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.
Vivacom has pushed past the 90% mark for 4G Availability, making it the first operator in Bulgaria to do so. Our Vivacom 4G users observed a 2.5 percentage point increase in the proportion of time they spent connected to a 4G signal since our last report, taking it to 91.7%. However, our Telenor users observed the largest improvement in this measure of the mobile experience, with a rise of three percentage points to 85.1%. 4G Availability rose more modestly for A1 users — an increase of 1.1 percentage points to 78.8%.
While the Download Speed Experience Award remains firmly in A1’s hands — our users saw its lead increase from 2.4 Mbps to 4.3 Mbps since our last report — Telenor has pushed Vivacom off the number 2 spot. Our users on its network observed an impressive 4.1 Mbps (15.9%) increase in average download speeds to 29.8 Mbps since our last report, while those observed by our Vivacom users fell by 2.3 Mbps (7.5%) to 28.1 Mbps.
Our first operator-level analysis of the mobile Games Experience in Bulgaria shows that our Vivacom users enjoy the best Games Experience. The operator scored 74.6 points out of 100, placing it in the Fair category. A1 was 3.3 points behind with a score of 71.4 but also placed in the Fair category. A Fair rating means that users found the experience ‘average’. In most cases the game was responsive to the actions of the player with most users feeling that they had control over the game. Our Telenor users reported a Poor Games Experience, given its score of 64.8, which means that most of them found this level of experience unacceptable.
Vivacom remains the dominant operator in Bulgaria, as far as our awards table is concerned, and its number of awards has increased slightly since our last report, rising from five wins and two draws to six wins and one draw. The operator succeeded in claiming the Video Experience award outright, having previously won it jointly with A1, and also took home our first operator-level Games Experience award in Bulgaria. However, Vivacom continues to tie with Telenor for 4G Coverage Experience and A1’s lead on Download Speed Experience has nearly doubled in percentage terms.
Our Vivacom users have observed the largest improvement in their Video Experience since our previous report, with its score increasing by 2.4 points to 75.9 out of 100. In contrast, our Telenor and A1 users reported more modest increases of 1 and 0.6 points, respectively. Vivacom’s new score places it in the Excellent category — making it the first Bulgarian operator to achieve our highest rating for this measure of the mobile experience. An Excellent Video Experience means fast loading times and almost non-existent stalling across all users, video streaming providers and resolutions tested.
In this report, we've analyzed our data gathered in the 90 days from the start of March 2020 to compare the mobile network experience of Bulgaria’s three national operators: A1, Vivacom and Telenor.
Our users have seen little movement in terms of their Voice App Experience since our last report, with all three operators placing in the same categories — Vivacom in Good, while Telenor and A1 still place in the Acceptable category. Similarly, 4G Coverage Experience, which is on a scale of 0-10 and analyzes the locations where customers of a network operator received a 4G signal relative to the locations visited by users of all network operators, has only seen increases in the 0.1-0.2 range since our previous report.
However, our Bulgarian users have observed significant increases in their average upload speeds, which have risen by 0.5-0.7 Mbps (5.6-8.6%), with our Telenor users observing the largest improvement and those on A1 the least. These improvements, along with the increases in average download speeds seen by our Telenor and A1 users — 4.1 Mbps and 1.3 Mbps, respectively — are particularly noteworthy given that they occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Bulgarian government’s response to it; a state of emergency was declared on March 13 and ended two months later and our analysis has shown that users in many countries experienced declines in their average download speeds when they went into lockdown.
One significant development since our last report was the news that the European Commission has approved the acquisition of Vivacom by United Group, a Netherlands-based telecoms and media firm, and it will be interesting to see how this change of ownership influences Vivacom’s strategy going forward.
