Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumers' connectivity experiences. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding what happens when people use their mobile and broadband connections in their daily life.
Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumers' connectivity experiences. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding what happens when people use their mobile and broadband connections in their daily life.
AIS is the sole winner of three out of four speed categories. TrueMove H jumps on the winners’ podium for Upload Speed Experience and whittles away at AIS’s lead for Download Speed, bringing the gap between the two operators down from 2.6Mbps to 1.9Mbps. However, AIS has increased its winning margins for both 5G speed awards — from 64.6Mbps to 69.4Mbps for 5G Download Speed and from 7.1Mbps to 7.8Mbps for 5G Upload Speed. Aside from DTAC seeing an increase in its score for Download Speed Experience, our users in Thailand generally have observed declines in their average overall and 5G speeds.
In the previous report, DTAC became the sole winner for Video Experience and jumped on the winners’ podium for 5G Video Experience with AIS. DTAC retains its outright victory for Video Experience with a score of 59.3 points on a 100-point scale, beating TrueMove H by 0.9 points. However, DTAC has lost its grasp on the 5G Video Experience award, leaving AIS alone on the podium and losing by 3.6 points to the new outright winner. All national operators in Thailand place in the Very Good (68-78) category for 5G video services.
Live Video Experience quantifies live video streaming used for current events, such as live sports, game streams, music concerts, or news. AIS comes first for 5G Live Video Experience with a score of 68.5 points on a 100-point scale. All Thai national operators rate as Excellent (58 or above) for 5G Live Video Experience, which means our users are, on average, able to stream video at least at 1080p with low loading times, little stalling, and a satisfactory live offset. While AIS wins 5G Live Video Experience outright — both its competitors are joint winners for the overall Live Video Experience award, claiming it with statistically tied scores of 55.3-55.4 points on a 100-point scale.
Opensignal’s new Coverage Experience metrics measure the extent of mobile networks in the places people live, work, and travel. AIS triumphs for Coverage Experience with a score of 8.2 points on a 10-point scale — 1.4 points ahead of TrueMove H. Both these operators are joint winners of the other newly introduced coverage award — 5G Coverage Experience — with scores of 1.5-1.6 points.
TrueMove H wins 5G Availability outright for the second time in a row, with a score of 27.9%. DTAC sees the highest boost in its score since the previous report, of nine percentage points, bringing its score to 26%. As a result, DTAC overtakes AIS, which now places third with a score of 24.9%. This means that our 5G users on TrueMove H's DTAC's networks spend over a quarter of their time with an active 5G connection, and just under a quarter for those on AIS' network.
AIS wins the Consistent Quality award outright with a score of 59.2%. It beats DTAC by 3.1 percentage points and TrueMove H by 9.1 percentage points. This metric measures if the network is sufficient to support common mobile application requirements at a level that is ‘good enough’ for users to maintain (or complete) various typical demanding tasks on their devices. It assesses a number of experience indicators such as download speed, upload speed, latency, jitter, packet loss, and time to first byte.
In Opensignal's latest Thailand Mobile Network Experience report we introduce Live Video Experience and 5G Live Video Experience, which represent the overall and 5G experience of our users when streaming real-time video over mobile networks. Opensignal also introduces new Coverage Experience metrics that measure the extent of overall and 5G coverage in the places people live, work, and travel. Consistent Quality replaces the Excellent Consistent Quality and Core Consistent Quality awards used in previous reports.
AIS dominates the award table, with nine outright and three joint wins out of 15 awards available. It achieves a clean sweep in the 5G Experience section and retains Download Speed Experience and Games Experience. AIS also wins two newly introduced awards — Coverage Experience and Consistent Quality. DTAC and TrueMove H’s award hauls are more modest compared to AIS — both operators each win one award outright — DTAC defends Video Experience, while TrueMove H retains 5G Availability. On top of these recognitions, DTAC and TrueMove H additionally share two and three more awards, respectively.
To improve its 5G coverage, AIS purchased half of the spectrum assets in the 700MHz band owned by National Telecom, for THB14.9 billion ($419.6 million), with the provision that 20% of this spectrum asset will be reserved for Thai MVNOs. Both companies also signed a contract, which will allow NT to rent out AIS’ soon-to-be-deployed 13,500 base stations and use this partner’s network for national roaming.
Our results in this report are based on measurements collected across all major mobile operators in Thailand – AIS, DTAC, and TrueMove H – over the period of 90 days between July 1, 2023 and September 28, 2023, to see how they fared.
