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Smart continues to win the Download Speed Experience award by an impressive margin. The operator has won this award ever since our September 2017 report, this time doing so with a score of 20.7 Mbps — almost double the 10.4 Mbps and 10.7 Mbps observed by our DITO and Globe users, respectively. This is a significant improvement as in our last report Smart led by a margin of 6.2 Mbps over Globe. Smart’s score rose by 5.9 Mbps (39.7%), while Globe’s increased by 2.1 Mbps (24.7%).
DITO is in second-place for Games Experience, Voice App Experience and Upload Speed Experience and in first place for 4G Availability — relegating Globe to third place across these four measures of the mobile experience. In addition, DITO and Globe are tied in second-place for Download Speed Experience. These are impressive achievements, given that DITO only launched commercial mobile services back in early March — but as it is a recent entrant to the market, DITO has less users to support on its network and does not cover users in as far flung locations as Globe, as shown by its lower 4G Coverage Experience score. DITO’s scores are also likely to change significantly as its rollout continues.
Globe’s Video Experience score rose by 2.4 points compared to that seen in our last report, taking it to 55.5 points on a 100 point scale. As Smart’s score rose by 0.7 points to 61.6 points, our users had a Good (55-65) experience when streaming mobile video over both operators’ networks, while DITO placed in the Fair (40-55) category, with a score of 51 points. A Good Video Experience means that our users experienced reasonably fast loading times. Their experience wasn’t very consistent, even from the same video streaming provider and particularly for higher resolutions, with noticeably slower loading times and stalling not being uncommon. Globe has been chipping away at Smart’s lead — back in our November 2020 report, Smart led by a mighty 16.6 points, but this time around just 6.1 points separated the two operators.
Our Filipino users on DITO spent the most amount of time connected to 4G — an impressive 97.5% — and therefore the new operator is the winner of the 4G Availability award. DITO has the advantage of being a 4G-only operator, while both Smart and Globe continue to support older generations of mobile technology in addition to 4G and 5G. DITO has put an end to Smart’s three-report long streak as an outright winner and also stopped Smart from achieving a second clean sweep of our award table. However, as might be expected given the recent launch of its network, DITO is in third place for 4G Coverage Experience — a measure of how 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 users of all network operators.
Smart has successfully defended all but one of its seven wins from our last report. The only award which has escaped its grasp is 4G Availability, which DITO — the Philippines’ new 4G-only operator — wins instead.
For the first time, we have directly compared the mobile network experience of our users on DITO, the Philippines’ newly launched third operator against the experience of users on Globe and Smart’s networks. DITO has made its presence felt, winning the 4G Availability award and coming second for Games Experience, Voice App Experience and Upload Speed Experience. DITO also ties for second place alongside Globe for Download Speed Experience. However, Smart still dominates the awards table, defending six out of seven awards, while DITO’s network rollout has a long way to go before it can rival either Smart or Globe on 4G Coverage Experience. While only 0.3 Mbps separated Smart and DITO’s scores on Upload Speed Experience, DITO needs to make a lot of progress before it can challenge Smart’s supremacy on Download Speed Experience, Video Experience, Games Experience and Voice App Experience.
In addition to DITO’s 4G launch, the introduction of mobile number portability — which went live on September 30, 2021 — will further increase the level of competition within the Filipino market by making it easier for customers to switch operator. With switching operators now easier, the quality of users’ mobile network experience is more important than before if operators are to retain customers and have low levels of churn.
While users were unable to retain their old number when changing to a new operator before the end of September, DITO still claimed to have hit surpassed 2.6 million subscribers by September and was looking to launch its service in 53 more cities/municipalities in the same month. Also in September, DITO announced that it had hit 52.75% population coverage.
In this report, we've analyzed the mobile network experience of the Philippines' two established national operators and new entrant DITO in the 90 days starting July 1, 2021 and ending September 28, 2021 both at a national level and across all 17 regions (nine in DITO’s case, due to its recent launch), to see how they measure up. In the case of Globe and Smart (DITO has yet to launch 5G commercially), we have used 5G measurements in addition to those from previous generations of mobile network technology when determining the overall scores for each award category.
