Mobile Network Experience Report Iraq January 2022

Iraq

Mobile Network Experience Report
January 2022

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
Sam Fenwick Senior Analyst

Key Findings

Asiacell wins both the Upload and Download Speed Experience awards

Asiacell is the first Iraqi operator to win the Download Speed Experience and Upload Speed Experience awards. It has also done so by impressive margins. Our Asiacell users reported average download speeds of 22.9 Mbps — an impressive 8.6 Mbps (59.4%) faster than the speeds our users saw on second-placed Zain. In addition, Asiacell’s Upload Speed Experience score of 9 Mbps was at least 4.6 Mbps faster than its rival operators.

Our Asiacell users found 4G in the most locations and spent the most time connected to 4G

Asiacell is also the inaugural outright winner of the 4G Coverage Experience and 4G Availability awards. 4G Coverage Experience analyzes the locations where customers of a network operator received a 4G signal relative to the locations visited by users of all network operators. 4G Availability shows the average proportion of time Opensignal users spent with a 4G connection on each operator's network. Our Asiacell users spent 73.4% of their time connected to 4G and connected to 4G in approximately one in three locations visited by our users.

On Video Experience, Asiacell wins the first award in Iraq

Our Asiacell users had the best mobile video streaming experience and as a result the operator has snapped up the inaugural Video Experience award with a score of 59.4 points on a 100 point scale. This winning score is at least 9.5 points higher than Asiacell’s rivals, which are statistically tied for second-place. Asiacell is also the only operator to place in the Good (55<65) category, as Korek and Zain both placed in the Fair (40<55) category.

Iraqi users see no significant difference between the country’s three operators when using voice apps or playing multiplayer mobile games

Asiacell, Korek and Zain are joint winners of the Games Experience and Voice App Experience awards as our users did not observe statistically significant differences between all three operators’ scores in either category.

Introduction

Our first look at the Iraqi mobile experience reveals an award table dominated by Asiacell. The operator wins five out of seven awards outright — Video Experience, Download Speed Experience, Upload Speed Experience, 4G Availability and 4G Coverage Experience. In addition, Asiacell shares the Games Experience and Voice App Experience awards with both Korek and Zain. Speaking of Zain, the operator places second in Download Speed Experience and 4G Coverage Experience, but statistically ties with Korek in the other categories where Asiacell wins outright.

In this report, we've analyzed our data gathered in the 90 day period beginning on September 1 and ending on November 29, 2021, to see how Iraq’s three national operators — Asiacell, Korek and Zain — measure up.

Opensignal Awards Table

Mobile Experience Awards Iraq
January 2022, Iraq 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
January 2022, Iraq
Video Experience
Download Speed Experience
Upload Speed Experience
4G Availability
4G Coverage Experience
Mobile Experience Awards Draws
January 2022, Iraq
Games Experience
Voice App Experience
Download Image

Overview

Click on metric labels below for a quick preview
Video Experience
in 0-100 points
Asiacell
59.4
Korek
49.9
Zain
48.2
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
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National Analysis

Video Experience

Asiacell is the outright winner of the Video Experience award. The operator wins with a score of 59.4 points on a 100 point scale, making it the only operator to place in the Good (55<65) category. Korek and Zain both placed in the Fair (40<55) category with statistically tied scores of 49.9 and 48.2 points, respectively.

Video Experience
in 0-100 points
Asiacell
59.4
Korek
49.9
Zain
48.2
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image
Video Experience
Additional Metrics
in 0-100 points
4G Video Experience
66.5 (± 1.84) 65.3 (± 2.79) 67.2 (± 2.15)
3G Video Experience
51.1 (± 5.27) 41.8 (± 6.77) 39.5 (± 6.08)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | January 2022 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Video Experience in 0-100 points
66 (± 1.84)
65 (± 2.79)
67 (± 2.15)
3G Video Experience in 0-100 points
51 (± 5.27)
42 (± 6.77)
39 (± 6.08)
Mobile Network Experience Report | January 2022 | © Opensignal Inc.

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 derived from 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. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.

Games Experience

Our Iraqi users did not see any statistical differences in their experience when playing real-time multiplayer mobile games between the country’s three operators. As a result, Asiacell, Korek and Zain are joint winners of the Games Experience award with scores between 37.6 and 39.2 points on a 100 point scale.

Games Experience
in 0-100 points
Asiacell
38.5
Korek
37.6
Zain
39.2
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
46.8 (± 2.22) 48.0 (± 4.42) 51.5 (± 3.03)
3G Games Experience
35.0 (± 0.99) 35.6 (± 1.60) 36.8 (± 2.09)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | January 2022 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Games Experience in 0-100 points
47 (± 2.22)
48 (± 4.42)
51 (± 3.03)
3G Games Experience in 0-100 points
35 (± 0.99)
36 (± 1.60)
37 (± 2.09)
Mobile Network Experience Report | January 2022 | © Opensignal Inc.

