Mobile Network Experience Report Uruguay October 2021

Uruguay

Mobile Network Experience Report
October 2021

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
Robert Wyrzykowski Senior Analyst

Key Findings

Movistar ends Antel’s long reign over the Download Speed Experience award

Antel had previously been unbeatable for both of our speed awards — Download Speed and Upload Speed Experience — since we published the first Uruguay Mobile Network Experience in October 2019. As of our last report, the state-owned operator had won both speed awards four consecutive times. This time, however, Movistar pulls ahead of Antel and wins the Download Speed Experience award outright, with a score of 21.3 Mbps. Antel and Claro are in a statistical tie for second place, around 1.1 Mbps behind Movistar. Antel still keeps hold of the Upload Speed Experience award, winning it for the fifth consecutive time, with an average upload speed of 9.8 Mbps — 1.2 Mbps ahead of Movistar.

Claro and Movistar share the Video Experience award this time

Our users reported a statistical tie between Claro and Movistar, which led to a joint victory for them. This means Movistar regained its shared crown for Video Experience that it lost in our previous report. Both operators continue to place in the Very Good (65-75) category , while Antel slipped into the Good (55-65) category.

Movistar defends its title for the best Games Experience in Uruguay

Ever since we introduced the Games Experience award in our April 2020 report, Movistar has always won it, either outright or jointly with its competitors. In our last report, Movistar managed to break out of the statistical tie with Claro and solely claimed this recognition. The operator keeps its sole grasp on the award this time around, with a score of 71.3 points on a 100-point scale — about 4.6 points ahead of its statistically tied competitors, Antel and Claro. All three operators placed in the Fair (65-75) category.

All three national operators rate Good for Voice App Experience

Movistar and Claro remain locked in a statistical tie that has persisted ever since our October 2020 report and share the Voice App Experience award for the third time in a row. Less than one point separates all three mobile operators and they all placed in the Good category (80-87), meaning many users were satisfied but some experienced minor call quality impairments.

Our users on all Uruguayan operators spent at least 90% of their time on 4G

This report marks the fifth 4G Availability award in a row for Movistar — and the fourth consecutive 4G Coverage Experience victory for Antel. Movistar improved its 4G Availability result by 0.3 percentage points and with a score of 94.6% is very close to hitting the 95% milestone. Notably, after increasing its score by 2.7 percentage points, Claro has become the third operator in Uruguay to have passed the 90% threshold. This means our users on all networks in Uruguay spent more than 90% of their time connected to 4G or better services. Meanwhile, Antel wins the 4G Coverage Experience with a score of 9.2 points on a 10-point scale — but its lead over Movistar decreased from 0.8 to 0.6 points, compared to the previous report.

Introduction

Our fifth report on mobile network experience in Uruguay brings a few changes in the award table in Movistar’s favor. The operator wins the Download Speed Experience award for the first time ever, after snatching it away from the previous long-time holder Antel. In addition, Movistar forces a statistical tie against Claro for the Video Experience award and regains the shared title. This brings the award count for Movistar from two outright and one shared wins in the previous report to three sole and two joint victories this time around. Antel retains its sole awards for the Upload Speed Experience and 4G Coverage Experience. There are no outright wins for Claro this time, as the operator shares two of our experiential awards — Video Experience and Voice App Experience — with Movistar.

Uruguay’s operators have yet to deploy 5G services for consumers on a commercial scale, although Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining Omar Paganini has revealed that the 5G-capable 3.5 GHz spectrum band could potentially be auctioned in 2022. URSEC, the telecommunications regulator, has already awarded trial spectrum to all three operators — Antel, Claro and Movistar, with Claro performing technical tests in the 28 GHz band.

In this report, we've analyzed the mobile network experience for all three of Uruguay's national operators — Antel, Claro and Movistar — over a period of 90 days beginning July 1 and ending September 28, 2021, to see how they fared.

Opensignal Awards Table

Mobile Experience Awards Uruguay
October 2021, Uruguay 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
October 2021, Uruguay
Games Experience
Download Speed Experience
Upload Speed Experience
4G Availability
4G Coverage Experience
Mobile Experience Awards Draws
October 2021, Uruguay
Video Experience
Voice App Experience
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Overview

Click on metric labels below for a quick preview
Video Experience
in 0-100 points
Antel
64.3
Claro
68.1
Movistar
68.5
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 and Claro jointly win our Video Experience award, after a statistical tie, as Movistar lost 3.5 points and the previous sole winner Claro lost 5.3 points. Notably, both operators shared this award in our October 2020 report, before Claro broke the statistical tie in May 2021, to claim the award outright back then. Both operators remained in the Very Good category (65-75), which means generally fast loading times and only occasional stalling. Meanwhile, Antel slipped into the Good (55-65) category.

