Global Mobile Network Experience Awards 2025

Definitions

Award Tables

Large land area group

Japanese operators have performed strongly in the large land area group. Au is a Global Winner in three categories (Reliability Experience, Games Experience and Voice App Experience). It is also a Global Leader for Video Experience. SoftBank is a Global Leader in four categories, while NTT docomo and Rakuten Mobile are Global Leaders in three categories.  

In addition to being a Global Winner for both Upload Speed Experience and Video Experience, Norway’s Telenor is a Global Leader for Download Speed Experience, Games Experience and Reliability Experience. Its local rivals, Telia and ice are both Global Leaders in four categories.

While no Finnish operators have obtained the top spot this time around, DNA is a Global Leader in all six categories, while Telia comes close with five and Elisa scoops up four Global Leader accolades.

As well as being the Global Winner for Download Speed Experience in the large land area group, T-Mobile USA is also a Global Leader for Upload Speed Experience. No other U.S. operators earn global recognition this time around, but further north, Canada’s Bell and TELUS are Global Leaders for Download Speed Experience.
 

Small land area group

The success of South Korea’s operators is clear to see. In addition to SK Telecom being a Global Winner in the small land area group — either jointly or outright — in all six categories, LG U+ shares the top spot with it for Games Experience, Upload Speed Experience and Voice App Experience, while also being a Global Leader in the three remaining categories. While KT is not a Global winner this time around, it is a Global Leader in three categories — Download Speed Experience, Games Experience and Voice App Experience.

Over in Singapore, Singtel and StarHub are both Global Leaders in three categories. Both operators earn this recognition for Download Speed Experience and Games Experience, but Singtel is a Global Leader for Voice App Experience, while StarHub is one for Video Experience.

Chunghwa is the only Taiwanese operator to earn recognition this time around, being a Global Leader for Download Speed Experience and a Global Rising Star for Upload Speed Experience.

In addition to being a Global Winner for Video Experience alongside SK Telecom and 3 Denmark, Netherlands’ Odido is a Global Leader in four categories, while Vodafone Netherlands is one for Video Experience and Reliability Experience.

3 Denmark is a Global Winner for Video Experience, while the other three Danish operators (TDC, Telenor and Telia) are Global Leaders in this category. Both Telenor and Telia Denmark are Global Leaders across four categories apiece, while 3 is a Global Leader for Download Speed Experience.

Czechia’s three operators (O2, T-Mobile and Vodafone) are all Global Leaders for Voice App Experience. O2 is also one for Games Experience, while T-Mobile Czechia earns the same recognition for Reliability Experience. 
 

Index of categories

The Global Winners and Leaders - large land area group

• Download Speed Experience
• Upload Speed Experience
• Video Experience
• Games Experience
• Voice App Experience
• Reliability Experience

The Global Winners and Leaders - small land area group

• Download Speed Experience
• Upload Speed Experience
• Video Experience
• Games Experience
• Voice App Experience
• Reliability Experience

The Global Rising Stars - large land area group

• Download Speed Experience
• Upload Speed Experience
• Video Experience

The Global Rising Stars - small land area group

• Download Speed Experience
• Upload Speed Experience
• Video Experience

Summary of results

• Summary

Category results

 Large land area group — Download Speed Experience — Global Winners and Leaders

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Our T-Mobile USA users observe the fastest overall download speeds (measured across all generations of mobile technology) in the large land area group — an impressive 152.5Mbps. Only one other operator in this group has a Download Speed Experience score above 100Mbps this time around — Telenor Norway with 127Mbps. India’s Jio narrowly falls short of this mark, placing in third with 97Mbps.

Looking further down the chart all three of Finland’s operators — DNA, Elisa and Telia are Global Leaders in this division. Two out of three of Norway and Canada’s operators earn the same recognition — Telia and Telenor in Norway, along with Bell and TELUS in Canada. 

 Large land area group — Upload Speed Experience — Global Winners and Leaders

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Telenor Norway is the sole Global Winner in the large land area group for overall Upload Speed Experience — doing so with a score of 19.3Mbps. Global Leaders DNA Finland and Telia Norway share second place with statistically tied scores of 17.9-18.5Mbps. Vodafone Oman and Rakuten Mobile follow in fourth and fifth place, respectively, with 17.3Mbps and 16.4Mbps. As Norway’s ice is also a Global Leader for Upload Speed Experience, all three of the market’s operators are either a Global Winner or Global Leader for Upload Speed Experience.
 
