focused launch in 2023, branding its SA service as ‘5G Ultra’. In an effort to upsell its base, the offering was limited to postpay subscribers, with ‘improved phone battery life’ promoted as a key selling point.
In contrast, VMO2 launched its 5G SA network this year, following the playbook of operators like Iliad’s Free in the French market, by offering access to its existing subscribers at no additional cost. While the operator touted improvements in latency and uplink performance unlocked by the new 5G SA core and enhanced carrier aggregation, the aggressive pricing strategy reinforces the increasing industry consensus in Europe that consumers are unwilling to pay a premium for 5G SA alone.
Recognising this challenge in marketing the technology as a worthy consumer upgrade from the NSA architecture, and aligning with its strategy to transition from a traditional telecoms operator to a dynamic, service-led household brand, EE has taken a more ambitious approach. The operator has bundled its 5G SA offerings, restricted to its most expensive tariffs, with content packages, securing a partnership with Google to provide access to its premium Gemini Advanced AI model as part of the deal.
Bundling has proven effective for upselling in other advanced markets, particularly in Asia, where operators have successfully boosted ARPU by introducing differentiated services early in the 5G cycle. In addition to bundling Google’s AI services, EE introduced a ‘Network Boost’ subscription add-on with its 5G SA launch, offering premium subscribers the option to pay for prioritised network access during times of congestion.
This bundling strategy is expected to expand further in the UK next year, aligning with converged fixed and mobile offerings from operators like BT and VMO2. As the rollout of 5G SA matures and is afforded greater strategic priority under the government’s Wireless Infrastructure Strategy (WIS), and the device and solution ecosystem continues to mature, operators are likely to shift their focus to the enterprise segment—arguably the only market where SA-specific features, such as network slicing, hold any substantive monetisation potential.
The State of the UK’s Fixed Broadband Networks
Fibre land grab boosts the UK’s international ranking in fixed broadband performance
The recent groundswell of investment in fibre infrastructure across the UK is paying off, with median download speeds on fixed networks increasing by nearly 40% between 2023 and 2024 to 107.07 Mbps, according to Speedtest Intelligence data. This improvement trend also extended to other key metrics, including a 6% reduction in latency to 20.47 ms and enhanced QoE for gaming and video streaming across major ISPs. Ofcom reported that FTTH reached nearly 7 in 10 homes at the end of 2024, putting the UK on track to reach the government’s target of 85% full-fibre coverage by the end of 2025.
UK leads Germany and Italy in Fixed Download Speeds, but Trails G7 Leaders
Source: Speedtest Intelligence® | 2018 – 2024
Spline plot comparison of median fixed download speeds among the G7 countries between 2018 and 2024 based on Speedtest Intelligence® data.
Notably, in the context of Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index™, the UK continues to rank relatively higher in fixed network performance compared to mobile performance. The significant gains in median fixed download, upload and latency performance over the last year have propelled the UK up twelve places in the index, positioning it ahead of other G7 countries like Germany and Italy. However, it remains in the lower half of Western European countries.
Wi-Fi 7 poised to become the default standard for ISPs targeting premium experiences in 2025
The growing adoption of advanced Wi-Fi solutions, including mesh routers for enhanced whole-home coverage and Wi-Fi 6E-capable access points for higher throughput on multi-gigabit FTTH connections, continues to play an important role in enhancing fixed performance outcomes in the UK. In the year gone by, fixed ISPs have increasingly relied on ‘Wi-Fi guarantees’ as a cornerstone of their marketing strategies, offering promises of minimum download speeds in every room—backed by money-back assurances.
Building on this momentum, Wi-Fi 7 is expected to become the default standard for CPE provided by UK ISPs on premium FTTH tariffs from next year. BT was among the first ISPs globally to launch a next-generation Wi-Fi 7 router earlier this year, partnering with Qualcomm to introduce its new ‘Smart Hub Pro’ and ‘Smart Wi-Fi Pro’ CPE solutions to EE Home Broadband customers.
Merger approval ups the ante on convergence moving into 2025
The merger between Three and Vodafone paves the way for the UK to have three converged operators for the first time. The merged entity, following in the footsteps of previous tie-ups between BT and EE in 2016 and Virgin Media and O2 in 2021, will aim to fully integrate its fixed and combined mobile networks to deliver a differentiated experience that is better than the sum of its individual parts.
This trend is expected to drive operators to move beyond basic cross-selling of mobile and fixed services, instead positioning converged solutions as premium tariff bundles that deliver seamless, best-in-class experiences across fixed, mobile and Wi-Fi—on any device, anywhere. BT’s ‘EE One’ converged solution, unveiled alongside its 5G SA and Wi-Fi 7 launches earlier this year, offers a preview of the kinds of solutions likely to emerge from all converged operators in 2025.
Operator investments in bringing their fixed and mobile networks closer together will play a key role in ensuring subscribers enjoy an improved experience across all access paths. VMO2, for example, recently announced the activation of its ‘Converged Interconnected Network’ architecture, which it touted as improving the operator’s ability to manage traffic flows across its fixed and mobile services by aggregating data closer to the end user before routing it back to the core network.
Key Trends to Watch in 2025
Mobile Data Traffic Growth Plateau
The UK, like other advanced mobile markets in Europe and North America, is entering a phase of declining mobile data traffic growth, following an S-curve trajectory. Ofcom reported an 18% increase in total monthly traffic in 2024, marking a slowdown from the 25% growth observed in both 2022 and 2023. This trend of moderated growth is expected to continue next year and warrants close attention, as it could significantly impact mobile operators’ capital cycles, spectrum demand and equipment vendors’ business models over the long term in the UK and further afield.
Private Network Proliferation
The removal of the requirement to individually register end-user devices for low-power use in shared bands, increased availability of medium-power licenses and the launch of a comprehensive spectrum mapping tool for the 3.8-4.2 GHz band were key milestones in Ofcom’s support for private networks in 2024. These measures contributed to the provision of 113 new shared access licenses between July and November, including 45 in the 1800 MHz band and 68 in the 3.8-4.2 GHz band. Further growth in the UK’s private network ecosystem is expected in 2025, with Ofcom set to enable low-power indoor access in the 2.3 GHz band.
Direct-to-Device (D2D) Arrival
Ofcom is developing a framework to authorise and facilitate D2D services in the UK, with a consultation scheduled for the first half of 2025. It will also review its approach to the mobile satellite service (MSS) licences in the 2 GHz band, as the current EU-wide licences are set to expire in 2027, allowing the UK to independently determine their future use. EE and O2 are the most likely potential candidates for a Direct-to-Cell (D2C) partnership with SpaceX’s Starlink, while Vodafone has been flirting with AST SpaceMobile.
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.
With the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris having concluded on Sunday 11th August, and the handover to Los Angeles 2028 complete, we look back at how mobile networks performed during the Games, and examine the legacy of other major sporting events. Our data shows a strong increase in upload performance across both 4G and 5G networks in Paris in time for the event. However data from past events shows that this is a common trend, and that not all major sporting events leave a network legacy, with many deployments focussed on adding temporary capacity which is then removed post-event. The African Cup of Nations in Cote D’Ivoire, which took place in January and February 2024, is one exception, with 4G-LTE performance in the capital city of Abidjan increasing in time for the event and being sustained for the six month period afterwards. With so much infrastructure investment targeted at these events, often in congested areas of large cities, operators and organizers should do more to ensure they leave a lasting impact on the network user experience.
Driving network improvements to ensure sufficient capacity for major events
Major sporting events place considerable strain on public mobile networks, necessitating careful planning to anticipate demand. In the case of the Paris Olympics, organizers deployed additional cell sites and backhaul (both permanent and temporary), and added fiber. They also deployed a dedicated private wireless 5G network. Orange, the official connectivity partner of the Paris Olympics, opened up its 5G network to existing 4G consumer and business customers across France, from June to September. In addition to allowing existing 4G users to try 5G, this also freed up capacity on Orange’s 4G network, allowing it to better support 4G roaming users. The mobile operator also implemented an innovative push-to-talk (PTT) service over 4G to allow those organizing the Games to communicate more securely and effectively. For many large events like this, the host city or nation will embark upon significant upgrades to transport links and communication networks, and organizing committees such as the IOC and FIFA are increasingly keen that the events leave a legacy for residents and future visitors.
