Peru

We didn't see a huge amount of movement in our 4G Availability scores, but what little increases there were helped determine the winners. Movistar increased its score by just 1.5 percentage points, but this was enough to force a draw with Entel, which won our award in our last report. Our users on Entel and Bitel's networks statistically saw no increase in their 4G Availability, while Claro's score improved slightly by 1.3 percentage points.

The lack of movement in Bitel's score sees the operator fall further behind the two leaders, who both have scores in the 85% range, while Bitel remains around the 80% mark. But 4G Availability in Peru remains a pretty close-run race, with less than 6 percentage points separating all four national players. This narrow field means a notable surge by any of the operators could see them stealing the prize in our next report.

Claro kept hold of our Video Experience award — and remains the only operator in Peru to achieve a Good rating (55-65 out of 100) on a national level. This means our users on Claro's network experienced quicker load times and less stalling when watching mobile video, although the network may still struggle a bit at higher resolutions.

Video Experience is getting better in Peru, as all four operators improved their scores. Movistar saw the most impressive increase of 7.5 points, to move within 4 points of the leader Claro. Towards the end of our data collection period, we've seen an improvement in 4G Video Throughput Rates at high definition (HD) quality for our users on Movistar's network, suggesting the operator may have removed some restrictions on video played at these resolutions. But there are many other factors which could contribute to Movistar's improved Video Experience, not least the increase in its 4G Availability, as our users on its network are able to watch via a 4G connection more often.

Bitel’s Video Experience saw the second largest improvement of 3.2 points, but their score still remains over 13 points adrift of the pack earning it a Poor rating (0-40), meaning mobile video is barely watchable, even at lower resolutions. When we look at 4G-only Video Experience, however, Bitel’s users experience a Fair rating and that’s just 6 points behind the users of closest rival Entel. Bitel's lower 4G Availability is a factor here, but the operator will need to improve its score if it wants to compete with its larger rivals in this increasingly-popular area of the mobile network experience.

Entel kept hold of our Download Speed Experience award, with our users on its network seeing average speeds increase by more than 2 Mbps since our last report. But it was Movistar users who saw the greatest improvement in this metric, as its score grew over 4 Mbps to bring it within 2 Mbps of the leader Entel, potentially setting up an exciting contest for this award in our next report.

All four of Peru's mobile operators’ users saw improvements in their Download Speed Experience, as Claro's score grew 11% while Bitel's average speed jumped 30% — but the users of the fourth-placed operator still experience speeds over 10 Mbps adrift of the pack. Its score of 3.8 Mbps is low, even by the standards of still-developing Latin American markets, and the situation isn’t much better in Peru's cities, meaning the operator has a lot of work to do if it hopes to compete with its rivals on download speed.

Movistar may have the pedal to the metal in download speed, but we saw no notable improvement in the Telefónica operator's users’ Upload Speed Experience. Entel kept its lead in this metric, as our users on its network saw their average Upload Speed Experience come within spitting distance of the 10 Mbps mark.

Of the other two operators, Claro saw a slight improvement in its Upload Speed Experience score, but its users still experience speeds over 2 Mbps behind the two leaders. And as with download speed, Bitel was well behind its peers, with a score of 1.4 Mbps — barely a quarter of Claro's. Nonetheless, Bitel’s users also saw the largest improvement of all the four players percentage-wise, with a jump of 40% in its Upload Speed Experience, but it still has a mountain to climb to catch up with the pack.

Entel kept hold of our Latency Experience award — but its lead in this metric has gotten a lot slimmer since our last report. Movistar was once again the star performer in this category, with an improvement of close to 15 milliseconds in its score to bring it within 5ms of the leader. Indeed, Entel’s users actually saw the smallest improvement of all of Peru's four national operators (of close to 4ms), while third-placed Claro bettered its Latency Experience by over 8ms and Bitel by close to 12ms.

When we look at 4G-only latency scores, our users on Entel's network also saw the least improvement of less than 2ms while Movistar bettered its score by over 11ms. This means there is now less than 7ms separating the 4G Latency scores of all four operators, setting us up for some interesting competition in our latency metrics as 4G Availability increases. Bitel's 4G Latency score in particular was closer to its rivals than in any of our other national metrics, showing the operator has decent response times on its network, even if these network improvements have yet to translate to raw speed.

The improvements in Peru's latency scores are encouraging. While we have yet to see any of the sub-40ms scores that are common in more mature markets, there are now three Peruvian operators around the 50ms mark — and these scores are improving. Latency is not only key to mobile video experience, but affects a range of smartphone uses such as IP messaging, IP voice calling and multiplayer gaming. As more and more Peruvians begin using their smartphones for a wider range of applications, these improving latency scores become increasingly important to the wider mobile network experience.