Mobile Network Experience Report Bulgaria January 2020

Bulgaria

Mobile Network Experience Report
January 2020

Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumer mobile experience. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding the true experience consumers receive on wireless networks.

Author
Sam Fenwick Senior Analyst

Key Findings

High 4G Availability is a foundation for success

While 4G Availability in Bulgaria is high there is room for improvement — our 4G users, on average, were able to connect to 4G services on their network between 77.7 and 89.2% of the time depending on their choice of operator. Users observed the highest 4G Availability when using Vivacom, and it’s clear that both Telenor and A1 have some catching up to do in this regard.

Vivacom dominates our mobile network experience awards

Vivacom dominates our awards table, scooping four out of a possible seven awards and drawing another two, while the Download Speed Experience award went to A1. Vivacom and A1 were tied for the Video Experience award, while Telenor tied with Vivacom on 4G Coverage Experience.

Operators impress on video...

Our users observed a Very Good Video Experience from all three of Bulgaria’s operators, with A1 and Vivacom both just shy of an Excellent rating and statistically tied for first place. This means that our Bulgarian users generally enjoy fast loading times and only occasional stalling when streaming video on their mobile devices, but the overall experience can be somewhat inconsistent.

...But more work is needed on Voice App Experience

When compared with the strong Video Experience reported by our users, Bulgarian operators have considerably more work to improve users’ Voice App Experience. Vivacom scored 81.3 points out of a possible 100 — indicating a Good ranking — while users on both A1 and Vivacom report an Acceptable ranking, meaning users are generally able to comprehend calls without the need for repetition. Opensignal’s new, first-of-its-kind Voice App Experience award monitors the experience of Opensignal users on apps like WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook.

Introduction

Our first look at Bulgaria’s mobile network experience reveals that smartphone users in the country typically enjoy a high degree of mobile data connectivity, with two operators obtaining Download Speed Experience scores in excess of 30 Mbps (Vivacom and A1). This may to some extent be attributable to Vivacom and A1’s work to roll out LTE-Advanced. In addition, all three operators’ results for Video Experience were in the Very Good range. However, there is room for improvement in terms of Voice App Experience, with the observed data keeping the Very Good and Excellent categories out of the reach of all three operators. That said, Bulgaria was in the top 20 countries in our The State of Mobile Voice Experience report, which examined a total of 80 countries.

Vivacom’s score was particularly strong in terms of both 4G Availability and Latency Experience. In the case of the former, our Vivacom users were on 4G for 89.2% of the time on average, compared with 82.1% and 77.7% for their counterparts on Telenor and A1, respectively. Turning to Latency Experience, our users on Vivacom’s network observed an average of 33.9 milliseconds, 10.1% faster than that seen on Telenor and 12.6% faster than that seen on A1. However, A1 took the prize for Download Speed Experience.

Looking ahead, comments by several operators regarding the possible use of network sharing as a way of improving the feasibility of rolling out 5G suggest that the differences in user experience observed between operators may shrink once 5G rollout is in full swing; but as 5G frequencies won’t be auctioned until around June, that point is still some way off.

Opensignal Awards Table

Mobile Experience Awards Bulgaria
January 2020, Bulgaria Report
Video Experience
Voice App Experience
Download Speed Experience
Upload Speed Experience
Latency Experience
4G Availability
4G Coverage Experience
Download Image
Mobile Experience Awards Winners
January 2020, Bulgaria
Voice App Experience
Download Speed Experience
Upload Speed Experience
Latency Experience
4G Availability
Mobile Experience Awards Draws
January 2020, Bulgaria
Video Experience
4G Coverage Experience
Download Image

Overview

Click on metric labels below for a quick preview
Video Experience
in 0-100 points
A1
74.3
Vivacom
73.5
Telenor
70.8
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image

National Analysis

Video Experience

Video Experience
in 0-100 points
A1
74.3
Vivacom
73.5
Telenor
70.8
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image
Video Experience
Additional Metrics
in 0-100 points
4G Video Experience
79.9 (± 0.74) 78.6 (± 0.87) 78.8 (± 0.81)
3G Video Experience
63.7 (± 2.53) 58.9 (± 2.60) 58.2 (± 3.01)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | January 2020 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Video Experience in 0-100 points
80 (± 0.74)
79 (± 0.87)
79 (± 0.81)
3G Video Experience in 0-100 points
64 (± 2.53)
59 (± 2.60)
58 (± 3.01)
Mobile Network Experience Report | January 2020 | © Opensignal Inc.