Network performance, based on consumer-initiated Speedtest samples, showed an increase in median 5G download performance in Paris during the weeks leading up to the opening ceremony on 26th July, as well as sustained performance across the duration of the event. What’s more interesting is the trend in median 5G upload speeds, which ramped up in early July to reach a weekly high of 27.07 Mbps in the week of the opening ceremony, but declined thereafter, down to 23.30 Mbps during the final week. Since the games concluded, 5G performance has picked up again, as the crowds who attended have subsided and the demand on the network abates.
Paris, Summer Olympics 2024 – Weekly Performance Before & During the Games
Speedtest Intelligence® | May – August 2024
This stronger proportional uplift in upload performance over download highlights the desire of network operators to adequately serve the anticipated spike in demand from users to upload and stream video content. Despite this, upload performance over 5G remained approximately 1/10th that of download performance, while Orange’s private wireless 5G network, geared to serve the upload of high-definition content from the Games to the International Broadcasting Centre, was configured to have 80% of its throughput dedicated to the uplink. 4G performance followed a similar pattern, showing stable median download speeds and a ramping up of upload performance.
Assessing the network legacy of past events
While we wait to evaluate the network legacy of these Games for Parisians, we examined previous sporting events, to assess whether the network infrastructure deployed had a more permanent or transitory impact on users. We looked at network performance six months prior to, during, and six months following the events.
5G uplink performance is clearly prioritized for these major events, which makes sense given the increased demand from visitors to upload and stream live content. With the exception of Tokyo, the other three major events saw a statistically significant improvement in median 5G upload speeds. The World Cup in Qatar led the way with a 34.8% improvement, followed closely by Paris with a 29.5% increase. That said, the improvements appear only temporary, with median upload speeds falling in the six months after each event. The uplift is more muted for median 5G download performance, with an increase recorded for both the Winter Olympics in Beijing and the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, while differences in 5G download speeds at the Summer Olympics in Paris and in Tokyo were too close to call.
4G performance leading up to these major events paints a similar picture to 5G, with more of a focus on improvements to uplink capacity, however there is evidence of more sustained performance post-event. While there was no statistically significant increase in 4G download performance in time for the Summer Olympics in Paris, upload performance ramped up by 9.7%. We also recorded increased upload performance for the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the Winter Olympics in Beijing, and for the African Cup of Nations in Cote D’Ivoire. The latter two of these recorded increases in both 4G download and upload performance in time for the events, and in Abidjan this performance uplift was sustained for the six months following the event.
We’ll continue to examine network performance at major events globally. We’re keen to see how the network build advances for LA28, especially given the big focus on major transport initiatives, including “Twenty-Eight by ’28”, which is really placing infrastructure development at the heart of the games.
Ookla retains ownership of this article including all of the intellectual property rights, data, content graphs and analysis. This article may not be quoted, reproduced, distributed or published for any commercial purpose without prior consent. Members of the press and others using the findings in this article for non-commercial purposes are welcome to publicly share and link to report information with attribution to Ookla.
5G performance in the United States continues to improve as more mid-band spectrum becomes available. In March, T-Mobile gained access to additional 2.5 GHz spectrum it won at auction 108 in 2022, and we’re already beginning to see the impact of this, adding extra capacity to its 5G network and boosting performance in rural U.S. locations in particular. In just one month, T-Mobile’s median download performance across the U.S. increased by 29.64 Mbps. Its recent agreement to acquire the bulk of US Cellular’s wireless operations and a portion of its spectrum holdings will help it further reinforce its competitive lead. Verizon and AT&T have both benefited from the early vacation of C-band spectrum by satellite providers, the licenses for which were acquired through Auction 107 in February 2021. AT&T acquired additional 3.45 GHz licenses, former U.S. Department of Defense spectrum, made available through Auction 110 which concluded in January 2022. All three major carriers have since been upgrading their sites to support their new spectrum frequencies. This update reviews the latest Speedtest Intelligence® data to highlight the impact of deployments in new spectrum bands for U.S. 5G users.
Key takeaways
Recent trends highlight the importance of additional mid-band spectrum for 5G. Speedtest Intelligence data shows a clear correlation between the release of additional mid-band spectrum, 5G performance, and consumer sentiment for 5G networks, with all three national wireless providers benefitting over the past 6 months. This sends a clear message to the FCC and other regulators, of the benefits of allocating additional spectrum for cellular use, as advocated for by industry bodies such as the CTIA, CCA and GSMA.
T-Mobile intent on holding its lead. While C-band spectrum allowed Verizon in particular to play catch-up during Q4 2023, T-Mobile has continued to build on its performance advantage and innovate, moving to a 5G Standalone (SA) architecture, testing six carrier aggregation, while also benefiting from deploying in additional mid-band spectrum starting in March. T-Mobile recorded a median 5G download speed of 287.14 Mbps as of March 2024, an increase of 29.64 Mbps in a single month, which helped it extend its lead over Verizon, which recorded 224.67 Mbps, and AT&T with 145.36 Mbps. Additional spectral capacity will also help fuel further growth of 5G Fixed-Wireless Access (FWA) services, as wireless operators have had to be selective in signing up new fixed customers in order to manage capacity.
Additional mid-band spectrum helping close the gap on regional disparities within the U.S. While the U.S. ranks highly on 5G performance, 5G Service, and 5G Availability metrics versus other leading 5G markets globally, there have remained wide disparities in 5G performance between U.S. states, and between urban and rural locations. Recent mid-band spectrum deployments are starting to shift the needle for a number of states and rural communities.
5G upload and latency performance need more attention. To date,capacity gains from additional spectrum are being directed almost universally to boost 5G download performance, in part because 5G-NR TDD radios are being used in both 2.5 GHz and 3.5 GHz bands. While latency remains relatively static, we do see a consistent improvement from T-Mobile, a trend which will be important if the carrier is to differentiate itself on latency-critical applications in the future.
T-Mobile continues to maintain its national lead on 5G performance
Speedtest Intelligence data for the U.S., covering the last three years, clearly shows how instrumental additional mid-band spectrum has been for all major US carriers. Four points in time stand out very clearly when we look at median download speeds across the market:
T-Mobile’s deployment of 5G in both 600 MHz and 2.5 GHz spectrum during 2021 (acquired through the merger with Sprint), giving it a significant early advantage, as AT&T and Verizon focussed more heavily on mmWave spectrum.
Verizon performance picked up in January 2022, after it began C-band deployments, which had been delayed due to concerns of interference at airports from the FAA.
The early vacation of the remaining C-band spectrum by incumbent satellite operators in August 2023, giving AT&T and Verizon full access to the spectrum frequencies they acquired at auction in 2021.
T-Mobile’s recent deployment following the release of additional 2.5 GHz spectrum as part of Auction 108, beginning in March 2024.
T-Mobile had capitalized on its early advantage, building out 5G in 600 MHz spectrum to cover 200 million Points of Presence (PoPs) as of 2020, following that up with wide deployment in its mid-band 2.5 GHz spectrum holdings. Despite performance boosts for AT&T and Verizon from additional C-band spectrum in Q4 2023, T-Mobile still led the pack with a median 5G download speed of 275.50 Mbps as of May 2024, 23% faster than next placed Verizon. Its lead had narrowed since August, with Verizon’s C-band spectrum helping it increase median 5G performance from 133.56 Mbps in June to 215.57 Mbps in December. AT&T also saw performance pick up in the second half of 2023, and at the turn of the year, these trends pointed towards a much more competitive 5G market during 2024, while also driving increased capacity for wireless provider’s 5G FWA services.