To see how Smart and Globe compare in terms of the 5G experience and for information on both companies’ recent 5G initiatives, see our companion report, which looks at the mobile experience of our 5G Filipino users when they had active 5G connections.
| Mobile Experience Awards Philippines | |||
|---|---|---|---|
October 2021,
Philippines Report
|
D
DITO
|
G
Globe
|
S
Smart
|
Video Experience
| |||
Games Experience
| |||
Voice App Experience
| |||
Download Speed Experience
| |||
Upload Speed Experience
| |||
4G Availability
| |||
4G Coverage Experience
| |||
|
Mobile Experience Awards Winners
|
October 2021,
Philippines
|
|---|---|
|
Video Experience
|
S
Smart
|
|
Games Experience
|
S
Smart
|
|
Voice App Experience
|
S
Smart
|
|
Download Speed Experience
|
S
Smart
|
|
Upload Speed Experience
|
S
Smart
|
|
4G Availability
|
D
DITO
|
|
4G Coverage Experience
|
S
Smart
|
Smart is once again the outright winner of the Video Experience award, this time with a score of 61.6 points on a 100 point scale. Smart’s score rose by a modest 0.7 points compared to our last report, while our Globe users saw their Video Experience improve by 2.4 points — enough for it to join Smart in the Good (55-65) category.
A Good Video Experience means that our users experienced reasonably fast loading times. Their experience wasn’t very consistent, even from the same video streaming provider and particularly for higher resolutions, with noticeably slower loading times and stalling not being uncommon.
Globe has been chipping away at Smart’s lead — back in our November 2020 report, Smart led by an impressive 16.6 points, but this time around just 6.1 points separated the two operators. Meanwhile, DITO came third and placed in the Fair (40-55) category, with a score of 51 points.
|
Video Experience
Additional Metrics |
D
DITO
|
G
Globe
|
S
Smart
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | |||
|
Video Experience – 5G Users
| — | 66.9 (± 1.03) | 72.1 (± 0.95) |
| Video Experience – 5G Users | in 0-100 points |
|
D
DITO
|
— |
|
G
Globe
|
67 (± 1.03) |
|
S
Smart
|
72 (± 0.95) |
Our Smart and Globe 5G users enjoyed a far superior overall video experience than the overall experience seen across all three operators’ networks — reporting scores of 72.1 and 66.9 points, respectively. These scores put both operators in the Very Good (65-75) category, up from the Good ratings they both received for overall Video Experience.
Video Experience – 5G Users combines the average average video experience seen on different network technologies — 3G, 4G and 5G — and the time 5G users spent connected to each network generation. This differs from the overall Video Experience, because the results are just for 5G Users, in other words those users with both a 5G-capable smartphone and a 5G tariff plan.
This is the second report in a row in which Smart is the outright winner of the Games Experience award, after it statistically tied with Globe back in our November 2020 report. Meanwhile, DITO has come second, pushing Globe into third place, as DITO scored 40.7 points versus Globe’s score of 37.7 points. This time Smart led by 8.5 points versus the 10.9 points seen in our last report.
|
Games Experience
Additional Metrics |
D
DITO
|
G
Globe
|
S
Smart
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | |||
|
Games Experience – 5G Users
| — | 52.5 (± 2.13) | 61.5 (± 1.63) |
| Games Experience – 5G Users | in 0-100 points |
|
D
DITO
|
— |
|
G
Globe
|
53 (± 2.13) |
|
S
Smart
|
61 (± 1.63) |
The overall games experience of our Globe and Smart 5G users was much better than the average across all users on their respective networks. Our Smart 5G users had the best experience with a Games Experience – 5G Users score of 61.5 versus Globe’s 52.5 points. Our Globe 5G users’ experience was one category better than that seen for the operator’s Games Experience score — Poor (40-65) instead of Very Poor (under 40). However, our Smart 5G users’ overall experience placed in the same category (Poor) as its overall score calculated across all our Smart users.
