Mobile Network Experience Report Sri Lanka February 2020

Sri Lanka

Mobile Network Experience Report
February 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
Hardik Khatri Technical Analyst

Key Findings

Dialog makes a strong debut; wins four out of seven Opensignal awards outright

In Opensignal’s first national report on Sri Lanka’s mobile network experience one operator dominated our award table. Dialog won four of our seven awards outright, and by very large margins in all of the categories — 4G Availability, 4G Coverage, Latency and Upload Speed Experience. Mobitel was the closest to Dialog. The operator won two categories outright — Video and Voice App Experience, tied with Dialog in Download Speed Experience and came in strong second in several of our metrics. However, Hutch and Airtel clearly have some catching up to do, especially with the latter being a 3G-only operator.

Dialog has established a big lead in 4G Availability and 4G Coverage Experience

Dialog swept away our 4G Availability and 4G Coverage Experience awards with a big lead. In 4G Availability, the operator surpassed the 75% mark with a winning score of 76.2%. The second-place finisher Mobitel was 5.6 percentage points behind the leader in our analysis, while Hutch scored below 60%. Dialog has clearly deployed a much more accessible 4G service, according to our measurements, as our users on average were able to connect to a 4G service 76.2% of the time on Dialog’s network. We saw similar results in 4G Coverage Experience, Dialog lead the pack with a score of 7.7 (on a 10-point scale), followed by Mobitel at 5.7 points, while Hutch was far apart at 2.2 points.

Video Experience ranges from Poor to Good in Sri Lanka

Depending on the operator, the Video Experience in Sri Lanka can vary from Poor (under 40 points out of 100), in which case streamed video is very slow to load and experiences frequent interruptions even at lower resolutions, to Good (55-65), where video loads much more quickly and stalls less often. Mobitel was the only operator to garner a Good rating with a winning score of 58.9 points, while Dialog missed the same by less than a point and joined Airtel in the Fair ratings (40-55) bracket. Hutch came last with a Poor rating.

Mobitel, Sri Lanka’s only operator with Acceptable Voice App Experience

Mobitel leads our unique measure of Voice App Experience that quantifies the quality of consumers’ experience for over-the-top (OTT) voice services using apps like WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger. Mobitel won our award in this category with a score of 77.1 points, and became the only operator in Sri Lanka to earn an Acceptable rating (74-80) on a 100-point scale. The remaining operators ended up in the Poor rating (66-74) bracket. An Acceptable rating means that users are generally satisfied, with some suffering from perceptible call quality impairments, while a Poor rating means many users are dissatisfied and suffer call quality impairments like distortion, clicking sounds or silence.

Download Speed Experience: Mobitel and Dialog end up in a dead heat

Mobitel and Dialog statistically tied for the first place in our Download Speed Experience category with average speeds of 11.1 Mbps and 10.6 Mbps respectively. While we often see a range of speeds across a country's different operators, in Sri Lanka the differences between fastest and slowest average connection speed that users experience are quite significant. Users on the leading operators in this category saw average download speeds two to three times faster than other operators.

Huge variations in Upload Speed Experience exist among Sri Lanka's operators

Dialog dominated our Upload Speed Experience category with its users seeing an average connection speed of 4.7 Mbps. We saw a wide range of speeds in this category as Dialog’s award-winning score was almost 40% faster than Mobitel, more than three times faster than Hutch, and almost eight times faster than 3G-only operator Airtel. With an increase in the use of social media applications, Upload Speed Experience is increasingly becoming an important aspect of users’ mobile network experience and at present Dialog holds a clear advantage in this regard.

Introduction

Sri Lanka is striving to create a digitally empowered nation and knowledge economy with the initiatives launched by its government agency — Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA). With low levels of fixed broadband penetration, the mobile industry is playing an increasingly important role in these initiatives. Over the last decade, the number of mobile subscribers has grown from 17.2 million in 2009 to 33.4 million in 2019, with at least 50% of Sri Lankans subscribing to 3G/4G, making mobile operators the key drivers of economic growth and digital inclusion across the country.

We have analyzed Sri Lanka’s mobile networks on several occasions in our global reports. But in this report we examined the mobile network experience of users across the country on four national operator networks — Mobitel, Dialog, Airtel and Hutch — to see how they fared on real-world measurements over a period of 90 days starting on October 1, 2019. And Opensignal found an operator landscape characterized by large extremes. In every category we found operators that excelled in our metrics and others that fell flat.