Video Experience
in 0-100 points
Antel
64.3
Claro
68.1
Movistar
68.5
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
66.6 (± 0.45) 70.7 (± 0.79) 70.4 (± 0.45)
3G Video Experience
50.1 (± 1.41) 55.9 (± 2.18) 56.5 (± 2.09)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | October 2021 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Video Experience in 0-100 points
67 (± 0.45)
71 (± 0.79)
70 (± 0.45)
3G Video Experience in 0-100 points
50 (± 1.41)
56 (± 2.18)
56 (± 2.09)
Mobile Network Experience Report | October 2021 | © Opensignal Inc.

Opensignal’s Video Experience metric quantifies the quality of video streamed to mobile devices by measuring real-world video streams over an operator's networks. To calculate video experience, we are directly measuring video streams from end-user devices and using this ITU approach to quantify the overall video experience for each operator on a scale from 0 to 100. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.

Games Experience

Movistar successfully defends the award for Games Experience, which it won outright in our previous report. Movistar comes first with a score of 71.3 points on a 100-point scale — about 4.6 points ahead of its statistically tied competitors, Antel and Claro. Movistar’s lead increased slightly, as the operator’s score rose by 0.9 points, compared to Antel and Claro’s smaller increases of 0.4 and 0.3 points respectively. All operators in Uruguay placed in the Fair (65-75) category, which means that our users found their experience to be ‘average’ and the majority of them reported delays between their actions and the outcomes in the game.

Games Experience
in 0-100 points
Antel
66.0
Claro
67.6
Movistar
71.3
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
70.3 (± 0.60) 72.6 (± 0.89) 75.2 (± 0.62)
3G Games Experience
40.9 (± 1.02) 43.9 (± 2.55) 45.9 (± 2.13)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | October 2021 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Games Experience in 0-100 points
70 (± 0.60)
73 (± 0.89)
75 (± 0.62)
3G Games Experience in 0-100 points
41 (± 1.02)
44 (± 2.55)
46 (± 2.13)
Mobile Network Experience Report | October 2021 | © Opensignal Inc.

Opensignal’s Games Experience metric is a measure of how mobile users experience real-time multiplayer mobile gaming on an operator’s network. Measured on a scale of 0-100, it analyzes how the multiplayer mobile gaming experience is affected by mobile network conditions including latency, packet loss and jitter to determine the impact on gameplay and the overall multiplayer gaming experience.

Voice App Experience

Movistar and Claro share the Voice App Experience award for the third time in a row, with scores around 80.9 points. However, only 0.8 points separate all three operators, as Antel was close behind the joint winners with a score of 80.3. All mobile operators in Uruguay placed in the Good category (80-87), meaning many users were satisfied but some experienced minor call quality impairments.

Voice App Experience
in 0-100 points
Antel
80.3
Claro
80.6
Movistar
81.2
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
81.5 (± 0.25) 81.8 (± 0.46) 82.2 (± 0.30)
3G Voice App Experience
72.8 (± 0.81) 74.7 (± 1.26) 74.7 (± 1.08)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | October 2021 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Voice App Experience in 0-100 points
81 (± 0.25)
82 (± 0.46)
82 (± 0.30)
3G Voice App Experience in 0-100 points
73 (± 0.81)
75 (± 1.26)
75 (± 1.08)
Mobile Network Experience Report | October 2021 | © Opensignal Inc.

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. — using 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. Voice App Experience for each operator is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100.

Download Speed Experience

After Antel’s long-time domination of this award, Movistar’s first victory might come as a surprise. It is, however, a well-deserved one, as our users on this network saw their average download speeds increase by 1.7 Mbps. In contrast, those on Antel’s network observed a decline of 2.3 Mbps. This has led to Movistar’s outright victory, with the average download speeds of 21.3 Mbps experienced by our users on its network. Asour Claro users saw a surge in their average download speeds of 1.8 Mbps, Antel and Claro findund themselves in a statistical tie for second place, around 1.1 Mbps behind Movistar. This is the first time in our reports when we saw Claro’s average overall download speed surpass the 20 Mbps milestone.

