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In 12 months, Entel has catapulted itself ahead of rival Movistar in our 4G Availability metric. At this time last year, Movistar was the clear winner of our 4G Availability award, six months ago the two operators were tied, and in this report Entel has assumed the lead, becoming the only Chilean operator to pass the 80% mark in the process. Entel has firmly established itself in our metrics, winning four of our five awards.
Download Speed Experience scores increased for every major operator in Chile except WOM, continuing the reversal of fortunes we noted in our last report. Overall download speeds consumers experience are increasing in part due to improved access to 4G connections, but we're also starting to see growth in users' 4G Download Speeds. Two operators, Entel and Claro, have elevated their users’ 4G Download Speeds back to 20 Mbps after languishing below that mark for three years.
Claro improved in many of our metrics over the last six months, but nowhere were its gains more impressive than in Video Experience. Claro elevated itself to a Good rating (55-65 in Opensignal's 100-point scale) in overall Video Experience, and in 4G Video Experience it secured a Very Good rating (65-75) — making it the first Chilean operator to accomplish both feats.
Entel held onto our Upload Speed Experience award as it provided our users with an average upload connection of 7.7 Mbps. WOM, however, was also strong in this metric, coming in second with an Upload Speed Experience score of 6.5 Mbps, which was at least a megabit faster than Movistar and Claro's scores.
Chile is a country full of surprises when it comes to the consumer mobile experience. A year ago, Opensignal found that mobile broadband speed growth had ground to a halt, and six months ago, we saw plenty of evidence that growth in 4G access was stagnating as well. But Chile's mobile industry has given itself a shot in the arm. Both our Download Speed Experience and 4G Availability metrics are on upwards trajectories, while the consumer Video Experience is only getting better. The 4G market in Chile may be reaching maturity, but that hasn't stopped operators from improving.
| Mobile Experience Awards Chile | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
August 2019,
Chile Report
|
E
Entel
|
M
Movistar
|
C
Claro
|
W
WOM
|
4G Availability
| ||||
Video Experience
| ||||
Download Speed Experience
| ||||
Upload Speed Experience
| ||||
Latency Experience
| ||||
|
Mobile Experience Awards Winners
|
August 2019,
Chile
|
|---|---|
|
4G Availability
|
E
Entel
|
|
Video Experience
|
C
Claro
|
|
Download Speed Experience
|
E
Entel
|
|
Upload Speed Experience
|
E
Entel
|
|
Latency Experience
|
E
Entel
|
We have a new winner in 4G Availability as Entel has broken the tie with Movistar since our last report. Our Entel 4G users were able to find a 4G signal 83.3% of the time, making it the first Chilean operator to cross the 80% mark in 4G Availability. A year ago, Movistar had this award well in hand, but in the last 12 months, Entel's 4G Availability score has surged upwards by more than 8 percentage points, allowing it to first match, and now exceed, Movistar's 4G Availability in our measurements. Movistar isn't down for the count, though. With a 4G Availability of 79.6% in our analysis, it's on the verge of reaching the 80% milestone as well.
In our last report, we saw signs of 4G Availability growth slowing down after several years of rapid growth, but that now appears to have been a temporary blip. In the last six months, we recorded growth in 4G Availability from all four national operators. Entel made the biggest gain, increasing its 4G Availability scores by 5.1 percentage points, but Claro, Movistar and WOM also saw growth of at least 2 percentage points in this metric. 4G users on all four operators' networks are now able to connect to 4G services more than 70% of the time.
Claro won our Video Experience award for the second time in a row, boosting its ranking in our 100-point Video Experience scale by 4.5 points in the last six months. That increase was enough to push it from a Fair rating (40-55) into a Good rating (55-65), which means Claro's users experienced faster video load times and fewer interruptions during playback than users on its competitors' networks. Claro is the first Chilean operator to earn a Good rating, though we did record improvements in every major operator's Video Experience score.
|
Video Experience
Additional Metrics |
E
Entel
|
M
Movistar
|
C
Claro
|
W
WOM
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | ||||
|
4G Video Experience
| 54.2 (± 0.52) | 58.1 (± 0.76) | 67.3 (± 0.68) | 57.6 (± 0.68) |
|
3G Video Experience
| 32.8 (± 1.29) | 34.9 (± 1.49) | 38.7 (± 1.92) | 33.0 (± 1.32) |
| 4G Video Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
E
Entel
|
54 (± 0.52) |
|
M
Movistar
|
58 (± 0.76) |
|
C
Claro
|
67 (± 0.68) |
|
W
WOM
|
58 (± 0.68) |
| 3G Video Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
E
Entel
|
33 (± 1.29) |
|
M
Movistar
|
35 (± 1.49) |
|
C
Claro
|
39 (± 1.92) |
|
W
WOM
|
33 (± 1.32) |
When we break down Video Experience by technology, we find that 4G connections are clearly driving improved mobile video quality in Chile. All four operators had Poor (0-40) 3G Video Experience ratings, meaning video was practically unwatchable over HSPA connections. But when we looked at 4G Video Experience, we found both Movistar and WOM had graduated into Good ratings territory. Meanwhile Claro attained a Very Good ranking (65-75) in 4G Video Experience, indicating its users experienced short load times and few interruptions when watching video over 4G connections.