T-Mobile is the only North American operator to be recognized in this report as a Global Leader for Upload Speed Experience, doing so with a score of 14Mbps.

While download speeds traditionally have received more focus and attention from operators and consumers than upload speeds, this is changing, given that social media encourages users to upload photos and videos, particularly during concerts and other large scale events. Improving the uplink is a focus of 5G Advanced and users can therefore expect their Upload Speed Experience to improve as this new technology is rolled out. Like all Opensignal’s overall experience metrics, Upload Speed Experience also reflects 5G adoption and the proportion of time users spend on legacy technologies (2G and 3G).

 Large land area group — Video Experience — Global Winners and Leaders

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Our Telenor Norway users have the best overall experience in the large land area group when streaming on-demand mobile video over cellular connections — with a score of 75.3 points on a 100-point scale. 

Only operators from four markets — Norway, Finland, Japan and Sweden have been recognized as Global Leaders in this division. This list includes ice Norway, Telia Finland and Telia Norway, which share second place with statistically tied scores of 74-74.2 points.

The Global Leaders for Video Experience also include all three Finnish operators — DNA, Elisa and Telia, two out of four of Japan’s national operators, au and SoftBank, and Sweden’s Tele2 and Telenor. 

Telenor Norway and all the Global Leaders in this division place in the Very Good (68-78) category, which means that our users are, on average, able to stream video at 1080p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling.

Rakuten Mobile along with Sweden’s 3 and Telia, narrowly miss placing as Global Leaders for Video Experience as they share 11th place with statistically tied scores of 71.2-71.3 points.

Opensignal’s Video Experience quantifies the quality of on-demand video streamed to mobile devices by measuring real-world video streams over an operator's 5G network. The 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.

 Large land area group — Games Experience — Global Winners and Leaders

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Japan’s au is the sole Global Winner for Games Experience in the large land area group. This is due to its score of 85.3 points on a 100-point scale, which gives au a lead of more than two points over 3 Indonesia’s 82.9 points. This means our au users in this group have their best overall experience when playing multiplayer mobile games over cellular connections.

In addition, au is the only operator in this group to place in the Excellent (85 or above) category. This means that the vast majority of our au users deem this network experience acceptable. Nearly all users feel like they have control over the game and they receive immediate feedback on their actions. There is not a noticeable delay in almost all cases. All of the Global Leaders place one category lower — Good (75-85).

Japan’s other three operators — NTT docomo, Rakuten Mobile and SoftBank are Global Leaders for Games Experience. The others in the large land area group are: Indonesia’s 3, IM3, Telkomsel and XL; Norway’s Telenor and Telia; Telekom Germany and DNA Finland. 

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.

 Large land area group — Voice App Experience — Global Winners and Leaders

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Our au Japan users have the best overall experience in the large land area group when using over-the-top voice services over cellular connections. Au is therefore the sole Global Winner in this group. It wins with a score of 83.3 points on a 100-point scale, which gives it a lead of under one point over second-placed SoftBank’s and Rakuten Mobile’s identical scores of 82.5 points. NTT docomo is in fourth place with 82.3 points. This means that all four Japanese operators are at least Global Leaders for Voice App Experience and no non-Japanese operator in this group has a higher score than them. 

All three Finnish operators (DNA, Elisa and Telia) are Global Leaders for Voice App Experience, as are 3 Indonesia, ice Norway, and two out of three Omani operators (Ooredoo and Vodafone). 

Au along with all the Global Leaders in this group for Voice App Experience place in the Good (80-87) category. This means that many users are satisfied but minor quality impairments are experienced by some users. 

Opensignal's Voice App Experience measures the quality of experience for over-the-top (OTT) voice services — mobile voice apps such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger — using a model derived from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach for quantifying overall voice call quality and a series of calibrated technical parameters. This model characterizes the exact relationship between the technical measurements and perceived call quality.
 

 Large land area group — Reliability Experience — Global Winners and Leaders

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Our users with Japan’s au observe the most reliable experience in the large land area group, doing so with a score of 941 points on a 100-1000 point scale. This means that au is the sole Global Winner for Reliability Experience in this group. It wins with a sizable lead of around 13 points over second-placed SoftBank, DNA’s and ice Norway’s statistically tied scores of 925-930 points. NTT docomo is in fifth place as, unlike ice, its confidence intervals do not overlap with SoftBank’s.

