Tag: Global Speeds

Ookla Research™ Articles
| December 18, 2022

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

Global Speeds


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

5G speeds were stable at the global level

Graphic of 5G median speed performance worldwide.

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

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

Chart of fastest countries for median 5G download speed

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

Satellite became more accessible but performance slowed

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

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

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

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

5G Availability points to on-going challenges

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

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

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

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

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

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

Where 5G continues to fail to reach

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

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

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

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

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

Global Speeds

About the Author

Isla McKetta

Ookla Research™ Articles
| December 15, 2022

How Digicel Samoa Attracted 20% More Subscribers with Brand Campaigns Backed by Ookla® [Case Study]

Global Speeds

Digicel provides telecommunications services to the island of Samoa, where there are just over 200,000 residents and two leading mobile operators. In a winner-takes-all market, it’s vital to capture the trust and loyalty of your subscribers. When the competing operator started offering less expensive plan options, Digicel needed to retain subscribers by showcasing their superior network performance to both existing and prospective customers. 

As part of their mission to be the very best in delivering digital services, experiences, and connectivity, Digicel has been continuously improving their network performance. As a result of these efforts they were awarded the Speedtest Award™ for Fastest Mobile Network Operator during Q1–Q2 2022. Digicel licensed this Speedtest Award for use in their brand campaigns to help promote their superior network and build consumer trust.

Situation

For an operator to win consumer trust, it’s important to be able to back claims about your network with verified third-party data. Digicel wanted Samoan consumers to know they could expect the best performance on their network — and for their brand and marketing campaigns to be verified by a source that consumers recognize and trust. Digicel leveraged independent, verified third-party data from Ookla® to back their claims and inform customers they have the fastest network in the market — and to attract subscribers from their rival operator.

Read the full case study here.

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

Global Speeds

About the Author

Ookla

Ookla Research™ Articles
| November 30, 2022

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

Global Speeds

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

Key Takeaways

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

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

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

Chart of 5G performance and availability across southern Europe

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

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

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

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

Regulatory incentives propel the move to fiber

Chart of fixed performance and FTTH/B subscription percentage of households across southern Europe

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

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

The power of data in understanding a digital divide 

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

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

Map of mobile performance, coverage, and signal measurement near Novi Sad, Serbia – Ookla Cell Analytics

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

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

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

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

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

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

Global Speeds
Europe

About the Author

Sylwia Kechiche

Ookla Research™ Articles
| September 26, 2022

How TRC Jordan Ensures Reliable, Resilient Connectivity with Ookla Data [Case Study]

Global Speeds

Jordan’s telecommunications regulatory authority, the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC), is responsible for monitoring quality of service standards and holding operators accountable for providing services, ensuring sustainable growth in the telecoms sector. When Jordan went into a nationwide lockdown in 2020, daily data traffic increased 31% as distance learning and teleworking took over. To ensure both connectivity and economic growth during this time, it was key to maintain the resilience of Jordan’s networks. 

TRC uses Ookla data to monitor daily mobile network traffic, understand fixed internet availability, assess operator performance, ensure compliance, remotely monitor coverage and quality issues, and plan for the national rollout of 5G in Jordan.

Situation

As an early adopter of crowdsourced network intelligence, TRC Jordan helped inform the ITU-T efforts to standardize crowdsourcing, Recommendations ITU SG12 E.806 and ITU SG12 E.812. The emergence of the pandemic in 2020 only increased the need for crowdsourced data, as work became remote and it was no longer safe to send network testers into the field. In order to maintain network resilience and service continuity, TRC needed to remotely monitor performance and operator compliance with universal service commitments and national roaming migration agreements — as well as remotely handle consumer complaints about network coverage or quality.

Read the full case study here.

If you’re a regulator in the region, come say hi to us at GITEX (booth Z3-B40) October 10 – 14 to learn more about how you can use crowdsourced data to improve connectivity in your nation. Ookla will also be participating in an ITU Workshop in Jordan on “Telecommunication Service Quality” October 17 — 18.

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

Global Speeds

About the Author

Ookla

Ookla Research™ Articles
| September 19, 2022

MTN Performed Best Among Operator Groups in Sub-Saharan Africa

Global Speeds

This article explores mobile performance in select countries across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We examine how four operator groups – Airtel, Orange, MTN, and Vodacom – mobile performance compared against each other during Q2 2022 across ten countries. In our previous analysis of the state of the 5G networks South Africa Spearheads 5G in Africa, but the Road is Long and Windy for Others we analyzed mobile performance on modern chipsets during 2021 (full year) across the African continent. We concluded that these are still early days for 5G across the region as challenges remain around affordability and infrastructure. In this article we focus our analysis on these four operator groups which command the majority (62%) of the SSA subscriptions. We also compare mobile performance on modern chipsets across ten countries. Those ten countries account for 59% of the region’s connections, including:

  • East Africa: Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda; 
  • Southern Africa: Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, and Botswana; 
  • West Africa: Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, and Nigeria.

Key messages:

  • Speedtest Intelligence® data shows that MTN South Africa delivered the fastest median download speeds across analyzed operators, at 65.95 Mbps in Q2 2022. However, Vodacom in Johannesburg was the fastest operator considering speeds across top cities, reaching 81.36 Mbps median download speed in Q2 2022. In South Africa, MTN outperformed Vodacom in terms of median mobile speeds during Q2 2022. 
  • Comparing Airtel and MTN performance across the three countries they operate in, Airtel took the top spot in Nigeria, both in terms of median download and upload speed in Q2 2022, while in Uganda and Rwanda there were no winners. Such was the case in Botswana too, where there was no winner between Mascom and Orange.
  • In Côte d’Ivoire, MTN took the market lead versus Orange in Q2 2022, whereas in Guinea, the situation was reversed and Orange took the top spot. 
  • Vodacom subsidiary Safaricom won the accolade in Kenya vis a vis Airtel, in Tanzania there was no clear winner as Vodacom won the download speed and Airtel the upload. 
  • In the DRC, which is host to three of the operator groups, there was no winner overall, although Orange was the top player in terms of download speeds.
  • During Q2 2022, South African network performance has been affected by load shedding, which resulted in consumer reporting not having signal and access to mobile internet according to Downdetector®. 

MTN South Africa delivered the fastest median download speed in Q2 2022

Chart of mobile performance among operators across African markets

Using Speedtest Intelligence® data we compared mobile performance in Q2 2022 on modern chipsets across 21 operators. Our results show that median download speeds ranged between 2.89 Mbps (MTN Guinea) and 65.95 Mbps (MTN South Africa). Median upload speeds varied between 1.55 Mbps (MTN Guinea) and 14.84 Mbps (Airtel Uganda).

We can clearly see the impact that 5G has on overall performance as South African operators came first thanks to having 5G networks in place. MTN South Africa was well ahead of the rest of operators, despite facing challenges with load shedding, with median download speed of 65.95 Mbps, followed by Vodacom South Africa with a median download speed of 48.70 Mbps. If we take 5G out of the equation, Safaricom Kenya was the fastest operator among the analyzed operators. 

Vodafone in Johannesburg stole the show

When it comes to mobile speeds in capital cities, it is not surprising that cities that have 5G networks came top of the list. As such, Johannesburg led the pack, with a median download speed of 66.54 Mbps, ahead of Cape Town at 49.22 Mbps. Vodacom got ahead of MTN in Johannesburg and was the fastest operator across 12 cities we analyzed, with a median download speed of 81.36 Mbps in Q2 2022 compared to 73.83 Mbps in Q1 2022. MTN was faster in Cape Town. Taking 5G out of the equation, Orange in Gaborone, the capital city of Botswana, achieved median download speeds of 39.46 Mbps.

Chart of median download speeds of African cities by operator

MTN got ahead of Orange, Airtel, and Vodacom 

Using Speedtest Intelligence data for Q2 2022, we compared mobile performance on modern chipsets and 4G Availability in the countries where Airtel, Orange, Vodacom, and MTN operate.

MTN outperformed Orange in Côte d’Ivoire and Vodacom in South Africa, both in terms of median download and upload speeds. While MTN had better download speed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Rwanda MTN performed better than Airtel with regards to median download speed. Orange took the top spot in Guinea, Airtel in Nigeria, and Safaricom in Kenya. In the rest of the countries, the difference in mobile performance was either not statistically significant or there was not a single operator that delivered better performance across both upstream and downstream.

Map of mobile performance among Airtel, MTN, Orange, and Vodacom across Africa

We have included a more detailed analysis below.

Airtel versus MTN

Chart of Airtel and MTN mobile performance and 4G availability in Nigeria, Rwanda, and Uganda

Nigeria: Airtel took the top spot in terms of speed, MTN had better 4G Availability.

  • As of Q2 2022, MTN Nigeria commanded 38.9% of Nigeria’s mobile users, with its 74.1 million subscribers almost double that of Airtel’s 46.0 million. 
  • Yet when it comes to mobile performance, Airtel Nigeria was ahead of MTN; in Q2 2022, Airtel Nigeria recorded a median download speed of 30.35 Mbps and a median upload speed of 10.28 Mbps, both of which topped those of MTN (26.30 Mbps download and 9.13 Mbps upload). 
  • Those speeds are set to increase as both companies have invested heavily into network infrastructure, with a combined investment of N208.5 billion ($502 million). The investment translates into an increase in 4G Availability as well. In Q2 2022, MTN had 83.8% 4G Availability compared to Airtel’s 77.9%. 

Uganda: MTN ahead in download speed, Airtel had better upload.

  • MTN’s 53.9% market share in Uganda translates to 16.3 million subscribers as of Q2 2022. Meanwhile, Airtel Uganda had a 45.1% market share (13.6 million). 
  • In Q2 2022, MTN Uganda was ahead of Airtel in terms of median download speeds, while Airtel had at least a 33% better median upload speed. 
  • In its recent annual report, Airtel announced that its 4G network was available to 90% of the population of Uganda, effectively providing coverage to the entire country. To aid its capacity, Airtel Uganda is also rolling out fiber, which helps to boost data throughput. For example, in the capital – Kampala – 79% of sites are connected through fiber. In terms of 4G Availability, MTN and Airtel came closely together at  83.1% and 80.7%, respectively.

Rwanda: MTN took the top spot for median download and 4G Availability 

  • MTN Rwanda increased its customer base by 1.7% year-on-year (YoY) to 6.6 million as of Q2 2022, expanding its lead in customer market share by 2.7 pp to 65.6%, Airtel controlled the remainder of the market. 
  • MTN Rwanda performed better than Airtel when it comes to median download speed: MTN had a 33% better median download speed.
  • MTN Rwanda also had the best 4G Availability order to further increase smartphone penetration in the market and stimulate demand for data services, in June 2022, MTN Rwanda and Bank of Kigali (BK Group) signed an agreement to introduce device financing. This program will enable customers to spread over the cost of smartphones over an extended period of time.

MTN versus Orange

Chart comparing 4G availability in Botswana, Cote d'Ivoire, and Guinea

Botswana: Mascom and Orange performed similarly. 

  • Mascom (MTN) is the largest operator in Botswana, with 1.8 million subscribers in Q2 2022 and a 42.2% market share. Orange is the second largest operator, ending Q2 2022 with 1.7 million subscribers and 41.2% market share.
  • Comparing the operators’ performance, the difference in terms of both median download and upload speeds as well as 4G Availability was not statistically significant and there is no winner.  

Côte d’Ivoire: MTN stole the show in terms of performance. 

  • MTN had 38.9% subscriber market share in Côte d’Ivoire as of Q2 2022, which equates to 15.8 million subscribers, Orange ended Q2 2022 with 14.6 million subscribers (36.0% market share). 
  • MTN had faster median download and upload speeds compared to that of Orange, and the gap might widen even more going forward. In December 2021, MTN Côte d’Ivoire started 5G trials at nine locations in Abidjan. This was followed by the Ivoirian government adopting a roadmap for the launch of 5G technology in February this year, with 5G networks expected to go live by 2023. 

Guinea: Orange commands the Guinean market. 

  • Market leader, Orange, which switched on its 4G network in 2019, accounted for 60% of mobile connections in Q2 2022 in Guinea, ahead of MTN (30.8%). According to telecom regulator ARPT, in Q4 2021, Orange held a 69.9% market share of mobile Internet traffic, while MTN held 26.9%. 
  • Orange was far ahead in terms of performance during Q2 2022. Part of the reason being that Orange is currently the sole provider of 4G services in the country, with MTN awarded a 4G operating license in February 2022 but it has not launched the services yet.

Vodacom versus Airtel

Chart of Vodacom and Airtel mobile performance and 4G availability in Kenya and Tanzania

Kenya: Safaricom won across all metrics. 

  • Safaricom is the largest operator in Kenya by a mile, with 67.1% market share (equivalent to 42.7 million connections) ahead of Airtel 25.9% (16.4 million).
  • Safaricom also exhibited better network performance during Q2 2022, with a median download speed of 36.25 Mbps and upload of 13.83 Mbps, compared to Airtel (28.58 Mbps download speed and 8.44 Mbps upload). 
  • Safaricom has signed a multi-year contract with satellite provider Intelsat to modernize its network and expand LTE coverage. Safricom is focusing more on 4G rather than pursuing 5G as the cost of 5G handsets is prohibitive and slowing down its 5G expansion. In a bid to increase smartphone usage on its network, Safaricom partnered with Google to allow its customers to pay for 4G-enabled phones in installments. Customers pay as little as KES 20 ($0.34) per day over a nine-month period. The operator’s ultimate target is to upgrade about four million 2G and 3G phones to 4G. Safaricom had also partnered with Vivo to sell 4G phones. 
  • Meanwhile, Safaricom’s top competitor in Kenya, Airtel Kenya, paid $5 million as part of an agreement with the regulator to acquire and operate spectrum from 2015 through 2025. The operator has a remaining balance of $10 million to settle over the next three years, with a cumulative payout of $20 million. 

Tanzania: Vodacom did better on download speeds. 

  • Tanzania’s mobile market is served by seven mobile operators, making it one of the most competitive markets in Sub-Saharan Africa. Vodacom ended June 2022 with 15.6 million subscribers, which translated into a 28.8% market share, GSMA Intelligence estimates that Airtel held a 27.4% market share in Q2 2022, equivalent to 14.8 million subscriptions.  
  • Vodacom’s median download speeds were ahead of Airtel’s  – 17.08 Mbps versus 12.89 Mbps. Vodacom’s 4G Availability also topped Airtel’s at 87.1%, compared to 77.7%. To further increase its network reach, in May 2022, Vodacom Tanzania signed a deal with the National ICT Broadband Backbone (NICTBB), a national fiber optic cable network. This will allow Vodacom to increase rural connectivity after an initial investment of €5.82 million ($6.22 million) in October 2021. Furthermore, in September 2022, Vodacom launched 5G mobile service in Dar es Salaam with a target to expand to approximately 230 locations in other cities. In time, as more users migrate to 5G smartphones and tariffs this will lead to Vodacom improving its speeds further. 

