France
Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumers' connectivity experiences. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding what happens when people use their mobile and broadband connections in their daily life.
France
Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumers' connectivity experiences. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding what happens when people use their mobile and broadband connections in their daily life.
Key Findings
For the first time, Orange wins 5G Video Experience outright
In previous reports, Orange had to share the award for 5G video streaming, but now it wins it outright with a score of 77.6 on a 100-point scale. This is the only score that rates as Excellent (75 or above), meaning there is a very consistent experience across all users, video streaming providers and resolutions tested.
With 300.3 Mbps Orange retains the 5G Download Speed award
The average speeds experienced by our Orange users were more than 90 Mbps faster than second placed SFR's score of 207.8 Mbps. Even more impressively Orange's winning score was over double the speeds seen by users with Bouygues (144.8 Mbps) and Free Mobile (142.1 Mbps).
Bouygues and SFR catch Orange on 5G Upload Speed
The three operators jointly win the 5G Upload Speed award with statistically tied scores for Bouygues, Orange and SFR ranging from 17.2 - 18.5 Mbps. However, in the last report Orange won the award outright. The same three operators also share the awards for 5G Games Experience and 5G Voice App Experience.
Orange users have the most consistent experience
In two new categories — Excellent and Core Consistent Quality — Orange wins both the awards. Consistent quality considers how often users' experience on a network was sufficient to support common applications.
Free Mobile wins 5G Availability and jointly wins 5G Reach with SFR
5G Availability quantifies the proportion of time users had an active 5G connection while 5G Reach compares the proportion of locations visited where users saw a 5G signal. Free Mobile wins 5G Availability with 17.9%, slightly ahead of joint second placed Bouygues (14.8%) and SFR (15.2%), with Orange trailing on 11.7%. On a 10 point scale, the results for the 5G Reach winners ranged from 3.9 to 4.5 with Bouygues on 3.8 and Orange on 3.3.
Orange wins nine awards outright, including all awards for the overall experience
Only two operators win any awards outright in this report, Orange and Free Mobile, but Orange has by far the most wins with nine compared to Free's two. It takes the prize for every overall experience award, both consistency awards, as well as 5G Download Speed and 5G Video Experience. Plus, Orange jointly wins a further three awards.
Mobile Experience Awards
Market Overview
5G adoption is gathering pace in France. There were 3 million 5G users at the end of 2021 according to regulator Arcep. This number is nearly double the figure for the third quarter of 2021.
Unfounded concerns over the impact of 5G on health in France have been again refuted in a recent report by the national health and safety agency. There are no notable risks to health from 5G antennas because they use frequencies close to previous network technology generations confirmed the report by l'Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire (Anses).
While the 5G ecosystem already contributed nearly €2 billion in revenue in 2020, the industry is looking ahead to the next stage of 5G. Arcep is offering industrial players short term access to spectrum in the 3.8GHz - 4GHz band until the end of 2022 to test new services leveraging 5G's promise of faster, more responsive and more consistent connectivity.
In this new report on the mobile network experience in France, we add two new categories analyzing the consistency of the experience. Also, for the first time, we include awards for both the 5G experience and the overall experience in a single report.
Overall Experience
National Analysis
When we look at all our users, Orange wins the award for video streaming with a score of 60.2 on a 100 point scale. The other three operators are significantly behind with scores ranging from 52.1 to 54.
Orange 5G users also have the best overall experience for video streaming. Their score of 66.7 is 6.5 points higher than the comparable score across all users. The 5G user results reflect the experience of just those users that use 5G, but also includes results across all network generations 3G, 4G and 5G because 5G users continue to rely on older network technology generations for much of the time.
Definitions
Opensignal’s 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. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions — including Full HD (FHD) and 4K / Ultra HD (UHD) — and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.
In addition to Video Experience, we report on the following metrics related to video experience:
- 5G Video Experience: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users when they were connected to an operator’s 5G network.
- Video Experience – 5G Users: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator's networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G video experience along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Video Experience: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 4G network.
- 3G Video Experience: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users on an operator’s 3G network.
National Analysis
Real-time multiplayer gaming is an increasingly popular activity. Orange comfortably wins the Games Experience award with a score of 71 on a 100-point scale. However, this rates as Fair (65-75) meaning users found the experience to be average and the majority of users noticed a delay between their actions and the outcomes in the game.
Definitions
Opensignal’s 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 our users’ multiplayer mobile gaming experience is affected by mobile network conditions including latency, packet loss and jitter.
