We started Opensignal eight years ago with a simple idea: The world needs access to independent and accurate data on mobile coverage and connectivity. Back then, if you wanted to find out which mobile provider would offer you the best service, the only option you had was to walk into one of the provider’s stores and ask. This experience usually involved seeing an overly optimistic network coverage map and very positive reassurance from the salesperson. Yet, we would never accept this situation in other parts of our lives. When choosing a restaurant, we don’t look to the chef for their opinion. When choosing a holiday destination, we don’t consult the local tourist board’s view. Instead we seek an independent third party that can provide informed and trustworthy advice. Why should mobile connectivity be any different? A lot has changed in eight years. Connectivity has become so important that the need for a trusted, independent view on mobile network experience, a need that Opensignal embraces and satisfies, has become critical. The difference between choosing the best provider or worst provider can mean spending days per month without connectivity. Numerous studies have shown that access to connectivity, and the information flows that it enables, is one of the single most important drivers of economic prosperity. Regulators and policy makers need information they can trust to make decisions that can be impactful. The mobile providers themselves need the best data and insights available so they can continue to improve the service that they offer. In short, the entire ecosystem benefits from the truth being available. The transparency Opensignal provides empowers consumers to make better choices, driving healthy competition and boosting progress in the industry. For this to be possible, it required Opensignal to build a network of critical density: of consumers providing their real-world measurements as well as buy in from key stakeholders in the industry. I’m incredibly pleased to say that we’ve reached an inflection point and adoption of Opensignal is accelerating. The industry is turning away from legacy methods for predicting network performance in favor of what really matters: real-world experience, measured on a massive scale. We are beyond the ‘point of no return’ and every day sees further validation of Opensignal’s approach:
- More than one hundred million people worldwide have contributed their real-world measurements to Opensignal. Combined across them all, we have collected well over a trillion data points on network experience globally.
- Major operators in over 20 countries across six continents use Opensignal metrics to understand and improve their network experience.
- Regulators have started relying on Opensignal to help them better oversee the telecoms market and governments are demanding that more meaningful, real world-experience metrics are used for creating policy.
- Leading financial and industry analysts use Opensignal as the de facto reference for understanding the global telecoms industry.
- Millions of people regularly use our OpenSignal and Meteor apps to see for themselves the truth on real-world mobile network experience.
- Our regular State of Mobile Networks reports now cover more than 80 countries worldwide and are at a scale and frequency unmatched in the industry.
- Opensignal data has been cited by over 100 published academic papers.
These achievements have not gone unnoticed. We were recently named to the prestigious Global Telecoms ‘Power 100’ and to the TechCity Future Fifty list of the fastest growing UK headquartered tech businesses. And today, I am pleased to announce that we have raised an $8 million Series B round of investment from Octopus Ventures, one of Europe’s premier investors (with participation from our existing investors Qualcomm Ventures, O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures and Passion Capital), to support Opensignal in our next stage of growth. It’s been an incredible few years, but really, we’re just getting started. We’re on a mission to champion the truth in mobile network experience and make it available to all. We believe mobile connectivity is too important to be comfortable with the status quo. We imagine a world where connectivity is considered a human right, and where the billions of people who rely on their mobile phones use independent data to ensure they have the best connection possible. We imagine a world where governments everywhere set the telecoms infrastructure policies that are critical to our economic development based on meaningful real-world experience metrics and have access to independent data to enforce them. We imagine a world where access to the true mobile experience increases industry competition and enables operators to provide better connectivity to all. If this is the world that you imagine too, then I invite you to join us. We are looking for talented, passionate people to share the journey with us. We are hiring across all teams and departments for positions in our London headquarters and globally. Check out our open positions, get in touch at [email protected] or tweet me @Brendan_Gill. — Brendan Gill is CEO and co-founder of Opensignal.
In February 2019, we changed the spelling of our company name to Opensignal; our app remains the same spelling — OpenSignal app.
Opensignal Limited retains ownership of this insight including all intellectual property rights, data, content, graphs & analysis. Reports and insights produced by Opensignal Limited may not be quoted, reproduced, distributed, published for any commercial purpose (including use in advertisements or other promotional content) without prior written consent. Journalists are encouraged to quote information included in Opensignal reports and insights provided they include clear source attribution. For more information, contact [email protected].