Orange versus Vodacom versus Airtel

Chart of Vodacom, Orange, and Airtel mobile performance and 4G availability in Democratic Republic of Congo

Democratic Republic of Congo: Orange was the top player in terms of download speeds. 

  • The Democratic Republic of Congo is the third largest country by population across the SSA and largest by area. It hosts seven mobile operators, including three of the four groups we analyze — Vodacom, MTN, Orange, and Airtel. 
  • In Q2 2022, Vodacom was the largest operator by number of connections with market share of 35.3% and 16.0 million connections, followed by Airtel (12.8 million) and Orange (12.2 million). 
  • Comparing operators’ mobile performance, Orange led in terms of median download speed (29.18  Mbps), ahead of Airtel (11.15 Mbps) and Vodacom (8.00 Mbps). Operators came head to head with regards to 4G Availability. 

MTN versus Vodacom

Chart of MTN and Vodacom performance and 4G availability in South Africa

South Africa: MTN outperformed Vodacom in terms of mobile speeds. 

  • Vodacom ended June 2022 with 45.1 million subscriptions equivalent to a 41% market share. MTN is the second largest player with 35.3 million connections, and had a net addition of almost 837,000 in the quarter. MTN noted in their results that: “The overall growth in the base was particularly encouraging given the significant ramp-up in load shedding, which impacts systems and typically constrains new customer acquisitions.” 
  • The South African market might see a consolidation if the proposed acquisition of Telkom by MTN gets the green light. This will change the market dynamics as MTN will become the number one player by number of connections.
  • In terms of mobile performance, MTN had better median download and upload speeds, while Vodacom led on 4G Availability. We have commented on the state of the 5G market in South Africa in our recent article. 

Mobile networks don’t exist in a vacuum 

It is important to note that mobile performance is impacted by a number of factors, including underlying infrastructure such as access to fiber backhaul and reliable power supply, spectrum availability as well as end-user devices to name a few. Case in point is the fact that, despite being the regional leaders when it comes to mobile performance, South African operators faced issues related to infrastructure reliability and availability over the past three months. Operating conditions in South Africa were affected by increased incidents of rolling power outages (load shedding) and there are no signs of respite. 

We have seen these outages reflected in Downdetector® data, which is the world’s most popular platform for user-reported service status information. During Q2 2022 users reported 46,810 incidents for Vodacom and 34,882 problems for MTN. There were two top issues reported: no signal and no mobile internet: lack of signal accounted for the majority (46%) of Vodacom’s reported outages, followed by inability to access mobile internet (36%). This has been reversed for MTN — majority of issues were related to mobile internet (43%), followed by no signal (40%). Noteworthy is the fact that there were reports of total blackouts: 7% for Vodacom and 5% for MTN.  

Chart of top indicators percent distribution for Vodacom and MTN in South Africa

Vodacom commented in its results call for the quarter ended on June 30, 2022 that they already spent ZAR 1.7 billion ($99.9 million) on batteries and generators to offset the impact of load shedding with further ZAR 500 million ($29.4 million) allocated to battery purchases. Vodacom also continues to optimize site utilization by using IoT.nxt technology to reduce the amount of energy consumption per site but also piloting wind power and solar projects. While its competitor, MTN, stated in its interim results report that it “rolled out a  comprehensive network resilience plan including additional batteries, generators and enhanced security features.” 

We will continue to monitor mobile networks performance across Africa, looking at how various factors affect it. If you are interested in benchmarking your performance or if you’d like to learn more about internet speeds and performance in other markets around the world visit the Speedtest Global Index™.

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

Global Speeds
Network Performance

About the Author

Sylwia Kechiche

Ookla Research™ Articles
| June 15, 2022

Malaysian 5G is Still Up in the Air as 4G Becomes Ubiquitous

Global Speeds

The fact that Malaysian consumers are still waiting for nationwide 5G hasn’t stopped mobile providers from implementing other network improvements to provide better performance in the interim. This article explores how Malaysia compares to other major markets in Southeast Asia for mobile network performance and availability. We also analyze the current state of Malaysia’s mobile market. This includes 4G speeds and 4G Availability, insights into regional coverage, and what 5G looks like across the regions during the initial roll out phase in Malaysia.

Key takeaways 

  • When comparing 4G performance across select South Eastern Asian markets, in terms of median 4G download speeds, Singapore comes first at 44.11 Mbps, ahead of Vietnam (34.89 Mbps) in Q1 2022. For upload speeds, the ranking is reversed for the top two: Vietnam is top with 17.49 Mbps, followed by Singapore at 11.62 Mbps.
  • 4G Availability across the seven Southeast Asian countries is above 80%. Singapore leads, achieving 94.5% 4G Availability in Q1 2022, followed by Malaysia (92.3%).
  • Across Malaysia, 4G Availability increased from 86.7% in Q1 2021 to 92.3% in Q1 2022. This is predominantly driven by two factors: increased availability of networks and devices.
  • In Malaysia, Digi had the fastest 4G download speeds; Maxis won on upload.
  • Putrajaya had the highest 4G Availability across the regions with 96.4% of tested locations showing access to 4G during Q1 2022.
  • The 5G rollout in Malaysia is still facing challenges. The 5G wholesale network is not yet fully commercialized and there are ongoing discussions around operators joining in. 

Fastest 4G speeds were in Singapore, while the fastest LTE upload speeds were in Vietnam

Using Speedtest Intelligence® data, we compared Malaysia’s 4G performance against that of its regional peers in Q1 2022. Singapore came first with 44.11 Mbps median 4G download speed ahead of Vietnam (34.89 Mbps), followed by Thailand (24.86 Mbps) and Malaysia (22.41 Mbps). Across Indonesia, the Philippines, and Cambodia, the 4G median speeds were well under 20 Mbps. 

Vietnam performed well in the 4G download speeds ranking and it also had the highest median upload speed across the seven Southeast Asian countries surveyed – 17.49 Mbps, ahead of Singapore, which trailed at 11.62 Mbps.

It is also worth noting that the Vietnamese government promotes smartphone use. In July 2021, a telecom law, Circular 43, came into effect, which states that devices either imported to or made in Vietnam must support 4G technology. This stimulated customer migration to 4G technology. Furthermore, in December 2021, the Ministry of Information and Communication proposed that Vietnam stop using 2G and 3G technologies from 2022 in a bid to propel digital transformation. The government has made provisions in a draft public utility telecommunication program in 2021–2025 to support  “poor and near-poor households” and give them access to 2.1 million smartphones. 

Other countries in the region, e.g. Malaysia and Indonesia, look to migrate users away from 3G too, and put in place initiatives to support that. For example, Malaysian government and operators introduced initiatives to help Malaysians, especially those in the B40 category (lower-income group, with a monthly household gross income of RM 1/$0.23–RM 4,850/ $1107 representing 40% of Malaysians) to get internet access and portable and affordable 4G-capable smart devices. These include Pakej Remaja Keluarga Malaysia and Pakej Peranti Keluarga Malaysia launched in October 2021, and the Pakej Perantisiswa Keluarga Malaysia, which is part of Budget 2022.

4G Availability above 80% across Southeast Asia

When it comes to 4G Availability — the proportion of users who spend the majority of their time on 4G technology — all countries surveyed were above the 80% mark in Q1 2022. Singapore lead, achieving 94.5% 4G Availability in Q1 2022. This isn’t surprising since as a condition of the 4G spectrum allocation, mobile operators were required to provide nationwide 4G outdoor service coverage by end of June 2016, and within road and Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) tunnels by June 30, 2018. 

Malaysia ranked well too, propelled by government initiatives. As part of the12th Malaysia Plan (2021–2025), the government is implementing the Jalinan Digital Negara (Jendela) initiative, which aims to address the need and demand for better quality fixed and mobile broadband coverage. The objectives of the first phase are to increase 4G coverage from 91.8% to 96.9% by the end of 2022, mobile broadband speeds from a mean download speed of 25 Mbps to 35 Mbps, and switch-off 3G networks by the end of 2021. The next Phase, Phase 2 (initially planned for 2023–2025 but already kicked off with a roll out of 5G in Q4 2021) focuses on deploying 5G network services to boost digital connectivity nationwide. 

4G Availability in Malaysia heading toward 100%

When comparing 4G Availability across operators in Malaysia, the differences are minor. At a country level, the average 4G Availability increased from 86.7% in Q1 2021 to 92.3% in Q1 2022. This was predominantly driven by two factors: increased availability of networks and devices.

Operators across Malaysia continue to roll out 4G to adhere to Jendela roll out targets. According to Jendela’s Q1 2022 report, the four main mobile broadband service providers have collectively achieved their Q1 2022 target by building 60 new 4G towers. Celcom beat targets by 25%, while Digi met 94% of its target as it encountered permit approval issues with the Sabah Local Council. 4G population coverage was also on track, increasing to 95.5% in Q1 2022, and is on a good path to achieve its 96.9% populated area coverage target by the end 2022.

In addition to setting up targets related to 4G network deployments to free up more spectrum for 4G, the Malaysian government expected to retire 3G spectrum at the end of 2021 but is yet to be completed. According to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), 20% of 3G sites still remained operational at the deadline. Flooding and the monsoon season are cited as the reasons for the delay in retiring 3G sites. Almost all 3G carriers will have completed shutdown by Q2 2022, except a few sites located in remote areas, which are set to be shut down in December 2022. 

In terms of end user migration, 86.6% of 3G customers in Malaysia have already moved to 4G while the rest do “not see the need for the switch over.” The remaining users will be able to use their existing devices even after the network shutdown, but they will be connected to 2G, which will only serve their basic connectivity needs (SMS and voice calls). The operators’ support for customer migration away from 3G devices includes promotional offers on 4G-enabled devices and subscription plans. For instance, Maxis launched campaigns like “Zerolution” device plan and “Balas Budi dengan 4G” campaign to encourage 4G users to help their families and friends upgrade. Digi, on the other hand, initiated a nationwide campaign (#BuatLebihL4Gi) to drive awareness for customers to adopt 4G, coupled with affordable device plans to drive greater adoption. U Mobile encourages its customers to upgrade by offering an upgrade for as little as 99sen ($0.23). 

Digi has the fastest 4G download speeds; Maxis wins on upload

We compared 4G performance in Q1 2022 across Malaysian operators using Speedtest Intelligence. Digi came first with a 28.08 Mbps median download speed. The operator reported that most of its MYR 815 million (US$185.42 million) capital expenditure in 2021 was spent to improve its 4G network to respond to increased data consumption (more than 20GB per user, up 8.9% versus 2020) and deliver on the Jendela commitments. U Mobile and Celcom were head to head in terms of median 4G download speeds at 20.09 Mbps and 20.02 Mbps, respectively. 

The largest operator by number of subscribers — Maxis — came first when it comes to upload speeds, with a median upload speed of 10.59 Mbps, a 12% year-over-year increase. The operator invested MYR 1.2 billion ($273 million) in capex in 2021, with MYR 597 million ($136 million) in Q4 2021 alone, the highest in a single quarter. 

Putrajaya leads 4G Availability performance for Malaysia’s regions

We explored 4G Availability in Malaysia’s 13 states and 3 federal territories using Speedtest data from Q1 2022. It is important to note that 4G Availability is not a direct reflection of 4G coverage. Instead, this is a reflection of the network technology, e.g. 4G users spend the majority of their time connected to. Putrajaya had the highest 4G Availability with 96.4% of tested locations showing access to 4G during Q1 2022, while the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur had the lowest 4G Availability at 87.2%. Kelantan, Terengganu, and Pahang witnessed over 10% increases in 4G Availability between Q1 2021 and Q1 2022. Looking at the operators’ 4G Availability during Q1 2022 across different geographic areas, 4G Availability didn’t statistically differ in most cases. However, there were a few exceptions: Maxis won in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Pahang and Selangor, while U Mobile had the highest availability in Johor. Maxis has also committed to expanding its coverage in Sabah and Sarawak as stated by the Chief Network Officer.   

4G performs well across all of Malaysia’s regions

Not only did availability improve across these regions, but speeds also increased. However there was no statistical winner in Q1 2022 for the fastest median 4G download and upload speeds across the provinces. 

According to the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia (K-KOMM), Selangor has been a priority market in terms of funding; it received a high allocation of MYR 5.34 billion to upgrade telecommunications infrastructure. So far 313 new towers have been built and 7,197 transmitter stations upgraded to 4G already with 652 in progress. 

Singapore led Southeast Asia on 5G speeds

While median 5G download speed was 246.01 Mbps in Q1 2022, this differed by operator with Singtel being the clear winner as it recorded 360.31 Mbps median download speed in Q1 2022. Singapore’s 5G story began in 2020 when two wholesale networks launched — Singtel and Antina (Starhub-M1 consortium). IMDA, Singapore’s telecom regulator, aims for 50% 5G coverage of Singapore by 2022 and nationwide 5G coverage by 2025. Singtel recently announced the first rollout for an MRT line, while its 5G indoor coverage is spread over 300 locations across the island, including all malls along the NEL, bringing indoor/outdoor coverage to 75% of Singapore. Singtel is also busy rolling out 5G Standalone (SA) in partnership with Ericsson running on 3.5 GHz spectrum. The other operators — StarHub and M1 — are also “on track” to roll out 5G services to MRT tunnels in the next few months and reach “nationwide outdoor 5G coverage” in 2022. In March 2022, StarHub reported its 5G network had more than 75% of outdoor coverage, with M1 claiming the same. In November 2021, Singaporean operators also received additional spectrum in the 2100 MHz band, in addition to the first tranche of 3.5 GHz spectrum issued in June 2020 for the deployment of 5G nationwide networks. 

Cambodia’s 5G is expected in 2023; currently, there is no spectrum availability. In Vietnam, 5G was launched in 2020 but using spectrum assigned on a trial basis, and is not commercially available as of yet. With long-term spectrum availability still unclear, Vietnam is missing from the 5G ranking. Malaysia’s wholesale network is not yet fully commercialized, 5G is available in selected areas of Malaysia, so we excluded it from the ranking. Only two operators — Yes and Unifi Mobile — signed up for the free trial on the network when it was launched in December 2021. The network is expected to be fully commercialized in July 2022 by all Malaysian operators. 