T-Mobile has continued to innovate in order to drive performance gains across its 5G network. In addition to deploying a 5G Standalone architecture, it is pushing the envelope on carrier aggregation, most recently completing a test with Ericsson and Qualcomm of six carrier aggregation, stitching together two channels of each of its 2.5 GHz, PCS, and AWS spectrum to achieve download speeds in excess of 3.6 Gbps. Furthermore, having finally gained access to additional 2.5 GHz spectrum it won during auction 108 in 2022, but had not been cleared to use, T-Mobile has rapidly been enabling the new spectrum across its footprint. This has allowed it to extend its lead in the market, recording a median 5G download speed of 287.14 Mbps in March 2024.As cellular providers ramp up their home broadband offerings via 5G fixed wireless access (FWA), as we recently highlighted, they will need to balance fixed net additions carefully in order to ensure cellular performance does not suffer, and will require additional high capacity spectrum over time to meet demand.
Driving improved quality of experience and consumer sentiment
The uplift in 5G performance is driving improved consumer sentiment, as measured by net promoter score (NPS). NPS is a key performance indicator of customer experience, categorizing users into Detractors (score 0-6), Passives (score 7-8), and Promoters (score 9-10), with the NPS representing the percentage of Promoters minus the percent of Detractors, displayed in the range from -100 to 100. Reviewing Speedtest Intelligence data shows that U.S. cellular providers returned either flat or declines in 5G NPS over the period March to August 2023. From September onwards, we see a strong uplift in 5G NPS in particular for Verizon and AT&T following their C-band deployments. T-Mobile on the other hand, has seen a sizable increase in 5G NPS in March, corresponding to its deployment in additional mid-band spectrum.
Key to this growth in 5G NPS for all three cellular providers, is the impact that increases in 5G performance are impacting the quality of experience for end users for key use cases such as video streaming and mobile gaming. Both measures, as highlighted by Ookla’s 5G Game Score™ and 5G Video Score™ metrics have seen strong increases over the course of the past year.
5G Video & Gaming Quality of Experience
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q1 2023 – Q1 2024
Positioning the U.S. strongly internationally
Performance gains from all national cellular providers have enabled the U.S. to climb the ranks when compared to its peers internationally. Over the course of just one year, it has moved from 20th place on Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index, to reach 11th as of February 2024. This has been driven by increased availability of mid-band spectrum for 5G use, as advocated for by the CTIA, which recently released a report claiming that the U.S. could benefit from an additional $200 billion in economic growth over the next 10 years through allocating additional mid-band spectrum for 5G.
U.S. providers are also continuing to expand the reach of 5G networks across the market. 5G Service, the share of known operator locations where 5G was present (of total locations with cellular service) climbed from 68.4% in Q3 2023 to 76.7% in Q1 2024. Deployment of 5G in low band spectrum is also critical to ensuring high 5G Availability – the share of 5G users that spend a majority of their time connected to 5G networks. The U.S. still tracks as one of the leading markets globally for 5G Availability, despite its comparatively large landmass, although that metric remained level quarter-on-quarter.
5G Service and 5G Availability – U.S. vs Other Leading 5G Markets
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q1 2024
Closing disparities in 5G performance between U.S. states & rural locations
While national median speeds continue to advance, there remain some significant disparities in 5G performance at an individual state level. The Midwestern States fare best, with Illinois, Kansas, North Dakota, and Minnesota all within the top-5 performing states nationally, with median 5G download speeds above 225 Mbps during Q4 2023. At the other end of the scale are U.S. states with the highest shares of rural populations, including Vermont, Maine, Mississippi, and West Virginia, which had median download speeds below 100 Mbps.
5G Median Download Speed by U.S. State (Mbps)
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q4 2023
Differing allocations of spectrum, channel bandwidths, device capabilities, and carrier aggregation options all impact the observed performance of each service provider across the locations they serve. While each network operator has its own 5G deployment strategy, the deployment of mid-band spectrum for capacity in urban locations, complemented with sub-1 GHz spectrum to enable wider and better 5G coverage, is the common approach. While performance gaps will remain as a result of these deployment strategies, recent mid-band spectrum deployments, including in C-band and 2.5 GHz, are beginning to help close the performance gap for some states.
We examined T-Mobile’s recent performance, comparing data between February and March, as it deploys 5G in its additional 2.5 GHz spectrum. The results show performance has increased across a wide range of U.S. states, with its median 5G performance increasing by more than 10 Mbps within 35 States and the District of Columbia. Among the ten states with the lowest median 5G download speed (based on data for all providers), T-Mobile showed the most significant performance uplifts in West Virginia (+79.73 Mbps), Wyoming (+66.61 Mbps), and New Hampshire (+48.50 Mbps).
T-Mobile’s 2.5 GHz Dividend – Uplift in 5G Median Download Speeds (Top 15 Improving States)
Speedtest Intelligence® | March vs February 2024
Speedtest Intelligence data also illustrates the gap between rural and urban U.S. locations, which has widened over the last three years as mid-band deployments have tended to focus on more urban locations. That is beginning to change, with both T-Mobile and Verizon keen to highlight the impact of their recent spectrum deployments on rural 5G performance. While AT&T only saw a minor increase in median 5G download speeds in rural locations, both T-Mobile and Verizon have targeted significant increases in performance through mid-band spectrum deployments.
All eyes on download throughput – upload & latency require attention
Additional spectrum has fueled surges in download performance thanks to the deployment of 5G in mid-band spectrum, but upload and latency metrics have not improved to the same degree. All three cellular providers maintained relatively static median upload speeds across the two year period we examined (Q1 2022 to Q1 2024). 5G latency performance was a mixed picture, with T-Mobile the only provider to consistently improve, reducing its latency from 55 ms in Q1 2022 to 46 ms in Q1 2024. Both Verizon and AT&T saw latency grow over the same period.
5G Median Upload and Latency Performance, (by provider, U.S.)
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q1 2022 – Q1 2024
It’s very clear that U.S. cellular providers are prioritizing improvements in download performance. This will likely continue in 2024, as T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon each seek to gain the upper hand, using any 5G network advantages to capture a larger share of competitive churn. Over time however, we expect the relative importance of upload and latency performance to grow, as 5G download performance begins to exhibit diminishing marginal returns, and increasing importance is given to improving the experience of latency-sensitive use cases such as video calling, mobile gaming, and augmented reality.
2024 is set to drive renewed competitive pressure between all of the service providers in the U.S., with the continuing deployment of 5G in mid-band spectrum, T-Mobile’s acquisition of US Cellular’s assets, and made all the more interesting given the DISH wildcard. We’ll continue to monitor and report on 5G performance trends in the U.S., and their impact on Speedtest users. To learn more about Ookla Speedtest Intelligence, 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.
Ookla® Market Reports™ identify key data about internet performance in countries across the world. This quarter we’ve provided updated analyses for 52 markets using Speedtest Intelligence® and summarized the top takeaways below. Click through to the market report to see more details and charts about the countries you’re interested in, including the fastest fixed broadband providers and mobile operators, who had the most consistent service, as well as 5G and device performance in select countries during Q4 2023. Jump forward to a continent using these links:
Côte d’Ivoire: Orange recorded the fastest median mobile and fixed download speeds during Q4 2023, at 30.13 Mbps and 65.90 Mbps, respectively. Moov Africa recorded the lowest mobile median multi-server latency at 83 ms, while CANALBOX recorded the lowest latency over fixed broadband at 70 ms. Of Côte d’Ivoire most populous cities, Abidjan had the fastest median fixed download speed of 58.88 Mbps.
Mozambique: Tmcel recorded the fastest mobile median download speed of 27.80 Mbps in Q4 2023, and also the highest mobile Consistency at 91.6%. Of Mozambique’s most populous cities, Maputo had the fastest median mobile and fixed download speeds at 26.33 Mbps and 14.65 Mbps, respectively. SpaceX’s Starlink recorded the fastest fixed broadband median download speed in Q4 2023 at 36.13 Mbps, along with the highest Consistency at 49.7%. Meanwhile, TVCABO recorded the lowest latency over fixed broadband at 16 ms.
