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While our Vodafone and NOS users saw their average download speeds drop by around 1.5 Mbps when compared with those they observed in our last report, MEO users saw theirs rise by 2.2 Mbps (9.3%). Because of these changes, Vodafone’s lead over second-placed MEO has nearly halved — from the 7.6 Mbps seen in our previous report to 4.0 Mbps. As a consequence, the average download speeds observed by our Vodafone users in this data collection period were 15.1% faster than their MEO counterparts, down from the 31.8% seen previously. However, the situation may be different in our next report, given that our recent global look at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mobile experience shows that our Portuguese users’ download speeds have started to recover from the declines seen between mid-March and early May.
Our first operator level look at how mobile users experience real-time multiplayer mobile gaming on mobile networks in Portugal has revealed that while our users on all three national operators had a Fair Games Experience, Vodafone pulled ahead to win our first-ever award for this measure of the mobile experience in Portugal with a score of 74.6 out of a possible 100. Vodafone’s winning score was 3.2 points ahead of second-placed NOS. A Fair rating means that our users found the experience to be “average”. In most cases the game was responsive to the actions of the player with most users reporting that they felt like they had control over the game.
Our awards table is almost unchanged, with Vodafone still winning six out of seven awards and is in a three-way tie with NOS and MEO for the 4G Coverage Experience award. The only difference from our last report is that Vodafone has won our inaugural Games Experience award, which has replaced the Latency Experience award that it won in our previous report.
While Vodafone’s lead in Upload Speed Experience has slightly increased since our last report to around 2.7 Mbps, the contest for second place saw more movement — our MEO users saw their average upload speeds increase by 1.1 Mbps (14.7%) to 8.6 Mbps, while their NOS counterparts observed no change at all. As a consequence, MEO and NOS statistically tied for the number two spot, when MEO placed third in our last report.
Users across all three national operators observed small declines in their Video Experience and Voice App Experience, of around 1.5-2.1 points and 1.3-1.6 points, respectively. This was enough for Vodafone to drop down a category for Video Experience — from Excellent to Very Good, putting it in line with its competitors. The drop of 1.3 points observed by our MEO users in their Voice App Experience pushed it down into the Acceptable category from Good, while Vodafone and NOS remain in the Good category.
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 Portugal’s three national operators: Vodafone, NOS and MEO. As this period includes the introduction of a state of emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it also indicates to what degree the Portuguese mobile experience has weathered the resulting changes in people’s data consumption habits and locations.
While our Vodafone and NOS users observed declines of 1.4 and 1.5 Mbps in their average download speeds since our last report, average download speeds observed by our users across all three operators remained above 18 Mbps, indicating that operators’ mobile networks were resilient in the face of the changes in mobile phone use triggered by the pandemic. Our recent global look at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mobile experience shows that download speeds are already recovering.
Average upload speeds have been even more resilient than average download speeds, with the Upload Speed Experience observed by our users either staying constant — in the case of our NOS users — or increasing. Our MEO users observed a rise of 1.1 Mbps, while our Vodafone users saw one of 0.4 Mbps. The former also experienced the largest improvement in 4G Availability, with the percentage of time that our MEO 4G users spent connected to a 4G signal rising by 1.3 percentage points to 83.2%, while NOS’s score rose by 0.3 percentage points and Vodafone’s fell by 0.7%. 4G Coverage Experience was more consistent, with our users across all three national networks seeing an improvement of 0.1 points when compared with our last report.
Looking ahead, Anacom’s announcement that the allocation of 5G spectrum licenses is now planned to take place in January/February 2021 mean that it will be a while yet before 5G can enable a dramatic overall change in Portugal’s mobile experience, given the time required to rollout 5G networks beyond a scattering of city centres and for 5G smartphones to be used by a significant proportion of our Portuguese user base.