All three of Finland’s national operators — DNA, Elisa and Telia are Global Leaders for Reliability Experience. 3 and Telenor in Sweden also earn this recognition along with Norway’s Telenor and ice. 

Rakuten Mobile, Tele2 Sweden and Orange France narrowly miss out on Global Leaders awards for Reliability Experience as they share 11th place due to their statistically tied scores of 908-913 points on a 100-1000 point scale in the large land area group.

Opensignal’s Reliability Experience measures the ability of Opensignal users to connect to and successfully complete (basic) tasks on operators’ networks. It analyzes how much Opensignal users’ experience is affected by the radio access and core network, along with issues that prevent them from connecting to the internet even if they have a connection to their operator’s mobile network. It also factors in users’ ability to successfully use lower performance applications including SD video, over-the-top voice calls and web browsing.

It does not test standard voice calls performed directly through mobile networks — i.e. those that are carried out via smartphones’ in-built call functionality.
Calculated on a scale of 100-1000 — with higher scores being better — across all generations of mobile technology, Reliability consists of the following components:

• % time connected — The proportion of time Opensignal users can successfully connect to a mobile network
• (Data) Connectivity — the proportion of time when the network is available and the device can connect to the internet
• Task completion — whether tasks initiated by the user’s device are completed
• Sufficiency — The probability that (basic) tasks will be executed sufficiently well for the user

Small land area group — Download Speed Experience — Global Winners and Leaders

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Our SK Telecom users observe the fastest overall download speeds in the small land area group — an impressive 155.7Mbps and 27Mbps faster than second-placed KT’s 128.6Mbps. As a result SK Telecom is the sole Global Winner for Download Speed Experience in this group. 

T-Mobile Puerto Rico is third with 126.1Mbps, followed by Odido Netherlands and LG U+, which share fourth place with statistically tied scores of 121-122Mbps. 

As both KT and LG U+ are Global Leaders all three South Korean operators are at least a Global Leader for Download Speed Experience.

Three out of four of Denmark’s operators — 3, Telenor and Telia — are also Global Leaders. Over in Singapore, both Singtel and StarHub earn the same recognition, as does Taiwan’s Chunghwa — the only operator from this market to do so. 

SK Telecom and all 10 of the Global Leaders for Download Speed Experience in the small land area group have average overall download speeds above 100Mbps. This contrasts with just two operators in the large land area group. This difference is to be expected, given that it makes more economic sense for operators in markets with large territories to make greater use of lower frequency bands — which mean that fewer cell sites can be used to cover the same area at the cost of reduced capacity and speeds. 

Small land area group — Upload Speed Experience — Global Winners and Leaders

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LG U+ and SK Telecom are Global Winners in the small land area group for Upload Speed Experience due to their statistically tied scores of 23.3-23.7Mbps. These two operators are also the only ones in this group with average overall upload speeds above 20Mbps. 

The Global Leaders in this group for Upload Speed Experience consist of: Odido Netherlands, Kuwait’s Ooredoo, Denmark’s Telia and Telenor, both North Macedonia’s operators (A1 and Makedonski Telekom), Swisscom, and A1 Bulgaria.

Small land area group — Video Experience — Global Winners and Leaders

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South Korea’s SK Telecom, the Netherlands’ Odido and Denmark’s 3 are this year’s Global Winners in the small land area group for Video Experience. These three operators win with statistically tied scores of 74.2-74.9 points on a 100-point scale. 

Denmark’s other three operators (TDC, Telenor and Telia) are Global Leaders in this category, as are two out of three of Austria’s (A1 and Magenta).

There are a few operators who are the only ones in their respective markets to be Global Leaders for Video Experience. They are Bulgaria’s A1, North Macedonia’s Makedonski Telekom, Singapore’s StarHub, Slovenia’s Telekom Slovenije and Switzerland’s Swisscom.

All of the Global Winners and Global Leaders shown here place in the Very Good (68-78) category. This indicates that our users with these operators, on average, are able to stream video at 1080p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling.

Opensignal’s Video Experience quantifies the quality of on-demand video streamed to mobile devices by measuring real-world video streams over an operator's 5G network. The 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.

Small land area group — Games Experience — Global Winners and Leaders

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Our users with SK Telecom and LG U+ have the best available overall experience in the small land area group when playing multiplayer mobile games over cellular connections. These two operators are both Global Winners in the small land area group for Games Experience, due to their identical scores of 87.5 points on a 100-point scale, while Slovak Telekom, KT and Singtel share third place with statistically tied scores of 84.8-84.9 points. 