Senegal: There was no winner of fastest median mobile performance in Senegal during Q4 2023, with Free and Orange both tied. Orange led the market for median fixed broadband download performance, with 21.46 Mbps in Q4 2023. Orange also had the lowest latency at 90 ms and highest Consistency of 45.4%. Of Senegal’s most populous cities, Dakar had the fastest median fixed download speed of 27.11 Mbps.
Argentina: Personal had the fastest median download speed over mobile at 36.59 Mbps, while also registering the lowest latency of 39 ms during Q4 2023. In the fixed broadband market, there was no statistically fastest network, with Movistar and Telecentro delivering median download speeds of 106.41 Mbps and 105.98 Mbps, respectively. Movistar recorded the lowest latency of 9 ms. Among Argentina’s most populous cities, Mendoza recorded the fastest mobile median download speed of 37.75 Mbps, while Buenos Aires recorded the fastest fixed download speed of 109.79 Mbps.
Belize: Digi had the fastest median mobile download and upload speeds of 17.50 Mbps and 9.28 Mbps, respectively during Q4 2023. Digi also recorded the highest Consistency of 80.3%, while smart! recorded the lowest median latency of 56 ms. There was no statistically fastest fixed network in the market based on download speed, however NEXGEN recorded the fastest median upload speed at 47.47 Mbps.
Canada: Bell was the fastest mobile operator in Canada with a median download speed of 121.33 Mbps in Q4 2023. Bell also had the fastest median 5G download speed at 194.23 Mbps. Rogers had the fastest median mobile upload speed of 15.10 Mbps, and the highest Consistency of 88.2%. Bell pure fibre was fastest for fixed broadband, recording a median download speed of 307.77 Mbps and a median upload speed of 264.97 Mbps. Bell pure fibre also recorded the highest Video Score, of 87.90. Of Canada’s most populous cities, St. John’s recorded the fastest median mobile download speed at 171.76 Mbps, while Fredericton recorded the fastest median fixed broadband download speed of 247.89 Mbps.
Colombia: Movistar was fastest for fixed broadband with a median download speed of 210.46 Mbps in Q4 2023. ETB had the lowest latency over fixed broadband at 7 ms. Of Colombia’s most populous cities, Cartagena recorded the fastest median fixed download speed of 146.74 Mbps.
Costa Rica: Claro had the fastest median download speed among mobile operators at 40.56 Mbps during Q4 2023. Liberty recorded the fastest median upload speed at 10.73 Mbps, the lowest mobile latency at 33 ms, and the highest Consistency at 78.6%. Metrocom was fastest for fixed broadband download and upload performance, at 225.94 Mbps and 179.66 Mbps, respectively. Metrocom also recorded the lowest latency, at 6 ms.
Dominican Republic: Claro had the fastest median download and upload speeds among mobile operators at 34.27 Mbps and 9.84 Mbps, respectively. Claro also recorded the highest Consistency, at 77.0%. Viva had the lowest mobile latency at 43 ms. SpaceX’s Starlink was fastest for fixed broadband download performance at 48.08 Mbps, while Claro recorded the fastest median upload speed at 25.38 Mbps, and the lowest latency at 41 ms. Altice recorded the highest fixed broadband Consistency, at 66.6%.
Ecuador: CNT recorded the fastest median mobile download speed during Q4 2023, at 26.22 Mbps, while Movistar recorded the lowest mobile multi-server latency at 41 ms. Netlife was fastest for fixed broadband, with a median download speed of 91.56 Mbps. Netlife also recorded the lowest latency over fixed broadband at 8 ms. Xtrim recorded the highest fixed broadband Consistency at 84.8%. Of Ecuador’s most populous cities, Santo Domingo recorded the fastest median mobile download speed of 31.58 Mbps, while Guayaquil recorded the fastest median fixed download speed of 88.59 Mbps.
El Salvador: Claro had the fastest median download speed among mobile operators in El Salvador, at 40.97 Mbps, along with the highest Consistency of 90.4%. Movistar registered the fastest median mobile upload speed of 13.35 Mbps and lowest latency at 73 ms. Cable Color recorded the fastest median fixed download speed at 55.57 Mbps, the top median upload speed at 57.04 Mbps, and the lowest median latency of 51 ms. Of El Salvador’s most populous cities, Santa Tecla showed the fastest median mobile and fixed download speeds during Q4 2023 at 39.27 Mbps and 54.98 Mbps respectively.
Guatemala: Claro was the fastest mobile operator in Guatemala during Q4 2023 with a median download speed of 41.63 Mbps and a median upload speed of 19.61 Mbps. Claro also had the highest Consistency at 87.9%, while also leading the market for 5G performance, with a median 5G download speed of 388.34 Mbps. Tigo recorded the lowest median mobile latency at 79 ms. SpaceX’s Starlink was fastest for median fixed download performance at 54.32 Mbps, while Cable Color was fastest for fixed upload performance at 33.45 Mbps. Cable Color also had the lowest median latency on fixed broadband at 27 ms. Claro recorded the highest fixed broadband Consistency at 73.1%. Of Guatemala’s most populous cities, Escuintla showed the fastest median mobile download speed during Q4 2023 at 44.16 Mbps, while Villa Nueva recorded the fastest median fixed download speed, at 60.83 Mbps.
Guyana: There was no winner of fastest median mobile performance in Guyana during Q4 2023, with ENet and Digicel posting median download speeds of 24.64 Mbps and 23.53 Mbps, respectively. ENet recorded the fastest median mobile upload speed at 18.49 Mbps and offered the lowest median latency at 143 ms. In the fixed broadband market, ENet recorded the fastest median download and upload speeds, of 70.20 Mbps and 52.25 Mbps, respectively, while also recording the lowest median latency of 130 ms. GTT recorded the highest fixed broadband Consistency during Q4 2023, at 69.2%.
Haiti: Digicel was the fastest mobile operator in Haiti with a median mobile download speed of 14.26 Mbps, a median upload speed of 10.52 Mbps, and Consistency of 67.2%. Natcom recorded the lowest mobile latency, of 62 ms. SpaceX Starlink had the fastest median fixed download speed at 41.73 Mbps. Natcom had the fastest median fixed upload speed at 31.89 Mbps, the lowest median fixed latency at 47 ms, and the highest fixed broadband Consistency of 64.0%.
Honduras: Claro recorded the fastest median mobile download and upload speeds during Q4 2023, of 53.06 Mbps and 16.22 Mbps, respectively, while also recording the highest Consistency at 87.2%. Tigo recorded the lowest median mobile latency at 93 ms. Claro had the fastest median fixed download speed at 47.26 Mbps during Q4 2023, and the highest fixed broadband Consistency at 80.2%. TEVISAT recorded the fastest median upload speed, of 22.36 Mbps, and the lowest median fixed latency at 20 ms. Of Honduras’ most populous cities, El Progreso recorded the fastest median mobile download speed during Q4 2023, of 41.69 Mbps, while Tegucigalpa showed the fastest median fixed download speed at 41.97 Mbps.
Jamaica:There was no winner of fastest median mobile download performance in Jamaica during Q4 2023, with Flow and Digicel tied. Digicel recorded the fastest median upload speed of 8.37 Mbps and highest Consistency of 81.9%. Flow had the lowest mobile median latency at 38 ms. SpaceX Starlink had the fastest median download speed over fixed broadband at 84.10 Mbps, and the highest fixed broadband Consistency at 77.8%. Digicel+ recorded the fastest median upload speed of 46.14 Mbps, while Flow recorded the lowest median fixed latency at 25 ms.