Opensignal Awards Table

Mobile Experience Awards Sri Lanka
February 2020, Sri Lanka 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
February 2020, Sri Lanka
Video Experience
Voice App Experience
Upload Speed Experience
Latency Experience
4G Availability
4G Coverage Experience
Mobile Experience Awards Draws
February 2020, Sri Lanka
Download Speed Experience
Download Image

Overview

Click on metric labels below for a quick preview
Video Experience
in 0-100 points
Mobitel
58.9
Dialog
54.4
Airtel
45.1
Hutch
33.2
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
Mobitel
58.9
Dialog
54.4
Airtel
45.1
Hutch
33.2
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
68.2 (± 1.30) 62.5 (± 0.88) 42.7 (± 4.09)
3G Video Experience
44.3 (± 2.89) 38.2 (± 1.88) 45.1 (± 2.52) 27.1 (± 2.06)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | February 2020 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Video Experience in 0-100 points
68 (± 1.30)
62 (± 0.88)
—
43 (± 4.09)
3G Video Experience in 0-100 points
44 (± 2.89)
38 (± 1.88)
45 (± 2.52)
27 (± 2.06)
Mobile Network Experience Report | February 2020 | © Opensignal Inc.

Voice App Experience

Voice App Experience
in 0-100 points
Mobitel
77.1
Dialog
71.9
Airtel
68.7
Hutch
69.1
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
78.3 (± 1.18) 74.6 (± 0.88) 70.8 (± 2.86)
3G Voice App Experience
75.1 (± 2.00) 66.4 (± 1.87) 68.7 (± 2.19) 68.0 (± 2.13)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | February 2020 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Voice App Experience in 0-100 points
78 (± 1.18)
75 (± 0.88)
—
71 (± 2.86)
3G Voice App Experience in 0-100 points
75 (± 2.00)
66 (± 1.87)
69 (± 2.19)
68 (± 2.13)
Mobile Network Experience Report | February 2020 | © Opensignal Inc.

Download Speed Experience

Download Speed Experience
in Mbps
Mobitel
11.1
Dialog
10.6
Airtel
5.8
Hutch
3.7
03.757.511.2515
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image
Download Speed Experience
Additional Metrics
in Mbps
4G Download Speed
15.2 (± 0.53) 13.8 (± 0.28) 5.6 (± 0.49)
3G Download Speed
4.7 (± 0.24) 4.2 (± 0.12) 5.8 (± 0.22) 2.4 (± 0.11)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | February 2020 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Download Speed in Mbps
15 (± 0.53)
14 (± 0.28)
—
6 (± 0.49)
3G Download Speed in Mbps
5 (± 0.24)
4 (± 0.12)
6 (± 0.22)
2 (± 0.11)
Mobile Network Experience Report | February 2020 | © Opensignal Inc.

Upload Speed Experience

Upload Speed Experience
in Mbps
Mobitel
3.4
Dialog
4.7
Airtel
0.6
Hutch
1.4
01.252.53.755
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image
Upload Speed Experience
Additional Metrics
in Mbps
4G Upload Speed
5.0 (± 0.23) 6.6 (± 0.16) 2.2 (± 0.23)
3G Upload Speed
0.8 (± 0.06) 1.0 (± 0.04) 0.6 (± 0.03) 0.8 (± 0.04)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | February 2020 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Upload Speed in Mbps
5 (± 0.23)
7 (± 0.16)
—
2 (± 0.23)
3G Upload Speed in Mbps
1 (± 0.06)
1 (± 0.04)
1 (± 0.03)
1 (± 0.04)
Mobile Network Experience Report | February 2020 | © Opensignal Inc.

Latency Experience

Latency Experience
in ms The lower the figure the better the latency
Mobitel
79.8
Dialog
48.6
Airtel
64.6
Hutch
58.0
020406080
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image
Latency Experience
Additional Metrics
in ms
4G Latency
70.0 (± 0.60) 42.4 (± 0.46) 41.8 (± 1.49)
3G Latency
95.2 (± 1.64) 60.8 (± 1.18) 64.6 (± 1.83) 68.3 (± 1.89)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | February 2020 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Latency in ms
70 (± 0.60)
42 (± 0.46)
—
42 (± 1.49)
3G Latency in ms
95 (± 1.64)
61 (± 1.18)
65 (± 1.83)
68 (± 1.89)
Mobile Network Experience Report | February 2020 | © Opensignal Inc.

4G Availability

4G Availability
% of time
Mobitel
70.6
Dialog
76.2
Hutch
57.5
020406080
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image

4G Coverage Experience

4G Coverage Experience
in 0-10 points
Mobitel
5.7
Dialog
7.7
Hutch
2.2
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