Spain
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.
Spain
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
Vodafone wins the 5G Download Speed award
For the second time in a row our Vodafone users had the fastest average 5G download speeds in Spain — 165.3 Mbps, making the operator the outright winner of the 5G Download Speed award. Vodafone’s score was 26.9 Mbps (19.5%) faster than second placed Orange’s 138.3 Mbps. Yoigo follows in third place with 112.2 Mbps and Movistar brings up the rear with 88.7 Mbps.
Our 5G users spent the most time connected to 5G on Movistar’s network
For the first time, we have an outright winner of the 5G Availability award in Spain. Movistar scoops the award with a score of 11.9%, giving it a lead of over three percentage points, as Orange and Yoigo are statistically tied for second place with scores in the 8.6-8.7% range. The higher the 5G Availability score, the more users can experience the improved performance that 5G can provide.
Orange and Yoigo share the 5G Video Experience and 5G Upload Speed awards
Our Orange and Yoigo users observed the fastest average 5G upload speeds and had the best experience when streaming mobile video over 5G connections. As a result, the two operators are joint winners of the 5G Upload Speed and 5G Video Experience awards. They win 5G Video Experience with a lead of around two points over third placed Movistar. Orange and Yoigo users observed 5G upload speeds of 20.8-21.8 Mbps, while Movistar and Vodafone share last place with 18.9-20 Mbps.
Spanish mobile gamers had their best experience with Vodafone and Yoigo’s 5G networks
Vodafone and Yoigo are joint winners of the 5G Games Experience award, with statistically tied scores of 67.1-70.2 points on a 100 point scale. This means that our Spanish users had their best experience when playing multiplayer mobile games over 5G connections when using Vodafone and Yoigo’s networks.
Movistar and Yoigo jointly win the 5G Reach award
Our Movistar and Yoigo users found a 5G signal in the greatest proportion of locations they visited. Therefore, the two operators share the 5G Reach award with statistically tied scores of 2.9-3.6 points on a 10 point scale. 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.
5G Experience Awards
Market Overview
The awards table reveals a competitive 5G landscape, given that five out of seven awards are shared by two or more winners. Looking at the two outright wins, Vodafone is the sole winner of the 5G Download Speed award, while Movistar comes top for 5G Availability. While Yoigo does not win any awards outright, it is a joint winner in every category where there is not a sole victor — including all three experiential awards (5G Video Experience, 5G Games Experience and 5G Voice App Experience).
The biggest recent news as far as Spain’s 5G market is concerned is the announcement that Orange and Masmovil (Yoigo’s parent company) have signed a binding agreement to combine their operations in Spain and they expect to close the deal in the second half of 2023 at the latest, taking into account the fact that the transaction is subject to approval from antitrust authorities. According to a statement from Orange, the resulting efficiency gains will allow the combined company to accelerate investments in 5G and fiber to the home (FTTH).
Looking at other recent Spanish 5G developments, Vodafone claimed back in June to have extended its 5G coverage to a total of 1,004 beaches across 173 municipalities — a feat aided by its use of the 700 MHz band. The operator is seeking to reach 46% of the population with 5G coverage by the end of 2022. In June Yoigo claimed to have hit the 57% mark — aided by its network sharing agreement with Orange. Speaking of Orange, it said in May that it ended the first quarter of 2022 with more than 1.1 million 5G subscriptions and 5G population coverage of 60.4%.
5G Experience
National Analysis
Our 5G users had their best available experience when streaming video over 5G connections on Orange and Yoigo’s networks, as the two operators have statistically tied scores of 73.5-74.7 points on a 100 point scale. Movistar is in third place with 71.7 points, while Vodafone is further behind with 66 points.
Operators’ 5G Video Experience scores were 14.7-22.1 points higher than those for Video Experience, with Orange users seeing the largest improvement and Movistar users the least.
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
Vodafone and Yoigo are joint winners of the 5G Games Experience award with statistically tied scores in the 67.1-70.2 range. Meanwhile, Movistar and Orange share last place with scores of 66.8-67.3 points. Movistar has narrowly missed out on joining Vodafone and Yoigo on the winner’s podium because Vodafone’s lower confidence interval is higher than Movistar’s upper confidence interval.
All four national operators placed in the Fair (65-75) category. This indicates that our users found the experience to be ‘average’. In most cases the game was responsive to the actions of the player with most users reporting that they felt like they had control over the game. The majority of players reported that they noticed a delay between their actions and the outcomes in the game.
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
Our users did not observe any statistically significant differences in their experience when using over the top voice apps over 5G networks between the four national operators. As a result, Movistar, Orange, Vodafone and Yoigo are joint winners of the 5G Voice App Experience award with scores in the 79-80.1 point range.
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
Vodafone is the outright winner of the 5G Download Speed award. This means that our 5G users observed their fastest average 5G download speeds — 165.3 Mbps — when connected to Vodafone’s network. Vodafone’s score was 26.9 Mbps (19.5%) faster than second placed Orange’s score of 138.3 Mbps. Yoigo is in third place with its users having experienced speeds of 112.2 Mbps, while Movistar is in last place with a score of 88.7 Mbps.
Operators’ 5G Download Speed scores were 2.6-7.3 times faster than those for the overall Download Speed Experience, with our Vodafone users seeing the largest improvement and our Movistar users the least.
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
Our 5G users on Orange and Yoigo’s 5G networks saw the fastest average 5G upload speeds in Spain — clocking up statistically tied scores of 20.8-21.8 Mbps. This makes Orange and Yoigo the joint winners of the 5G Upload Speed award. Movistar and Vodafone are in joint last place with 18.9-20 Mbps.
The average 5G upload speeds seen by our users were 1.7-2.7 times faster than their overall upload speeds, with our Yoigo users seeing the largest improvement and our Movistar users the least.
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
National Analysis
Movistar is the first Spanish operator to win the 5G Availability award outright. It does so with a score of 11.9%, giving it a lead of over three percentage points over Orange and Yoigo as the latter two operators are statistically tied for second place with scores in the 8.6-8.7% range. Vodafone is in last place with a score of 4.2% — less than half that of its rivals.
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.
National Analysis
On average, our Movistar and Yoigo users found a 5G signal in the greatest proportion of locations they visited compared with our users with the other operators. As a result, the two operators are joint winners of the 5G Availability award with statistically tied scores of 2.9-3.6 points on a 10 point scale. While Orange shares the same score as Yoigo, it is not a joint winner because its confidence intervals do not overlap with Movistar’s. Vodafone is in last place with a score of 1.6 points.
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.
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