Games Experience – 5G Users represents the overall multiplayer gaming experience of just those users with both a 5G smartphone and a 5G tariff plan across all network technologies. By comparison, Games Experience quantifies the multiplayer gaming experience of all users.
Smart is the winner of the Voice App Experience award for the second time in a row, after reclaiming it from Globe in our last report. DITO’s inaugural score of 70.9 points on a 100 point scale has pushed Globe into third place and cut Smart’s lead nearly in half — down from 6.2 points to 3.7 points.
However, Smart has moved up a category since last time due to a 1.2 point increase in its score and as a result, only our Smart users had an Acceptable (74-80) Voice App Experience, with both DITO and Globe placing in the Poor category (66-74) instead. An Acceptable rating means that listeners were generally able to comprehend without repetition when using over-the-top voice apps on mobile connections but perceptible call quality impairments were experienced by some users.
|
Voice App Experience
Additional Metrics |
D
DITO
|
G
Globe
|
S
Smart
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | |||
|
Voice App Experience – 5G Users
| — | 75.3 (± 0.68) | 77.9 (± 0.59) |
| Voice App Experience – 5G Users | in 0-100 points |
|
D
DITO
|
— |
|
G
Globe
|
75 (± 0.68) |
|
S
Smart
|
78 (± 0.59) |
Looking at the overall experience of our 5G users across all generations of mobile technology, Smart has managed a similar feat — our Smart 5G users observed the fastest overall download speeds — 94.9 Mbps, which was far ahead of the 49.1 Mbps seen by Globe 5G users.
|
Download Speed Experience
Additional Metrics |
D
DITO
|
G
Globe
|
S
Smart
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in Mbps | |||
|
Download Speed Experience – 5G Users
| — | 49.1 (± 2.67) | 94.9 (± 4.51) |
| Download Speed Experience – 5G Users | in Mbps |
|
D
DITO
|
— |
|
G
Globe
|
49 (± 2.67) |
|
S
Smart
|
95 (± 4.51) |
Smart wins the Upload Speed Experience award outright and has won every award since we added Upload Speed Experience to our Philippines mobile network experience reports back in March 2019. However, despite the average upload speeds seen by our Smart users rising by an impressive 1.2 Mbps (31%) compared with our previous report, second-placed DITO’s score of 4.6 Mbps cut Smart’s lead down to just 0.3 Mbps, down from the 1.5 Mbps it enjoyed last time around when Globe was in second-place. While Globe has been pushed back into third place, its score rose by 0.5 Mbps (21.6%) to 2.8 Mbps.
Turning to the overall experience of our 5G users across all generations of mobile technology, our Smart 5G users observed the fastest overall upload speeds — 11.5 Mbps — while our Globe 5G users clocked up a more modest 6.6 Mbps.
|
Upload Speed Experience
Additional Metrics |
D
DITO
|
G
Globe
|
S
Smart
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in Mbps | |||
|
Upload Speed Experience – 5G Users
| — | 6.6 (± 0.30) | 11.5 (± 0.53) |
| Upload Speed Experience – 5G Users | in Mbps |
|
D
DITO
|
— |
|
G
Globe
|
7 (± 0.30) |
|
S
Smart
|
11 (± 0.53) |
DITO is the new outright winner of the 4G Availability award with a score of 97.5%. This means that our Filipino users on DITO spent 97.5% of their time connected to 4G. DITO beat Smart, the previous winner, by an impressive margin of 11 percentage points. However, DITO has the advantage of being a 4G-only operator, while both Smart and Globe continue to support older generations of mobile technology in addition to 4G and 5G. DITO has put an end to Smart’s three-report long streak of winning outright and also stopped Smart from achieving a second clean sweep of our award table. However, it is still early days for DITO’s mobile service and this result may change as its service matures.
Our Globe users saw the most improvement from our previous report in terms of 4G Availability, with the proportion of time they spent connected to 4G or better rising by two percentage points to 84.6%, while Smart’s score was statistically unchanged from last time.