Thailand came first for 5G Availability in Southeast Asia

Speedtest Intelligence data put Thailand first in terms of 5G Availability (the proportion of users on 5G-capable devices who spend a majority of their time on 5G networks) among its regional peers. Thailand was one of the first markets to launch 5G in the Asia Pacific region, with AIS and TrueMove H both launching commercial 5G services inQ1 2020, shortly after the conclusion of the country’s 5G auction. AIS performed well when it comes to median 5G download speeds (261.19 Mbps download speed/40.57 Mbps upload speed) and it was the fastest operator in Thailand in Q1 2022. In our recent article, we concluded that the country’s regulator, The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), has been instrumental in establishing Thailand as a leading 5G market in the region. In February 2020, NBTC assigned spectrum for 5G use across low- (700 MHz), mid- (2,600 MHz), and high- (26 GHz) frequency bands. It also plans a further auction of mid-band spectrum in 2022 in the 3.5 GHz band, which was vacated in September 2021 by Thaicom, a satellite provider.

In Indonesia, operators launched 5G in select cities in June 2021, which explains the very low 5G Availability in Q1 2022 at 0.37%. 

Greater 5G Availability on the Malaysian horizon

The 5G situation in Malaysia is rather unique and requires a bit of an explanation. In February 2021, the Malaysian Ministry of Finance announced during the launch of the Prime Minister’s Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint (MyDIGITAL) that a government-owned Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) would be responsible for rolling out a nationwide single wholesale network (SWN) to deliver 5G. This led to the establishment of Digital National Berhad (DNB), responsible for the 5G network rollout and providing wholesale services to operators on an open, fair, and non-discriminatory basis over the next 10 years. 

The DNB has been assigned spectrum in the 700 MHz, 3.5 GHz, and 26-28 GHz bands. Currently, the 5G network has been deployed utilizing 3.5 GHz spectrum across selected areas of Putrajaya, Cyberjaya, Johor and Selangor and Kuala Lumpur. However, the DNB has aggressive timelines to reach 80% of populated areas by 2024, while the goal is to cover 40% of the population by the end of 2022. 

There are still a few pieces of the puzzle that need to fall into place before 5G can be widely available in Malaysia. First, in March 2022, the government upheld its position that the SWN will in fact be the model for the 5G network deployment. Despite backing an alternative — the Dual Wholesale Network (DWN) rather than SWN — the four leading telcos (Celcom Axiata, Digi, Maxis and U Mobile) have announced that they are supporting the government’s decision. On its part, the government offered up to 70% of DNB equity to operators, while it will retain a 30% stake. The four operators, although open to the proposal, would prefer to go through a merger and acquisition process. Only two local operators, Telekom Malaysia (TM) and YTL Communications, signed agreements to acquire an equity stake. The discussions are currently in place with a target date to be completed by the end of June 2022. 

On March 31 2022, DNB Reference Access Offer (RAO) was released. Despite hopes that the concerns raised by the operators regarding the RAO could be sorted within weeks, there are still ongoing discussions around RAO. In a joint statement, the operators stated that RAO will not enable affordable and good quality 5G services. 

The big four telecom operators are eager to provide commercial 5G services and test different 5G use cases. For instance, Maxis partnered with Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad and Proton for 5G services and solutions, as well as the deployment of 5G use cases. The operator also launched a 5G and AI innovation lab. 

We will continue to follow the Malaysian market to see how the 5G situation will unravel and how it affects their ranking among Southeast Asian countries. Once we know the outcome of the conversations regarding DNB we will be sure to comment on that. If you’d like to learn more about internet speeds and performance in other markets around the world, visit the Speedtest Global Index™.

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

Global Speeds

About the Author

Sylwia Kechiche

Ookla Research™ Articles
| May 23, 2022

5G in Central and Eastern Europe: Poland Still Waits for True 5G While Bulgaria Sprints Ahead

Global Speeds
Polski

Key takeaways

  • The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for digital transformation, part of the EU-level funding will be available to drive digital transformation. 
  • Spectrum auctions have been delayed across the region. While Slovenia and Croatia have already completed spectrum auctions across all of the 5G pioneer bands, Poland lacks clear timelines and risks being left behind.  
  • Bulgaria leads in 5G median download speeds and 5G Availability. Its capital, Sofia, takes the top spot across the capital cities when it comes to median 5G speed and 5G Availability.
  • Poland doesn’t fare well compared to other CEE countries. Poland came last in the median 5G download speeds ranking and its 5G speeds were just over double that of 4G. More importantly, though, it also seems that Polish end users don’t see the additional benefits 5G can bring, which depresses demand.
  • Plus has the fastest median 5G speeds while Play wins 5G Availability. Łódź has the fastest 5G network among major Polish cities.

The EU funds set to stimulate digital transformation

An unprecedented amount of funding available to European Union member states has been approved to mitigate the economic and social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The NextGenerationEU recovery fund totals €750 billion. The vast majority, €672.5 billion, is allocated to the Recovery and Resilience Plans (RRP), distributed between loans (€360 billion) and grants (€312.5 billion). All funds must be spent by 2026.

While not all these funds will drive investment into telecoms, some will have indirect impact such as green technology — see our thoughts on the discussions around Net Zero at MWC 2022. There are six pillars, one of which is digital transformation, which has over 20% of the national RRPs funding allocated. Digital transition projects include investment in R&D, deployment of new digital technologies including expansion of ultrafast broadband and 5G connectivity, and the digital transformation of the economy. The money is there for the taking, it is up to the countries to take advantage of it and funnel it into technology such as 5G to underpin economic growth. 

Mid-band is most assigned spectrum across Central and Eastern Europe

We have reflected on the progress across Europe in this article. Now, we turn our attention to Central Eastern European (CEE) countries. According to GSMA Intelligence data, the vast majority of operators across the eight CEE countries — 24 out of 31 — have already launched 5G services. 

As per the EC 2016 5G Action Plan, countries across the EU were meant to make low-band spectrum available for use by June 30, 2020, and mid- and high-band spectrums by December 31, 2020. At the EU level, there are three 5G pioneer bands as follows: 

  • Low-band: 700 MHz (703 – 733 MHz and 758 – 788 MHz)  
  • Mid-band: 3.6 GHz (3,400 – 3,800 MHz)  
  • High-band: 26 GHz (at least 1000 MHz within 24,250 – 27,500 MHz) 

The delays related to spectrum assignment range from the impact of COVID-19 on schedules to cross-border coordination with non-EU countries to weak demand from the operators’ side. However, most countries included in this analysis have already assigned at least one band for 5G, with a notable exception of Poland. 

Poland is yet to carry out a 5G spectrum auction — the planned sale of a C-band spectrum in Poland was postponed multiple times for various reasons. In March 2020, Poland announced the 3.6 GHz spectrum auction to be awarded by June 30, 2020. However, due to the pandemic, Polish authorities suspended all administrative proceedings, and the current holdup is due to legislative issues. 

Furthermore, Poland is also exploring a controversial law to establish a state-owned 5G network, which would be operated by a state run operator — Exatel — in the 700 MHz band. The 700 MHz band is problematic because it requires coordination across the eastern borders (Belarus, Russia and Ukraine), which will delay spectrum assignment. 

Slovenia and Croatia have forged ahead and become the only two countries that have already completed spectrum auctions across all of the 5G pioneer bands. In April 2021, Slovenia’s Agency for Communications Networks and Services (Akos) concluded the sale of frequencies in the 700 MHz, 1500 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 3500 MHz and 26 GHz bands. In August 2021, the Croatian Regulatory Agency (Hakom) auctioned frequencies in the 700 MHz, 3600 MHz and 26 GHz bands. Furthermore, Miran Gosta, director of Hakom, recently announced that a new auction is being prepared for the frequencies that are already in use and will expire in 2024 such as 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz and 2600 MHz bands. 

Bulgaria leads 5G speeds 

The important question is whether delays in spectrum assignments and supporting multiple network generations have affected the operators’ ability to deliver on 5G’s promise of faster speeds. According to Speedtest Intelligence®, the 5G median download speeds across the eight countries range from 73-407 Mbps. Bulgaria is the fastest at 406.97 Mbps, followed by Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, and Slovakia. Czechia and Poland are trailing behind, at 112.53 Mbps and 73.12 Mbps, respectively. 

Bulgarian operators took an active role in spearheading 5G development. In September 2020, Vivacom launched the first commercial 5G network via Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) in 1,800 MHz and 2,100 MHz, followed by A1 in Sofia using 3,600 MHz, and Telenor in early June 2021 in the biggest cities in Bulgaria in the 3,600 MHz band. 

In April 2021, Vivacom Bulgaria won 100 MHz in the 3.7-3.8 GHz band for BGN4.6 million (€2.35 million) but it had already launched the 5G network before with a temporary license in November 2020. András Pali, Vivacom CTO stated in an interview that the operator plans to invest €120 million in infrastructure in 2021. Vivacom utilizes DSS, combining frequencies in 1.8, 2.1 and 3.6 GHz bands for 5G, so there is no compromise between coverage and speed. A1 Bulgaria, on the other hand, uses a dedicated 100 MHz band. Between the commercial launch in April and October 2021, A1 Bulgaria has seen the number of active users rise by 448% and the traffic generated by them by 771%, in excess of 90 terabytes (TB) in October 2021. 

Furthermore, Bulgaria’s recovery and resilience plan assigned 26% of the €6.3 billion budget to digital transition. The plan includes measures to stimulate digital transformation, including significant investments and reforms in digital connectivity to increase the coverage of very high capacity networks in rural and sparsely populated areas and to create a favorable environment for the deployment of 5G networks and digital infrastructure.  

A few operators have rolled out 5G networks before having access to a dedicated 5G spectrum holding, instead using their existing spectrum holdings via DSS or temporarily allocated spectrum. Looking at the data for Poland, there is a link between lack of dedicated spectrum and median download speed. 5G speeds in Poland are just double the speeds of 4G, compared to Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, and Slovenia where 5G speeds are over five times faster than 4G. Since operators in Poland deployed 5G utilizing their existing spectral assets — in 2.6 GHz and 2.1 GHz — they are not able to take advantage of the benefits that mid-band spectrum brings to 5G deployments. We have reflected on how mid-band spectrum boosted 5G speeds and coverage in the U.S.  

5G Availability skyrocketed in Bulgaria during 2021

Speedtest Intelligence data put Bulgaria first in terms of 5G Availability (the proportion of users of 5G-capable devices who spend a majority of their time on 5G networks) within its regional peers. During 2021, 5G Availability in Bulgaria increased ten-fold, from 3.0% in Q1 2021 to 30.5% as of Q1 2022. This is partially thanks to operators broadening their portfolio of 5G capable devices, e.g. in June 2021, 55% of Telenor’s (now Yettel) smartphones on offer were 5G capable and offering 5G tariffs at no additional cost. 

Croatia performed relatively well when it comes to 5G Availability, which increased from 11% in Q1 2021 to 18.5% in Q1 2022.The Croatian operators’ 5G license comes with coverage obligations amounting to 90% of urban areas, 99% of highways and 95% of railways by 2025. Furthermore, the license obligations include 25% rural areas coverage by 2025 and 50% by 2027. According to Hakom, 5G coverage and availability is at 60-70%. 

However, five countries still had 5G Availability below 10% in Q1 2022, down from seven in Q1 2021. In Hungary, there is a public initiative in support of 5G uptake in a tune of HUF 5 billion (€13.15 million) to help consumers migrate away from 3G devices to 4G/5G smartphones in face of the upcoming 3G network sunset. On May 9, 2022 the Hungarian telecom regulator — NMHH — began a second phase of its mobile phone subsidy: owners of 2G or 3G devices can claim HUF 20,000 (€52.26) towards a purchase of a new 4G or 5G smartphone. 

It isn’t surprising to see that Hungary came first when it comes to 5G smartphone shipments across a number of CEE countries. According to Counterpoint Research, 5G smartphones accounted for 65.1% of total smartphone shipments in Hungary in Q4 2021. In Czechia, Slovakia and Bulgaria, 5G smartphones account for two in five smartphones shipped. In Poland, this is almost one in three. Romania comes last. Although, these figures do not directly translate into direct sales to customers as shipments refer to selling into retail channels and point to an increased appetite for 5G devices. A key driving factor behind this is a growing availability of lower price tiers 5G smartphones. For instance, realme is seeing success with affordable 5G smartphones in Europe. 

Sofia comes first in 5G median download speed and 5G Availability 

Given that Bulgaria had the fastest 5G and the best 5G Availability among its peers, it isn’t surprising its capital came first as well in the ranking of regional capitals, at 441.93 Mbps median download speed and 30% 5G Availability in Q1 2022. A1 Bulgaria started a test run already at the end of November 2020 in Sofia and Burgas, and they became the first 5G city in the country with an outdoor population coverage of over 90%. 

Prague performed well when it comes to 5G Availability. In April 2022, the Prague metro area was fully covered by 5G networks thanks to a cooperation between Czech operators: T-Mobile, Vodafone, O2 and CETIN, and the Prague municipality. All of the Czech operators sunset 3G networks in 2021 to refarm the frequencies for 4G and 5G. The largest operator by number of connections, T-Mobile Czechia had more than 600 5G base stations covering 10.4% of the population in September 2021, and it planned to increase coverage to 25% by the end of the year. T-Mobile uses Ericsson and Huawei for its 5G network, which utilizes the 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, and 700 MHz bands. The smallest operator, Vodafone Czechia, covered 70% of the population with a 5G network reaching 7 million Czechs in May 2022. Vodafone is committed to extending its network reach, at the moment it uses 3.5 GHz for 5G, but shortly it will start using the 700 MHz band as well as the refarmed 3G spectrum. 

Poles need more education on the benefits of 5G

When it comes to 5G performance, Poland doesn’t fare well compared to other CEE countries. Poland came last in the median 5G download speeds ranking and its 5G speeds were just over double that of 4G. It is the only country that has not yet awarded 5G spectrum. More importantly, though, it also seems that Polish end users don’t see the additional benefits 5G can bring, which depresses demand.

According to the UKE’s enterprise survey, 78.2% of enterprises in Poland have heard of 5G. Good. However, the majority of enterprises claim that the current mobile parameters are enough to carry out their business activities across three measures: speed (88.6%), reliability (86.7%), and performance (85.9%). Given that the current 5G networks in Poland do not deliver on gigabit speed promises, this isn’t surprising. 

From a Polish consumer point of view, 73.8% are familiar with the term 5G. This comes with a downside, though, just over half of respondents (57.4%) believe that 5G poses health risks. 

Asked what are the key benefits of 5G networks, almost half of respondents (47.5%) state that 5G will be faster and more efficient than 4G. Less than a third (31%) see 5G networks making people’s lives easier. The third preferred option is 5G’s ability to strengthen and modernize the Polish economy. Still, 18% do not see any positive outlook for using a 5G network. This can partially explain why 5G Availability in Poland is sub-10%.

5G is not only about speeds. 5G is seen as an avenue to bring additional value to the economy and society. According to a study from Ericsson Poland, the Polish economy could gain over €17 billion from 5G implementation by 2040. Considering the lack of a clear timeline for the 5G auction, the risk that Poland will fall further behind its peers is real. 