In the last report, DTAC snatched the Video Experience award away from TrueMove H. DTAC keeps hold of this award with a score of 59.3 points on a 100-point scale, beating TrueMove H by 0.9 points. AIS lags behind its competitors, with a score of 54.9 points.
DTAC and TrueMove H rate as Good (58-68), which means our users are, on average, able to stream video at 720p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling. Meanwhile, AIS places in a category below — Fair (48-58).
Video Experience scores account for adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR), a technology that allows Opensignal to accurately represent users’ real video experience including video streams up to 4K quality.
Opensignal’s Video Experience quantifies the quality of video streamed to mobile devices by measuring real-world video streams over an operator's networks. The metric is based on an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach, built upon detailed studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters, including picture quality, video loading time and stall rate, with the perceived video experience as reported by real people. To calculate video experience, we are directly measuring video streams from end-user devices and using this ITU approach to quantify the overall video experience for each operator on a scale from 0 to 100. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions — including Full HD (FHD) and 4K / Ultra HD (UHD) — and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.
In addition to Video Experience, we report on the following metrics related to video experience:
DTAC and TrueMove H share the Live Video Experience award, with statistically tied scores of 55.3-55.4 points on a 100-point scale. AIS comes last, with a score of 53.6 points — around 1.8 points behind the joint winners.
AIS, DTAC, and TrueMove H all place in the Very Good (53-58) category — our users are, on average, able to stream video at least at 720p or 1080p with low loading times, little stalling, and satisfactory live offset.
Operators’ Live Video Experience scores are determined using a range of measures that impact users’ perceived live streaming viewing experience, including picture quality, video loading time, and stall rate, but also live playback offset — the time difference between real-time and the current playback position a viewer sees.
Unlike Video Experience, which represents on-demand video streams, Live Video Experience quantifies live video streaming used for current events. For example when users watch live sports, game streams, music concerts, or news where the event is happening at that moment in time.
Opensignal’s Live Video Experience quantifies the quality of real-time video streamed to mobile devices by measuring video streams over an operator's network. The metric extends the existing International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach used for Opensignal's on-demand Video Experience metric, built upon detailed studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters, including live playback offset, picture quality, video loading time and stall rate, with the perceived live video experience as reported by real people. To calculate live video experience, we are directly measuring live video streams from end-user devices and using this extension of ITU's approach to quantify the overall live video experience for each operator on a scale from 0 to 100. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.
AIS defends the Games Experience award, with a score of 73.2 points on a 100-point scale — 1.9 points ahead of the runner-up DTAC and 2.9 ahead of third-placed TrueMove H.
All Thai operators rate as Fair (65-75). Users find the experience to be ‘average’. In most cases, the game is responsive to the actions of the player with most users reporting that they feel like they had control over the game. The majority of players report that they noticed a delay between their actions and the outcomes in the game.
Opensignal’s Games Experience measures how mobile users experience real-time multiplayer mobile gaming on an operator’s network. Measured on a scale of 0-100, it analyzes how our users’ multiplayer mobile gaming experience is affected by mobile network conditions including latency, packet loss and jitter.
Games Experience quantifies the experience when playing real-time multiplayer mobile games on mobile devices connected to servers located around the world. The approach is built on several years of research quantifying the relationship between technical network parameters and the gaming experience as reported by real mobile users. These parameters include latency (round trip time), jitter (variability of latency) and packet loss (the proportion of data packets that never reach their destination). Additionally, it considers multiple genres of multiplayer mobile games to measure the average sensitivity to network conditions. The games tested include some of the most popular real-time multiplayer mobile games (such as Fortnite, Pro Evolution Soccer and Arena of Valor) played around the world.
Calculating Games Experience starts with measuring the end-to-end experience from users’ devices to internet end-points that host real games. The score is then measured on a scale from 0 to 100.
In addition to Games Experience, we report on the following metrics related to games experience:
AIS triumphs for Download Speed Experience once again, with a score of 21.1Mbps. TrueMove H comes second — 1.9Mbps behind AIS, down from 2.6Mbps. DTAC brings up the rear with a score of 14.1Mbps — however, it is the only operator that sees a boost in its score this time around, of 0.5Mbps. Meanwhile, our users on both AIS’s and TrueMove H’s networks have experienced declines in their average overall download speeds, by 1Mbps and 0.3Mbps, respectively.
