Colombia

Mobile Network Experience Report
July 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

Colombia’s 4G Availability is improving

For the first time in Colombia, two operators — Claro and Tigo — surpassed the 80% mark in the 4G Availability metric, meaning our users on both these networks were able to connect to 4G services more than 80% of the time. Claro led in 4G Availability with a score of 82%, followed by Tigo with 80.2% — up by 3.1 and 2.7 percentage points, respectively, since the last report. Meanwhile, Movistar missed the 80% milestone by less than 1 percentage point. These scores indicate that 4G networks are becoming increasingly ubiquitous in Colombia.

Claro holds on to our Download Speed Experience award

Once again Claro claimed the Download Speed Experience Award with an average speed of 14.4 Mbps, and while we have not recorded a large increase in its score since the last report, Movistar and Tigo are closing the gap. In fact, users on Tigo are less than one Mbps away from challenging the experience Claro users enjoy in first place.

Movistar continues to lead as Video Experience improves in Colombia

Movistar has won our Video Experience award for the third report in a row, as our users on its network continue to enjoy the best Video Experience nationally. In the last six months, we have seen a decent improvement in Video Experience scores across the board, with all three operators maintaining a Good rating. With more than 90% of Colombians streaming videos on their mobile phones, Video Experience is increasingly becoming an important aspect of users’ mobile network experience and at present Movistar holds an advantage in this regard.

Games Experience in Colombia is Very Poor

Playing multiplayer mobile games over wireless networks is challenging for our users in Colombia. Claro became the first operator in the country to win our Games Experience award with a score of 40 (on a scale of 0-100) to end up with a Poor rating. With a score below 40, Tigo and Movistar placed in the Very Poor category. Opensignal's measure of Games Experience characterizes the experience of playing popular mobile gaming genres like battle royale and MOBA games, of which Fortnite, PUBG and Brawl Stars are examples.

Introduction

Our latest look at Colombia shows that one operator — Claro — continues to dominate the mobile network experience, winning five of our seven categories, including our inaugural Games Experience award in Colombia. But both its rival operators — Movistar and Tigo — are increasingly challenging the leader, as seen in our measurements. Movistar once again won our Video Experience award, and tied for first place with Claro in Upload Speed Experience. On the other hand, Tigo did not win in any of the awards but users saw some impressive improvements on its network.

In this report, we've analyzed the mobile network experience for Colombia's three key operators, Claro, Movistar, and Tigo, over the 90 days starting March 1, 2020. Alongside our national-level analysis, we've also examined the operator's scores in three of the country’s most populated regions: Andina, Caribe and Pacifico.

Opensignal Awards Table

Mobile Experience Awards Colombia
July 2020, Colombia Report
Video Experience
Games Experience
Voice App Experience
Download Speed Experience
Upload Speed Experience
4G Availability
4G Coverage Experience
Download Image
Mobile Experience Awards Winners
July 2020, Colombia
Video Experience
Games Experience
Voice App Experience
Download Speed Experience
4G Availability
4G Coverage Experience
Mobile Experience Awards Draws
July 2020, Colombia
Upload Speed Experience
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Overview

Click on metric labels below for a quick preview
Video Experience
in 0-100 points
Claro
61.2
Movistar
63.2
Tigo
58.8
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
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National Analysis

Video Experience

Movistar kept hold of our Video Experience award with a score of 63.2 (on a 100-point scale) — an improvement of 3.2 points since the last report. While second-placed Claro trailed closely behind at 61.2 with an improvement of 3 points, our users saw the highest improvement of 3.5 points on Tigo with 58.8 points. That said, all three operators maintained a Good Video Experience rating, which means our users in the country observed an acceptable experience when streaming mobile video at lower resolutions, but loading times were sometimes slow and stalling, especially at higher resolutions, was not uncommon.