Plus led on 5G download speed in Poland

We compared 5G performance across Polish operators using Speedtest Intelligence. Plus was a clear winner, reaching median download speeds of 167.37 Mbps speeds in Q1 2022, ahead of Orange, T-Mobile, and Play. There isn’t a substantial difference in median upload speeds across the operators. 

All of the Polish MNOs rolled out 5G networks tapping into their existing spectrum in a Non Standalone (NSA) mode, which relies on the underlying 4G/LTE technology. The 5G auction is now dependent on ongoing consultations about the National Cybersecurity Law Project, to be discussed by the Polish Parliament. The Law may impact network equipment decisions amongst the players, e.g. Play is using Huawei and Ericsson for base stations.

Polkomtel, trading under the Plus brand, launched the country’s first commercial 5G network in the 2.6 GHz band, utilizing 50 MHz of spectrum in May 2020. Apart from Plus, all other operators deployed 5G using DSS in the 2.1 GHz spectrum band, which can partially explain why they have lower speeds. 

Orange Poland, like other countries within Orange Group, will roll out 5G Standalone (5G SA) in partnership with Ericsson. This will enable 5G network slicing and private networks development. In anticipation of the 5G auction, and to stimulate new 5G use cases, the operator launched Orange 5G Lab testing services such as AR, AI utilizing the spectrum allocated by the UKE for testing 5G in the 3.6 GHz band. 

Play had the best 5G Availability in Poland

According to Counterpoint Research, smartphone shipments in Poland have almost tripled during 2021, driven by the challenger brands such as realme, OPPO and Xiaomi (including Redmi and POCO). Polish operators also continue to promote the sale of 5G-capable devices. 5G smartphones as a proportion of smartphone sales ranged between 36% for Orange, 40% for T-Mobile, and 45% for Play. Yet, Play has sprinted ahead the pack when it comes to 5G Availability, and T-Mobile is catching up leaving Orange and Plus behind. 

This is surprising because the Play’s 5G network doesn’t necessarily have the widest reach. As of year-end 2021, Plus’ 5G network extended to 19 million people, followed by Play with over 13 million, T-Mobile (11 million) and Orange (6.3 million). Translating this into population coverage using 2021 census data (38.18 million people), this equates to 50%, 34%, 29%, and 17% population coverage.

Play, part of the Iliad Group, had the best 5G Availability, likely because of aggressive marketing and discounts combined with a large portfolio of 5G devices and the cheapest tariffs. Recently, Play had secured a PLN 500 million (€107 million) credit facility under the Operational Programme Digital Poland (POPC) from BGK, which will also use to roll out 5G services. 

The mobile operators continue to invest in 5G network rollouts. For instance, T-Mobile extended its partnership with Nokia to include the modernization of RAN as well as rollout of 5G services. The operator plans to use 4G and 5G DSS on the lower band and. when available, the 3.5 GHz band for dense urban areas. T-Mobile targets to finish 2022 with 3,500 5G base stations and 30% population coverage. T-Mobile shut down its 3G network in the 2,100 MHz frequency band in October 2021. It has also embarked on the 3G network shutdown, aiming to realize the 900 MHz used for 3G and refarm it to LTE and 5G in 2023. 

The spanner in the works to achieve wide 5G availability is the controversy around 5G auctions. In October 2019, the four leading mobile operators (Plus, Orange, Play and T-Mobile), the state-owned telecom operator Exatel and the Polish Development Fund (PFR) signed a memorandum of understanding to build a nationwide infrastructure. This will be owned by the state via a special-purpose entity called Polskie 5G. The Polish regulator has proposed to assign the entire 700 MHz band (2×30 MHz) to this new entity, with a view to first provide connectivity for public protection and disaster relief services, while making it available to all operators. Reserving spectrum for vertical use is not new, we have discussed this in our recent article; the novelty here is the band and amount. The 700 MHz band is key for providing wide coverage and in-building penetration. In our recent webinar, Eric Brands from KPN explained that KPN scores well in 5G Availability, partially because they have access to low band 5G spectrum (700 MHz).

Łódź has the fastest 5G network among major Polish cities 

Łódź came top as the fastest city in Poland with 90.25 Mbps in Q1 2022, it is also a hotspot for operators’ innovation. Orange deployed a 5G campus network in the Lodz Special Economic Area where 40 start-ups working in the accelerator will be able to use the infrastructure. Ericsson has provided the infrastructure for the economic area: ten antennas working on the 3.6 GHz and 2,100 MHz bands, covering approx.1,000 square meters.

T-Mobile is testing 5G SA in Łódź to enable new services for both consumer and B2B customers, including VoNR (Voice over New Radio) services on the 5G network. The 5G SA network is utilizing the 2,600 MHz band.

The Polish capital, Warsaw, is just slightly ahead of the rest in terms of 5G Availability. 

We’ll be watching 5G performance closely in Poland using Speedtest Intelligence. If you want to learn more about how Speedtest Intelligence can help you benchmark your 5G performance against competitors, please inquire here.

5G w Europie Środkowo-Wschodniej: Polska wciąż czeka na prawdziwe 5G, podczas gdy Bułgaria pędzi do przodu

Kluczowe wnioski

  • Pandemia COVID-19 podkreśliła potrzebę transformacji cyfrowej, część funduszy unijnych zostanie przeznaczona na jej realizację.
  • Aukcje pasma zostały opóźnione w całym regionie. Podczas gdy Słowenia i Chorwacja zakończyły już aukcje pasma we wszystkich pionierskich pasmach 5G, Polsce brakuje jasnych harmonogramów i istnieje ryzyko pozostania w tyle.
  • Bułgaria jest liderem pod względem mediany szybkości pobierania i 5G Availability. Jej stolica, Sofia, zajmuje pierwsze miejsce wśród stolic pod względem mediany prędkości 5G i 5G Availability.
  • Polska nie wypada dobrze na tle innych krajów Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej. Polska zajęła ostatnie miejsce w rankingu mediany prędkości pobierania 5G, a jej prędkości 5G były nieco ponad dwukrotnie wyższe niż 4G. Co jednak ważniejsze, wydaje się również, że polscy użytkownicy końcowi nie dostrzegają dodatkowych korzyści, jakie może przynieść 5G, co zmniejsza popyt.
  • Plus ma największą średnią prędkość 5G, a Play wygrywa pod względem 5G Availability. Łódź ma najszybszą sieć 5G wśród największych polskich miast

Fundusze unijne mają stymulować transformację cyfrową

W celu złagodzenia gospodarczych i społecznych skutków pandemii COVID-19 została zatwierdzona bezprecedensowa kwota środków dostępnych dla państw członkowskich Unii Europejskiej. Fundusz naprawczy The NextGenerationEU wynosi 750 mld euro. Zdecydowana większość środków, 672,5 mld euro, jest przeznaczona na Plany odbudowy i zwiększania odporności (ang. Recovery and Resilience Plans, RRP) i podzielona między pożyczki (360 mld euro) i dotacje (312,5 mld euro). Wszystkie środki muszą zostać wydane do 2026 r.

Chociaż nie wszystkie te fundusze będą napędzać inwestycje w telekomunikację, niektóre będą miały pośredni wpływ, np. zielone technologie — zobacz nasze przemyślenia na temat dyskusji na temat Net Zero na MWC 2022. Istnieje sześć filarów, z których jednym jest transformacja cyfrowa, która ma ponad 20% przydzielonego finansowania krajowych programów RRP. Projekty transformacji cyfrowej obejmują inwestycje w badania i rozwój, wdrażanie nowych technologii cyfrowych, w tym rozwój ultraszybkiej łączności szerokopasmowej i łączności 5G oraz cyfrową transformację gospodarki. Pieniądze są dostępne. To od krajów zależy, czy je wykorzystają i przekierują je do technologii, takich jak 5G, aby wesprzeć wzrost gospodarczy.

Średnie pasmo to najczęściej przydzielane pasmo w Europie Środkowo-Wschodniej

W tym artykule zastanowiliśmy się nad postępami w Europie. Teraz zwracamy uwagę na kraje Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej (CEE). Według danych GSMA Intelligence zdecydowana większość operatorów w ośmiu krajach Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej — 24 z 31 — uruchomiła już usługi 5G.

Zgodnie z planem działania KE na rzecz 5G z 2016 r., kraje w całej UE miały udostępnić do 30 czerwca 2020 r. pasmo niskich częstotliwości, a do 31 grudnia 2020 r. pasmo średnich i wysokich częstotliwości. Na poziomie UE istnieją trzy pionierskie pasma 5G, które przedstawiają się następująco:

– Dolne pasmo: 700 MHz (703 – 733 MHz i 758 – 788 MHz)

– Średnie pasmo: 3,6 GHz (3400 – 3800 MHz)

– Wysokie pasmo: 26 GHz (co najmniej 1000 MHz w zakresie 24 250 – 27 500 MHz)

Opóźnienia związane z przydziałem pasma wahają się od wpływu COVID-19 na harmonogramy, przez transgraniczną koordynację z krajami spoza UE, po słaby popyt ze strony operatorów. Jednak większość krajów uwzględnionych w tej analizie przypisała już co najmniej jedno pasmo dla 5G, z godnym uwagi wyjątkiem Polski.

Polska ma jeszcze przeprowadzić aukcję pasma 5G — planowana sprzedaż pasma C w Polsce była wielokrotnie przekładana z różnych powodów. W marcu 2020 r. Polska ogłosiła, że ​​aukcja pasma 3,6 GHz zostanie rozstrzygnięta do 30 czerwca 2020 r. Jednak w związku z pandemią polskie władze zawiesiły wszelkie postępowania administracyjne, a obecne wstrzymanie spowodowane jest kwestiami legislacyjnymi.

Co więcej, Polska bada również kontrowersyjne prawo dotyczące utworzenia państwowej sieci 5G, która byłaby obsługiwana przez państwowego operatora — Exatel — w paśmie 700 MHz. Pasmo 700 MHz jest problematyczne, ponieważ wymaga koordynacji przez granice wschodnie (Białoruś, Rosja i Ukraina), co opóźni przydział pasma.

Słowenia i Chorwacja posunęły się naprzód i stały się jedynymi krajami, które zakończyły już aukcje pasma we wszystkich pionierskich pasmach 5G. W kwietniu 2021 r. słoweńska Agencja ds. Sieci i Usług Komunikacyjnych (AKOS) sfinalizowała sprzedaż częstotliwości w pasmach 700 MHz, 1500 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 3500 MHz i 26 GHz. W sierpniu 2021 r. Chorwacki Urząd Regulacji Branży Sieciowej (HAKOM) sprzedał na aukcji częstotliwości z pasm 700 MHz, 3600 MHz i 26 GHz. Co więcej, Miran Gosta, dyrektor HAKOM-u, ogłosił niedawno, że przygotowywana jest nowa aukcja na częstotliwości, które są już w użyciu i wygasną w 2024 roku, takie jak pasma 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz i 2600 MHz.

Bułgaria liderem prędkości 5G

Ważnym pytaniem jest, czy opóźnienia w przydziałach częstotliwości i obsługa wielu generacji sieci wpłynęły na zdolność operatorów do spełnienia obietnicy 5G dotyczącej większych prędkości. Według Speedtest Intelligence®, mediana prędkości pobierania 5G w ośmiu krajach waha się w granicach 73-407 Mb/s. Bułgaria jest najszybsza z 406,97 Mb/s, za nią plasują się Chorwacja, Węgry, Rumunia, Słowenia i Słowacja. Czechy i Polska pozostają w tyle, z prędkością odpowiednio 112,53 Mb/s i 73,12 Mb/s.

Bułgarscy operatorzy brali aktywny udział w inicjowaniu rozwoju 5G. We wrześniu 2020 roku Vivacom uruchomił pierwszą komercyjną sieć 5G za pośrednictwem Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) w 1800 MHz i 2100 MHz, następnie A1 w Sofii z wykorzystaniem 3600 MHz, a Telenor na początku czerwca 2021 w największych miastach Bułgarii w paśmie 3 600 MHz.

 W kwietniu 2021 r. firma Vivacom Bulgaria zdobyła 100 MHz w paśmie 3,7-3,8 GHz za 4,6 mln BGN (2,35 mln euro), ale już wcześniej uruchomiła sieć 5G z tymczasową licencją w listopadzie 2020 r. András Pali, dyrektor ds. technicznych Vivacom w wywiadzie oznajmił, że operator planuje zainwestować 120 milionów euro w infrastrukturę w 2021 roku. Vivacom wykorzystuje DSS, łącząc częstotliwości w pasmach 1,8, 2,1 i 3,6 GHz dla 5G, więc nie ma kompromisu między zasięgiem a prędkością. Z kolei A1 Bulgaria korzysta z dedykowanego pasma 100 MHz. Między komercyjnym uruchomieniem w kwietniu a październikiem 2021 r. liczba aktywnych użytkowników A1 Bulgaria wzrosła o 448%, a generowany przez nich ruch o 771%, przekraczając 90 terabajtów (TB) w październiku 2021 r.

Ponadto w planie naprawy i zwiększenia odporności Bułgarii, 26% z budżetu wynoszącego 6,3 mld euro przeznaczono na transformację cyfrową. Plan obejmuje środki stymulujące transformację cyfrową, w tym znaczne inwestycje i reformy łączności cyfrowej w celu zwiększenia zasięgu sieci o bardzo dużej przepustowości na obszarach wiejskich i słabo zaludnionych oraz stworzenia sprzyjającego środowiska dla wdrażania sieci 5G i infrastruktury cyfrowej. 

Kilku operatorów wdrożyło sieci 5G przed uzyskaniem dostępu do dedykowanego pakietu pasm 5G, zamiast tego wykorzystując swoje istniejące zasoby pasma za pośrednictwem DSS lub tymczasowo przydzielonego pasma. Patrząc na dane dla Polski, istnieje związek między brakiem dedykowanego pasma a medianą prędkości pobierania. Prędkości 5G w Polsce są dwukrotnie wyższe niż prędkości 4G w porównaniu z Rumunią, Słowacją, Węgrami i Słowenią, gdzie prędkości 5G są ponad pięć razy szybsze niż 4G. Ponieważ operatorzy w Polsce wdrożyli 5G, wykorzystując swoje istniejące zasoby pasmowe — w 2,6 GHz i 2,1 GHz — nie są w stanie wykorzystać korzyści, jakie dla wdrożeń 5G niesie ze sobą średnie pasmo. Zastanowiliśmy się, w jaki sposób pasmo średnie zwiększyło prędkości i zasięg 5G w USA.

5G Availability wzrosła w Bułgarii w 2021 r.