Mexico: Telcel had the fastest median download and upload speeds over mobile at 52.06 Mbps and 13.50 Mbps, respectively, and the operator also delivered the fastest median 5G download speed at 233.82 Mbps. Telcel also had the lowest mobile median latency at 62 ms and highest Consistency at 87.2%. Totalplay was fastest for fixed broadband with a median download speed of 88.87 Mbps and a median upload speed of 30.50 Mbps. Totalplay also had the lowest median fixed broadband latency at 28 ms and the highest Consistency at 84.0%. Among Mexico’s most populous cities, Monterrey recorded the fastest median mobile download speed of 38.36 Mbps, while Guadalajara recorded the fastest median fixed broadband speed of 80.32 Mbps.
Panama: MasMovil was the fastest mobile operator with median download and upload speeds of 27.24 Mbps and 15.18 Mbps, respectively, as well as the highest Consistency of 79.3%. Digicel recorded the lowest median mobile latency, at 34 ms. There was no winner of the fastest median fixed download performance, with both Tigo and MasMovil tied. MasMovil recorded the fastest median upload speed of 33.38 Mbps and the lowest median latency at 16ms. Among Panama’s most populous cities, David recorded the fastest median mobile download speed of 21.57 Mbps, while La Chorrera recorded the fastest median fixed broadband speed of 156.71 Mbps.
Peru: Claro was the fastest mobile operator in Peru with a median download speed of 23.30 Mbps during Q4 2023, and also had the highest mobile Consistency in the market with 80.6%.
Trinidad and Tobago: Digicel had the fastest median download speed over mobile at 33.29 Mbps and the highest Video Score in the market at 74.86. bmobile recorded the fastest median mobile upload speed of 12.17 Mbps, and the lowest median latency at 32 ms. Digicel+ had the fastest median fixed broadband download and upload speeds at 118.53 Mbps and 107.24 Mbps, respectively. Digicel+ also had the lowest median latency at 7 ms.
United States: T-Mobile was the fastest mobile operator with median download and upload speeds of 188.96 Mbps and 12.19 Mbps, respectively. T-Mobile also recorded the highest mobile Consistency at 87.3%, and the lowest median mobile latency of 50 ms. T-Mobile also led the market with the fastest median 5G download speed at 238.87 Mbps, as well as the lowest 5G latency of 48 ms. T-Mobile secured the highest Video Score across all technologies with 78.21, and for 5G, with a Video Score of 81.54. Cox led the market as the fastest fixed broadband provider with a median download speed of 261.27 Mbps, while AT&T Internet recorded the fastest median fixed upload speed of 195.64 Mbps, and Verizon had the lowest median latency over fixed broadband at 15 ms.
Uruguay: Antel was the fastest mobile operator in Uruguay during Q4 2023 with a median download speed of 117.79 Mbps, and recorded the lowest median latency of 44 ms.
Venezuela: Digitel was the fastest mobile operator with a median download speed of 14.37 Mbps and a median upload speed of 6.97 Mbps during Q4 2023. Digitel also recorded the highest Consistency in the market, with 68.0%, and the lowest median latency of 97 ms. Airtek Solutions had the fastest median fixed download and upload speeds of 94.76 Mbps and 94.89 Mbps, respectively. Airtek Solutions also recorded the highest fixed broadband Consistency of 86.0%, and the lowest median latency at 7 ms. Among Venezuela’s most populous cities, Maracaibo recorded the fastest median mobile and fixed download speeds of 17.17 Mbps and 82.35 Mbps, respectively.
Afghanistan: The fastest mobile operator in Afghanistan was Afghan Wireless with a median download speed of 6.68 Mbps in Q4 2023. The operator also had the lowest median latency at 77 ms and the highest Consistency of 51.0%.
Bangladesh: Banglalink was the fastest mobile operator in Bangladesh with a median download speed of 26.74 Mbps in Q4 2023. Banglalink also recorded the highest Consistency of 89.0% and the lowest median latency of 33 ms. DOT Internet was the fastest fixed broadband provider with a median download speed of 91.35 Mbps, while also recording the highest Consistency at 87.5% and the lowest median latency at 5 ms.
Bhutan: There was no statistical winner for fastest mobile download performance during Q4 2023 in Bhutan, with TashiCell and BT both tied with speeds of 31.52 Mbps and 28.15 Mbps, respectively. TashiCell recorded the lowest median mobile latency of 52 ms.
Brunei: There was no statistical winner for fastest mobile download performance during Q4 2023 in Brunei, with DST and Imagine both tied with speeds of 97.34 Mbps and 91.53 Mbps, respectively.
Cambodia: Cellcard recorded the fastest median mobile download speed at 33.74 Mbps during Q4 2023, while Metfone recorded the highest Consistency at 80.8% and the lowest median latency at 38 ms. MekongNet was the fastest fixed broadband provider, with a median fixed download speed of 48.29 Mbps. MekongNet also recorded the highest Consistency at 71.1%. OpenNet recorded the lowest median latency over fixed broadband, at 7ms.
China: China Broadnet was the fastest mobile operator in China during Q4 2023, with a median download speed of 248.77 Mbps, and median 5G download speed of 305.61 Mbps. China Mobile recorded the lowest median mobile latency, at 42 ms. There was no statistical winner for fastest fixed download performance, with China Unicom and China Mobile both tied with speeds of 246.93 Mbps and 245.59 Mbps, respectively. China Mobile recorded the highest fixed broadband Consistency, of 93.4%, while China Telecom recorded the lowest median fixed broadband latency at 22 ms. Among China’s most populous cities, Beijing recorded the fastest median mobile download speed of 232.41 Mbps, while Tianjin recorded the fastest median fixed download speed of 326.07 Mbps.
Georgia:Geocell recorded the fastest mobile download performance during Q4 2023 in Georgia, at 50.52 Mbps, and the lowest mobile latency at 37 ms. MagtiCom had the fastest median fixed download speed at 27.81 Mbps and the highest Consistency of 66.5%. Among Georgia’s most populous cities, Tbilisi recorded the fastest median mobile download speed of 36.17 Mbps, while Rustavi recorded the fastest median fixed download speed of 27.38 Mbps.
Hong Kong (SAR): China Mobile Hong Kong was the fastest mobile operator in Hong Kong (SAR) during Q4 2023, with a median download speed across all technologies of 98.94 Mbps, and a median download speed over 5G of 177.96 Mbps. csl recorded the fastest median mobile upload speed, at 16.89 Mbps.
Indonesia: Telkomsel was the fastest Indonesian mobile operator with a median download speed of 31.14 Mbps. Telkomsel also had the lowest median mobile latency at 45 ms.
Japan: Rakuten Mobile recorded the fastest mobile download and upload speeds during Q4 2023 in Japan, at 51.16 Mbps and 20.21 Mbps, respectively. Rakuten Mobile also recorded the highest Consistency in the market at 90.6%, while SoftBank recorded the lowest median latency at 43 ms. So-net had the fastest fixed download and upload speeds, at 296.29 Mbps and 219.53 Mbps, respectively, as well as the lowest median latency over fixed broadband at 9 ms. SpaceX Starlink recorded the highest fixed broadband Consistency in the market at 96.4%.
Kazakhstan: Tele2 recorded the highest mobile Consistency in Kazakhstan during Q4 2023 with 85.3% and the lowest median mobile latency at 39 ms.
Malaysia: TM was the fastest fixed broadband provider in Malaysia with a median download speed of 112.00 Mbps in Q4 2023. TIME recorded the lowest fixed broadband latency at 9 ms.
Pakistan: Jazz delivered the fastest median mobile download speed in Pakistan at 21.38 Mbps in Q4 2023. Zong recorded the highest mobile Consistency, at 83.2%, and the lowest median mobile latency of 45 ms. Transworld recorded the fastest median fixed broadband download speed at 22.08 Mbps and the highest Consistency at 46.1%, while Connect Communications recorded the lowest median fixed broadband latency at 12 ms.
Philippines: Smart delivered the fastest median mobile download speed in the Philippines at 37.64 Mbps in Q4 2023.
South Korea: SK Telecom recorded the fastest median mobile download speed at 192.67 Mbps, while also recording the highest Consistency in the market at 89.1%. LG U+ had the lowest median mobile latency in the market at 76 ms. In South Korea’s fixed broadband market, LG U+ delivered the fastest median download speed at 146.20 Mbps, and the lowest median latency of 57 ms.