Video Experience
in 0-100 points
Claro
61.2
Movistar
63.2
Tigo
58.8
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
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Video Experience
Additional Metrics
in 0-100 points
4G Video Experience
70.7 (± 0.26) 71.6 (± 0.39) 66.6 (± 0.56)
3G Video Experience
37.1 (± 0.72) 44.4 (± 1.08) 41.0 (± 1.02)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | July 2020 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Video Experience in 0-100 points
71 (± 0.26)
72 (± 0.39)
67 (± 0.56)
3G Video Experience in 0-100 points
37 (± 0.72)
44 (± 1.08)
41 (± 1.02)
Mobile Network Experience Report | July 2020 | © Opensignal Inc.

When we isolated the Video Experience of our users by connection type, in 4G Video Experience all three operators achieved a Very Good rating. Movistar had the highest score — 71.6 — followed by Claro and Tigo with 70.7 and 66.6, respectively. This means that our 4G users in the country enjoy fast loading times with only occasional stalling while streaming video on their smartphones.

Games Experience

Opensignal measured the mobile gaming experience in Colombia for the first time and we learned that playing multiplayer games in the country is challenging. Claro won our first-ever award with a score of 40 (on a scale of 0-100), which falls into the Poor category. This means that most users found this level of experience unacceptable, observed delays in the gameplay experience and did not receive immediate feedback on their actions. Tigo and Movistar placed in the Very Poor category with relatively close scores of 39.2 and 38.7 respectively.

Games Experience
in 0-100 points
Claro
40.0
Movistar
38.7
Tigo
39.2
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
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Games Experience
Additional Metrics
in 0-100 points
4G Games Experience
51.9 (± 0.32) 40.4 (± 0.78) 57.6 (± 0.64)
3G Games Experience
35.4 (± 0.14) 35.5 (± 0.21) 31.6 (± 0.28)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | July 2020 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Games Experience in 0-100 points
52 (± 0.32)
40 (± 0.78)
58 (± 0.64)
3G Games Experience in 0-100 points
35 (± 0.14)
36 (± 0.21)
32 (± 0.28)
Mobile Network Experience Report | July 2020 | © Opensignal Inc.

Games Experience quantifies the experience of real-time multiplayer mobile gaming on an operator’s network. It represents the experience of popular genres of mobile games such as battle royale games like Fortnite or MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) titles like Arena of Valor. A number of factors combine to determine the eventual score, including jitter, packet loss and latency. A high score improves the feel of gameplay and means that a game’s artificial intelligence is less likely to smooth over issues with network communications that could otherwise interrupt play

Voice App Experience

Claro challenged Tigo to win our Voice App Experience award, with an improvement of 2.3 points to score 73.7 (out of 100) — the largest growth we saw among Colombia's operators in the past six months for this measure of the mobile experience. Ex-winner Tigo drifted a little behind at 72.5, as our users on its network saw a tiny improvement of 0.2 points, while our users on Movistar saw an improvement of 1.4 points.

Voice App Experience
in 0-100 points
Claro
73.7
Movistar
70.6
Tigo
72.5
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
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Voice App Experience
Additional Metrics
in 0-100 points
4G Voice App Experience
77.0 (± 0.15) 73.1 (± 0.33) 78.8 (± 0.26)
3G Voice App Experience
65.4 (± 0.34) 65.2 (± 0.54) 58.2 (± 0.66)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | July 2020 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Voice App Experience in 0-100 points
77 (± 0.15)
73 (± 0.33)
79 (± 0.26)
3G Voice App Experience in 0-100 points
65 (± 0.34)
65 (± 0.54)
58 (± 0.66)
Mobile Network Experience Report | July 2020 | © Opensignal Inc.

These increases have not changed operators’ ratings in this metric, as all three operators remain in the Poor rating range (66-74), which means that users' Voice App Experience on these networks was marred by perceptible levels of frequent distortion, clicking sounds or silence.

Opensignal’s Voice App Experience measures the quality of experience for over-the-top (OTT) voice services — mobile voice apps such as WhatsApp, Skype, Facebook Messenger, etc. The measure uses a model derived from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)-based approach for quantifying overall voice call quality and a series of calibrated technical parameters. This model characterizes the exact relationship between the technical measurements and perceived call quality.