Dane Speedtest Intelligence stawiają Bułgarię na pierwszym miejscu pod względem 5G Availability (odsetek użytkowników urządzeń obsługujących 5G, którzy spędzają większość czasu w sieciach 5G) wśród swoich regionalnych partnerów. W 2021 r. 5G Availability w Bułgarii wzrosła dziesięciokrotnie, z 3% w I kwartale 2021 r. do 30,5% w I kwartale 2022 r. Jest to częściowo zasługą operatorów poszerzających portfolio urządzeń obsługujących 5G, m.in. w czerwcu 2021 r. 55% oferowanych przez Telenor (obecnie Yettel) smartfonów obsługiwało 5G i oferowało taryfy 5G bez dodatkowych kosztów.

Chorwacja radziła sobie stosunkowo dobrze, jeśli chodzi o 5G Availability, która wzrosła z 11% w I kwartale 2021 r. do 18,5% w I kwartale 2022 r. Licencja 5G chorwackich operatorów obejmuje zobowiązania dotyczące zasięgu wynoszące 90% obszarów miejskich, 99% autostrad i 95 % kolei do 2025 r. Ponadto obowiązki licencyjne obejmują 25% zasięgu obszarów wiejskich do 2025 r. i 50% do 2027 r. Według Hakom zasięg i 5G Availability wynosi 60-70%.

Jednak pięć krajów nadal miało 5G Availability poniżej 10% w I kwartale 2022 r., w porównaniu z siedmioma w I kwartale 2021 r. Na Węgrzech istnieje publiczna inicjatywa wsparcia upowszechnienia 5G na kwotę 5 mld HUF (13,15 mln EUR), konsumentom w migracji z urządzeń 3G na smartfony 4G/5G w obliczu zbliżającego się zaniku sieci 3G. 9 maja 2022 r. węgierski regulator telekomunikacyjny — NMHH — rozpoczął drugą fazę dotacji na telefony komórkowe: właściciele urządzeń 2G lub 3G mogą ubiegać się o 20 000 HUF (52,26 EUR) na zakup nowego smartfona 4G lub 5G.

Nie jest zaskoczeniem, że Węgry zajęły pierwsze miejsce, jeśli chodzi o dostawy smartfonów 5G w wielu krajach Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej. Według Counterpoint Research smartfony 5G stanowiły 65,1% wszystkich dostaw smartfonów na Węgrzech w IV kwartale 2021 r. W Czechach, Słowacji i Bułgarii smartfony 5G stanowią dwa na pięć sprzedanych smartfonów. W Polsce to prawie co trzeci. Rumunia jest ostatnia. Chociaż liczby te nie przekładają się bezpośrednio na sprzedaż bezpośrednią do klientów, ponieważ dostawy odnoszą się do sprzedaży w kanałach detalicznych i wskazują na zwiększony apetyt na urządzenia 5G. Kluczowym czynnikiem jest rosnąca dostępność smartfonów 5G z niższej półki cenowej. Na przykład firma realme odnosi sukcesy dzięki przystępnym cenowo smartfonom 5G w Europie.

Sofia zajmuje pierwsze miejsce pod względem mediany prędkości pobierania i 5G Availability

Nie dziwi więc fakt, że stolica Bułgarii zajęła również pierwsze miejsce w rankingu stolic regionalnych, z medianą prędkości pobierania 441,93 Mb/s i 30% dostępnością 5G w I kwartale 2022 r.  A1 Bulgaria rozpoczęła testy już pod koniec listopada 2020 r. w Sofii i Burgas, które stały się pierwszymi miastami 5G w kraju z zasięgiem ponad 90% populacji na zewnątrz.

Praga spisała się dobrze, jeśli chodzi o 5G Availability. W kwietniu 2022 r. obszar praskiego metra został w pełni pokryty sieciami 5G dzięki współpracy czeskich operatorów: T-Mobile, Vodafone, O2 i CETIN oraz władzami samorządowymi Pragi. Wszyscy czescy operatorzy zrezygnowali z sieci 3G w 2021 r., aby zmienić częstotliwości na 4G i 5G. Największy operator pod względem liczby połączeń, T-Mobile Czechy, miał we wrześniu 2021 r. ponad 600 stacji bazowych 5G obejmujących 10,4% populacji, a do końca roku planował zwiększyć zasięg do 25%. T-Mobile używa Ericssona i Huawei do swojej sieci 5G, która wykorzystuje pasma 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz i 700 MHz. Najmniejszy operator, Vodafone Czechia, objął 70% populacji siecią 5G docierającą do 7 milionów Czechów w maju 2022 roku. Vodafone jest zdeterminowany do poszerzenia zasięgu swojej sieci, w tej chwili używa 3,5 GHz dla 5G, ale wkrótce zacznie używać pasmo 700 MHz oraz refarmowane pasmo 3G.

Polacy potrzebują więcej edukacji na temat korzyści 5G

Jeśli chodzi o prędkość 5G, Polska nie wypada najlepiej na tle innych krajów Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej. Polska zajęła ostatnie miejsce w rankingu mediany prędkości pobierania 5G, a jej prędkości 5G były nieco ponad dwukrotnie wyższe niż 4G. To jedyny kraj, który nie przyznał jeszcze pasma 5G. Co jednak ważniejsze, wydaje się również, że polscy użytkownicy końcowi nie widzą dodatkowych korzyści, jakie może przynieść 5G, co zmniejsza popyt.

Według badania przedsiębiorstw UKE, 78,2% przedsiębiorstw w Polsce słyszało o 5G. To dobry wynik. Jednak większość przedsiębiorstw twierdzi, że obecne parametry mobilne są wystarczające do prowadzenia działalności biznesowej w trzech miarach: szybkości (88,6%), niezawodności (86,7%) i wydajności (85,9%). Biorąc pod uwagę, że obecne sieci 5G w Polsce nie spełniają obietnic dotyczących szybkości gigabitowej, nie jest to zaskakujące.

Z punktu widzenia polskiego konsumenta termin 5G zna 73,8%. Ma to jednak wadę, ponieważ nieco ponad połowa respondentów (57,4%) uważa, że ​​5G stanowi zagrożenie dla zdrowia.

Na pytanie, jakie są kluczowe zalety sieci 5G, prawie połowa respondentów (47,5%) twierdzi, że 5G będzie szybsze i wydajniejsze niż 4G. Mniej niż jedna trzecia (31%) widzi, że sieci 5G ułatwiają ludziom życie. Trzecią preferowaną opcją jest zdolność 5G do wzmocnienia i modernizacji polskiej gospodarki. Jednak 18% nie widzi pozytywnych perspektyw korzystania z sieci 5G. To może częściowo tłumaczyć, dlaczego 5G Availability w Polsce wynosi poniżej 10%.

W 5G nie chodzi tylko o szybkość. 5G jest postrzegane jako sposób na wniesienie dodatkowej wartości do gospodarki i społeczeństwa. Według badania przeprowadzonego przez Ericsson Polska, polska gospodarka może zyskać ponad 17 miliardów euro na wdrożeniu 5G do 2040 roku. Biorąc pod uwagę brak jasnego harmonogramu aukcji 5G, ryzyko, że Polska będzie dalej odstawać od swoich konkurentów jest realne.

Plus prowadzi w prędkości pobierania 5G w Polsce

Porównaliśmy prędkość 5G u polskich operatorów za pomocą Speedtest Intelligence. Operator Plus był wyraźnym zwycięzcą, osiągając medianę prędkości pobierania 167,37 Mb/s w I kwartale 2022 r., wyprzedzając Orange, T-Mobile i Play. Nie odnotowano znaczącej różnicy w medianie prędkości wysyłania u operatorów.

Wszyscy polscy operatorzy sieci komórkowych uruchomili sieci 5G, wykorzystując istniejące częstotliwości w trybie Non Standalone (NSA), który opiera się na bazowej technologii 4G/LTE. Aukcja 5G jest obecnie uzależniona od trwających konsultacji dotyczących projektu ustawy o krajowym systemie cyberbezpieczeństwa, który ma być przedmiotem obrad polskiego parlamentu. Ustawa może wpłynąć na decyzje dotyczące sprzętu sieciowego wśród graczy, np. Play używa Huawei i Ericsson dla stacji bazowych.

Polkomtel, działający pod marką Plus, w maju 2020 roku uruchomił pierwszą w kraju komercyjną sieć 5G w paśmie 2,6 GHz, wykorzystującą pasmo 50 MHz. Oprócz Plusa, wszyscy pozostali operatorzy wdrożyli 5G z wykorzystaniem DSS w paśmie 2,1 GHz, co może częściowo wyjaśniać, dlaczego mają niższe prędkości.

Orange Polska, podobnie jak inne kraje Grupy Orange, wdroży 5G Standalone (5G SA) we współpracy z firmą Ericsson. Umożliwi to “krojenie sieci” (ang. network slicing) 5G i rozwój sieci prywatnych. W oczekiwaniu na aukcję 5G oraz w celu stymulowania nowych zastosowań 5G, operator uruchomił usługi testowe Orange 5G Lab, takie jak AR, AI wykorzystujące pasmo przydzielone przez UKE do testowania 5G w paśmie 3,6 GHz.

Play miał najlepszą 5G Availability w Polsce

Według Counterpoint Research, w 2021 r. dostawy smartfonów w Polsce prawie się potroiły, napędzane przez konkurencyjne marki, takie jak realme, OPPO i Xiaomi (w tym Redmi i POCO). Polscy operatorzy również w dalszym ciągu promują sprzedaż urządzeń obsługujących 5G. Smartfony 5G jako udział w sprzedaży smartfonów wahały się od 36% dla Orange, 40% dla T-Mobile oraz 45% dla Play. Jednak Play wyprzedził konkurencję, jeśli chodzi o 5G Availability, a T-Mobile nadrabia zaległości, pozostawiając w tyle Orange i Plus. 

Jest to o tyle zaskakujące, że sieć 5G Play niekoniecznie ma największy zasięg. Na koniec 2021 r. sieć 5G Plusa powiększyła się do 19 mln osób, następny był Play z ponad 13 mln, T-Mobile (11 mln) i Orange (6,3 mln). Przekładając to na pokrycie populacji przy użyciu danych ze spisu powszechnego z 2021 r. (38,18 mln osób), oznacza to pokrycie populacji 50%, 34%, 29% i 17%.

Play, część Grupy Iliad, miał najlepszą 5G Availability, prawdopodobnie ze względu na agresywny marketing i rabaty w połączeniu z dużym portfolio urządzeń 5G i najtańszymi taryfami. Niedawno Play pozyskał z BGK kredyt w wysokości 500 mln zł (107 mln euro) w ramach Programu Operacyjnego Polska Cyfrowa (POPC), który posłuży również do uruchomienia usług 5G.

Operatorzy komórkowi nadal inwestują w rozwój sieci 5G. Na przykład T-Mobile rozszerzył swoją współpracę z Nokią o modernizację sieci RAN, a także wdrożenie usług 5G. Operator planuje wykorzystanie 4G i 5G DSS w dolnym paśmie oraz gdy będzie to możliwe, w paśmie 3,5 GHz na gęstych obszarach miejskich. T-Mobile planuje zakończyć 2022 rok z 3500 stacjami bazowymi 5G i 30% pokryciem populacji. T-Mobile wyłączył swoją sieć 3G w paśmie częstotliwości 2100 MHz w październiku 2021 roku. Rozpoczął również zamykanie sieci 3G, mając na celu wykorzystanie 900 MHz dla 3G i zmianę jej na LTE i 5G w 2023 roku.

Przeszkodą w osiągnięciu szerokiej dostępności 5G są kontrowersje wokół aukcji 5G. W październiku 2019 r. czterej czołowi operatorzy komórkowi (Plus, Orange, Play i T-Mobile), państwowy operator telekomunikacyjny Exatel oraz Polski Fundusz Rozwoju (PFR) podpisali porozumienie w sprawie budowy ogólnopolskiej infrastruktury. Będzie on własnością państwa za pośrednictwem jednostki specjalnego przeznaczenia – Polskie 5G. Polski regulator zaproponował przydzielenie temu nowemu podmiotowi całego pasma 700 MHz (2×30 MHz), z myślą o zapewnieniu w pierwszej kolejności łączności dla służb porządkowych i ratowniczych, a jednocześnie udostępnienie go wszystkim operatorom. Zarezerwowanie pasma do użytku pionowego nie jest niczym nowym, omówiliśmy to w naszym ostatnim artykule; nowością jest tu pasmo i ilość. Pasmo 700 MHz ma kluczowe znaczenie dla zapewnienia szerokiego zasięgu i penetracji wewnątrz budynków. W naszym ostatnim webinarze Eric Brands z KPN wyjaśnił, że KPN osiąga dobre wyniki w zakresie 5G Availability, częściowo dlatego, że ma dostęp do niskiego pasma 5G (700 MHz).

Łódź ma najszybszą sieć 5G wśród największych polskich miast

Łódź zajęła pierwsze miejsce jako najszybsze miasto w Polsce z prędkością 90,25 Mb/s w I kwartale 2022 r., jest także hotspotem dla innowacji operatorów. Orange wdrożył kampusową sieć 5G na terenie Łódzkiej Specjalnej Strefy Ekonomicznej, gdzie 40 start-upów pracujących w akceleratorze będzie mogło korzystać z infrastruktury. Ericsson dostarczył infrastrukturę dla obszaru gospodarczego: dziesięć anten pracujących w pasmach 3,6 GHz i 2100 MHz, obejmujących około 1000 m2.

T-Mobile testuje 5G SA w Łodzi, aby umożliwić nowe usługi zarówno klientom indywidualnym, jak i klientom B2B, w tym usługi VoNR (Voice over New Radio) w sieci 5G. Sieć 5G SA wykorzystuje pasmo 2600 MHz.

Stolica Polski, Warszawa, nieznacznie wyprzedza resztę pod względem 5G Availability.

Będziemy uważnie obserwować prędkość 5G w Polsce za pomocą Speedtest Intelligence. Jeśli chcesz dowiedzieć się więcej o tym, jak Speedtest Intelligence może pomóc Ci porównać prędkość 5G z konkurencją, zapytaj tutaj.

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

Global Speeds

About the Author

Sylwia Kechiche

Ookla Research™ Articles
| May 11, 2022

5G Drives French Digital Transformation

Global Speeds
Français

Key takeaways

  • The French government has put a lot of emphasis and effort in promoting industrial transformation, and 5G is an important factor. Dedicated spectrum available for private mobile networks has already been allocated in France and the government is providing funding to target startups and drive innovation. During Q1 2022, Orange dominated the competition as France’s fastest 5G provider by achieving a median 5G download speed of 366.42 Mbps. SFR followed at 247.32 Mbps.
  • In terms of 5G Availability, Free France led the market with 26.0%, ahead of the country’s average of 15.7%. Free is the only operator that deployed 5G using the 700 MHz spectrum band, which contributes towards its higher 5G Availability.
  • Bordeaux has the fastest median 5G download speed.