Games Experience quantifies the experience when playing real-time multiplayer mobile games on mobile devices connected to servers located around the world. The approach 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). Additionally, it considers multiple genres of multiplayer mobile games to measure the average sensitivity to network conditions. The games tested include some of the most popular real-time multiplayer mobile games (such as Fortnite, Pro Evolution Soccer and Arena of Valor) played around the world.
Calculating Games Experience starts with measuring the end-to-end experience from users’ devices to internet end-points that host real games. The score is then measured on a scale from 0 to 100.
In addition to Games Experience, we report on the following metrics related to games experience:
- 5G Games Experience: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users when they were connected to an operator’s 5G network.
- Games Experience – 5G Users: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator's networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G games experience along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Games Experience: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 4G network.
- 3G Games Experience: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO) network.
National Analysis
Orange narrowly wins the Voice App Experience award with a score of 78.8, just ahead of Bougues (77.4), SFR (77.1) and Free Mobile (76.9). All four operators rate as Acceptable (74-80). This category means listeners were generally able to comprehend without repetition, but that perceptible call quality impairments were experienced by some users such as clicking sounds of short duration or distortion were heard, and/or the volume may not have been sufficiently loud.
Definitions
Opensignal's 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) 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.
In addition to Voice App Experience, we report on the following metrics related to voice app experience:
- 5G Voice App Experience: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users when they were connected to an operator’s 5G network.
- Voice App Experience – 5G Users: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator's networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G voice app experience along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Voice App Experience: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 4G network.
- 3G Voice App Experience: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO) network.
National Analysis
There's a clear victory margin for Download Speed Experience. Orange's score of 52.8 Mbps is over a third faster than those of Free Mobile (39.2 Mbps) or SFR (37.2 Mbps). Our users saw the lowest overall average download speed using Bouygues where they experienced speeds of 34.6 Mbps.
Orange 5G users' overall download speed is also a long way ahead of the next placed operator's score. This measure looks at just 5G users but also considers all of the network technology generations that they use including 3G, 4G and 5G. Orange 5G users saw overall download speeds of 96.5 Mbps ahead of second placed SFR's 74.4 Mbps, with Free Mobile (61.6 Mbps) and Bouygues (59.6 Mbps) lagging behind.
Definitions
Measured in Mbps, Download Speed Experience represents the typical everyday speeds a user experiences across an operator’s mobile data networks.
In addition to Download Speed Experience, we report on the following metrics related to download speeds:
- 5G Download Speed: The average download speed observed by Opensignal users with active 5G connections.
- Download Speed Experience – 5G Users: The average download speeds experienced by Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator’s networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G download speeds along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Download Speed: The average downlink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 4G.
- 3G Download Speed: The average downlink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO).
National Analysis
Orange retains the Upload Speed Experience award. Our Orange users saw average upload speeds across all technology generations — 3G, 4G and 5G — of 9.7 Mbps. Bougues was in second place with a score of 8.2 Mbps, followed by SFR (7.5 Mbps) and Free Mobile (6.2 Mbps).
Definitions
Upload Speed Experience measures the average upload speeds for each operator observed by our users across their mobile data networks. Typically upload speeds are slower than download speeds, as current mobile broadband technologies focus resources on providing the best possible download speed for users consuming content on their devices. As mobile internet trends move away from downloading content to creating content and supporting real-time communications services, upload speeds are becoming more vital and new technologies are emerging that boost upstream capacity.
In addition to Upload Speed Experience, we report on five supporting metrics related to upload speeds:
- 5G Upload Speed: The average upload speed observed by Opensignal users with active 5G connections.
- Upload Speed Experience – 5G Users: The average upload speeds experienced by Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator’s networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G upload speeds along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Upload Speed: The average uplink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 4G.
- 3G Upload Speed: The average uplink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO).
5G Experience
National Analysis
Orange takes the 5G Video Experience award with a score of 77.6 on a 100-point scale. As a result, Orange users enjoyed an Excellent (75 or above) experience meaning there was a very consistent experience across all users, video streaming providers and resolutions tested, with fast loading times and almost non-existent stalling.
The other three operators ranked as Very Good (65-75). So, users had generally fast loading times and only occasional stalling but the experience might have been somewhat inconsistent across users and/or video providers/resolutions.