Download Speed Experience

Claro once again won our Download Speed Experience award with speeds averaging 14.4 Mbps, but rivals Tigo and Movistar are slowly closing in on its lead. While our users on Tigo’s network, on average, saw their overall download speeds increase by 1 Mbps to 13.5 Mbps, their Movistar counterparts saw speeds improve by 0.7 Mbps to 12.3 Mbps. Claro still has a decent lead, but if this trend continues, Claro will soon be challenged by one of its rivals on this metric.

Download Speed Experience
in Mbps
Claro
14.4
Movistar
12.3
Tigo
13.5
03.757.511.2515
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
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Download Speed Experience
Additional Metrics
in Mbps
4G Download Speed
18.4 (± 0.16) 16.1 (± 0.19) 17.8 (± 0.22)
3G Download Speed
4.1 (± 0.06) 3.8 (± 0.06) 3.8 (± 0.09)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | July 2020 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Download Speed in Mbps
18 (± 0.16)
16 (± 0.19)
18 (± 0.22)
3G Download Speed in Mbps
4 (± 0.06)
4 (± 0.06)
4 (± 0.09)
Mobile Network Experience Report | July 2020 | © Opensignal Inc.

When we look at Download Speed Experience by technology, the 4G Download Speeds of users on all three operators — Claro, Tigo and Movistar — surpassed the 15 Mbps mark with scores of 18.4 Mbps, 17.8 Mbps and 16.1 Mbps respectively. Claro also had the highest score for 3G Download Speed — 4.1 Mbps — while Movistar and Tigo both had scores of 3.8 Mbps.

Upload Speed Experience

We saw a fierce competition for our Upload Speed Experience award with scores across the three operators separated by less than 1 Mbps. While Movistar caught up with Claro to end up in a statistical tie for first place — overall upload speeds averaging 5.7-5.8 Mbps — Tigo on the other hand scored 4.9 Mbps.

Upload Speed Experience
in Mbps
Claro
5.7
Movistar
5.8
Tigo
4.9
01.8753.755.6257.5
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image
Upload Speed Experience
Additional Metrics
in Mbps
4G Upload Speed
7.5 (± 0.08) 8.1 (± 0.11) 6.9 (± 0.12)
3G Upload Speed
1.1 (± 0.03) 0.8 (± 0.02) 0.6 (± 0.03)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | July 2020 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Upload Speed in Mbps
8 (± 0.08)
8 (± 0.11)
7 (± 0.12)
3G Upload Speed in Mbps
1 (± 0.03)
1 (± 0.02)
1 (± 0.03)
Mobile Network Experience Report | July 2020 | © Opensignal Inc.

On our 4G Upload Speed sub-metric Movistar had the highest score — 8.1 Mbps — followed by Claro and Tigo with 7.5 Mbps and 6.9 Mbps, respectively.

Upload speeds are becoming increasingly important in mobile services, as social media, social sharing and video chat apps become more widely used. Mobile users are moving away from content consumption to content creation, which gives operators with the fastest upload speeds a distinct advantage.

4G Availability

Colombia's level of 4G access continues to grow. In the past six months two of the operators — Claro and Tigo — have surpassed the 80% milestone on 4G Availability with our users seeing an improvement of 3.1 and 2.7 percentage points, respectively. Claro kept its claim on our award in this category with our 4G users on its network being able to find a 4G connection 82% of time. Tigo was second-placed with a score of 80.2%, while Movistar was just 0.9 of a percentage point away from hitting the 80% mark.

4G Availability
% of time
Claro
82.0
Movistar
79.1
Tigo
80.2
021.2542.563.7585
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
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4G Coverage Experience

Claro also won our 4G Coverage Experience award, with a score of 5.9 points (on a scale of 0-10). Movistar finished second with 4.7 points, while Tigo followed closely with 4.3 points.