Voice App Experience

Voice App Experience
in 0-100 points
A1
79.7
Vivacom
81.3
Telenor
77.2
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image
Voice App Experience
Additional Metrics
in 0-100 points
4G Voice App Experience
81.9 (± 0.79) 82.8 (± 0.66) 81.3 (± 0.97)
3G Voice App Experience
75.5 (± 1.73) 77.0 (± 1.86) 70.6 (± 3.13)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | January 2020 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Voice App Experience in 0-100 points
82 (± 0.79)
83 (± 0.66)
81 (± 0.97)
3G Voice App Experience in 0-100 points
76 (± 1.73)
77 (± 1.86)
71 (± 3.13)
Mobile Network Experience Report | January 2020 | © Opensignal Inc.

Download Speed Experience

Download Speed Experience
in Mbps
A1
32.7
Vivacom
30.3
Telenor
25.7
08.7517.526.2535
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image
Download Speed Experience
Additional Metrics
in Mbps
4G Download Speed
45.8 (± 1.20) 38.6 (± 1.13) 38.6 (± 1.06)
3G Download Speed
8.3 (± 0.37) 6.9 (± 0.36) 5.3 (± 0.28)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | January 2020 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Download Speed in Mbps
46 (± 1.20)
39 (± 1.13)
39 (± 1.06)
3G Download Speed in Mbps
8 (± 0.37)
7 (± 0.36)
5 (± 0.28)
Mobile Network Experience Report | January 2020 | © Opensignal Inc.

Upload Speed Experience

Upload Speed Experience
in Mbps
A1
9.1
Vivacom
10.1
Telenor
8.6
03.757.511.2515
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image
Upload Speed Experience
Additional Metrics
in Mbps
4G Upload Speed
13.1 (± 0.45) 13.1 (± 0.47) 13.1 (± 0.44)
3G Upload Speed
1.7 (± 0.10) 1.7 (± 0.10) 1.5 (± 0.12)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | January 2020 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Upload Speed in Mbps
13 (± 0.45)
13 (± 0.47)
13 (± 0.44)
3G Upload Speed in Mbps
2 (± 0.10)
2 (± 0.10)
1 (± 0.12)
Mobile Network Experience Report | January 2020 | © Opensignal Inc.

Latency Experience

Latency Experience
in ms The lower the figure the better the latency
A1
38.8
Vivacom
33.9
Telenor
37.7
010203040
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image
Latency Experience
Additional Metrics
in ms
4G Latency
31.1 (± 0.46) 27.4 (± 0.49) 31.0 (± 0.42)
3G Latency
53.1 (± 1.28) 52.2 (± 1.87) 48.3 (± 1.78)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | January 2020 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Latency in ms
31 (± 0.46)
27 (± 0.49)
31 (± 0.42)
3G Latency in ms
53 (± 1.28)
52 (± 1.87)
48 (± 1.78)
Mobile Network Experience Report | January 2020 | © Opensignal Inc.

4G Availability

4G Availability
% of time
A1
77.7
Vivacom
89.2
Telenor
82.1
022.54567.590
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image

4G Coverage Experience

4G Coverage Experience
in 0-10 points
A1
6.2
Vivacom
7.2
Telenor
7.2
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image
Learn more

Opensignal measures the real-world experience of consumers on mobile networks in the places they live, work and travel.

We continually adapt our methodology to best represent the true experience of smartphone users. Therefore, comparisons of the results to past reports should be considered indicative only.

For every metric we calculate statistical confidence intervals indicated on our graphs. When confidence intervals overlap, our measured results are too close to declare a winner. In those cases, we show a statistical draw. For this reason, some metrics have multiple winners.

In our bar graphs we represent confidence intervals as boundaries on either sides of graph bars. In our supporting-metric charts we show confidence intervals as +/- numerical values.

More about Methodology

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For every metric we calculate statistical confidence intervals indicated on our graphs. When confidence intervals overlap, our measured results are too close to declare a winner. In those cases, we show a statistical draw. For this reason, some metrics have multiple operator winners.

In our bar graphs we represent confidence intervals as boundaries on either sides of graph bars.

In our supporting-metric charts we show confidence intervals as +/- numerical values.

Why confidence intervals are vital in analyzing mobile network experience