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.
O2 wins the 5G Download Speed award scoring 143.9 Mbps and has maintained a significant lead on its two competitors — this time of at least 18.6 Mbps. In our first 5G Experience report we published in August, O2 had a winning margin of 21.3 Mbps on second-placed Telekom, while Vodafone nearly missed the 100 Mbps mark, having scored 98.5 Mbps. Now, all three operators have secured 3-digit scores as Vodafone scored 103.6 Mbps, behind Telekom’s 125.2 Mbps. Our users saw a faster average 5G Download Speed on all three operators compared with the previous Opensignal report.
Telekom keeps hold of Opensignal’s 5G Video Experience award in Germany with a score of 79.9 points (on a 100-point scale), as we observed no statistical change in the scores of the three operators compared to the previous report. O2 and Vodafone are statistically tied in second place behind Telekom, as they scored 78.5 points and 77.2 points, respectively. All three operators placed in the Excellent (75 points or above) category. 5G Video Experience quantifies the quality of video streamed to mobile devices by measuring real-world video streams over mobile operators’ 5G networks.
O2 scored 76 points (on a 100-point scale) in 5G Games Experience, joining Vodafone in the Good (75-85) 5G Games Experience category. Telekom remains the sole operator achieving an Excellent (85 or above) 5G Games Experience score despite being the only operator seeing a drop in its score compared to our previous report.
Our users observed their 5G Reach scores improve on all three national operators, meaning that they connected to 5G in a greater proportion of locations they visited compared to our previous report. Telekom maintains a clear winning edge on its competitors having scored 4.1 points (on a 10-point scale), ahead of Vodafone and O2 which scored 1.9 and 1.6 points, respectively. In our previous report, Telekom, Vodafone and O2 scored 3.6, 1.6 and 1.2 points respectively.
Telekom wins again the 5G Upload Speed award, this time with our users experiencing average 5G upload speeds of 29.8 Mbps — up 2.4 Mbps from the previous Opensignal report. Our Vodafone users saw speeds of 21.2 Mbps which was 2.4 Mbps faster than before. O2’s score of 18.1 Mbps was statistically unchanged. Upload speeds are important for sharing photos, videos and documents on social media or using email.
In our second look at the 5G experience in Germany we see O2 maintaining a winning edge in 5G Download Speed with our users having clocked the fastest average 5G download speeds once again, this time with a score of 143.9 Mbps. However, Telekom holds on to the other six 5G awards.
Telekom saw its lead reduce in our video, multiplayer gaming and voice app communication experiential awards — 5G Video Experience, 5G Games Experience and 5G Voice App Experience.
German mobile operators are expanding their 5G networks while also testing new technologies that should improve users’ experience when connected to 5G. For example, O2 has been testing Voice over New Radio (VoNR), which establishes telephony connections directly within a 5G network, while Telekom demonstrated 5G end-to-end network slicing capability, enabling a ‘performance on demand’ model for video streaming, where customers can control and alter their service automatically, based on performance quality needs. On the other hand, Vodafone has looked into deploying a 5G standalone network in Munich to test mobility concepts and has claimed to have launched Europe’s first standalone 5G network across its footprint.
In this report, we examine the 5G experience of our users on the three mobile network operators in Germany — O2, Telekom and Vodafone — over a period of 90 days beginning July 1 and ending September 28, 2021, to see how they fared. We have also published a companion report — Germany Mobile Network Experience — which analyzes the overall experience of all our mobile users in Germany. This is the second 5G report published in quick succession in order to align the publication dates of the 5G Experience report and the existing Opensignal Germany Mobile Network Experience report.