| Mobile Experience Awards Portugal | |||
|---|---|---|---|
July 2020,
Portugal Report
|
V
Vodafone
|
N
NOS
|
M
MEO
|
Video Experience
| |||
Games Experience
| |||
Voice App Experience
| |||
Download Speed Experience
| |||
Upload Speed Experience
| |||
4G Availability
| |||
4G Coverage Experience
| |||
|
Mobile Experience Awards Winners
|
July 2020,
Portugal
|
|---|---|
|
Video Experience
|
V
Vodafone
|
|
Games Experience
|
V
Vodafone
|
|
Voice App Experience
|
V
Vodafone
|
|
Download Speed Experience
|
V
Vodafone
|
|
Upload Speed Experience
|
V
Vodafone
|
|
4G Availability
|
V
Vodafone
|
|
Mobile Experience Awards Draws
|
July 2020, Portugal
|
|---|---|
|
4G Coverage Experience
|
V
Vodafone
N
NOS
M
MEO
|
|
Video Experience
Additional Metrics |
V
Vodafone
|
N
NOS
|
M
MEO
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | |||
|
4G Video Experience
| 77.8 (± 0.36) | 72.8 (± 0.67) | 76.0 (± 0.43) |
|
3G Video Experience
| 58.1 (± 2.04) | 56.6 (± 2.67) | 51.0 (± 1.98) |
| 4G Video Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
V
Vodafone
|
78 (± 0.36) |
|
N
NOS
|
73 (± 0.67) |
|
M
MEO
|
76 (± 0.43) |
| 3G Video Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
V
Vodafone
|
58 (± 2.04) |
|
N
NOS
|
57 (± 2.67) |
|
M
MEO
|
51 (± 1.98) |
|
Games Experience
Additional Metrics |
V
Vodafone
|
N
NOS
|
M
MEO
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | |||
|
4G Games Experience
| 80.8 (± 0.87) | 75.0 (± 1.03) | 76.1 (± 0.91) |
|
3G Games Experience
| 47.6 (± 3.12) | 45.2 (± 4.52) | 37.7 (± 0.58) |
| 4G Games Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
V
Vodafone
|
81 (± 0.87) |
|
N
NOS
|
75 (± 1.03) |
|
M
MEO
|
76 (± 0.91) |
| 3G Games Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
V
Vodafone
|
48 (± 3.12) |
|
N
NOS
|
45 (± 4.52) |
|
M
MEO
|
38 (± 0.58) |
|
Voice App Experience
Additional Metrics |
V
Vodafone
|
N
NOS
|
M
MEO
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | |||
|
4G Voice App Experience
| 82.2 (± 0.28) | 80.8 (± 0.36) | 80.9 (± 0.29) |
|
3G Voice App Experience
| 75.5 (± 1.06) | 75.4 (± 1.37) | 71.3 (± 1.12) |
| 4G Voice App Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
V
Vodafone
|
82 (± 0.28) |
|
N
NOS
|
81 (± 0.36) |
|
M
MEO
|
81 (± 0.29) |
| 3G Voice App Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
V
Vodafone
|
76 (± 1.06) |
|
N
NOS
|
75 (± 1.37) |
|
M
MEO
|
71 (± 1.12) |
|
Download Speed Experience
Additional Metrics |
V
Vodafone
|
N
NOS
|
M
MEO
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in Mbps | |||
|
4G Download Speed
| 34.5 (± 0.56) | 20.0 (± 0.41) | 31.0 (± 0.49) |
|
3G Download Speed
| 5.6 (± 0.19) | 6.0 (± 0.31) | 5.3 (± 0.21) |
| 4G Download Speed | in Mbps |
|
V
Vodafone
|
35 (± 0.56) |
|
N
NOS
|
20 (± 0.41) |
|
M
MEO
|
31 (± 0.49) |
| 3G Download Speed | in Mbps |
|
V
Vodafone
|
6 (± 0.19) |
|
N
NOS
|
6 (± 0.31) |
|
M
MEO
|
5 (± 0.21) |
|
Upload Speed Experience
Additional Metrics |
V
Vodafone
|
N
NOS
|
M
MEO
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in Mbps | |||
|
4G Upload Speed
| 13.4 (± 0.23) | 10.0 (± 0.22) | 10.3 (± 0.21) |
|
3G Upload Speed
| 1.9 (± 0.09) | 1.7 (± 0.11) | 1.4 (± 0.08) |
| 4G Upload Speed | in Mbps |
|
V
Vodafone
|
13 (± 0.23) |
|
N
NOS
|
10 (± 0.22) |
|
M
MEO
|
10 (± 0.21) |
| 3G Upload Speed | in Mbps |
|
V
Vodafone
|
2 (± 0.09) |
|
N
NOS
|
2 (± 0.11) |
|
M
MEO
|
1 (± 0.08) |
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.
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