5G roll-outs and adoption are steadily progressing in Latin American markets, even though the allocation of spectrum to 5G services and initial 5G deployments have happened later than in North America, Europe, or East Asia. In this first benchmarking piece on 5G experience in Latin America, Opensignal looks at the experience of mobile users across seven markets that have already deployed commercial 5G services — and quantifies the uplift in experience compared to 4G. Brazil and Guatemala are regional leaders in terms of speed and experiential metrics — however, our 5G users in Puerto Rico connect to 5G services for the highest proportion of the time.
Brazil is the frontrunner for 5G Download Speed in Latin America, leading the board with a stunning score of 346.4Mbps — 45.2% faster than the runner-up Guatemala and 83.8% faster than third-placed Mexico. Brazil’s result is impressive even at a global level, as the country takes the third spot in the recent 5G Global Benchmark report, right behind South Korea and Singapore.
Brazil also excels for 5G Peak Download Speed, with the result over 750Mbps — a third faster than Guatemala and more than 50% faster than Puerto Rico, with both these markets crossing the 500Mbps mark. In the 5G Global Benchmark report, Brazil makes it to the global top 10 in terms of 5G peak download speeds. The key to Brazil’s success are 5G Standalone (SA) deployments in the 3.5GHz band, that have been rolled out in the country since July 2022 first — first in Brasília, followed by other state capitals.
Meanwhile, our users in Argentina and Peru observe much lower average 5G download speeds, compared to other markets in the region – 59.9Mbps and 48.2Mbps, respectively, substantially below the 100Mbps milestone, while their 5G peak download speeds clock in at only slightly above 150Mbps. Both Argentina and Peru are yet to assign the 3.5GHz band, which explains slower 5G download speeds.
Guatemala reigns supreme for 5G Upload Speed with a score of 42Mbps — 34.5% faster than second-placed Brazil, while Mexico takes the bronze medal with a score of 30.3Mbps. Argentina brings up the rear with a score of 13.7Mbps. Noteworthily, Guatemala’s score places it among global leaders, as the country jointly takes first place in the world for 5G Upload Speed in the 5G Global Benchmark report, along with South Korea and Malaysia.
Aside from leading for 5G Upload Speed in the region, Guatemala also takes the top spots for two out of three experiential metrics — 5G Video Experience and 5G Voice App Experience, while Brazil triumphs for 5G Games Experience.
Guatemala comes first for 5G Video Experience with a score of 77.2 — only 0.8 points shy of the Excellent (78 and above) rating — as it beats Brazil by 2.6 points and Chile by 3.2 points. All observed countries in Latin America bar Puerto Rico place in the Very Good (68-78) category, meaning our users are, on average, able to stream video at 1080p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling — meanwhile, Puerto Rico rates as Good (58-68). Guatemala also comes first for 5G Voice App Experience with a score of 82.6 points, 0.8 points ahead of second-placed Chile.
However, Brazil triumphs for 5G Games Experience, with a score of 83.1 points and a sizable lead of around 7.1 points over Argentina and Guatemala, which are statistically tied for second place. All three markets along with Mexico place in the Good (75-85) category — meaning, most users deem the experience acceptable and not experience a delay between their actions and the game — although Brazil is only less than two points short of the Excellent (85 and above) rating. Puerto Rico and Chile place in the category below — Fair (65-75) and our users in Peru struggle with the Poor (40-65) 5G Games Experience.
Brazil’s leadership for 5G Games Experience can be explained by its accelerated 5G SA roll-outs — already the largest 5G SA network in the world, according to Brazil’s regulator ANATEL. One of the key components of the 5G Games Experience metric is latency — the measure of network responsiveness — and using a 5G core network greatly improves latency. Low latency contributes to a better multiplayer mobile gaming experience, as it ensures a sense of control over the game and no noticeable delays for the gamers.
5G technology provides mobile users with a substantially superior experience than 4G networks. Brazil enjoys a breathtaking uplift of 13.5 times faster average download speeds on 5G than on 4G, followed by Guatemala’s more than 10 times faster speeds. Even in Argentina and Peru, still with limited access to the mid-band spectrum, our users observed 2.6 and 2.4 times faster download speeds on 5G than on 4G networks, respectively. For video streaming, Guatemala and Chile observed 24% and 23% higher video experience scores, ahead of Brazil’s 20%.
There are significant differences in the proportions of time our 5G users with active 5G subscriptions spend connected to 5G services in Latin America — ranging from nearly half of their time in Puerto Rico to only 2.2% of their time in Argentina. Puerto Rico’s impressive score of 48.4% not only is the highest in Latin America but also worldwide — as the market tops the 5G Availability rank in the 5G Global Benchmark report. Noteworthily — Brazil and Guatemala dominate speed and experiential metrics in Latin America, but our 5G users connect to 5G services in these markets for less than 10% of the time, meaning they still have limited access to the benefits of 5G services.
5G is gaining momentum in Latin America but many markets still lag behind
Our data demonstrates substantial disparities in the 5G experience of our users in Latin America. Some markets, such as Brazil or Guatemala, enjoy world-class levels of 5G speeds — or 5G Availability in the case of Puerto Rico — while others still struggle with subpar experience due to the limited access to mid-band spectrum, like Argentina and Peru. And there are other markets in the region that either have only launched 5G, like Bolivia or Uruguay — or are yet to even auction 5G spectrum, like Bolivia, Colombia, or Paraguay.
5G services can facilitate the development of digital connectivity in Latin America, which will boost sustainable economic growth and narrow the still substantial digital divide in the region. However, there are still challenges in the regions that need to be addressed by a collaboration of local governments, policymakers, and mobile operators.
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