Download Speed Experience
in Mbps
Antel
19.9
Claro
20.5
Movistar
21.3
06.2512.518.7525
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image
Download Speed Experience
Additional Metrics
in Mbps
4G Download Speed
21.8 (± 0.34) 22.5 (± 0.45) 23.0 (± 0.38)
3G Download Speed
7.4 (± 0.30) 10.5 (± 0.36) 10.0 (± 0.49)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | October 2021 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Download Speed in Mbps
22 (± 0.34)
23 (± 0.45)
23 (± 0.38)
3G Download Speed in Mbps
7 (± 0.30)
10 (± 0.36)
10 (± 0.49)
Mobile Network Experience Report | October 2021 | © Opensignal Inc.

Our Claro and Movistar users saw the fastest average 4G download speeds — 22.5-23 Mbps, with no statistically significant difference between the two operators’ scores — in contrast to our last report when our Antel users saw the fastest 4G speeds. . Claro and Movistar saw increases of 1.4 and 0.9 Mbps respectively, while our users on Antel observed a drop in their average 4G speeds of 3.5 Mbps. Average 4G download speeds for all operators remain above the 20 Mbps threshold.

Upload Speed Experience

Despite losing the Download Speed Experience award to Movistar, Antel keeps a firm grip on the other of our speed awards. The operator wins the Upload Speed Experience crown for the fifth time in a row, remaining the only sole winner of this award ever since we launched our Uruguay Mobile Network Experience reports. Antel wins with an average upload speed of 9.8 Mbps experienced by our users — 1.2 Mbps (13.4%) ahead of second-placed Movistar. Due to an increase of 0.8 Mbps. Antel is very close to hitting the 10 Mbps milestone for average overall upload speeds. However, with its increase of 1 Mbps, Movistar slightly narrowed the gap between itself and Antel from 1.3 to 1.2 Mbps.

Upload Speed Experience
in Mbps
Antel
9.8
Claro
7.1
Movistar
8.6
02.557.510
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image
Upload Speed Experience
Additional Metrics
in Mbps
4G Upload Speed
10.9 (± 0.15) 8.2 (± 0.18) 9.5 (± 0.15)
3G Upload Speed
2.8 (± 0.19) 1.9 (± 0.14) 2.9 (± 0.29)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | October 2021 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Upload Speed in Mbps
11 (± 0.15)
8 (± 0.18)
10 (± 0.15)
3G Upload Speed in Mbps
3 (± 0.19)
2 (± 0.14)
3 (± 0.29)
Mobile Network Experience Report | October 2021 | © Opensignal Inc.

Antel remains the only network in Uruguay where our users see average 4G upload speeds over 10 Mbps. Movistar’s 4G Upload Speed remains 1.4 Mbps behind Antel’s, as users on both networks saw their average 4G upload speeds increase by 0.5 Mbps. By contrast, Claro’s average 4G upload speeds remained statistically unchanged and again it has the lowest 4G Upload Speed score out of the three national operators.

4G Availability

Movistar wins the 4G Availability award outright for the fifth consecutive report, this time with a score of 94.6%. It remains this award’s sole holder since we started reporting on the mobile network experience in Uruguay in October 2019 and is now very close to hitting the 95% milestone. After seeing an increase in its score of 2.7 percentage points, Claro is now in a statistical tie for second place with Antel. Claro is the third operator to surpass the 90% threshold for 4G Availability. This means our users on all networks in Uruguay spent more than90% of their time connected to 4G or better services.

4G Availability
% of time
Antel
90.9
Claro
90.8
Movistar
94.6
023.7547.571.2595
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
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4G Availability shows the proportion of time users with a 4G device and subscription have a 4G connection or better. It measures what proportion of time people have a 4G network connection in the places they most commonly frequent, something often missed by traditional coverage metrics.

4G Coverage Experience

Antel wins the 4G Coverage Experience for the fourth time in a row — this time with a score of 9.2 points on a 10-point scale. All operators in our report saw minor increases in their scores ranging from 0.1 to 0.3 points, with Movistar whittling down Antel’s lead from 0.8 to 0.6 points.

4G Coverage Experience
in 0-10 points
Antel
9.2
Claro
7.5
Movistar
8.6
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image

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.

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