The need for 5G networks densification 

France is leading the way in terms of 5G network deployment across Europe. According to the latest 5G Observatory, published by the telecom regulator, the Electronic Communications, Postal and Print Media Distribution Regulatory Authority (ARCEP), the number of mobile base stations providing commercial 5G services in France equated to around 22,000 sites at the end of 2021. Free had the most 5G sites (13,470, primarily in the 700 MHz band), followed by Bouygues Telecom (6,730), SFR (4,984) and Orange (3,035) (these numbers cannot be added up across operators and frequency bands as the same site can broadcast across multiple frequency bands).

Based on the French population as of 2020, this would equate to over 3,000 people per 5G base station, placing it behind South Korea, China, and Japan but just ahead of the EU average, according to the EU 5G Observatory’s International Scoreboard. 

Number of People per 5G Base Station

French mobile operators are providing 5G services through the 700 MHz, 2.1 GHz and 3.5 GHz spectrum bands. The final stages of the French 5G mid-band spectrum auction ended on October 1, 2020, with 310 MHz of spectrum awarded in the 3.4-3.8 GHz band. Orange paid €854 million for a total of 90 MHz; SFR €728 million for 80 MHz, and Bouygues Telecom and Free Mobile (Iliad) €602 million each for 70 MHz. Shortly after, in November 2020, all mobile operators were granted an authorization to use these frequencies. The operators can also use the 700 MHz frequency band, which was awarded by ARCEP in 2015, and in the future 26 GHz, yet to be allocated. 

Free remains the only French operator to deploy 5G on 700 MHz spectrum. As of December 31, 2021, its 5G footprint included 13,479 sites already operational out of 18,929 permits secured for this frequency band. In addition, Free had 2,384 sites utilizing the 3.5 MHz frequency band. The remaining operators use 2.1 GHz and 3.5 GHz spectrum for 5G (see chart for more details). 

Number of Commercial 5G Sites in France

The roll out of commercial 5G networks started in mid-November 2020, in a Non-Standalone (NSA) mode. It is noteworthy that 5G licenses come with coverage obligations outlined below, which stimulate the operators 5G network rollouts:

5G Milestones in France

Doubling down on enterprise digitalization 

The French government is an avid supporter of industrial digital transformation. The “France 2030” programme earmarked €800 million to accelerate digital transformation of industries by leveraging cloud, 5G, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Of which, €400 million was assigned to support startups and innovative businesses in developing their offerings and €400 million to help to transform industrial sites. The government also launched an acceleration strategy for 5G and future telecommunications network technologies to capture 5G opportunities and position France at the forefront of new digital uses. The objective is to create 20,000 new jobs by 2025, support the growth of the French 5G market, as well as innovative French SMEs and overall ecosystem in the country and externally. 

International collaboration is high on an agenda too, including a Franco-German partnership on private 5G networks. To strengthen the 5G private network ecosystem, France and Germany commited a total of €17.7 million in support of four projects on 5G applications: 5G-OPERA, 5G4BP, 5GB4BP, and 5G FORUM. Another cross-country collaboration, this time involving France, Germany, and Luxembourg, is the EU-funded 5GCroCo (Cross-Border Control) project. The objective is to trial 5G technologies in the cross-border corridor to validate the use of 5G-networks and equipment from multiple car manufacturers.  

Supporting enterprises is an important part of the overall digital transformation strategy. As such, the industrial verticals are already utilizing frequencies in the 2.6 GHz and 26 GHz spectrum band, with a particular focus on private 4G/ 5G networks. 

Recently, the French government announced a set of new measures aimed at accelerating the development of industrial 5G use cases, following on from a report and recommendations published by the president of the Mission 5G Industrielle, Philippe Herbert. Mr. Herbert identified seven reasons why 5G in the French industrial sector is lagging behind other European countries, including poor access to relevant spectrum, availability of equipment and services, and lack of maturity of the 5G ecosystems.

To aid that, the government together with ARCEP, is encouraging the industrial companies to apply for a trial spectrum in 3.8 – 4.0 GHz band. Businesses from across a range of verticals including manufacturing, logistics, health and energy (amongst others), will be able to use a 100 MHz spectrum block for three years to trial different applications, while benefiting from a “mature and varied ecosystem of terminals and equipment” thanks to being in a close proximity to the mid-band spectrum band. 

In addition, operators’ 5G licenses stipulate that they have to activate 5G functions such as slicing and “differentiated services” by 2023 at the latest, so as to cover the needs of industries, e.g. health and automotive. 

French operators are testing 5G use across multiple industries including in the factory setting. For instance, Orange is looking at 5G applications across a number of “factory of the future” projects. In November 2021, ArcelorMittal France, Orange Business Services, and Ericsson announced the launch of an industrial 5G network: 5G Steel. 5G Steel will provide indoor and outdoor coverage, high data throughput for connected devices, low latency for autonomous vehicles, data security, and network slicing to tailor services to each business process and requirement. Another operator, Bouygues Telecom teamed up with its sister company Bouygues Construction to test where 5G can aid with digitization of the construction industry, one of the use cases is using 5G as a technology powering the data transmission between a crane and a remote control cabin on the ground. 

Sustainability is high on French operators’ agenda 

As we discussed in 5G Comes of Age: Five Predictions for 2022, reducing the environmental impact of 5G is top of the agenda. To that end, ARCEP published a study in January 2022 looking into different energy consumption scenarios in order to assess the impact of 5G networks. It has revealed that 5G network rollouts initially increased energy consumption. However, there are expected efficiency gains in the most densely populated areas starting from 2023, by 2028 total energy savings will be up to ten times the 2002 consumption levels when compared to a 4G-only network densification. In more sparsely populated areas with lower traffic density, the efficiency gains will be lower. 

All of the French operators are committed to sustainable energy. For instance, Bouygues Telecom became the first operator in France to use renewable produced hydrogen to power one of its cell sites thanks to a collaboration with its sister company, Bouygues Energies and Services and PowiDian, a French startup. The operator has set a 100% target  of its electricity consumption being sourced from renewable power (wind and hydroelectrics). 

Another mobile operator, SFR, has also committed to renewable energy by partnering with French supplier EkWateur to supply part of telecom sites with 100% renewable energy. The operator has also committed to supply part of its 5G sites with renewable energy in partnership with TotalEnergies. In a 2021 statement, it indicated that since July 2021, more than 160 5G sites have been powered by renewable energy such as hydroelectric dams, windmills, or solar panels.  

France leads amongst its regional peers for median download speeds 

5G Performance in France vs. Other European Countries

Using Speedtest Intelligence®, we compared 5G in France against that of its peers. These measurements are based on 5G-capable devices using Speedtest Intelligence® on both iOS and Android. In the Q1 2022, France topped our list with the fastest median 5G download speed (207.58 Mbps), ahead of Switzerland (173.51 Mbps), the U.K. (166.37 Mbps). Germany (153.51 Mbps), the Netherlands (153.06 Mbps), Italy (123.69 Mbps), and Spain (122.61 Mbps) followed. Interestingly, despite all of the French operators launching 5G service in December 2020 — relatively late compared to other analyzed countries — they achieved top median download speeds due to substantial network investments. However, this has not yet translated into a large customer pool. The number of 5G subscribers has reached almost 3 million as of Q4 2021 — equivalent to 4% of total subscriptions (excluding M2M) and almost double the Q2 2021 level of 1.6 million. 

Orange steams ahead for median 5G download speed 

5G Performance Among Top Providers in France

Orange had the fastest median 5G download speed among top operators, achieving 366.42 Mbps during Q1 2022, far ahead of SFR (247.32 Mbps), Bouygues Telecom (151.58 Mbps), and Free (150.11 Mbps). Orange deployed 5G in nearly 900 municipalities at the end of 2021, which translates to 38% coverage of metropolitan population. The operator has the most 5G bandwidth (90 MHz) in the 3.5 GHz spectrum band, and has primarily chosen to deploy 5G in this spectrum band: it had 2,698 active sites in the 3.5 GHz band compared to 471 in 2.1 GHz at year-end 2021. 

Orange’s approach to 5G rollouts has been to deploy it “where it is useful for its customers,” in the busiest places where there is a risk of 4G saturation in the short to medium term. The operator has also recently announced its plans to decommission 2G by 2025 and 3G by the end of 2028 to achieve cost savings by being able to retire legacy networks. Additional benefit is the ability to refarm its 900 MHz spectrum, currently assigned to 2G and 3G. Orange is also a strong supporter of Open RAN, it was one of the five leading telco groups: Deutsche Telekom (DT), Orange, Telefonica, Telecom Italia (TIM), and Vodafone Group, that published a joint report to highlight the urgency of collaboration on Open RAN in November 2021. Also in November 2021, Orange opened its first research lab in France dedicated to Open RAN, Orange’s CTO Michael Trabbia commented that the launch fits into the group’s ambition to deploy exclusively Open RAN equipment across Europe from 2025 onwards. 

France is middle of the road when it comes to 5G Availability

5G Availability France vs. Other European Countries

The country ranking shifts when it comes to 5G Availability — the percentage of users on 5G-capable devices that spend most of the time with access to 5G networks. France comes in bang in the middle amongst the analyzed countries for this metric. In Q1 2022, the Netherlands had the highest 5G Availability at 34.7%, Switzerland came in at 33.2%, Spain at 15.9%, France 15.7%, the U.K. at 14.0%, Germany at 9.1%, and 9.0% for Italy. 

 

Free leads on 5G Availability

5G Availability for Top Providers in France

Free had the highest 5G Availability among French operators at 26.0% in Q1 2022, ahead of Bouygues Telecom (18.3%), SFR (11.8%), and Orange (10.8%). Free remains the only operator that deployed 5G on 700 MHz spectrum, which helps to explain why it ranked better on 5G Availability as low band spectrum propagates further. According to the spectrum agency ANFR, the operator’s 5G footprint included 14,568 sites on air as of April 1, out of 19,289 permits it has secured for this frequency band. Currently, Free’s 5G network coverage extends to 81% of the population and is present in 9,652 municipalities. Free repeated its market entry strategy by pricing 5G services at the price of 4G, just the same when it initially entered the French market and offered 4G for the price of 3G. 

 

Orange 5G Consistency stood at just over 90% 

5G Consistency Score Among Top Providers in France

Consistency Score™ measures what percentage of a provider’s samples equals or exceeds both a download and upload threshold. Current thresholds for mobile 5G is 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload. Across France, 5G Consistency stood at 84% as of Q1 2022. Orange earned the top spot as France’s most consistent 5G mobile operator with a Consistency Score of 90.6% during Q1 2022, ahead of Free (83.7%), SFR (83.2%) and Bouygues Telecom (77.5%). 

Bordeaux has the fastest 5G 

5G Performance and 5G Availability Across France's Largest Cities

Bordeaux was the clear winner for 5G speeds across French cities, with a median 5G download speed of 333.46 Mbps during Q1 2022, a 44% year-over-year increase for all operators combined. Orange’s 5G network in Bordeaux reached a median download speed of 456.69 Mbps, just ahead of SFR at 445.07 Mbps. The 5G launch in Bordeaux was slightly delayed till February 2021, as the city was asking the government for a moratorium on 5G technology and a postponement of the frequency allocation to no avail. Yet, the operators waited until the installation of the autonomous exposure measurement sensors, from which data is reported into the Wave Observatory.

In terms of 5G Availability, there is no clean winner across the five largest French cities. 

5G in France is rapidly expanding and we’ll be following the market closely

Mobile operators are actively expanding 5G networks and the 5G adoption in France is growing, stimulated by the strong government support. We’ll be watching 5G performance closely in France using Speedtest Intelligence. If you want to learn more about how Speedtest Intelligence can help you benchmark your 5G performance against competitors, please inquire here.

La 5G est le moteur de la transformation La 5G est le moteur de la transformation numérique française

Principaux points à retenir

  • Le gouvernement français a mis beaucoup l’accent et à mis en place les efforts pour promouvoir la transformation industrielle, et la 5G est un facteur important. Le spectre dédié disponible pour les réseaux mobiles privés a déjà été attribué en France et le gouvernement fournit des fonds pour cibler les startups et stimuler l’innovation.Au cours du premier trimestre 2022, Orange a dominé la concurrence en tant que fournisseur 5G le plus rapide de France en atteignant une vitesse de téléchargement 5G médiane de 366,42 Mbps. SFR suivait avec 247,32 Mbps.
  • En termes de Disponibilité 5G, Free France est en tête du marché avec 26,0%, devant la moyenne du pays de 15,7%. Free est le seul opérateur à avoir déployé la 5G en utilisant la bande de fréquences 700 MHz, ce qui contribue à sa plus grande Disponibilité 5G.
  • Bordeaux a le débit médian de téléchargement 5G le plus rapide

 

La nécessité de densifier les réseaux 5G

La France est en tête en termes de déploiement de réseaux 5G à travers l’Europe. Selon le dernier Observatoire de la 5G, publié par le régulateur des télécoms, l’Autorité de régulation des communications électroniques, des postes et de la distribution de la presse écrite (ARCEP), le nombre de stations de base mobiles fournissant des services 5G commerciaux en France équivaut à environ 22 000 sites à la fin de 2021. Free comptait le plus grand nombre de sites 5G (13 470, principalement avec la bande 700 MHz), suivi de Bouygues Telecom (6 730), SFR (4 984) et Orange (3 035) (ces chiffres ne peuvent pas être additionnés entre les opérateurs et les bandes de fréquences, car un même site peut diffuser sur plusieurs bandes de fréquences).

Sur la base de la population française en 2020, cela équivaudrait à plus de 3 000 personnes par station de base 5G, ce qui la place derrière la Corée du Sud, la Chine et le Japon, mais juste devant la moyenne de l’UE, selon le tableau de bord international de l’Observatoire européen de la 5G.

Nombre de personnes par station de base 5G

Les opérateurs mobiles français fournissent des services 5G par le biais des bandes de fréquences 700 MHz, 2,1 GHz et 3,5 GHz. Les étapes finales de la vente aux enchères de spectre 5G à mi-bande en France se sont terminées le 1er octobre 2020, avec 310 MHz de spectre attribués dans la bande 3,4-3,8 GHz. Orange a payé 854 millions d’euros pour un total de 90 MHz ; SFR 728 millions d’euros pour 80 MHz, et Bouygues Telecom et Free Mobile (Iliad) 602 millions d’euros chacun pour 70 MHz. Peu de temps après, en novembre 2020, tous les opérateurs mobiles ont obtenu une autorisation d’utiliser ces fréquences. Les opérateurs peuvent également utiliser la bande de fréquences 700 MHz, attribuée par l’ARCEP en 2015, et dans le futur les 26 GHz, encore à attribuer.