In addition, SK Telecom and LG U+ are the only operators in this group to place in the Excellent (85 or above) category. This means that the vast majority of our au users deem this network experience acceptable. Nearly all users feel like they have control over the game and they receive immediate feedback on their actions. There is not a noticeable delay in almost all cases. All of the Global Leaders place one category lower — Good (75-85).

The Global Leaders for Games Experience in the small land area group consist of two out of four of Singapore’s operators — Singtel and StarHub, along with Slovak Telekom, KT, O2 Czechia, Odido Netherlands, csl Hong Kong and Yettel Hungary. 

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.

Small land area group — Voice App Experience — Global Winners and Leaders

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As is the case for Games Experience, LG U+ and SK Telecom are the Global Winners for Voice App Experience in the small land area group. This is because their scores of 83.1-83.4 points on a 100-point scale are statistically tied. They win with a lead of less than a point over the four operators that share third place (also with statistically tied scores): KT, Czechia’s O2, T-Mobile and Vodafone. This means that all three of Czechia’s operators are Global Leaders for Voice App Experience.

LG U+ and SK Telecom, along with all the Global Leaders in this group for Voice App Experience place in the Good (80-87) category. This indicates that many users are satisfied but minor quality impairments are experienced by some users. 

Opensignal's Voice App Experience measures the quality of experience for over-the-top (OTT) voice services — mobile voice apps such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger — using a model derived from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach for quantifying overall voice call quality and a series of calibrated technical parameters. This model characterizes the exact relationship between the technical measurements and perceived call quality.
 

Small land area group — Reliability Experience — Global Winners and Leaders

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Our SK Telecom users have the most reliable mobile experience out of all those operators in the small land area group with an impressive score of 959 points on a 100-1000 point scale. This gives it a lead of around 20 points over the four operators that are statistically tied for second place (Bulgaria’s Yettel, Slovenia’s Telemach, along with Denmark’s Telenor and Telia). 

Global Leaders for Reliability Experience in this group include: T-Mobile Czechia, Telemach in both Slovenia and Croatia, Orange Belgium, Yettel in both Bulgaria and Serbia, A1 in Austria, Bulgaria and North Macedonia, Vodafone and Odido in the Netherlands, along with Austria’s 3.

Opensignal’s Reliability Experience measures the ability of Opensignal users to connect to and successfully complete (basic) tasks on operators’ networks. It analyzes how much Opensignal users’ experience is affected by the radio access and core network, along with issues that prevent them from connecting to the internet even if they have a connection to their operator’s mobile network. It also factors in users’ ability to successfully use lower performance applications including SD video, over-the-top voice calls and web browsing.

It does not test standard voice calls performed directly through mobile networks — i.e. those that are carried out via smartphones’ in-built call functionality.
Calculated on a scale of 100-1000 — with higher scores being better — across all generations of mobile technology, Reliability consists of the following components:

• % time connected — The proportion of time Opensignal users can successfully connect to a mobile network
• (Data) Connectivity — the proportion of time when the network is available and the device can connect to the internet
• Task completion — whether tasks initiated by the user’s device are completed
• Sufficiency — The probability that (basic) tasks will be executed sufficiently well for the user
   

Large land area group — Download Speed Experience — Global Rising Stars

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Our Movilnet users in Venezuela have seen the largest year-on-year (YoY) percentage increase in their overall average download speeds in the large land area group — a rise of 78.9%. Movilnet embarked on a drive to encourage its users to swap out 3G-only sim cards to make greater use of its 4G network in March 2024, after signing a deal with Samsung to allow its subscribers to buy 4G-capable handsets at a 40% discount. In addition, Movilnet started a 5G pilot project in September 2024, with a focus on Venezuela's capital, Caracas, and its largest port city, La Guaira.

Two Malaysian operators — Maxis and Unifi — are Global Rising Stars, with increases of 78.1% and 77.8%, respectively. In addition, two more Malaysian operators are present in the top 15 for YoY improvement in Download Speed Experience — Digi and Celcom with increases of 64.1% and 55.2%. 

Airtel is the only Indian operator to be recognized as a Global Rising Star for Download Speed Experience, doing so with a YoY improvement of 68.4%. Airtel announced in September 2024 that it had completed deploying an additional 5MHz of spectrum in the 1800MHz band and an extra 4MHz in the 900MHz band to boost its 4G and 5G network capabilities. Back in July 2024, Airtel said that it had started refarming its existing mid-band spectrum to expand 5G services in the 1800MHz, 2100MHz and 2300MHz and that is resulting in enhanced browsing speeds and improved indoor coverage.

