Mobile Trends

Opensignal has analyzed mobile subscriber churn in Indonesia and found that our users who changed their mobile operator on average had a worse mobile experience before they switched compared to the typical experience on their original network. Moreover, all our users that we have seen switching mobile operators had a better experience on their new mobile network. Our users who left 3, Indosat, Smartfren and XL on average spent less time without a mobile signal on their new network.

Last year, Opensignal analyzed how short-term variations in average mobile data consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic correlated with variations in our users’ average Download Speed Experience across multiple countries.

In our latest analysis of the mobile experience of Rakuten users, we see big increases in the reach of Rakuten’s network as it expands across Japan and a resulting impact on users’ mobile experience. Rakuten stated in its November 2020 earnings report that it aims to cover 96% of Japan’s population with its cell sites and 4G radio network by the summer of 2021.

More than 18 months have passed since the U.S. and South Korea saw the first mobile 5G commercial launches in April 2019. However, 5G spectrum is still a scarce resource for many operators, who are looking to acquire more spectrum in upcoming auctions and repurpose some or all of the spectrum that they are currently using for 3G and/or 4G networks. 

The 5G market continues to change rapidly in the U.S. as carriers increase the reach of their 5G services or deploy new types of 5G spectrum to improve capacity.