Free reste le seul opérateur français à déployer la 5G sur le spectre 700 MHz. Au 31 décembre 2021, son empreinte 5G comprenait 13 479 sites déjà opérationnels sur les 18 929 autorisations obtenues pour cette bande de fréquences. En outre, Free disposait de 2 384 sites utilisant la bande de fréquences de 3,5 MHz. Les autres opérateurs utilisent des fréquences de 2,1 GHz et 3,5 GHz pour la 5G (voir le graphique pour plus de détails).

Nombre de sites 5G commerciaux en France

Le déploiement des réseaux 5G commerciaux a commencé à la mi-novembre 2020, en mode non-standard (NSA). Il convient de noter que les licences 5G sont assorties d’obligations de couverture décrites ci-dessous, qui stimulent les déploiements de réseaux 5G des opérateurs:

Les étapes de la 5G en France

Doubler la numérisation des entreprises

 Le gouvernement français est un fervent partisan de la transformation numérique industrielle. Le programme “France 2030” a affecté 800 millions d’euros pour accélérer la transformation numérique des industries en s’appuyant sur le cloud, la 5G et l’intelligence artificielle (IA). Dont 400 millions d’euros ont été affectés à l’accompagnement des startups et des entreprises innovantes dans le développement de leurs offres et 400 millions d’euros pour aider à la transformation des sites industriels. Le gouvernement a également lancé une stratégie d’accélération pour la 5G et les futures technologies de réseaux de télécommunications pour saisir les opportunités de la 5G et positionner la France à l’avant-garde des nouveaux usages numériques. L’objectif est de créer 20 000 nouveaux emplois d’ici 2025, de soutenir la croissance du marché français de la 5G, ainsi que les PME françaises innovantes et l’écosystème global dans le pays et à l’extérieur.

La collaboration internationale figure également en bonne place à l’ordre du jour, notamment un partenariat franco-allemand sur les réseaux privés 5G. Pour renforcer l’écosystème des réseaux privés 5G, la France et l’Allemagne ont engagé un total de 17,7 millions d’euros pour soutenir quatre projets sur les applications 5G : 5G-OPERA, 5G4BP, 5GB4BP et 5G FORUM. Une autre collaboration transnationale, impliquant cette fois la France, l’Allemagne et le Luxembourg, est le projet 5GCroCo (Cross-Border Control) financé par l’UE. L’objectif est de tester les technologies 5G dans le corridor transfrontalier afin de valider l’utilisation des réseaux et équipements 5G de plusieurs constructeurs automobiles. 

Le soutien aux entreprises est un élément important de la stratégie globale de transformation numérique. À ce titre, les verticales industrielles utilisent déjà des fréquences dans la bande de fréquences de 2,6 GHz et 26 GHz, avec un accent particulier sur les réseaux 4G/ 5G privés.

Récemment, le gouvernement français a annoncé un ensemble de nouvelles mesures visant à accélérer le développement des cas d’utilisation industriels de la 5G, dans le prolongement d’un rapport et de recommandations publiés par le président de la Mission 5G Industrielle, Philippe Herbert. M. Herbert a identifié sept raisons pour lesquelles la 5G dans le secteur industriel français est à la traîne par rapport aux autres pays européens, notamment le faible accès au spectre pertinent, la disponibilité des équipements et des services, et le manque de maturité des écosystèmes 5G.

Pour y parvenir, le gouvernement, en collaboration avec l’ARCEP, encourage les entreprises industrielles à demander un spectre d’essai dans la bande 3,8 – 4,0 GHz. Les entreprises de divers secteurs verticaux tels que la fabrication, la logistique, la santé et l’énergie (entre autres), pourront utiliser un bloc de spectre de 100 MHz pendant trois ans pour tester différentes applications, tout en bénéficiant d’un « écosystème mature et varié de terminaux et d’équipements » grâce à la proximité de la bande de fréquences intermédiaire.

En outre, les licences 5G des opérateurs stipulent qu’ils doivent activer les fonctions 5G telles que le découpage en tranches et les « services différenciés » au plus tard en 2023, afin de couvrir les besoins des industries, par exemple la santé et l’automobile.

Les opérateurs français testent l’utilisation de la 5G dans de nombreuses industries, y compris dans le cadre d’une usine. Par exemple, Orange étudie les applications 5G à travers un certain nombre de projets d‘ « usine du futur » . En novembre 2021, ArcelorMittal France, Orange Business Services et Ericsson ont annoncé le lancement d’un réseau 5G industriel : 5G Steel. La 5G Steel offrira une couverture intérieure et extérieure, un débit de données élevé pour les appareils connectés, une faible latence pour les véhicules autonomes, la sécurité des données et le découpage du réseau pour adapter les services à chaque processus et exigence de l’entreprise. Un autre opérateur, Bouygues Telecom, s’est associé à sa société sœur Bouygues Construction pour tester comment la 5G peut contribuer à la numérisation du secteur de la construction. L’un des cas d’utilisation est l’utilisation de la 5G comme technologie permettant la transmission de données entre une grue et une cabine de contrôle à distance au sol.

Le développement durable est une priorité pour les opérateurs français

Comme nous l’avons abordé dans 5G Comes of Age : Cinq prédictions pour 2022, la réduction de l’impact environnemental de la 5G est en tête des priorités. À cette fin, l’ARCEP a publié une étude en janvier 2022 examinant différents scénarios de consommation d’énergie afin d’évaluer l’impact des réseaux 5G. Elle a révélé que les déploiements de réseaux 5G ont initialement augmenté la consommation d’énergie. Cependant, des gains d’efficacité sont attendus dans les zones les plus densément peuplées à partir de 2023, d’ici 2028, les économies d’énergie totales seront jusqu’à dix fois supérieures aux niveaux de consommation de 2002 par rapport à une densification du réseau uniquement en 4G. Dans les zones plus faiblement peuplées où la densité du trafic est plus faible, les gains d’efficacité seront plus faibles. 

Tous les opérateurs français sont engagés dans l’énergie durable. Par exemple, Bouygues Telecom est devenu le premier opérateur en France à utiliser de l’hydrogène produit à partir de sources renouvelables pour alimenter l’un de ses sites cellulaires grâce à une collaboration avec sa société sœur, Bouygues Energies et Services, et PowiDian, une startup française. L’opérateur a fixé un objectif de 100% de sa consommation d’électricité provenant d’énergies renouvelables (éolienne et hydroélectrique).

Un autre opérateur mobile, SFR, s’est également engagé en faveur des énergies renouvelables en s’associant au fournisseur français EkWateur pour alimenter une partie des sites télécoms en énergie 100% renouvelable. L’opérateur s’est également engagé à fournir une partie de ses sites 5G en énergie renouvelable en partenariat avec TotalEnergies. Dans un communiqué de 2021, il a indiqué que depuis juillet 2021, plus de 160 sites 5G ont été alimentés par des énergies renouvelables telles que des barrages hydroélectriques, des éoliennes ou des panneaux solaires. 

La France est en tête de ses pairs régionaux pour les vitesses de téléchargement médianes.

Performances de la 5G en France par rapport aux autres pays européens

En utilisant Speedtest Intelligence®, nous avons comparé la 5G en France à celle de ses pairs. Ces mesures sont basées sur des appareils compatibles 5G utilisant Speedtest Intelligence® sur iOS et Android. Au T1 2022, la France est en tête de notre liste avec la vitesse de téléchargement 5G médiane la plus rapide (207,58 Mbps), devant la Suisse (173,51 Mbps), le Royaume-Uni (166,37 Mbps). Suivent l’Allemagne (153,51 Mbps), les Pays-Bas (153,06 Mbps), l’Italie (123,69 Mbps) et l’Espagne (122,61 Mbps). Il est intéressant de noter que, bien que tous les opérateurs français aient lancé le service 5G en décembre 2020 – relativement tard par rapport aux autres pays analysés – ils ont atteint les vitesses de téléchargement médianes les plus élevées grâce à des investissements substantiels dans les réseaux. Cependant, cela ne s’est pas encore traduit par un grand nombre de clients. Le nombre d’abonnés 5G a atteint près de 3 millions au quatrième trimestre 2021 – ce qui équivaut à 4 % du total des abonnements (hors M2M) et représente presque le double du niveau du deuxième trimestre 2021, soit 1,6 million.

 

Orange va de l’avant pour une vitesse de téléchargement 5G médiane

Les performances de la 5G parmi les meilleurs fournisseurs en France

 

Orange a enregistré la vitesse de téléchargement 5G médiane la plus rapide parmi les principaux opérateurs, atteignant 366,42 Mbps au cours du premier trimestre 2022, loin devant SFR (247,32 Mbps), Bouygues Telecom (151,58 Mbps) et Free (150,11 Mbps). Orange a déployé la 5G dans près de 900 communes à fin 2021, ce qui se traduit par une couverture de 38% de la population métropolitaine. L’opérateur dispose de la plus grande bande passante 5G (90 MHz) dans la bande de fréquences 3,5 GHz et a principalement choisi de déployer la 5G dans cette bande de fréquences : il comptait 2 698 sites actifs dans la bande 3,5 GHz contre 471 dans la bande 2,1 GHz à fin 2021. 

L’approche d’Orange en matière de déploiement de la 5G a été de la déployer “là où elle est utile pour ses clients”, dans les endroits les plus fréquentés où il y a un risque de saturation de la 4G à court ou moyen terme. L’opérateur a également annoncé récemment son intention de mettre hors service la 2G d’ici à 2025 et la 3G d’ici à la fin de 2028, afin de réaliser des économies en étant en mesure de retirer les réseaux hérités. La possibilité de réaffecter son spectre de 900 MHz, actuellement attribué à la 2G et à la 3G, constitue un avantage supplémentaire. Orange est également un fervent partisan de l’Open RAN, qui était l’un des cinq principaux groupes de télécoms : Deutsche Telekom (DT), Orange, Telefonica, Telecom Italia (TIM) et Vodafone Group. Ils ont publié un rapport commun pour souligner l’urgence d’une collaboration sur l’Open RAN en novembre 2021. Toujours en novembre 2021, Orange a ouvert son premier laboratoire de recherche en France dédié à l’Open RAN. Michael Trabbia, directeur technique d’Orange, a déclaré que ce lancement s’inscrivait dans l’ambition du groupe de déployer exclusivement des équipements Open RAN en Europe à partir de 2025.

La France se situe à mi-chemin en matière de disponibilité de la 5G

Disponibilité de la 5G en France et dans les autres pays européens

 

Le classement des pays change lorsqu’il s’agit de la disponibilité de la 5G – le pourcentage d’utilisateurs d’appareils compatibles avec la 5G qui passent la plupart du temps avec un accès aux réseaux 5G. La France arrive en plein milieu des pays analysés pour cette métrique. Au premier trimestre 2022, les Pays-Bas avaient la plus grande disponibilité de la 5G (34,7%), la Suisse (33,2%), l’Espagne (15,9%), la France (15,7%), le Royaume-Uni (14,0%), l’Allemagne (9,1%) et l’Italie (9,0%).

 

Des pistes gratuites sur la disponibilité de la 5G

Disponibilité de la 5G pour les principaux fournisseurs en France

Free avait la plus grande disponibilité de la 5G parmi les opérateurs français, à 26,0% au T1 2022, devant Bouygues Telecom (18,3%), SFR (11,8%) et Orange (10,8%). Free reste le seul opérateur à avoir déployé la 5G sur le spectre 700 MHz, ce qui permet d’expliquer pourquoi il s’est mieux classé sur la Disponibilité 5G alors que le spectre bas débit se propage davantage. Selon l’agence du spectre ANFR, l’empreinte 5G de l’opérateur comprenait 14 568 sites en ondes au 1er avril, sur les 19 289 autorisations qu’il a obtenues pour cette bande de fréquences. Actuellement, la couverture du réseau 5G de Free s’étend à 81% de la population et est présente dans 9 652 communes. Free a réitéré sa stratégie d’entrée sur le marché en tarifant les services 5G au prix de la 4G, à l’instar de son entrée initiale sur le marché français où il proposait la 4G au prix de la 3G.

 

La cohérence 5G d’Orange s’est établie à un peu plus de 90%.

Score de cohérence 5G parmi les principaux fournisseurs en France

Consistency Score™ mesure quel pourcentage des échantillons d’un fournisseur est égal ou supérieur à un seuil de téléchargement et de chargement. Les seuils actuels pour la 5G mobile sont de 25 Mbps en téléchargement et de 3 Mbps en upload. Dans toute la France, la cohérence 5G s’est établie à 84% au premier trimestre 2022. Orange a obtenu la première place en tant qu’opérateur mobile 5G le plus constant en France avec un score de cohérence de 90,6 % au premier trimestre 2022, devant Free (83,7%), SFR (83,2%) et Bouygues Telecom (77,5%).

 

Bordeaux dispose de la 5G la plus rapide

Performance et disponibilité de la 5G dans les plus grandes villes de France

Bordeaux a été le grand gagnant pour les vitesses 5G dans toutes les villes françaises, avec une vitesse de téléchargement 5G médiane de 333,46 Mbps au cours du T1 2022, soit une augmentation de 44 % d’une année sur l’autre pour tous les opérateurs combinés. Le réseau 5G d’Orange à Bordeaux a atteint une vitesse de téléchargement médiane de 456,69 Mbps, juste devant SFR à 445,07 Mbps. Le lancement de la 5G à Bordeaux a été légèrement retardé jusqu’en février 2021, car la ville demandait en vain au gouvernement un moratoire sur la technologie 5G et un report de l’attribution des fréquences. Pourtant, les opérateurs ont attendu l’installation des capteurs autonomes de mesure d’exposition, dont les données sont reportées dans l’Observatoire des ondes.

En termes de disponibilité de la 5G, il n’y a pas de vainqueur incontesté dans les cinq plus grandes villes françaises.

 

La 5G en France est en pleine expansion et nous suivrons le marché de près.

Les opérateurs mobiles étendent activement les réseaux 5G et l’adoption de la 5G en France est en pleine croissance, stimulée par le fort soutien du gouvernement. Nous suivrons de près les performances de la 5G en France grâce à Speedtest Intelligence. Si vous souhaitez en savoir plus sur la façon dont Speedtest Intelligence peut vous aider à comparer vos performances 5G à celles de vos concurrents, veuillez vous renseigner ici.

