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Japan's mobile consumers aren't lacking for LTE connections. All of Japan's national operators had 4G Availability scores greater than 90%, and two, NTT DoCoMo and au, had scores above the 95% mark. au emerged as the winner in 4G Availability, but for all operators, the instances our users were unable to find a 4G signal were rare indeed. As 4G Availability is so high in Japan, the role of 3G is severely minimized, and we see only the most incremental differences between our 4G scores and overall experience scores in each metric category.
SoftBank won our Upload Speed Experience award with an average connection of 9.7 Mbps, but NTT DoCoMo was close behind with an average of 9.5 Mbps. Both operators are on the verge of crossing the 10 Mbps milestone in Upload Speed Experience, an increasingly important metric as consumer usage patterns change. Social media and more powerful smartphones are producing a shift from content consumption to content creation, which will only benefit from more symmetrical mobile data connections.
All three of Japan's major operators garnered Very Good scores in our Video Experience measurements, but SoftBank stood out from the pack. Its overall Video Experience score of 71.1 was more than four points ahead of both of its competitors' scores, indicating our users experienced shorter video load times and less frequent interruptions on SoftBank connections.
30+ Mbps connections are the norm in Japan when it comes to average download speeds, but au managed to push those speed boundaries even further. au had a Download Speed Experience score of 37.8 Mbps, more than 5 Mbps faster than its two competitors' scores.
SoftBank completed its trifecta of wins with our Latency Experience award. Its overall network response time of 40.8 ms was more than nearly 7 milliseconds better than either of its rivals' Latency Experience scores in our analysis.
When it comes to creating an omnipresent 4G network, few countries have done a better job than Japan. With a country-wide 4G Availability greater than 95%, there are few situations where a 4G connection is inaccessible. 3G has become practically a non-factor in the country, so in our first look at Japan we find that the overall mobile experience is nearly identical to the experience consumers see over 4G networks. Though all three of Japan's national operators scored highly in nearly every single one of our metrics, each category had a standout. KDDI's au shone brightly in both 4G Availability and Download Speed Experience, while SoftBank won awards in our Video, Upload Speed and Latency Experience categories. As Japan readies itself for 5G, the country can rest assured that its 4G foundation is rock solid.
| Mobile Experience Awards Japan | |||
|---|---|---|---|
April 2019,
Japan Report
|
N
NTT DoCoMo
|
S
SoftBank
|
a
au
|
4G Availability
| |||
Video Experience
| |||
Download Speed Experience
| |||
Upload Speed Experience
| |||
Latency Experience
| |||
|
Mobile Experience Awards Winners
|
April 2019,
Japan
|
|---|---|
|
4G Availability
|
a
au
|
|
Video Experience
|
S
SoftBank
|
|
Download Speed Experience
|
a
au
|
|
Upload Speed Experience
|
S
SoftBank
|
|
Latency Experience
|
S
SoftBank
|
|
Video Experience
Additional Metrics |
N
NTT DoCoMo
|
S
SoftBank
|
a
au
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | |||
|
4G Video Experience
| 67.5 (± 0.36) | 72.5 (± 0.59) | 67.3 (± 0.53) |
| 4G Video Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
N
NTT DoCoMo
|
68 (± 0.36) |
|
S
SoftBank
|
73 (± 0.59) |
|
a
au
|
67 (± 0.53) |
|
Download Speed Experience
Additional Metrics |
N
NTT DoCoMo
|
S
SoftBank
|
a
au
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in Mbps | |||
|
4G Download Speed
| 32.9 (± 0.36) | 34.0 (± 0.63) | 38.4 (± 0.61) |
| 4G Download Speed | in Mbps |
|
N
NTT DoCoMo
|
33 (± 0.36) |
|
S
SoftBank
|
34 (± 0.63) |
|
a
au
|
38 (± 0.61) |
|
Upload Speed Experience
Additional Metrics |
N
NTT DoCoMo
|
S
SoftBank
|
a
au
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in Mbps | |||
|
4G Upload Speed
| 9.8 (± 0.11) | 10.5 (± 0.25) | 7.6 (± 0.16) |
| 4G Upload Speed | in Mbps |
|
N
NTT DoCoMo
|
10 (± 0.11) |
|
S
SoftBank
|
11 (± 0.25) |
|
a
au
|
8 (± 0.16) |
|
Latency Experience
Additional Metrics |
N
NTT DoCoMo
|
S
SoftBank
|
a
au
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in ms | |||
|
4G Latency
| 46.1 (± 0.20) | 39.5 (± 0.39) | 46.3 (± 0.24) |
| 4G Latency | in ms |
|
N
NTT DoCoMo
|
46 (± 0.20) |
|
S
SoftBank
|
40 (± 0.39) |
|
a
au
|
46 (± 0.24) |
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