Definitions
5G Video Experience quantifies the quality of mobile video experienced by Opensignal users on real-world video streams when they were connected to 5G. 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 5G Video Experience, we are directly measuring video streams from end-user devices and using this ITU approach to quantify the video experience observed by our users on each operator’s 5G network on a scale from 0 to 100. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions — including Full HD (FHD) and 4K / Ultra HD (UHD) — and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.
National Analysis
Three operators jointly win the 5G Games Experience award — Bouygues, Orange and SFR — because their scores are statistically tied. Only Free Mobile misses out with a significantly lower score of 58.1 on a 100-point scale compared with the winning scores which ranged from 64.9 to 68.1.
Definitions
5G Games Experience measures how mobile users experience real-time multiplayer mobile gaming on an operator's 5G network. It analyzes how our users’ multiplayer mobile gaming experience was affected by mobile network conditions including latency, packet loss and jitter. 5G Games Experience for each operator is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100.
5G Games Experience quantifies the experience when playing real-time multiplayer mobile games on mobile devices connected to servers located around the world. The approach 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). Additionally, it considers multiple genres of multiplayer mobile games to measure the average sensitivity to network conditions. The games tested include some of the most popular real-time multiplayer mobile games (such as Fortnite, Pro Evolution Soccer and Arena of Valor) played around the world. Calculating 5G Games Experience starts with measuring the end-to-end experience from users’ devices to internet end-points that host real games.
National Analysis
While the scores are close together for 5G Voice App Experience, similarly to 5G Games Experience, three operators share the award and Free Mobile misses out. However, all four operators rated as Acceptable (74-80) meaning some users were satisfied. There were perceptible call quality impairments experienced by some users. Clicking sounds of short duration or distortion were heard, and/or the volume may not have been sufficiently loud. Listeners were generally able to comprehend without repetition.
Definitions
5G Voice App Experience quantifies the experience of Opensignal users when using over-the-top voice apps — such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger — on an operator’s 5G network. It uses a model derived from the 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 the technical measurements and perceived call quality. 5G Voice App Experience for each operator is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100.
National Analysis
There's an enormous victory margin for Orange in 5G Download Speed. The average 5G download speeds seen by our Orange users of 300.3 Mbps were 44.5 percent faster than the 207.8 Mbps seen by our SFR users.
Even more impressively, Orange users saw average 5G download speeds that were over twice as fast as the speeds enjoyed by our users on Bouygues and Free Mobile. Bouygues and our Free Mobile users had a statistically identical experience of just over 140 Mbps.
Definitions
5G Download Speed shows the average download speed experienced by Opensignal users across an operator’s 5G network. 5G Download Speed for each operator is calculated in Mbps (Megabits per second).
National Analysis
There's a big gap between the experience of our users on the three winning operators for 5G Upload Speed and the fourth placed operator. While Bouygues, Orange and SFR have statistically tied scores of 17.4 Mbps, 18.5 Mbps and 17.2 Mbps respectively, our Free Mobile users saw an average 5G Upload Speed of 11.3 Mbps.
Definitions
5G Upload Speed measures the average upload speeds experienced by Opensignal users across an operator’s 5G network. 5G Upload Speed for each operator is calculated in Mbps (Megabits per second).
Coverage
Bouygues
Free Mobile
Orange
SFR
National Analysis
All four operators have near perfect scores for Availability. The range of scores is from 96.9% to 97.9% of time connected to 3G, 4G or 5G networks. On all operators, users spend very little time without a mobile broadband-capable signal. However, by a very small margin, Free Mobile narrowly wins the Availability award with a score that is 0.7 - 1 percentage points greater than its rivals average Availability score.
Definitions
Our availability metrics are not a measure of a network’s geographical extent. They won’t tell you whether you are likely to get a signal if you plan to visit a remote rural or nearly uninhabited region. Instead, they measure what proportion of time people have a network connection, in the places they most commonly frequent — something often missed by traditional coverage metrics. Looking at when users have a connection rather than where, provides us with a more precise reflection of the true user experience.
We also keep track of the instances that leave mobile users most frustrated: when there is no signal to connect to at all. The most common dead zones users struggle with occur indoors. As most of our availability data is collected indoors (as that’s where users spend most of their time), we’re particularly astute at detecting areas of zero signal.
Our availability metrics take a user-centric, time-based approach that complements the user-centric and geographical-based methodology used by our reach metrics.
Availability shows the proportion of time all Opensignal users on an operator’s network had either a 3G, 4G or 5G connection.
