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SK telecom wins the award with a score of 141.9 Mbps. However, our users on all three operators saw average download speeds over 100 Mbps, with KT scoring 103.3 Mbps and LG U+ on 101.9 Mbps. These are extremely high Download Speed Experience results, compared to other global markets.
Video Experience quantifies the experience of watching mobile video streams over cellular networks. The winning score of 76.1 for SK telecom is the only result that ranks as Excellent (75 or above). Both our KT and LG U+ users saw an experience that was Very Good (65<75) meaning that there were generally fast loading times and only occasional stalling but there was inconsistency across either users or video providers at different resolutions.
Having a high average upload speed helps users to share photos or videos on social media or to send large file attachments by email. Our LG U+ users' score of 19.7 Mbps was narrowly ahead of second placed SK telecom's score of 19 Mbps, but KT was further behind this time with 15 Mbps.
The two joint winning operators have statistically tied scores of 88.8 for LG U+ and 88.4 for SK telecom on a 100-point scale. KT was just behind with a score of 87.1. Games Experience reflects the quality of the multiplayer mobile gaming experience when played across cellular networks. It is based on research into the the relationship between multiple technical parameters — which Opensignal measures at scale from real users — and users' perceived gaming experience.
While 5G steals the limelight in South Korea, analysis of the overall experience of all South Koreans reveals some stunning results, especially on Download Speed Experience.
Two operators — LG U+ and SK telecom — share most of the national awards. SK telecom and LG U+ win two and three awards outright, respectively, and together jointly win Games Experience. In this report, KT comes away with just a single joint win in the national awards — it shares the 4G Coverage Experience award with SK telecom — but wins no regional awards outright, although it comes close in a number of categories.
Alongside the overall awards that reflect the experience of all South Korean users, Opensignal is including additional metrics that quantify the overall experience of 5G users. These differ from the 5G results in the companion 5G Experience report because these scores reflect the usage of 4G and 5G together, and the time 5G users spend connected to each technology, to reveal an overall result. By contract, the 5G results in the companion report reflect only the use of 5G technology.
| Mobile Experience Awards South Korea | |||
|---|---|---|---|
December 2021,
South Korea Report
|
K
KT
|
L
LG U+
|
S
SK telecom
|
Video Experience
| |||
Games Experience
| |||
Voice App Experience
| |||
Download Speed Experience
| |||
Upload Speed Experience
| |||
4G Availability
| |||
4G Coverage Experience
| |||
|
Mobile Experience Awards Winners
|
December 2021,
South Korea
|
|---|---|
|
Video Experience
|
S
SK telecom
|
|
Voice App Experience
|
L
LG U+
|
|
Download Speed Experience
|
S
SK telecom
|
|
Upload Speed Experience
|
L
LG U+
|
|
4G Availability
|
L
LG U+
|
|
Mobile Experience Awards Draws
|
December 2021, South Korea
|
|---|---|
|
Games Experience
|
L
LG U+
S
SK telecom
|
|
4G Coverage Experience
|
K
KT
S
SK telecom
|
SK telecom wins the Video Experience award again. Video Experience quantifies the quality of video streamed to mobile devices by measuring real-world video streams over an operator's networks. The metric is based on an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach, built upon detailed studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters — including picture quality, video loading time and stall rate — with the perceived video experience as reported by real people. 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.
|
Video Experience
Additional Metrics |
K
KT
|
L
LG U+
|
S
SK telecom
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | |||
|
Video Experience – 5G Users
| 77.9 (± 0.28) | 75.8 (± 0.37) | 79.1 (± 0.22) |
| Video Experience – 5G Users | in 0-100 points |
|
K
KT
|
78 (± 0.28) |
|
L
LG U+
|
76 (± 0.37) |
|
S
SK telecom
|
79 (± 0.22) |
On multiplayer mobile gaming, two operators jointly win the award: LG U+ and SK telecom. Games Experience is built on several years of research quantifying the relationship between technical network parameters and the gaming experience as reported by real mobile users. These parameters include latency (round trip time), jitter (variability of latency) and packet loss (the proportion of data packets that never reach their destination). Opensignal measures these parameters from real users at scale.