Measured in Mbps, Download Speed Experience represents the typical everyday speeds a user experiences across an operator’s mobile data networks.
In addition to Download Speed Experience, we report on the following metrics related to download speeds:
After AIS claimed Upload Speed Experience all to itself in the previous report, it now shares the award with TrueMove H, with identical scores of 9Mbps. All of the operators’ scores have declined this time around — from 0.1Mbps for DTAC and TrueMove H to 0.6Mbps in the case of AIS.
Upload Speed Experience measures the average upload speeds for each operator observed by our users across their mobile data networks. Typically upload speeds are slower than download speeds, as current mobile broadband technologies focus resources on providing the best possible download speed for users consuming content on their devices. As mobile internet trends move away from downloading content to creating content and supporting real-time communications services, upload speeds are becoming more vital and new technologies are emerging that boost upstream capacity.
In addition to Upload Speed Experience, we report on five supporting metrics related to upload speeds:
In the previous report, AIS and DTAC were joint winners for 5G Video Experience. However, DTAC slips off the winners’ podium and AIS becomes the sole winner with a score of 72.7 points. AIS commands a lead of 3.6 points over DTAC, while TrueMove H brings up the rear with a score of 68.6 points.
All national operators in Thailand place in the Very Good (68-78) category for on-demand 5G video services.
5G Video Experience scores account for adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR), a technology that allows Opensignal to accurately represent users’ real video experience including video streams up to 4K quality.
5G Video Experience quantifies the quality of mobile video experienced by Opensignal users on real-world video streams when they were connected to 5G. The metric is based on an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach, built upon detailed studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters, including picture quality, video loading time and stall rate, with the perceived video experience as reported by real people. To calculate 5G Video Experience, we are directly measuring video streams from end-user devices and using this ITU approach to quantify the video experience observed by our users on each operator’s 5G network on a scale from 0 to 100. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions — including Full HD (FHD) and 4K / Ultra HD (UHD) — and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.
AIS wins 5G Live Video Experience outright with a score of 68.5 points on a 100-point scale — 3.3 points ahead of second-placed TrueMove H and 4.2 points ahead of third-placed DTAC.
Our Thai users enjoy an Excellent (58 or above) 5G livestreaming experience, regardless of their choice of operator. This means our users are, on average, able to stream video at least at 1080p with low loading times, little stalling, and a satisfactory live offset.
5G Live Video Experience is calculated using a range of measures that impact users’ perceived live streaming viewing experience over 5G connections, including picture quality, video loading time, and stall rate, but also live playback offset — the time difference between real-time and the current playback position a viewer sees.
Unlike 5G Video Experience, which represents on-demand video streams, 5G Live Video Experience quantifies live video streaming used for current events. For example when users watch live sports, game streams, music concerts, or news where the event is happening at that moment in time.
Opensignal’s Live Video Experience quantifies the quality of real-time video streamed to mobile devices by measuring video streams over an operator's network. The metric extends the existing International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach used for Opensignal's on-demand Video Experience metric, built upon detailed studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters, including live playback offset, picture quality, video loading time and stall rate, with the perceived live video experience as reported by real people. To calculate live video experience, we are directly measuring live video streams from end-user devices and using this extension of ITU's approach to quantify the overall live video experience for each operator on a scale from 0 to 100. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.
5G Live Video Experience quantifies the quality of mobile video experienced by Opensignal users on real-world live video streams when they were connected to 5G.
AIS keeps 5G Games Experience in a firm grip, winning it outright for the fourth time in a row, with a score of 82.1 points on a 100-point scale. It commands a lead of 3.5 points over second-placed DTAC and 4.6 points over TrueMove H.
All Thai national operators rate as Good (75-85) for 5G Games Experience — most users deem the experience acceptable and do not experience a delay between their actions and the game.
5G Games Experience measures how mobile users experience real-time multiplayer mobile gaming on an operator's 5G network. It analyzes how our users’ multiplayer mobile gaming experience was affected by mobile network conditions including latency, packet loss and jitter. 5G Games Experience for each operator is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100.