One NZ is the only operator from New Zealand to earn this recognition this time around, doing so with a YoY rise of 65.5%.

As 5G typically provides users with much faster download speeds than those seen on other generations of mobile technology, rapid improvement in overall download speeds is possible through increasing 5G adoption and the proportion of time that users have an active 5G connection. In addition, deploying additional spectrum can reduce congestion and boost speeds. This goes some way to explaining the impressive gains made by Malaysian operators — as of the end of December 2024, the market was home to 18.2 million 5G subscriptions — indicating a 53.4% adoption rate. This is all the more remarkable when you consider that Malaysia’s operators didn’t fully sign up to its wholesale 5G network, the Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB), until October 2022. 

Large land area group — Upload Speed Experience — Global Rising Stars

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In addition to seeing the largest YoY percentage improvement in average overall download speeds in the large land area group, our Movilnet users in Venezuela also see the largest increase in Upload Speed Experience in this group — an impressive rise of 138.2%. Our Cell C users in South Africa see the second largest percentage rise — 70.8%, followed by Movistar Venezuela with 60.6% and Bitel Peru with 47.9%. Malaysia’s Maxis is in fifth place and the last Global Rising Star in this category with 41.1%. Two of Maxis’ local competitors, Celcom and Unifi, narrowly miss out on the same accolade with rises of 40.3% and 40%, respectively while Digi is in 12th place with 32%.

Large land area group — Video Experience — Global Rising Stars

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In addition to being one of five Global Rising Stars in the large land area group, Venezuela's Movilnet is at the top of the chart for the YoY percentage improvement in its Video Experience scores with a rise of 77.6%. Both of its local rivals, Movistar and Digitel, are also Global Rising Stars in this division with increases of 30.2% and 18%, respectively. The other two Global Rising Stars in this division are Bitel Peru and South Africa’s Cell C, which is also a Global Rising Star for Upload Speed Experience.

Small land area group — Download Speed Experience — Global Rising Stars

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This year’s Global Rising Stars for Download Speed Experience in the small land area group include Bangladesh’s Teletalk — on whose network our users observed the largest YoY improvement, a rise of 116.7%. Teletalk’s improvement was likely driven — at least in part — by a program to upgrade its rural coverage and prepare Teletalk’s network for 5G with support from Huawei. It was announced in April 2023 and at that time was expected to be completed in mid-2024.

Teletalk is immediately followed by Slovenia’s T-2 with its increase of 107%. The other three Global Rising Stars in this division are Claro Guatemala (60%), stc Kuwait (56.1%) and Claro Uruguay (54%).
 

Small land area group — Upload Speed Experience — Global Rising Stars

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As with Download Speed Experience, our Teletalk Bangladesh users saw the largest YoY percentage improvement in Upload Speed Experience in the small land area group between H2 2023 and H2 2024 — a rise of 103.4%. Teletalk is followed by Metfone Cambodia with its increase of 55.4%, Airtel Sri Lanka with 48.3%. Taiwan’s Chunghwa is in fourth place with 38.5%, while Claro Guatemala completes the set of Global Rising Stars with a rise of 31.8%. 

Small land area group — Video Experience — Global Rising Stars

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Of this year’s Global Rising Stars for Video Experience in the small land area group, Liberty Puerto Rico is top of the chart with a YoY increase of 18.8%. It is followed by Teletalk Bangladesh (16.9%), which tops the charts for YoY improvement for Download Speed Experience and Upload Speed Experience in this group. Tigo Honduras is in third place with 12.6%, followed by Liberty Costa Rica with 10.1%. Ireland’s eir is the last Global Rising Star with a rise of 10%. Eir’s local competitor, 3, narrowly misses out on the same recognition, given that our users’ experience when streaming on-demand video on its network improved by 9.7% YoY. 
 

Summary: 

Awards broken down by land area group, market and operator

The summary lists all the operators featured in this analysis.

Large land area group - included operators

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Small land area group - included operators

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Opensignal’s impressive global reach and rigorous large-scale data collection methods enable us to include a great number of markets, but not all markets can be included due to technical limitations. One Hungary used the Vodafone brand during the H2 2024 data collection period. The results for One do not include the experience of our DIGIMobil users (DIGIMobil merged brand with Vodafone in January 2025, but DIGIMobil users have to chose to migrate to One).