Sri Lanka:There was no statistical winner for fastest mobile download performance during Q4 2023 in Sri Lanka, with Dialog and SLT-Mobitel both tied with speeds of 23.98 Mbps and 23.89 Mbps, respectively. Dialog delivered the lowest median mobile latency of 36 ms. SLT-Mobitel recorded the fastest fixed download speed of 37.46 Mbps, as well as the highest fixed broadband Consistency of 57.9% and the lowest fixed broadband latency at 13 ms.
Vietnam: Viettel was the fastest fixed provider in Vietnam during Q4 2023, with a median download speed of 107.40 Mbps. Viettel also recorded the highest fixed broadband Consistency at 94.8% and the lowest median fixed broadband latency of 4 ms.
Albania: Vodafone recorded the fastest median mobile download speed in Albania during Q4 2023, of 53.36 Mbps. One Albania recorded the highest mobile Consistency of 86.1%. Digicom was the fastest fixed broadband provider with a median download speed of 94.74 Mbps. Abissnet recorded the lowest fixed broadband latency, at 7 ms. Among Albania’s most populous cities, Vlorë recorded the fastest median mobile download speed of 75.34 Mbps, while Shkodër recorded the fastest median fixed download speed of 69.91 Mbps.
Belgium: Proximus recorded the fastest median mobile download speed in Belgium during Q4 2023, at 89.67 Mbps. Proximus also recorded the highest mobile Consistency in the market at 89.8%. There was no statistical winner for fastest fixed download performance, with Telenet and VOO both tied with speeds of 158.08 Mbps and 156.00 Mbps, respectively. VOO recorded the highest Consistency at 89.8%. Among Belgium’s most populous cities, Ghent recorded the fastest median mobile and fixed download speeds, of 168.89 Mbps and 90.14 Mbps, respectively.
Denmark: Telia was the fastest mobile operator in Denmark during Q4 2023, with a median download speed of 163.41 Mbps. Hiper was fastest for fixed broadband, with a median download speed of 277.56 Mbps.
Estonia: The fastest mobile operator in Estonia was Telia with a median download speed of 92.39 Mbps in Q4 2023. Elisa recorded the highest mobile Consistency of 91.9%. Elisa was the fastest fixed broadband provider, with a median download speed of 100.13 Mbps. Elisa also recorded the highest fixed broadband Consistency, of 86.3%. Infonet recorded the lowest median fixed broadband latency of 5 ms.
Finland: DNA had the fastest median mobile download speed at 113.57 Mbps in Q4 2023, and the highest Consistency of 95.4%. DNA also recorded the fastest median 5G download performance, at 247.54 Mbps. Telia recorded the lowest median mobile latency of 31 ms. Lounea was fastest for fixed broadband with a median download speed of 171.31 Mbps. Lounea also recorded the highest fixed broadband Consistency in the market at 91.5%, as well as the lowest median fixed broadband latency at 13 ms.
Germany: Telekom was the fastest mobile operator in Germany during Q4 2023, with a median download speed of 90.26 Mbps, as well as the top median download speed over 5G at 179.25 Mbps. Telekom also recorded the highest mobile Consistency in the market at 92.1% and the lowest median mobile latency of 38 ms. Deutsche Glasfaser recorded the fastest fixed broadband performance, with a median download speed at 201.43 Mbps. Deutsche Glasfaser also recorded the highest fixed broadband Consistency in the market at 90.5% and the lowest latency of 14 ms.
Latvia:There was no statistical winner for fastest mobile download performance in Latvia during Q4 2023, with BITĖ and LMT both tied with speeds of 81.56 Mbps and 81.11 Mbps, respectively.BITĖ recorded the highest mobile Consistency in the market of 91.3%, while LMT recorded the lowest mobile latency at 27 ms. Balticom was fastest for fixed broadband with a median download speed of 275.19 Mbps, while also leading with the highest fixed broadband Consistency of 93.7%, and the lowest median latency at 4 ms. Among Latvia’s most populous cities, Olaine recorded the fastest median mobile download speed, of 170.18 Mbps, while Salaspils recorded the fastest median fixed broadband download speed of 94.64 Mbps.
Lithuania: Telia was the fastest mobile operator in Lithuania during Q4 2023, with a median download speed of 116.58 Mbps in Q4 2023. Telia also recorded the highest Consistency in the market at 94.7%, and the lowest median mobile latency at 32 ms. Cgates was fastest for fixed broadband with a median download speed of 177.14 Mbps. Cgates also recorded the highest Consistency over fixed broadband in the market at 90.9%, while Penki recorded the lowest fixed broadband latency, at 4ms. Among Lithuania’s most populous cities, Panevėžys recorded the fastest median mobile download speed, of 106.34 Mbps, while Klaipėda recorded the fastest median fixed broadband download speed of 138.34 Mbps.
Poland: T-Mobile was the fastest mobile operator in Poland during Q4 2023, with a median download speed of 49.10 Mbps. T-Mobile also recorded the highest Consistency in the market at 88.4%. Plus recorded the fastest 5G performance in the market, with a median 5G download speed of 133.34 Mbps. Plus also recorded the lowest median mobile latency, at 43 ms. UPC was the fastest provider for fixed broadband with a median download speed of 232.36 Mbps, while Netia recorded the lowest fixed broadband latency, at 16 ms. Among Poland’s most populous cities, Łódź recorded the fastest median mobile download speed of 46.53 Mbps, while Wrocław recorded the fastest median fixed download speed of 172.86 Mbps.
Turkey: Turkcell was the fastest mobile operator in Turkey with a median download speed of 56.73 Mbps in Q4 2023, and Turkcell also recorded the highest Consistency of 91.3%. Türk Telekom had the lowest median mobile latency at 39 ms. TurkNet was fastest for fixed broadband, with a median download speed of 66.57 Mbps. TurkNet also recorded the lowest median fixed latency at 13 ms, and the highest Consistency at 81.5%. Among Turkey’s most populous cities, Istanbul recorded the fastest median download speeds across mobile and fixed, at 38.50 Mbps and 47.81 Mbps, respectively.
New Zealand: There was no statistical winner for fastest mobile download performance during Q4 2023 in New Zealand, with One NZ and Spark both tied with speeds of 73.52 Mbps and 70.23 Mbps, respectively. 2degrees led the market with the highest Consistency of 91.0% and the lowest median mobile multi-server latency at 40 ms.
The Speedtest Global Index is your resource to understand how internet connectivity compares around the world and how it’s changing. Check back next month for updated data on country and city rankings, and look for updated Ookla Market Reports with 1H 2024 data in July.
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.
ISPs in the Caribbean have helped drive a step-change in performance across the region over the past four years. Fiber is at the forefront of this change, helping drive performance gains in terms of throughput and latency in leading markets such as Trinidad and Tobago, Bermuda, and the Cayman Islands, while Starlink’s LEO service is gaining a foothold in a number of islands too. Outside the leading Caribbean markets, performance varies significantly, but even among those lagging the regional average are advancing rapidly.
Key takeaways
Growing availability of faster broadband across the Caribbean. The last four years have seen a transformation in broadband performance in the Caribbean. Across the markets in this analysis, network Consistency – the share of Speedtest samples exceeding a threshold of 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload – increased from 45.3% in Q1 2020, to 73.3% as of Q1 2024.
Fiber adoption driving performance gains. Trinidad and Tobago, Bermuda, and the Cayman Islands led the Caribbean region on fixed broadband performance, recording median download speeds of 110.26 Mbps, 109.79 Mbps, and 104.88 Mbps, respectively during Q1 2024. Strong fiber performance from a number of ISPs, including Digicel+ (across a range of markets), Amplia (Trinidad and Tobago), as well as Flow, Logic, and C3 Pure Fiber (Cayman Islands), helped drive this, with all recording median download speeds approaching or above 100 Mbps.