Games Experience considers multiple genres of multiplayer mobile games to measure the average sensitivity to network conditions. Genres tested include massive online battle arena (MOBA) an example of which on mobile is Arena of Valor, and battle royale titles examples of which include PUBG, Garena Freefire and Fortnite.
|
Games Experience
Additional Metrics |
K
KT
|
L
LG U+
|
S
SK telecom
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | |||
|
Games Experience – 5G Users
| 87.8 (± 0.39) | 88.6 (± 0.46) | 88.8 (± 0.29) |
| Games Experience – 5G Users | in 0-100 points |
|
K
KT
|
88 (± 0.39) |
|
L
LG U+
|
89 (± 0.46) |
|
S
SK telecom
|
89 (± 0.29) |
When we analyze the real-time communications experience using popular Voice over IP (VoIP) apps, our LG U+ users had the best experience. As a result, LG U+ wins the Voice App Experience award.
Voice App Experience measures the quality of experience for over-the-top (OTT) voice services — examples include KakaoTalk, LINE, WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger — using a model based on an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach for quantifying overall voice call quality and a series of calibrated technical parameters. This model characterizes the exact relationship between real-world technical measurements collected at scale and users' perceived call quality. Voice App Experience for each operator is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100.
|
Voice App Experience
Additional Metrics |
K
KT
|
L
LG U+
|
S
SK telecom
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | |||
|
Voice App Experience – 5G Users
| 83.8 (± 0.16) | 84.2 (± 0.18) | 84.3 (± 0.13) |
| Voice App Experience – 5G Users | in 0-100 points |
|
K
KT
|
84 (± 0.16) |
|
L
LG U+
|
84 (± 0.18) |
|
S
SK telecom
|
84 (± 0.13) |
Impressively our users saw average download speeds on all three operators over 100 Mbps. SK telecom wins the Download Speed Experience award with a score of 141.9 Mbps, and KT and LG U+ tie for second place with scores of 103.3 Mbps and 101.9 Mbps respectively.
|
Download Speed Experience
Additional Metrics |
K
KT
|
L
LG U+
|
S
SK telecom
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in Mbps | |||
|
Download Speed Experience – 5G Users
| 236.0 (± 4.11) | 244.0 (± 5.65) | 303.6 (± 4.28) |
| Download Speed Experience – 5G Users | in Mbps |
|
K
KT
|
236 (± 4.11) |
|
L
LG U+
|
244 (± 5.65) |
|
S
SK telecom
|
304 (± 4.28) |
LG U+ wins Upload Speed Experience again — but not by much. Its score of 19.7 Mbps is just ahead of the average upload speed seen by our SK Telecom users of 19 Mbps. KT came third with a score of 15 Mbps.
|
Upload Speed Experience
Additional Metrics |
K
KT
|
L
LG U+
|
S
SK telecom
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in Mbps | |||
|
Upload Speed Experience – 5G Users
| 20.9 (± 0.32) | 23.9 (± 0.43) | 26.9 (± 0.35) |
| Upload Speed Experience – 5G Users | in Mbps |
|
K
KT
|
21 (± 0.32) |
|
L
LG U+
|
24 (± 0.43) |
|
S
SK telecom
|
27 (± 0.35) |
South Korean users spend almost all of their time connected to a good quality network technology. The 4G Availability scores on each operator are near perfect: 98.6% using KT, 99.3% with SK telecom and a winning score of 99.8% using LG U+. 4G Availability quantifies the amount of time users spent connected to 4G or 5G.
All three operators also have nearly perfect scores for 4G Coverage Experience. SK telecom and KT jointly win with a score of 9.9 on a 10-point scale, with LG U+ fractionally behind with 9.8.
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.
Across five regions we see only LG U+ and SK telecom picking up outright wins. KT is limited to a number of joint wins.
In Sudogwon, LG U+ wins three awards outright for gaming, upload speeds and 4G Availability. SK Telecom wins both Video Experience and Download Speed Experience. The remaining award is shared by the two operators.
In the other regions, LG U+ and SK telecom both win two awards outright in Chungcheong, SK telecom wins one more than LG U+ in Jeolla and Gangwon. While in Gyeongsan SK telecom is two ahead.By contrast, KT has six joint wins across thirty regional awards on offer this time. This result is far behind both LG U+ and SK telecom.
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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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