5G Games Experience quantifies the experience when playing real-time multiplayer mobile games on mobile devices connected to servers located around the world. The approach is built on several years of research quantifying the relationship between technical network parameters and the gaming experience as reported by real mobile users. These parameters include latency (round trip time), jitter (variability of latency) and packet loss (the proportion of data packets that never reach their destination). Additionally, it considers multiple genres of multiplayer mobile games to measure the average sensitivity to network conditions. The games tested include some of the most popular real-time multiplayer mobile games (such as Fortnite, Pro Evolution Soccer and Arena of Valor) played around the world. Calculating 5G Games Experience starts with measuring the end-to-end experience from users’ devices to internet end-points that host real games.
AIS remains unbeatable for 5G Download Speed, winning it for the fifth time in a row, with a score of 136.2Mbps — remaining the only winner of this award in Opensignal reports since November 2021. All operators observe declines in their scores, ranging from 7.1Mbps for AIS through 9.5Mbps for DTAC to 12Mbps for TrueMove H. As a result, AIS has increased its winning margin for 5G Download Speed over second-placed TrueMove H — from 64.6Mbps to 69.4Mbps.
5G Download Speed shows the average download speed experienced by Opensignal users across an operator’s 5G network. 5G Download Speed for each operator is calculated in Mbps (Megabits per second).
This report marks the fifth consecutive win for AIS for 5G Upload Speed. The operator wins the award outright with a score of 25.1Mbps. Our users on all operators observe drops in average 5G upload speeds — 0.6Mbps for AIS, 1.3Mbps for TrueMove H and 4.4Mbps for DTAC — which means DTAC’s average upload speeds drop by more than a quarter between reports. As a result, AIS’ lead over the runner-up TrueMove H has increased from 7.1Mbps to 7.8Mbps.
5G Upload Speed measures the average upload speeds experienced by Opensignal users across an operator’s 5G network. 5G Upload Speed for each operator is calculated in Mbps (Megabits per second).
AIS comes first for Coverage Experience with a score of 8.2 points on a 10-point scale — 1.4 points ahead of second-placed TrueMove H. DTAC brings up the rear, with a score of 4.9 points.
The Opensignal Coverage Experience metric measures the extent of mobile networks in the places people live, work and travel. The metric represents the experience users receive as they travel around areas where they would reasonably expect to find coverage.
Traditional coverage metrics typically estimate either a percentage of land area covered, or a percentage of population covered; often neither will be an accurate measurement of the true user expectation and experience. In many markets there are areas where neither population density nor geographic area reflect the importance of coverage to users. For example, in a large mountain range most users will not expect coverage in the wilderness, but poor coverage in the relatively small area of a ski resort is critical for the enjoyment of a holiday. Estimates based purely on population give undue significance to coverage in the most densely populated areas.
Coverage Experience measures geographic coverage of populated areas and therefore more accurately reflects the coverage expectations and experience of typical users. It can give a result that is somewhat different to traditional estimates based on either geographic or population measures. The metric uses a scale from 0 to 10.
The coverage maps show the locations where we received measurements from users connecting with 3G or better mobile service. Each map provides an indication of the areas in which it is possible to obtain mobile service from that mobile operator.
AIS and TrueMove H are joint winners of the 5G Coverage Experience award, with statistically tied scores of 1.5-1.6 points on a 10-point scale. DTAC lags behind its competitors, with a score of 0.5 points.
The Opensignal Coverage Experience metric measures the extent of mobile networks in the places people live, work and travel. The metric represents the experience users receive as they travel around areas where they would reasonably expect to find coverage.
Traditional coverage metrics typically estimate either a percentage of land area covered, or a percentage of population covered; often neither will be an accurate measurement of the true user expectation and experience. In many markets there are areas where neither population density nor geographic area reflect the importance of coverage to users. For example, in a large mountain range most users will not expect coverage in the wilderness, but poor coverage in the relatively small area of a ski resort is critical for the enjoyment of a holiday. Estimates based purely on population give undue significance to coverage in the most densely populated areas.
Coverage Experience measures geographic coverage of populated areas and therefore more accurately reflects the coverage expectations and experience of typical users. It can give a result that is somewhat different to traditional estimates based on either geographic or population measures. The metric uses a scale from 0 to 10.
5G Coverage Experience shows the proportion of places Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription had an active 5G connection.
The coverage maps show the locations where we received measurements from users connecting with 3G or better mobile service. Each map provides an indication of the areas in which it is possible to obtain mobile service from that mobile operator.