Latency performance varies hugely across the Caribbean. Key for real-time applications such as online gaming and video calling, latency performance varied significantly across the region. Thanks to the availability of fiber to most broadband users, markets such as Trinidad and Tobago hit median latency lows of just 15 ms in Q1 2024, while at the other end of the scale, markets such as Aruba and Haiti struggled with median latency approaching 100 ms.
Markets behind the curve are quickly catching up. The majority of Caribbean markets currently below the regional average for fixed network Consistency are catching up fast, led by markets such as the Dominican Republic, Sint Maarten, and the British Virgin Islands, which all increased network Consistency by more than 25 percentage points over the last two years.
Fixed network performance varies dramatically across the Caribbean
Ookla Speedtest Intelligence® data shows a wide disparity in median fixed broadband performance across Caribbean markets, ranging from lows of 2.72 Mbps and 25.21 Mbps in Cuba and Sint Maarten respectively, to highs of 110.26 Mbps and 109.79 Mbps in Trinidad and Tobago, and Bermuda respectively. Median upload performance mimicked this trend, with a low of 1.02 Mbps for Cuba and a high of 89.15 Mbps in the Cayman Islands.
Latency performance showed even greater variance, with some markets being able to access high-speed international links, and with others relying on multiple hops of undersea cables. Eight of the markets we examined recorded median multi-server latency below 50ms, with Trinidad and Tobago leading with 15ms, followed closely by Curaçao with 16ms. At the other end of the scale, a cluster of nine markets recorded latency ranging from 71 ms to 95 ms, while Cuba was the only market with median latency greater than 100 ms, recording 133 ms in Q1 2024. This marks an improvement year-on-year, down from 164 ms in Q1 2023, with the Arimao submarine cable (connecting Cuba to Martinique), helping drive some improvement, however, the island’s aging telecoms infrastructure continues to hold it back.
Fiber is the natural next step for many Caribbean ISPs
A number of Caribbean ISPs, led by groups such as Digicel, are transitioning to fiber access across their fixed operations. The transition from legacy broadband access technology to more modern, faster connections such as fiber takes time. In addition to network rollout and the significant public works this entails, operators and regulators need to ensure users are given enough incentive and education on the benefits of technologies such as fiber, in order to help drive adoption. Digicel+ in Bermuda stands out as a clear leader in the region on median download performance, followed by Digicel+ in Trinidad and Tobago. Beyond Digicel+, Logic, and C3 Pure Fiber in the Cayman Islands, and Amplia in Trinidad and Tobago all offered median download speeds approaching 100 Mbps.
Drive for broadband expansion puts leading Caribbean markets on par with the U.S. and Canada
Caribbean ISPs have made great strides in advancing the rollout of broadband services over the last four years. Ookla uses the network Consistency metric to gauge how prevalent acceptable broadband speeds are across a network, based on the percentage of Speedtest samples exceeding a threshold of 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload performance. Cuba was rooted to the foot of the table based on Consistency, with just 4.0% of samples exceeding the threshold. Of the remaining Caribbean markets in this analysis, network Consistency climbed from 45.3% in Q1 2020 to 73.3% in Q1 2024.
The majority of Caribbean nations in this analysis recorded Consistency above 70% as of Q1 2024, with leading Caribbean nations such as Bermuda, Trinidad and Tobago, the Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico, and Barbados posting Consistency values approaching those of more advanced fixed markets in the Americas, such as the U.S. (89.8%) and Canada (88.7%).
This positive trajectory looks set to continue for many markets at the lower end of the scale too, as they look to catch up with their peers. The vast majority of those Caribbean markets recording less than 75% Consistency in Q1 2024, had increased their Consistency significantly over the past two years, led by Haiti, Sint Maarten, the British Virgin Islands and the Dominican Republic.
Change in Fixed Network Consistency, Select Caribbean Markets
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q1 2022 vs Q1 2024
Leading Caribbean markets face slowing Consistency growth and competition from non-traditional fixed ISPs
We see a mixed picture for leading Caribbean nations on further increases in network Consistency as they begin to approach other leading markets globally. Despite strong fixed broadband performance in many Caribbean markets, increases in network Consistency have been relatively static in some, including Bermuda, Aruba, and Grenada, which all saw network Consistency increase by less than 3 percentage points in the last two years. This indicates a tranche of users in these markets remain below the 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload performance thresholds used in our measure of Consistency.
While growth will naturally slow as markets approach nationwide availability of fixed broadband services exceeding 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload, operators in these markets need to zero in on locations where performance lags the rest of the market and identify root causes. For regulators, the priority may lie in encouraging the sunsetting of legacy fixed technologies, and facilitating the rollout and adoption of faster technologies such as fiber.
Change in Fixed Network Consistency, Leading Caribbean Markets
Speedtest Intelligence® | Q1 2022 vs Q1 2024
LEO satellite broadband is emerging as a viable home broadband alternative
We are beginning to see some alternative fixed broadband technologies make inroads within the Caribbean, following on the heels of their success in North America. While we see some instances of GEO and MEO satellite internet use across the Caribbean, the majority of satellite internet within the region, based on Speedtest samples, is from Starlink’s LEO service. Over the course of the last year (comparing Q1 2024 with Q1 2023), samples from Starlink among the markets in this analysis grew by 85.8%, and it continues to expand its service availability across Caribbean markets. According to its website, Starlink operates across a range of Caribbean markets, and of those included in this analysis, it is available in the Bahamas, Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Starlink performed on par with, or faster than, the median download speed in each market it operated within, recording significant leads in the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Bahamas. However, Starlink does tend to lag the rest of the market on upload speeds and latency. While the cost of Starlink equipment and its subscriptions are often higher than for terrestrial broadband options, which will put it out of reach of some broadband users, it offers a viable alternative, especially in locations where legacy fixed broadband access is still prevalent, and where users prefer faster download performance.
With a range of cellular providers launching 5G across the Caribbean, we may begin to see 5G fixed-wireless (FWA) access begin to take root, as it has done in the U.S. Given the wide range of performance across the Caribbean, 5G FWA could offer users an uplift in speeds versus traditional fixed networks, and it will give cellular providers the opportunity to upsell home internet services to their existing mobile customer bases. While it’s still early days for these rival technologies, we’ll continue to monitor their progress and provide updates on the state of fixed broadband connectivity across the Caribbean. For more information about Ookla’s 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.
As the importance of connectivity has grown, understanding network performance and coverage has become essential for a broad group of stakeholders beyond just network engineers. Governments, regulators, infrastructure companies, and other enterprises outside of the traditional telecommunications space are now actively addressing connectivity challenges to pave the way for a more connected future.
While many tools exist for understanding network performance, most are built with network engineers in mind. The deep technical views that engineers require can be overly complex for users who just want straightforward connectivity insights.
To that end, we are excited to announce the launch of our new product designed especially for this audience. Speedtest Insights™ helps you visualize connectivity on an intuitive map with user-friendly data — so that you can make connectivity decisions with clarity and confidence.
See connectivity trends in the areas that matter most, no GIS skills required
With Speedtest Insights, no GIS skills are required to make informed decisions. View and compare network performance, mobile signal, and cell location data on an intuitive map-based platform.
Governments, regulators, infrastructure companies, and enterprises can leverage Ookla’s easy-to-use mapping interface to quickly understand connectivity at a high level or pinpoint precise areas of need. Speedtest Insights helps you:
Visualize connectivity on an intuitive map with user-friendly data names and a simple “excellent, good, fair, poor” rating system
Eliminate guesswork about whether or not a network provides adequate service in an area and avoid costly in-person testing
Identify unserved and underserved areas to support grant proposals, win funding, and prioritize investment opportunities
Measure real-world network performance and coverage
Every day, millions of consumer-initiated tests are taken with Speedtest by users around the world who want to understand their own connected experiences. Powered by the same crowdsourced Speedtest data, Speedtest Insights demonstrates real-world fixed and mobile network performance with metrics like Download Speed, Upload Speed, and Latency.