| Mobile Experience Awards Bulgaria | |||
|---|---|---|---|
June 2020,
Bulgaria Report
|
A
A1
|
V
Vivacom
|
T
Telenor
|
Video Experience
| |||
Games Experience
| |||
Voice App Experience
| |||
Download Speed Experience
| |||
Upload Speed Experience
| |||
4G Availability
| |||
4G Coverage Experience
| |||
|
Mobile Experience Awards Winners
|
June 2020,
Bulgaria
|
|---|---|
|
Video Experience
|
V
Vivacom
|
|
Games Experience
|
V
Vivacom
|
|
Voice App Experience
|
V
Vivacom
|
|
Download Speed Experience
|
A
A1
|
|
Upload Speed Experience
|
V
Vivacom
|
|
4G Availability
|
V
Vivacom
|
|
Mobile Experience Awards Draws
|
June 2020, Bulgaria
|
|---|---|
|
4G Coverage Experience
|
V
Vivacom
T
Telenor
|
|
Video Experience
Additional Metrics |
A
A1
|
V
Vivacom
|
T
Telenor
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | |||
|
4G Video Experience
| 79.4 (± 0.57) | 79.8 (± 0.51) | 80.0 (± 0.59) |
|
3G Video Experience
| 65.1 (± 1.83) | 60.0 (± 2.53) | 55.4 (± 2.59) |
| 4G Video Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
A
A1
|
79 (± 0.57) |
|
V
Vivacom
|
80 (± 0.51) |
|
T
Telenor
|
80 (± 0.59) |
| 3G Video Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
A
A1
|
65 (± 1.83) |
|
V
Vivacom
|
60 (± 2.53) |
|
T
Telenor
|
55 (± 2.59) |
|
Games Experience
Additional Metrics |
A
A1
|
V
Vivacom
|
T
Telenor
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | |||
|
4G Games Experience
| 84.8 (± 1.42) | 82.7 (± 1.40) | 80.8 (± 1.63) |
|
3G Games Experience
| 48.0 (± 3.20) | 49.7 (± 4.44) | 39.3 (± 0.75) |
| 4G Games Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
A
A1
|
85 (± 1.42) |
|
V
Vivacom
|
83 (± 1.40) |
|
T
Telenor
|
81 (± 1.63) |
| 3G Games Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
A
A1
|
48 (± 3.20) |
|
V
Vivacom
|
50 (± 4.44) |
|
T
Telenor
|
39 (± 0.75) |
|
Voice App Experience
Additional Metrics |
A
A1
|
V
Vivacom
|
T
Telenor
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | |||
|
4G Voice App Experience
| 81.8 (± 0.49) | 82.3 (± 0.45) | 80.8 (± 0.58) |
|
3G Voice App Experience
| 74.6 (± 1.14) | 76.5 (± 1.29) | 71.1 (± 1.57) |
| 4G Voice App Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
A
A1
|
82 (± 0.49) |
|
V
Vivacom
|
82 (± 0.45) |
|
T
Telenor
|
81 (± 0.58) |
| 3G Voice App Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
A
A1
|
75 (± 1.14) |
|
V
Vivacom
|
76 (± 1.29) |
|
T
Telenor
|
71 (± 1.57) |
|
Download Speed Experience
Additional Metrics |
A
A1
|
V
Vivacom
|
T
Telenor
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in Mbps | |||
|
4G Download Speed
| 46.3 (± 1.09) | 33.4 (± 0.76) | 41.8 (± 0.91) |
|
3G Download Speed
| 7.9 (± 0.31) | 6.4 (± 0.29) | 5.3 (± 0.25) |
| 4G Download Speed | in Mbps |
|
A
A1
|
46 (± 1.09) |
|
V
Vivacom
|
33 (± 0.76) |
|
T
Telenor
|
42 (± 0.91) |
| 3G Download Speed | in Mbps |
|
A
A1
|
8 (± 0.31) |
|
V
Vivacom
|
6 (± 0.29) |
|
T
Telenor
|
5 (± 0.25) |
|
Upload Speed Experience
Additional Metrics |
A
A1
|
V
Vivacom
|
T
Telenor
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in Mbps | |||
|
4G Upload Speed
| 13.4 (± 0.38) | 13.0 (± 0.40) | 13.1 (± 0.36) |
|
3G Upload Speed
| 1.6 (± 0.09) | 1.7 (± 0.10) | 1.7 (± 0.10) |
| 4G Upload Speed | in Mbps |
|
A
A1
|
13 (± 0.38) |
|
V
Vivacom
|
13 (± 0.40) |
|
T
Telenor
|
13 (± 0.36) |
| 3G Upload Speed | in Mbps |
|
A
A1
|
2 (± 0.09) |
|
V
Vivacom
|
2 (± 0.10) |
|
T
Telenor
|
2 (± 0.10) |
Collecting billions of individual measurements daily from over 100 million devices globally, Opensignal independently analyzes mobile user experience on every major network operator around the globe.
Opensignal is the mobile analytics company committed to improving mobile connectivity across the globe. We are the independent authority for understanding the true experience consumers receive on wireless networks.
Get in touch for more information on our analytics solutions and industry reports.
Opensignal Limited retains ownership of this report including all intellectual property rights, data, content, graphs & analysis. Reports produced by Opensignal Limited may not be quoted, reproduced, distributed, published for any commercial purpose (including use in advertisements or other promotional content) without prior written consent. Journalists are encouraged to quote information included in Opensignal reports provided they include clear source attribution. For more information, contact [email protected].