4G Coverage Experience
in 0-10 points
Claro
5.9
Movistar
4.7
Tigo
4.3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
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Opensignal’s 4G Coverage Experience metric is a measure of how our mobile subscribers experience 4G coverage on an operator’s network. Measured on a scale of 0-10, it analyzes the locations where customers of a network operator received a 4G signal relative to the locations visited by Opensignal users across all network operators.

Regional Analysis

In our regional outlook, we analyzed our users’ Mobile Network Experience in three of Colombia’s most populous regions — Andina, Caribe and Pacifico. Out of 18 awards for the taking Claro won six awards outright and tied for first place in an additional eight, while Movistar won four awards outright and tied in a further two. Tigo didn't win any regional awards, but collected six draws.

On Video Experience, Movistar won in Andina and Caribe, and tied with Claro in Pacifico. Our users observed the best Video Experience across all three regions in Caribe on Movistar’s network, where they enjoyed a Very Good rating.

Claro dominated on Voice App Experience, it won in Andina and Caribe outright and further tied with Tigo in Pacifico. Our users across all regions enjoyed an Acceptable Voice App Experience rating only in Andina on Claro’s network.

We saw a close-run race on Games Experience: Claro won in Andina outright and ended up in a deadlock with Tigo in a further two. But all the winner scores were in the Very Poor to Poor rating range, highlighting the room for improvement that Colombian users could benefit from.

We saw a mix of results on our speed metrics: on Download Speed Experience Claro won a single award outright in Caribe and tied in the remaining two regions with Tigo. In Upload Speed Experience Claro and Movistar each won one award in Andina and Pacifico, respectively, and in Caribe both ended up in a draw.

Turning to 4G Availability, Claro and Movistar won in Andina and Pacifico respectively, while Claro and Tigo ended up in a dead-heat in Caribe with winning scores above 80%.

Select any region or city below to display individual breakdown

Andina

Video Experience
in Andina
in 0-100 points
Claro
61.9
Movistar
63.9
Tigo
59.8
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Games Experience
in Andina
in 0-100 points
Claro
41.9
Movistar
38.9
Tigo
39.3
Download Image
Voice App Experience
in Andina
in 0-100 points
Claro
74.5
Movistar
71.2
Tigo
72.9
Download Image
Download Speed Experience
in Andina
in Mbps
Claro
14.1
Movistar
11.8
Tigo
13.8
Download Image
Upload Speed Experience
in Andina
in Mbps
Claro
6.0
Movistar
5.4
Tigo
5.1
Download Image
4G Availability
in Andina
% of time
Claro
83.6
Movistar
79.8
Tigo
80.4
Download Image

Caribe

Video Experience
in Caribe
in 0-100 points
Claro
60.0
Movistar
65.1
Tigo
56.5
Download Image
Games Experience
in Caribe
in 0-100 points
Claro
39.4
Movistar
38.0
Tigo
39.1
Download Image
Voice App Experience
in Caribe
in 0-100 points
Claro
73.1
Movistar
70.1
Tigo
71.8
Download Image
Download Speed Experience
in Caribe
in Mbps
Claro
16.3
Movistar
13.4
Tigo
11.9
Download Image
Upload Speed Experience
in Caribe
in Mbps
Claro
5.4
Movistar
5.8
Tigo
4.1
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4G Availability
in Caribe
% of time
Claro
80.5
Movistar
73.1
Tigo
81.8
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Pacifico

Video Experience
in Pacifico
in 0-100 points
Claro
61.7
Movistar
61.5
Tigo
59.2
Download Image
Games Experience
in Pacifico
in 0-100 points
Claro
39.5
Movistar
38.6
Tigo
39.5
Download Image
Voice App Experience
in Pacifico
in 0-100 points
Claro
72.7
Movistar
69.6
Tigo
72.9
Download Image
Download Speed Experience
in Pacifico
in Mbps
Claro
16.2
Movistar
13.3
Tigo
16.6
Download Image
Upload Speed Experience
in Pacifico
in Mbps
Claro
5.3
Movistar
7.3
Tigo
6.7
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4G Availability
in Pacifico
% of time
Claro
76.0
Movistar
80.9
Tigo
71.6
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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