Map Definition
The coverage maps show the locations where we received measurements from users connecting with 3G or better mobile service. Each map provides an indication of the areas in which it is possible to obtain mobile service from that mobile operator.
National Analysis
There is more variation in the experience of users with 5G Availability than there is with the overall Availability category. Free Mobile users had the highest time spent with an active 5G connection (17.9%), ahead of joint second placed Bouygues (14.8%) and SFR (15.2%).
Definitions
Our availability metrics are not a measure of a network’s geographical extent. They won’t tell you whether you are likely to get a signal if you plan to visit a remote rural or nearly uninhabited region. Instead, they measure what proportion of time people have a network connection, in the places they most commonly frequent — something often missed by traditional coverage metrics. Looking at when users have a connection rather than where, provides us with a more precise reflection of the true user experience.
We also keep track of the instances that leave mobile users most frustrated: when there is no signal to connect to at all. The most common dead zones users struggle with occur indoors. As most of our availability data is collected indoors (as that’s where users spend most of their time), we’re particularly astute at detecting areas of zero signal.
Our availability metrics take a user-centric, time-based approach that complements the user-centric and geographical-based methodology used by our reach metrics.
5G Availability shows the proportion of time Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription had an active 5G connection.
Map Definition
The coverage maps show the locations where we received measurements from users connecting with 3G or better mobile service. Each map provides an indication of the areas in which it is possible to obtain mobile service from that mobile operator.
National Analysis
On a 10-point scale, two operators jointly win the 5G Reach award with statistically tied scores of 4.5 for Free Mobile and 3.9 for SFR. This means our 5G users on those two operators saw a 5G signal in the greatest proportion of locations that they visited.
Definitions
5G Reach measures how users experience the geographical extent of an operator’s 5G network. It analyzes the average proportion of locations where users were connected to a 5G network out of all the locations those users have visited. In simple terms, 5G Reach measures the 5G mobile experience in all the locations that matter most to everyday users – i.e. all the places where they live, work and travel. 5G Reach for each operator is measured on a scale from 0 to 10.
Map Definition
The coverage maps show the locations where we received measurements from users connecting with 3G or better mobile service. Each map provides an indication of the areas in which it is possible to obtain mobile service from that mobile operator.
Consistency
National Analysis
Using Orange, our users had the greatest proportion of tests where the results exceeded all of the minimum thresholds for demanding applications. Orange's score of 84.8 was ahead of Bouygues with 80.3 and SFR on 77.3. This means Orange users had the best Excellent Consistent Quality experience and Orange wins the award.
Definitions
Consistent Quality measures how often users’ experience on a network was sufficient to support common applications’ requirements. It measures download speed, upload speed, latency, jitter, packet loss, time to first byte and the percentage of tests attempted which did not succeed due to a connectivity issue on either the download or server response component.
Full details on how the Consistent Quality metrics — Excellent Consistent Quality and Core Consistent Quality — are calculated can be found here.
Excellent Consistent Quality is the percentage of users’ tests that met the minimum recommended performance thresholds to watch HD video, complete group video conference calls and play games.
National Analysis
The scores are closer for Core Consistent Quality (CCQ) than they are for the more demanding Excellent Consistent Quality (ECQ). While 11.2 points separate the highest and lowest score for ECQ, for CCQ just 3.6 points separate Orange's winning score of 92.2 and fourth placed Free Mobile's score of 88.6.
Definitions
Consistent Quality measures how often users’ experience on a network was sufficient to support common applications’ requirements. It measures download speed, upload speed, latency, jitter, packet loss, time to first byte and the percentage of tests attempted which did not succeed due to a connectivity issue on either the download or server response component.
Full details on how the Consistent Quality metrics — Excellent Consistent Quality and Core Consistent Quality — are calculated can be found here.
Core Consistent Quality is the percentage of users’ tests that met the minimum recommended performance thresholds for lower performance applications including SD video, voice calls and web browsing.
Related Analysis
Our Methodology
Collecting billions of individual measurements daily from over 100 million devices globally, Opensignal independently analyzes mobile and broadband user experience on every major network operator around the globe.
About Opensignal
Opensignal is the leading global provider of independent insights into consumers' connectivity experiences and choice of carrier. Our proprietary insights into mobile and broadband networks give operators the solutions they need to profitably compete and win, from executive level scorecards and public validation to pin-point level engineering analytics and consumer decision dynamics.
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Confidence Intervals
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