It appears that Chile is now locked into a new stage of growth in mobile broadband download speed. In 2017 and 2018, our users' average overall download speeds stagnated, a trend we commonly see in countries as consumers make the transition from 3G to 4G services. But in the last year, Download Speed Experience scores have begun increasing once again. Every operator except WOM saw their Download Speed Experience scores improve, though we recorded the biggest gains on Entel's connections. Entel users' average overall download speeds increased by 2.1 Mbps to reach 17.3 Mbps, winning the operator our Download Speed Experience award.
|
Download Speed Experience
Additional Metrics |
E
Entel
|
M
Movistar
|
C
Claro
|
W
WOM
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| in Mbps | ||||
|
4G Download Speed
| 20.3 (± 0.29) | 12.4 (± 0.25) | 20.2 (± 0.40) | 11.8 (± 0.22) |
|
3G Download Speed
| 5.1 (± 0.14) | 3.7 (± 0.11) | 5.1 (± 0.16) | 4.2 (± 0.08) |
| 4G Download Speed | in Mbps |
|
E
Entel
|
20 (± 0.29) |
|
M
Movistar
|
12 (± 0.25) |
|
C
Claro
|
20 (± 0.40) |
|
W
WOM
|
12 (± 0.22) |
| 3G Download Speed | in Mbps |
|
E
Entel
|
5 (± 0.14) |
|
M
Movistar
|
4 (± 0.11) |
|
C
Claro
|
5 (± 0.16) |
|
W
WOM
|
4 (± 0.08) |
When we break down download speed by technology type, we see even more encouraging news. We recorded steady increases in 4G Download Speed from most operators. Entel and Claro users now experience average 4G Download Speeds greater than 20 Mbps. We haven't measured average 4G speeds that fast in Chile since our first Chile report in September of 2016. Chilean operators are improving the consumer Download Speed Experience in two ways: Higher 4G Availability means our users have access to faster 4G connections more often, and better 4G Download Speeds means when they do find a 4G connection the experience is improved.
We saw little to no movement in any of our upload metrics, cementing Entel's lead in this category. Entel won our Upload Speed Experience award as our users were able to connect to average uplink speeds of 7.7 Mbps. WOM holds a much more commanding position in upload despite WOM scoring lowly in our Download Speed Experience category. Its Upload Speed Experience score of 6.5 Mbps was second only to Entel's and at least 1 Mbps faster than Movistar or Claro's scores.
|
Upload Speed Experience
Additional Metrics |
E
Entel
|
M
Movistar
|
C
Claro
|
W
WOM
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| in Mbps | ||||
|
4G Upload Speed
| 9.4 (± 0.15) | 5.4 (± 0.10) | 7.7 (± 0.17) | 8.4 (± 0.14) |
|
3G Upload Speed
| 1.1 (± 0.04) | 1.0 (± 0.04) | 1.2 (± 0.05) | 1.0 (± 0.02) |
| 4G Upload Speed | in Mbps |
|
E
Entel
|
9 (± 0.15) |
|
M
Movistar
|
5 (± 0.10) |
|
C
Claro
|
8 (± 0.17) |
|
W
WOM
|
8 (± 0.14) |
| 3G Upload Speed | in Mbps |
|
E
Entel
|
1 (± 0.04) |
|
M
Movistar
|
1 (± 0.04) |
|
C
Claro
|
1 (± 0.05) |
|
W
WOM
|
1 (± 0.02) |
Entel won our Latency Experience award, bringing its total of outright wins to four awards. Entel has now firmly established itself as the operator to beat in every one of our metrics except Video Experience. While latency doesn't get the attention that speed does, it's an increasingly important measure of the consumer mobile experience. Low latency means webpages and video load more quickly and real-time communication apps and online games experience less lag time. Entel's winning Latency Experience score of 41.7 milliseconds was just shy of the 40ms mark that typically indicates a highly responsive network.
|
Latency Experience
Additional Metrics |
E
Entel
|
M
Movistar
|
C
Claro
|
W
WOM
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| in ms | ||||
|
4G Latency
| 35.4 (± 0.25) | 42.6 (± 0.47) | 41.7 (± 0.36) | 37.5 (± 0.24) |
|
3G Latency
| 67.1 (± 0.77) | 63.7 (± 1.04) | 53.2 (± 0.78) | 57.0 (± 0.70) |
| 4G Latency | in ms |
|
E
Entel
|
35 (± 0.25) |
|
M
Movistar
|
43 (± 0.47) |
|
C
Claro
|
42 (± 0.36) |
|
W
WOM
|
37 (± 0.24) |
| 3G Latency | in ms |
|
E
Entel
|
67 (± 0.77) |
|
M
Movistar
|
64 (± 1.04) |
|
C
Claro
|
53 (± 0.78) |
|
W
WOM
|
57 (± 0.70) |
Entel dominated our city-level analysis just as it did our national awards. The operator won our Download Speed, Upload Speed and Latency Experience in all three cities in our analysis. In 4G Availability, Entel faced competition from Movistar for the lead in Concepción, but it won our 4G Availability awards handily in Santiago and Valparaíso. Meanwhile, Claro extended its commanding national video scores to the big cities, winning our Video Experience awards in all three markets.
Select any region or city below to display individual breakdown
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