Games Experience measures 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 experience when playing multiplayer mobile games is affected by mobile network conditions including latency, packet loss and jitter.

Voice App Experience

Asiacell, Korek and Zain share Opensignal’s inaugural Iraqi Voice App Experience award, as our users reported a three-way statistical tie between the operators’ scores, which ranged between 71.8 and 75.2 points on a 100 point scale.

Voice App Experience
in 0-100 points
Asiacell
74.4
Korek
71.8
Zain
75.2
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image
Voice App Experience
Additional Metrics
in 0-100 points
4G Voice App Experience
78.2 (± 1.06) 78.4 (± 1.81) 78.8 (± 1.16)
3G Voice App Experience
69.9 (± 2.76) 68.2 (± 3.30) 73.5 (± 2.62)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | January 2022 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Voice App Experience in 0-100 points
78 (± 1.06)
78 (± 1.81)
79 (± 1.16)
3G Voice App Experience in 0-100 points
70 (± 2.76)
68 (± 3.30)
73 (± 2.62)
Mobile Network Experience Report | January 2022 | © Opensignal Inc.

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 — 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

Asiacell is the outright winner of the first Download Speed Experience award to be awarded to an Iraqi operator. Our Asiacell users reported average download speeds of 22.9 Mbps — an impressive 8.6 Mbps (59.4%) faster than the speeds our users saw on second-placed Zain and twice as fast as the 11.6 Mbps seen by Korek users.

Download Speed Experience
in Mbps
Asiacell
22.9
Korek
11.6
Zain
14.4
06.2512.518.7525
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image
Download Speed Experience
Additional Metrics
in Mbps
4G Download Speed
35.3 (± 1.83) 23.5 (± 1.80) 32.8 (± 1.65)
3G Download Speed
8.6 (± 0.95) 5.3 (± 0.53) 6.0 (± 1.14)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | January 2022 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Download Speed in Mbps
35 (± 1.83)
24 (± 1.80)
33 (± 1.65)
3G Download Speed in Mbps
9 (± 0.95)
5 (± 0.53)
6 (± 1.14)
Mobile Network Experience Report | January 2022 | © Opensignal Inc.

When we look at the experience of our Iraqi users based on the mobile technology they connected to, they saw their fastest average 4G speeds on Asiacell and Zain due to a statistical tie, while the fastest 3G speeds were seen on Asiacell’s network.

Upload Speed Experience

Asiacell wins the Upload Speed Experience award with a score of 9 Mbps, giving it an impressive lead of at least 4.6 Mbps. Our users on Zain and Korek’s networks reported statistically tied average upload speeds of 4.4 Mbps and 3.8 Mbps, respectively. However, while Asiacell users had the fastest speeds when connected to 4G (14.7 Mbps), Zain users saw the second fastest average upload speeds — 11.3 Mbps versus the 9 Mbps reported by those on Korek’s 4G network.

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.

Upload Speed Experience
in Mbps
Asiacell
9.0
Korek
3.8
Zain
4.4
02.557.510
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image
Upload Speed Experience
Additional Metrics
in Mbps
4G Upload Speed
14.7 (± 0.80) 9.0 (± 0.74) 11.3 (± 0.77)
3G Upload Speed
2.3 (± 0.40) 1.1 (± 0.20) 1.3 (± 0.22)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | January 2022 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Upload Speed in Mbps
15 (± 0.80)
9 (± 0.74)
11 (± 0.77)
3G Upload Speed in Mbps
2 (± 0.40)
1 (± 0.20)
1 (± 0.22)
Mobile Network Experience Report | January 2022 | © Opensignal Inc.

4G Availability

4G Availability shows the average proportion of time Opensignal users spent with a 4G connection on each operator's network. Asiacell wins the first Iraqi 4G Availability award with a score of 73.4%, while Korek and Zain tie for second-place with statistically tied scores of 61.7% and 62.6%. This means that Asiacell wins by an impressive margin of at least 10.8 percentage points. 4G Availability is an important measure of the mobile experience as users typically report faster speeds and are less likely to struggle to stream video, use voice apps or play multiplayer mobile games when connected to 4G compared with previous generations of mobile technology.

4G Availability
% of time
Asiacell
73.4
Korek
61.7
Zain
62.6
018.7537.556.2575
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image

4G Coverage Experience

Asiacell is the outright winner of the 4G Coverage Experience award with a score of 3.4 points on a 10 point scale. 4G Coverage Experience 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. Asiacell’s lead over second-placed Zain was 0.4 points, but Zain’s score of three points comfortably beat Korek’s score of 2.2 points.

4G Coverage Experience
in 0-10 points
Asiacell
3.4
Korek
2.2
Zain
3.0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image
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