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

Global Speeds

About the Author

Sylwia Kechiche

Ookla Research™ Articles
| February 23, 2022

5G in Europe: Reflecting on the Progress So Far and Mapping the Future

Global Speeds

Having recently published our five 5G predictions for 2022, we now turn our focus on the current 5G landscape in Europe, examining how European countries and players compare versus their international peers. We will also look at the factors that influence 5G adoption, e.g. spectrum assignments and recent trends in terms of private 5G and network virtualization. While a lot of progress have been made so far, and some operators offer lightning speeds, the picture is mixed across the continent and the ambitions set by the European Union remain just that. Ambitions. We have already reflected on the progress towards the EU’s 5G Action Plan targets in “5G in Europe: EU Targets Require a Rethink. In Special Report 03/2022: 5G roll-out in the EU: delays in deployment of networks with security issues remaining unresolved the European Court of Auditors (ECA) warns that Europe is falling behind the following targets set in the 2016 Action Plan: 

  • 5G to be rolled out across all urban areas and all major transport routes by 2025
  • Further amended in March 2021, to achieve EU-wide 5G coverage by 2030

The audit shows that there are delays in 5G network rollouts and in transposing the EU’s objectives into member states’ national 5G strategies or broadband plans. The ECA also warns that this could result in a digital divide between different parts of the EU in terms of quality and ability to access 5G services. 

In the article below we will examine the following:

  • Current 5G landscape in Europe
  • 5G performance across Europe 
  • Private 5G networks on the horizon 
  • Addressing the virtualization challenge at the EU level

Current 5G landscape in Europe

According to GSMA Intelligence data, 84 operators deployed 5G services in 31 countries as of January 2022. The State of Digital Communications report published by the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association (ETNO) states that the uptake of 5G in Europe accounts for only 2.8% of the total mobile connections, compared to 13.4% in the United States and 29.3% in South Korea: despite being available to 62% of the population.

​Spectrum plays a critical role in 5G deployments.

As per the EC 2016 5G Action Plan, countries across the EU were meant to make low-band spectrum available for use by June 30, 2020, and mid- and high-band spectrums by December 31, 2020. Yet, as the chart shows, four countries out of 30 analyzed are yet to assign spectrum. The delays related to spectrum assignment stem from multiple reasons ranging from the impact of COVID-19 on schedules to cross-border coordination with non-EU countries to weak demand from the operators’ side.  

3G network sunsetting advancing 

As operators look to optimize their network operations and costs and refarm spectrum for 4G and 5G, the pace of 2G/3G network shutdowns is increasing. However, the situation across Europe is more complicated than elsewhere. Based on public announcements, European operators will support 2G in the short term, phasing out 3G instead. The reasons for this are long term contracts with enterprises such as utility companies and automotive OEMs that need the 2G networks to be maintained but also eCall (emergency call) obligations. All new vehicle model types approved from March 31, 2018 and sold in the European Union are equipped with eCall, which uses circuit-switched services on 2G/3G network. 

A case in point being Vodafone U.K.’s recent announcement about phasing out 3G starting in 2023, while still offering 2G until the 2030s to support roaming and M2M/IoT devices. ​​Vodafone isn’t alone — Telefónica Deutschland (O2) announced last year it has accelerated the shutdown of its 3G network in various regions of Germany. 

5G performance across Europe

The important question is whether delays in spectrum assignments and supporting multiple network generations have affected the operators’ ability to deliver on 5G’s promise of faster speeds.

Comparing median 5G download speeds, it is apparent that the United Arab Emirates and South Korea are far ahead of the pack with over 500 Mbps median download speed in Q4 2021 according to Speedtest Intelligence®. However, Bulgaria, Norway, Saudi Arabia, and Sweden also made it to the 300 Mbps+ club.

In some cases, in the absence of dedicated 5G spectrum or to supplement existing spectrum, operators are using Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) to use the same spectrum band for different RAN technologies, which are allocated in real time. For instance, Swisscom has announced that it covers 99% of the country’s population with 5G, which borrows spectrum from its LTE network. The operator said that its 5G service on the 3.5 GHz (C-band) spectrum reaches 62% of the Swiss population. C-band spectrum is considered a sweet spot for 5G, as it strikes a good balance between capacity and coverage. 

The picture is slightly different when it comes to 5G Availability — the percentage of users on 5G-capable devices that spend most of the time with access to 5G networks. Not surprisingly, the U.S. is in the lead with 50% 5G Availability, having had 5G networks for almost three years and a large pool of customers with 5G capable devices. Most recently after much ado, Verizon and AT&T have finally launched 5G in mid (C-band) in an effort to catch up with T-Mobile’s 5G performance.

Within Europe, the Netherlands comes first, followed by Cyprus and Bulgaria. During its Q4 2021 results announcement KPN announced that it has modernized over 4,000 sites to date, and that its 5G network already covers more than 80% of the population using 700 MHz spectrum. The operator’s 5G strategy is focused on enabling a wider ecosystem but also on providing differentiating services for B2B customers in specific industries. 

Telemach Slovenia topped the charts in terms of median download speeds over 5G in Q4 2021. The operator is combining existing LTE spectrum with the 3.5 GHz and 700 MHz spectrum awarded in April 2021. Another operator from the United Group, Vivacom Bulgaria, also fared very well in this ranking. In April 2021, the operator won 100 MHz in the 3.7-3.8 GHz band for BGN4.6 million (€2.35m) but it had already launched the 5G network before with a temporary license in November 2020. András Pali, Vivacom CTO in an interview stated that the operator plans to invest 120 million in infrastructure in 2021. Vivacom utilizes DSS combining frequencies in 1.8, 2.1 and 3.6 GHz bands for 5G, so there is no compromise between coverage and speed.  

Swedish operators perform well in the ranking – three out of the four national operators rank as the top 10 fastest European players. Whilst Cyta has came in as the seventh fastest 5G provider, the operator has been recognised as the fastest mobile network in Europe in November 2021.

Private 5G networks on the horizon in Europe

We postulated in our recent blog that 5G networks will become a platform for innovation.

Enterprises, however, have a range of choices to secure 5G spectrum:

  • Public networks with SLAs 
  • Public networks with network slicing or local infrastructure (edge computing) 
  • Private (non-standalone) network utilizing either their own or operator-owned spectrum.

Germany has been the hotbed for the localized spectrum. German industrial players such as Siemens and Bosch, who have been at the forefront of the Industry 4.0 movement, have already been awarded 5G spectrum and are experimenting with private 5G networks. For instance, Bosch put its first campus network into operation at its Industry 4.0 lead plant in 2020, and it is testing 5G applications at 10 plants worldwide. 

Other European countries have followed suit in assigning 5G spectrum for private networks including: France, the U.K., Sweden, Finland, and Croatia. It is important to note, though, that until the 5G devices ecosystem matures, the majority of private networks will continue to be 4G/LTE, despite using equipment that is 5G ready. Fortunately, private wireless using 4G/LTE can power the majority of OT use cases as it brings major improvements in capabilities vs legacy wireless technology. 

In its latest private networks (Q4 2021) count, Nokia sees a similar trend. According to the latest data shared by Nokia, 87% of customer networks were 4.9G/LTE, 13% were 5G only— mostly composed of test networks for universities and deployments in countries where the vertical spectrum is more suitable for 5G private wireless — while the remainder had both technologies — often made of customers running the main operations with 4G/LTE while trialing and validating 5G in their labs/part of their operation. Nokia also anticipates chipsets based on Release 16 to come to market in 2023, which is slightly later than previously expected. This will result in the ability to start validating Release 16 5G industrial features (reliable latency) to convince industrial OEMs of the capabilities of 5G. Release 17 and later releases are expected to power new innovative use cases and to integrate 5G in their systems/machines/etc., but the timeframe is not known at this point in time.

Vodafone is one of the operators that is upbeat on the potential for private networks in Europe stating that a million companies in Europe could benefit from private mobile networks by the end of the decade. 

Addressing the virtualization challenge at the EU level 

Networks are increasingly becoming virtualized and disaggregated. Rakuten was the first operator to disrupt the established RAN market and has been joined by Dish Network and German 1&1 Drillish, which is working with Rakuten and NEC. 

Open-RAN Deployments
Company Supplier Date Application Notes
KDDI (au) Samsung and Fujitsu 2022 Commercial 5G SA Open-RAN site powered by virtualized Radio Access Network (vRAN) in Kawasaki, Kanagawa prefecture
Vodafone UK Dell, Intel, Wind River and Samsung 2022 5G Open-RAN site in Bath, UK
BT Nokia 2022 RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) Open-RAN trial in Hull, UK
Telefonica NEC 2021 Open-RAN trials Spain, Germany, U.K. and Brazil
Orange Samsung, Dell, Intel and Nokia 2021 Testing interoperability between components Open-RAN lab
Deutsche Telekom Dell, Fujitsu, Intel, Mavenir, NEC and Supermicro 2021 Multi-vendor, including massiveMIMO capabilities “O-RAN Town” in the city of Neubrandenburg, Germany
NTT DoCoMo Fujitsu, NEC and Nokia 2021 Multi-vendor interoperability for 4G and 5G base stations
1&1 Drillisch AG (greenfield) Rakuten and NEC 2021 Open-RAN 5G network Goal to serve 25% of the German population by 2025 and 50% by 2030 with Open-RAN network
Dish (greenfield) Altiostar, Mavenir and Fujitsu 2020 Open-RAN software integration
Rakuten (greenfield) 2020 Cloud native solutions

Many European markets have banned Chinese network equipment, and a number of European telcos are in the process of removing existing kits from their networks. Although this is good news for European vendors and smaller players, leading European operators voiced concerns that more actions are needed and have called for EU support. In November 2021, five leading telco groups: Deutsche Telekom (DT), Orange, Telefonica, Telecom Italia (TIM), and Vodafone Group, published a joint report to highlight the urgency of collaboration on Open RAN. The report, which is aimed at policymakers, EU member states and the wider ecosystem, concludes that in order for Europe to remain competitive in the 5G but also in the 6G era, Open RAN has to become a pillar of the Industrial Policy and Digital Compass strategy. The report also highlighted the risk of Europe falling behind the rest of the world — there are 13 major Open-RAN players compared to 57 elsewhere — with the majority of European telcos at the early stages of development without commercial relationships in place. These operators are active proponents of Open-RAN. In June 2021, they also voiced their Open-RAN technical priorities to foster ecosystem development. Open RAN Technical Priority Document represents the joint requirements of DT, Orange, TIM, Telefonica, and Vodafone, following the MOU they signed earlier. The whitepaper is designed to show vendors where to focus to enable European deployments based on operators’ timelines. It is important for telcos to work in collaboration with vendors so that everyone has a similar set of expectations — including support for “mix and match” integration models to avoid vendor lock-in.

The disaggregation and virtualization of RAN is closely linked with edge computing since Open-RAN can be deployed in a cloud environment using virtualized or containerized network functions. This opens up opportunities for further innovation. In recognition of that, the UK set a goal of having 35% of its telecom network traffic carried over Open-RAN by 2030. Vodafone switched on the first U.K. 5G Open-RAN site and opened a dedicated R&D center in Malaga, Spain to accelerate the digital, supported by the investment of €225 million over the next five years.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, chipset shortages have affected industries, and although telco has fared relatively well, sectors such as automotive have been much harder hit (car production has decreased by one third in 2021). However, the EU is looking to bring this dependency closer to home, providing significant funding in the form of the digital fund, to bring chip manufacturing to Europe. Intel has committed to spend €80bn expanding its EU manufacturing capacity and just recently the EC has proposed the European Chips Act to facilitate achieving is ambition of doubling the EU’s share in global production to 20% in 2030. This could have a major impact on 5G in Europe, so could have other initiatives to improve 5G infrastructure such as 5G coverage along cross-border corridors and 5G for smart communities. Lastly, access to skills and talent in emerging technologies (AI, ML) also suffers from uneven geographical spread. Partnerships will be critical and educational programmes will be needed to bring the talent home to ensure Europe doesn’t fall behind in this area too, especially when it comes to developer skills.

Ookla® will be at MWC Barcelona 2022 later this month. Come visit us at our Stand 2I28 in Hall 2, to talk with us about the 5G trend. 

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

Global Speeds

About the Author

Sylwia Kechiche

Ookla Research™ Articles
| November 15, 2021

Improving the Speedtest Global Index with Data on Median Speeds

Global Speeds

The Speedtest Global Index™ has long been the go-to resource for detailed information about internet performance around the world. It’s about to get even better. Starting today, we are also including data on median performance to better reflect the speeds a user is more likely to achieve in a market and we will eventually transition to only displaying median speeds. While we initially planned to switch entirely to median on February 15, 2022, we have extended the date the “mean” tab will be available until February 15, 2023 to allow regulators who rely on this information to transition over to the new metric. Read on for details as to why we are making this switch and the impact we expect it to have on world rankings for fixed broadband and mobile internet speeds.

How to get the data you want

We have included a toggle at the top of the Speedtest Global Index so you can switch between median and mean speeds. The default view for this toggle shows median speeds as that will be the metric used on the Speedtest Global Index going forward.

ookla_global-index_mean_median_1121

This toggle will be available at the top of the page for the next three months. This gives you time to adjust to the new metric and play with the comparisons between median and mean to gain a deeper understanding of why we are making this change. Speaking of which …

We are making this change because median is a better measure of everyday experience

Median is a measure that captures the typical user’s experience. In statistical terms, median is less likely to be influenced by outliers than mean is. The chart below shows how median and mean return very different values when considering a simple number set of ten values.

ookla_median_vs_mean_1121-01

You can see how that one final value of 99 draws the mean, the arithmetical average, way up whereas the median continues to reflect the typical value of the set.

As 5G and gigabit internet have expanded across the globe, we are seeing more and more high speed results on Speedtest®. This is worth celebrating, but mean values can mask the fact that not everyone’s internet is improving. Switching the Speedtest Global Index to median allows countries where a greater share of people have high speed internet to rank higher on the Index, rather than rewarding countries where a few areas have really high speeds and everyone else is left waiting.

This changes the rankings, but not for everyone

Changing the Speedtest Global Index from mean to median shakes up the global rankings quite a bit. Namibia jumps 23 places on mobile while Ireland drops 28 places on mobile. Countries like South Korea where 5G is well established and widely available see little change in their mobile rankings. On fixed broadband, Algeria sees a dramatic increase of 30 places while Venezuela suffers the largest drop of 35 places. You can see how this affects the top 10 list in the graphic below.

ookla_speedtest_global_index_rank_change_1121-01

In the example we gave above, we saw how rare, but extremely large values can sway the mean. The same is true with extremely low numbers. Countries whose rankings increase with the switch to median were likely held back by small numbers of low-performing tests.

And here are the countries that see the largest changes in rank, both positive and negative.

ookla_speedtest_global_index_rank_increase_1121-01

ookla_speedtest_global_index_rank_decrease_1121-01

The Speedtest Global Index remains the best source for worldwide internet rankings. See how your country is affected by this new view and see how well internet speeds are improving where you live and if everyone is seeing the same benefit.

Editor’s note: This article was updated on April 18 to note the extended deadline for discontinuing the “mean” tab.

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

Global Speeds

About the Author

Ookla