You can also analyze Signal Strength and Signal Quality with signal data drawn from billions of crowdsourced daily network samples. Combined with Estimated Cell Locations, you can gain meaningful insight into the coverage of mobile networks. View 4G Signal Strength layered with 4G Cell Locations in the image below for a detailed view of mobile coverage in the U.K.
Real-world consumer-initiated data often differs from coverage data reported by carriers and provides a better look into how consumers are actually experiencing networks for more informed grant proposals and connectivity investment strategies.
Add administrative boundaries or other geographic areas to your map views such as counties, states/provinces, nations, and U.S. census tracts to get a better understanding of connectivity trends in the areas that matter most to you. View Fixed Download Speed layered with U.S. Census Tracts in the image below to identify census tracts that can be prioritized for broadband improvements.
Comprehensive performance and signal information within key geographic areas helps you monitor connectivity over time and ensure compliance with regulatory standards. With a wide range of customizable views, helpful features, and an easy-to-use interface, Speedtest Insights can help solve all of your connectivity challenges.
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.
T-Mobile is the fastest of the big four carriers in the U.S. and Sprint is the slowest.
Existing Sprint customers would definitely benefit from T-Mobile’s recent infrastructure investments. Over the past six months, T-Mobile has been aggressively deploying LTE on their 600 MHz greenfield spectrum assets, which already cover more than 300,000 square miles, using 5G ready infrastructure equipment. These assets will be fully 5G operational once the vendors push over-the-air software upgrades, likely to happen sometime before the end of this year.
The 5 GHz License-Assisted Access (LAA) has already been deployed in a few urban areas, adding 60 MHz of downlink capacity to the existing network. This effectively provides up to 1 Gbps peak download speeds. T-Mobile spectrum assets also include 200 MHz of millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum across 100 million people, which is readily available for 5G deployment mainly in urban areas where the network traffic is the highest. These mmWave spectrum assets alone could provide speeds of about 1 Gbps. The nature of the non-standalone (NSA) 5G, which we will be seeing next year, is to operate on top of the existing LTE network which significantly improves the overall user experience.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the merger, at least from the technological side, is the integration of Sprint’s 2.5 GHz 5G-ready spectrum into the existing T-Mobile core. This integration offers up to 100 MHz of greenfield 5G spectrum in addition to 60 MHz of already deployed LTE capacity. Unlike the 28 GHz and 39 GHz mmWave spectrum, 2.5 GHz is more suited for wider area coverage and will offer higher spectral efficiency by the way of Higher Order MIMO (4×4 MIMO) and Higher Order Modulation (256 QAM).
Some capacity-enabling technologies like Massive-MIMO and FD-MIMO (Full Dimension MIMO) are already being deployed by both operators, adding 32, 64, and even 128 antenna elements to the cell sites. This will not only support the upcoming 5G, but will have the immediate benefits in terms of speeds for users equipped with LTE terminals.
Mergers aren’t about taking the average of carriers’ speeds, though. They are about how networks improve when the assets of both companies are combined. In the case of a merger between Sprint and T-Mobile, spectrum holdings will play a huge role.
The difference spectrum makes
Spectrum is the range of radio frequencies used to transmit voice and data. Different carriers hold and operate on different parts of the spectrum. Sprint holds a massive 150 MHz of nationwide 2.5 GHz spectrum, which uniquely positions them to provide an outstanding consumer experience. To date, most of that spectrum has been underutilized due to lack of funding, changes in leadership and unorthodox deployment strategies. Only 20-60 MHz of Sprint’s 2.5 GHz spectrum has thus far been deployed for commercial use, with some additional spectrum used for wireless backhaul. Sprint also holds about 37 MHz of mid-band spectrum, which is then shared between the legacy 3G and LTE technologies, and about 12 MHz of low-band spectrum.
And while the high-band (2.5 GHz) spectrum is excellent for providing incremental capacity, due to its signal properties it can’t propagate very far or penetrate concrete structures very well. This is why Sprint subscribers often end up falling back to Sprint’s limited mid- or low-band LTE network layer, which can translate to slower speeds and increased load times. T-Mobile’s cell site density and excellent mid-band spectrum could come in very handy to radically improve Sprint customers’ experience in a post-merger world.
On the other hand, a tightly-spaced cellular grid is T-Mobile’s strong point. This grid is optimized for 70 MHz of T-Mobile’s mid-band spectrum and delivers wideband LTE experience using both the 2100 MHz Advanced Wireless Spectrum (AWS) and 1900 MHz Personal Communications Service (PCS) layers. Combining what’s already the fastest LTE network in the U.S. with the massive 2.5 GHz spectrum assets on a dense network grid could potentially deliver exceptional network performance. This is because fewer users are served by any individual cell which increases network resources, improving speeds and overall user experience.
Both Sprint and T-Mobile operate in the 1900 MHz PCS frequency band, and in many markets the carriers could combine the existing holdings into a wider contiguous spectrum allocation which will further improve user experience.
How spectrum integration might play out
The obvious benefits to the merger would be the synergies. Mostly network-driven, these would include decommissioning redundant Sprint macro sites and reducing the operating expenditure of the combined company. The remaining portion of Sprint’s cell sites would fortify the existing T-Mobile footprint, adding incremental network capacity. Timing is essential, though. Over the last six months, Sprint has commited to $6B in network investments and may have signed contracts with tower companies and backhaul suppliers. The execution of this investment is still in the early stage, but once it’s had an opportunity to ramp up some of the synergies will dissipate.
T-Mobile is well known for its network efficiencies. They run a lean LTE network with a strong focus on extracting the highest possible spectral efficiency out of the existing spectrum assets, and also spearhead efforts in commercializing the latest advanced LTE features.
T-Mobile’s previous experience with absorbing a CDMA operator (Metro PCS) could offer insight into how spectrum and resource sharing would be affected by a merger. In that case, T-Mobile successfully migrated the Metro PCS customer base onto its advanced network core in record time, repurposing the spectrum shortly after sunsetting the CDMA network. This type of approach offers additional cost efficiencies, as Sprint’s older CDMA infrastructure can be removed, and redundant cell sites decommissioned.
Another potentially positive outcome to a merger comes with the upcoming 5G standardization. T-Mobile could utilize Sprint’s rather limited low-band spectrum to provide a dedicated narrowband IoT channel.
Coverage
What about coverage? Maps of Speedtest results from the U.S. Market Report showed a larger footprint of results on T-Mobile.
The combined entity would potentially number over 130 million subscribers, which would be comparable in size to both Verizon and AT&T. Overlaying the Speedtest coverage maps, we see that although the strengths of both networks are in urban centers, there are some areas where we see Speedtest results on Sprint but not T-Mobile. This includes much of central West Virginia. Sprint also sees more tests in more rural parts of southwestern Oregon, southwestern Colorado (near Montrose), the Texas panhandle, eastern Nebraska, and much of Wisconsin.
T-Mobile shows results in the following areas where Sprint results are sparse: southwestern Montana, northern Nevada, southern Wyoming, northeastern Arizona, across North and South Dakota, northern Minnesota, throughout rural New Mexico and in the more suburban areas near the Alabama/Tennessee border.
Presumably, customers in areas that have only had access to one network would see the biggest benefit from a merger.
Good news or bad?
A combined Sprint and T-Mobile could make for one powerhouse of a carrier with the customer base and clout of Verizon and AT&T. Not only would Sprint’s 2.5 GHz spectrum portfolio be a major asset to the combined entity, a merger between the two would also expand their geographical footprint and improve the cell site density in many markets which will be the key for the upcoming high band 5G deployment.
That said, there are a lot of unknowns. These things take time and it could take years for consumers to benefit from the combined spectrum efficiencies. From an operational point of view, mergers of this size typically shed a lot of jobs. Reducing the number of major carriers in the U.S. from four to three will change the competitive landscape in a way that could increase prices. We also do not yet know how such a merger would impact speeds, but we’ll share data on that here when we do.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article appeared on this blog on September 27, 2017.
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.