| 5G Mobile Experience Awards Germany | |||
|---|---|---|---|
November 2021,
Germany Report
|
O
O2
|
T
Telekom
|
V
Vodafone
|
5G Availability
| |||
5G Reach
| |||
5G Video Experience
| |||
5G Games Experience
| |||
5G Voice App Experience
| |||
5G Download Speed
| |||
5G Upload Speed
| |||
|
Mobile Experience Awards Winners
|
November 2021,
Germany
|
|---|---|
|
5G Availability
|
T
Telekom
|
|
5G Reach
|
T
Telekom
|
|
5G Video Experience
|
T
Telekom
|
|
5G Games Experience
|
T
Telekom
|
|
5G Voice App Experience
|
T
Telekom
|
|
5G Download Speed
|
O
O2
|
|
5G Upload Speed
|
T
Telekom
|
Telekom keeps hold of our 5G Availability award and it was the only operator to see a significant improvement in score compared with the previous report. In fact, our Telekom users had an active 5G connection 12.8% of the time, up from 11.1%. O2 and Vodafone 5G Availability scores this time were statistically tied at 5% and 4.5% respectively — and were unchanged compared to our first 5G Experience report.
Opensignal's 5G Availability compares the amount of time 5G users spent with an active 5G connection — the higher the percentage, the more time users on a network were actually connected to 5G.
All three national operators saw their 5G Reach score improve compared to our previous report, meaning that 5G users connected to 5G in a larger proportion of the locations they visited. Telekom claims victory once again, scoring 4.1 points on a 10-point scale, and securing a 2.1-2.4 points lead on Vodafone and O2 which scored 1.9 points and 1.6 points, respectively.
5G Reach represents the proportion of locations where 5G users have connected to 5G out of all the locations those users have visited, on a scale of 0-10. This measure complements 5G Availability which represents the proportion of time 5G users spend connected to 5G.
Telekom wins the 5G Video Experience award with a score of 79.9 points (on a 100-point scale). O2 and Vodafone are statistically tied in second placed, as the two operators scored 78.5 points, and 77.2 points, respectively. All three mobile operators in Germany achieved an Excellent (75 or above) score in 5G Video Experience, which represents a very consistent experience across all users, video streaming providers and resolutions tested, with fast loading times and almost non-existent stalling.
Opensignal’s 5G Video Experience quantifies the quality of video streamed to mobile devices by measuring real-world video streams over an operator's networks where users are connected to 5G technology.
Telekom maintains a winning edge in 5G Games Experience as it remains the only German operator to place in the Excellent (85 or above) category, this time with a score of 85.9 points. Vodafone and O2 follow behind Telekom by scoring 82.1 points and 76 points, respectively, and now both place in the Good (75-85) category. O2 users’ gaming experience has improved as O2 previously scored in the Fair (65-75) category.
Opensignal’s 5G Games Experience measures how mobile users experience real-time multiplayer mobile gaming on an operator’s 5G 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.
Our users enjoyed a relatively consistent 5G Voice App Experience on the three national operators as their scores varied by just 1.4 points. Telekom wins 5G Voice App Experience with a score of 83.1 points (on a 100-point scale), while Vodafone and O2 scored 82.5 points and 81.7 points, respectively.
Opensignal's 5G Voice App Experience measures the quality of experience for over-the-top (OTT) voice services — mobile voice apps such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger — when users are connected to a 5G network. All three mobile operators scored in the Good category (80-87 points), which means that many users were satisfied although some experienced minor quality impairments — clicking sounds or distortions were very occasionally present.
O2 wins our second 5G Download Speed award with a score of 143.9 Mbps, after claiming the prize in our first 5G Experience report with a score of 131.4 Mbps. Telekom scored 125.2 Mbps — up from 110.1 Mbps in our previous report — while Vodafone scored 103.6 Mbps which was 5.1 Mbps faster than what our Vodafone users experienced last time. O2’s lead on second-placed Telekom reduced slightly from 21.3 Mbps (19.4%) to 18.6 Mbps (14.9%).
Telekom wins the 5G Upload Speed award with a score of 29.8 Mbps, just missing the 30 Mbps mark. Vodafone and O2 scored 21.2 Mbps and 18.1 Mbps, respectively. Both Telekom and Vodafone’s scores improved by 2.4 Mbps compared to our previous report, while O2’s score was statistically unchanged.
While download speeds always attract the most attention, upload speeds are becoming increasingly important to users. Sharing photos and videos on social media or large files all benefit from fast upload speeds.
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].
