Opensignal has analyzed the real-world fixed broadband network experience of our users across Saudi Arabia, nationally and across four cities – Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and Mecca. To reflect the varying ways in which fixed broadband is used we have analyzed five different measures of the user experience: Broadband Consistent Quality, Broadband Video Experience, Broadband Download Speed, Broadband Peak Download Speed and Broadband Upload Speed.
Key findings
Our Salam users have the best or joint-best broadband experience in Saudi Arabia across all five compared metrics. Salam has the outright best Broadband Video Experience among the compared providers, with a score which places it in the ‘Good’ experience category. Salam users also see the outright fastest average and peak download speeds along with the outright fastest average upload speeds. In addition, Salam is statistically tied with stc for the top spot for Broadband Consistent Quality.
Across the four analyzed cities, Salam leads outright in eight out of the 19 comparisons we have made, and ties for first place in a further five – ahead of any other compared provider analyzed. Of the compared cities, Salam does particularly well in Dammam where it has the outright best experience among our users for all four analyzed metrics.
Out of the 19 comparisons made across the cities we have analyzed, experience on stc and Mobily leads in seven of them, and on Zain in three – compared to Salam’s 13. Among these, Mobily has the outright best experience in only two comparisons – in Jeddah for Broadband Consistent Quality and Broadband Upload Speed, and on stc only for Broadband Consistent Quality in Mecca.
National broadband experience
In Saudi Arabia, Salam and stc share the top spot for Broadband Consistent Quality with statistically tied scores of 59.8-60.3%. This places them around 1.5 points ahead of their closest competitor, Mobily, which scores 58.6%. These scores represent the percentage of our users' tests that meet the minimum recommended performance thresholds to watch HD video, complete group video conference calls and play games.
Salam is the outright winner of Broadband Video Experience, scoring 65.7 on a 100-point scale. Salam achieves a lead of 3.4 points over stc, the second-placed provider, which scores 62.3 points. Salam, stc, Zain and Mobily place in the Good (58-68) category, indicating that users are, on average, able to stream video at 720p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling.
Salam also takes the lead when it comes to Broadband Download Speed, winning with a score of 52.6Mbps and outpacing second-placed Zain by 11.4Mbps or 27.6%.
Salam is also the outright winner for Broadband Peak Download Speed, scoring 293.5Mbps. Stc, Zain, and Mobily share second place in a statistical tie with scores of 240-243Mbps. Salam achieves a lead of around 52Mbps (21.5%) over the runner-up providers in this category.
Salam also leads in Broadband Upload Speed, achieving a score of 24.1Mbps, 9Mbps (60%) faster than second-placed stc’s score of 15.1Mbps.
Broadband experience across cities
In Riyadh, Salam wins outright in Broadband Video Experience and Broadband Upload Speed, and ties for first place in Broadband Download Speed with Zain and in Broadband Peak Download Speed with Mobily.
In Jeddah, our Mobily users see the outright best experience in Broadband Consistent Quality and Broadband Upload Speed, with stc and Mobily tying for first place for both Broadband Video Experience and Broadband Download Speed.
In Dammam, Salam is the outright winner in all of the included comparisons – Broadband Consistent Quality, Broadband Video Experience, Broadband Download Speed and Broadband Upload Speed.
Our users in Mecca have the best Broadband Download Speed and Broadband Upload Speed with Salam, while for Broadband Video Experience Salam ties for first place with stc and Zain. Salam also shares first place with stc for Broadband Peak Download Speed. The best experience for Broadband Consistent Quality in Mecca is with stc.
Methodology and definitions
Opensignal captures user measurements across all broadband network architectures, encompassing fiber (FTTx), xDSL, cable, fixed wireless access (FWA) via 4G and 5G, as well as satellite, and reports on a holistic evaluation of our users’ experience with the listed providers' internet services. We have only included the largest fixed broadband providers by market share in each area, determined by our user base size.
Tariff characteristics — for example, speed tiers or data caps — vary greatly by provider and the dispersion of the plan mix will affect the average experience result. Opensignal’s measurements capture users’ experience, regardless of the plan that they have purchased from their provider. This report analyzes the real-world situation across all users’ plans.
Broadband Consistent Quality
Measures how often users’ experience on a network was sufficient to support common applications’ requirements. Broadband Consistent Quality uses six key performance indicators, including download and upload speed, latency, jitter, packet loss and time to first byte. Metrics are represented as a percentage of users’ tests that have met the minimum recommended performance thresholds to watch HD video, complete group video conference calls and play games. Broadband Consistent Quality is measured across all users in all hours of the day.
Broadband Video Experience
Opensignal’s adaptive video experience quantifies the quality of video streamed to mobile devices by measuring real-world video streams over an operator's network. The metric measures users’ adaptive video experience using a Mean Opinion Score (MOS) approach inspired by International Telecommunication Union (ITU) studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters of adaptive bitrate video streaming and the perceived video experience as reported by real people.
The videos tested are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers and include a wide selection of resolutions that dynamically match the network conditions, available bandwidth and device performance. Resolutions range from 144p to 2160p, which is also called 4K or UHD (Ultra High Definition). The model calculates a MOS score on a 0 to 100 scale by evaluating a number of parameters, including: the time to start playing the video, the quality of the video, the time playing each resolution, and the time spent re-buffering.
Broadband Download Speed
Measured in Mbps, Broadband Download Speed represents the typical everyday speeds a user experiences across a provider’s network.
Broadband Peak Download Speed
Measured in Mbps, Broadband Peak Download Speed represents the 98th percentile of the user speed distribution. i.e. this is what the users with the highest speeds within the footprint experience.
Broadband Upload Speed
Measured in Mbps, Broadband Upload Speed measures the average upload speeds for each internet service provider observed by our users across their fixed networks. Typically, upload speeds are slower than download speeds, but this often depends on the technology used for broadband connections.
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