After a three-way statistical tie in the previous report for Availability, TrueMove H loses its grip on this award, leaving only AIS and DTAC as joint winners, with statistically tied scores of 99.3-99.4%. These results reflect the proportion of time our users in Thailand connect to 3G, 4G, or 5G. While AIS and TrueMove H have identical scores of 99.3%, DTAC’s lower confidence interval overlaps with AIS’s upper confidence interval but not with TrueMove H’s.
Our availability metrics are not a measure of a network’s geographical extent. They won’t tell you whether you are likely to get a signal if you plan to visit a remote rural or nearly uninhabited region. Instead, they measure what proportion of time people have a network connection, in the places they most commonly frequent — something often missed by traditional coverage metrics. Looking at when users have a connection rather than where, provides us with a more precise reflection of the true user experience.
We also keep track of the instances that leave mobile users most frustrated: when there is no signal to connect to at all. The most common dead zones users struggle with occur indoors. As most of our availability data is collected indoors (as that’s where users spend most of their time), we’re particularly astute at detecting areas of zero signal.
Our availability metrics take a user-centric, time-based approach that complements the user-centric and geographical-based methodology used by our reach metrics.
Availability shows the proportion of time all Opensignal users on an operator’s network had either a 3G, 4G or 5G connection.
The coverage maps show the locations where we received measurements from users connecting with 3G or better mobile service. Each map provides an indication of the areas in which it is possible to obtain mobile service from that mobile operator.
TrueMove H is the sole winner for 5G Availability for the second consecutive time. Our TrueMove H 5G users have an active 5G connection for 27.9% of the time. DTAC sees the highest boost in its score since the previous report, of nine percentage points, bringing its score to 26%. Consequently, DTAC overtakes AIS, which now places third.
Our availability metrics are not a measure of a network’s geographical extent. They won’t tell you whether you are likely to get a signal if you plan to visit a remote rural or nearly uninhabited region. Instead, they measure what proportion of time people have a network connection, in the places they most commonly frequent — something often missed by traditional coverage metrics. Looking at when users have a connection rather than where, provides us with a more precise reflection of the true user experience.
We also keep track of the instances that leave mobile users most frustrated: when there is no signal to connect to at all. The most common dead zones users struggle with occur indoors. As most of our availability data is collected indoors (as that’s where users spend most of their time), we’re particularly astute at detecting areas of zero signal.
Our availability metrics take a user-centric, time-based approach that complements the user-centric and geographical-based methodology used by our reach metrics.
5G Availability shows the proportion of time Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription had an active 5G connection.
The coverage maps show the locations where we received measurements from users connecting with 3G or better mobile service. Each map provides an indication of the areas in which it is possible to obtain mobile service from that mobile operator.
AIS takes home Consistent Quality with a score of 59.2%. DTAC comes second, 3.1 percentage points, behind the winner, while TrueMove H brings up the rear with a score of 50% — losing by 9.1 percentage points to AIS. These scores reflect the proportion of tests that pass the requirements of Consistent Quality, along with the proportion of completed tests to all tests conducted.
Consistent Quality measures if the network is sufficient to support common mobile application requirements at a level that is ‘good enough’ for users to maintain (or complete) various typical tasks on their devices.
We combine different experience indicators such as download speed, upload speed, latency, jitter, packet discard, and time to first byte to calculate Consistent Quality. These components are evaluated against thresholds recommended by various more demanding common applications used for a range of common tasks.
To calculate the metric value, the proportion of tests that pass the requirements of Consistent Quality is multiplied by the test success ratio, which is the proportion of completed tests to all tests conducted. Tests that pass indicate that activities such as video calling, uploading an image to social media, or using smart home applications will be possible without noticeable lag or slowdown.
Collecting billions of individual measurements daily from over 100 million devices globally, Opensignal independently analyzes mobile and broadband user experience on every major network operator around the globe.
Opensignal is the leading global provider of independent insights into consumers' connectivity experiences and choice of carrier. Our proprietary insights into mobile and broadband networks give operators the solutions they need to profitably compete and win, from executive level scorecards and public validation to pin-point level engineering analytics and consumer decision dynamics.
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For every metric we calculate statistical confidence intervals indicated on our graphs. When confidence intervals overlap, our measured results are too close to declare a winner. In those cases, we show a statistical draw. For this reason, some metrics have multiple operator winners.
In our bar graphs we represent confidence intervals as boundaries on either sides of graph bars.
In our supporting-metric charts we show confidence intervals as +/- numerical values.
Why confidence intervals are vital in analyzing mobile network experience