Smart is once again the outright winner of the 4G Coverage Experience award, this time with a score of 7.5 points on a 10 point scale and a 0.3 point lead over second-placed Globe. Both Globe and Smart’s scores were 0.3 points higher than in our previous report.
Notably, DITO is in third place for 4G Coverage Experience with a score of three points, which is unsurprising given its recent entry into the Philippines’ mobile market. This result adds important context to help to understand the 4G Availability category.
Opensignal’s 4G Coverage Experience metric is a measure of how 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 users of all network operators.
In simple terms, 4G Coverage Experience measures the mobile coverage experience in all the locations that matter most to everyday users — i.e. all the places where they live, work and travel. It considers all the areas that Opensignal users visit, the portion of locations that 4G is available to them, and locations that more users visit have higher importance to them.
Smart has continued to dominate the mobile experience at the regional-level, with things playing out similarly to the national awards table. Smart racks up 77 outright wins and is a joint winner for 13 regional awards. DITO is the only other operator to win awards outright, picking up 12 outright wins and seven joint wins — it picked up nine solo victories for 4G Availability and a further three for Upload Speed Experience in Calabarzon, Central Luzon and Ilocos. This is an impressive initial showing given that DITO’s rollout is still at a relatively early stage, which means we are able to report DITO's experience in nine of the Philippines’ 17 regions. As DITO expands its network, we will see DITO feature in more regions in future mobile network experience reports. Globe is a joint winner for six awards — four for 4G Availability and two for Video Experience.
Speaking of Video Experience, Smart wins outright in 15 out of 17 regions, with the only exceptions being Cordillera and the Zamboanga Peninsula where it shares the glory with Globe. Our Smart users in Metropolitan Manila had a Very Good (65-75) Video Experience, one category up from the Good (55-65) ratings DITO and Globe achieved in the same region. Elsewhere, our Smart users reported a Good experience when streaming mobile video in 10 regions and a Fair (40-55) experience in the remaining six. Our Globe users had a Good experience in three regions — Calabarzon, Central Luzon and Metropolitan Manila — a Fair one in 13 regions and a Poor (under 40) one in Bangsamoro. Aside from Metropolitan Manila, DITO users’ regional Video Experience was Fair in eight regions.
Smart is only slightly less dominant on Games Experience, winning outright in 14 regions and tying with DITO for first place in Bicol, Northern Mindanao and Western Visayas. However, there remains plenty of room for improvement in the experience of our Filipino users at the regional level when playing multiplayer mobile games over cellular connections as all three operators’ scores were either in the Poor or Very Poor categories.
Regional Voice App Experience plays out almost identically to Games Experience, with Smart winning outright in 14 regions and tying with DITO in Bicol, Ilocos and Northern Mindanao. Our users in Metropolitan Manila had an Acceptable (74-80) Voice App Experience on all three operators’ networks, as did our Smart users in Calabarzon and Central Luzon.
Smart reigns triumphant on regional Download Speed Experience, winning outright in all 17 regions. The highest download speeds seen by our users at the regional level were in Metropolitan Manila where Smart clocked up an impressive 34.3 Mbps, more than double the speeds observed by our DITO and Globe users in the same region. The fastest speeds observed by our DITO and Globe users were also in Metropolitan Manila — 16.4 Mbps and 15 Mbps, respectively.
Turning to Upload Speed Experience, Smart wins outright in 13 regions, while DITO has done the same in Calabarzon, Central Luzon and Ilocos. In addition, the two operators were statistically tied for the top spot in Bicol. Both Smart and DITO exceed the 6 Mbps mark in Metropolitan Manila, with scores of 6.9 and 6.2 Mbps, respectively, while Globe was far behind with 3.8 Mbps.
Finally, looking at 4G Availability, DITO wins outright in all nine of the regions in which it competed. Smart is the sole winner in four regions — Cordillera, Eastern Visayas, Soccskargen and the Zamboanga Peninsula. Globe statistically ties for first place with Smart in Bangsamoro, Cagayan Valley, Caraga and Mimaropa.
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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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