Mexico
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.
Mexico
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
AT&T comes top for 5G Games Experience and 5G Voice App Experience
Our AT&T users had the best available experience when playing multiplayer mobile games and using over-the-top voice apps such as Facebook Messenger, Skype and WhatsApp over 5G networks. AT&T wins 5G Games Experience with a score of 76.1 points on a 100 point scale, 9.3 points ahead of Telcel’s 66.8 points. AT&T’s margin of victory was smaller for 5G Voice App Experience — it wins with a score of 81.8 points, 2.7 points higher than Telcel’s 79.1 points.
Telcel’s users find it easiest to connect to 5G
Telcel is the outright winner of the 5G Availability and 5G Reach awards. This means that our Telcel 5G users spent the largest proportion of their time with an active 5G connection and also found 5G in the most locations out of all those they visited. Telcel wins 5G Availability with a score of 7.6%, more than double AT&T’s 2.9%. Similarly, Telcel comes top for 5G Reach with a score of 2.9 points on a 10 point scale, while AT&T follows behind with 1.5 points.
Telcel users saw the fastest 5G download speeds but AT&T comes top for 5G Upload Speed
Telcel wins 5G Download Speed by an impressive margin, with our Telcel users reporting average 5G download speeds of 140.7 Mbps — 2.6 times AT&T’s score of 55.1 Mbps. Conversely, AT&T users observed the fastest average 5G upload speeds (25.7 Mbps), 3.7 Mbps ahead of Telcel’s 22 Mbps.
Telcel has the fastest overall experience in Mexico
Telcel has kept hold of the Download Speed Experience and Upload Speed Experience awards. Our Telcel users saw average overall download speeds of 24.8 Mbps — 8.5 Mbps (52.3%) faster than those seen by users with second placed AT&T. Telcel wins Upload Speed Experience with a score of 8.4 Mbps, 1.4 Mbps (20.6%) faster than Movistar’s 7 Mbps.
Telcel takes home the lion’s share of awards
Telcel has the most impressive haul of awards, racking up seven outright wins (out of 14 categories) and one joint win. AT&T has the next largest haul, consisting of five outright wins and two joint wins (5G Video Experience and Availability). Movistar is a joint winner alongside AT&T for Availability.
Mobile Experience Awards
Market Overview
In Opensignal’s latest report on the Mexican mobile network experience, we have for the first time analyzed both the 5G experience and the overall experience of our users. AT&T and Telcel launched 5G in December 2021 and February 2022, respectively. However, as of October 2022 Movistar had yet to do so and in May 2022 announced that it will rely on its network sharing agreement with AT&T to provide a 5G service.
Movistar completed the migration of its 3G and 4G traffic to AT&T’s network in July, after the start of the data collection period used for this report. The move follows from an 2019 infrastructure sharing agreement. Also, Movistar is making use of Altán Redes’ open access 700 MHz wholesale radio access network (Red Compartida). However, Movistar retains its transport networks, network traffic, and operations management functions.
In June 2022, the Mexican government bailed out Altán Redes after it ran into financial difficulties and filed for bankruptcy in 2021. In the process the government has become the majority shareholder of the company.
In this report we examine the mobile network experience of the three main mobile network operators in Mexico: AT&T, Movistar and Telcel, over a period of 90 days starting on June 1, 2022 and ending on August 29, 2022, to see how they fared. The overall metrics include measurements from our 5G users. For the 5G awards,we have also analyzed the experience of our users when using 5G technology. Plus, we have examined the overall experience of our 5G users across all generations of network technology — weighted by the proportion of time that they spent on each of them — these are included in the 5G Users submetrics.
Overall Experience
National Analysis
Telcel is still the outright winner of the Video Experience award. This time it wins with a score of 49.3 points on a 100 point scale, 9.7 points (24.5%) higher than second placed AT&T’s 39.6 points. Movistar is in last place with 38.2 points. Telcel is the only operator that placed in the Fair (40-55) category, as both its rivals earned Poor (under 40) ratings instead.
This means that our Telcel users did not have a good experience either for higher resolution videos (very slow loading times and prolonged stalling) or for some video streaming providers. The experience on lower resolution videos from some providers might have been sufficient though.
AT&T and Movistar users on the other hand did not have a good experience even for lower resolution videos across all providers. Very slow loading times and frequent stalling were common.
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
AT&T keeps hold of the Games Experience award, indicating that our AT&T users continued to have the best available overall experience when playing multiplayer mobile games on cellular connections across all generations of mobile technology. AT&T wins this time with a score of 52.4 points on a 100 point scale, 9.6 points ahead of Telcel’s 42.9 points. Movistar is in third place with 38 points.
All three operators have increased since the last report, with our AT&T and Movistar users reporting improvements of 2.5 and 2.4 points, respectively. Telcel users reported a more modest — but still statistically significant — increase of 0.8 points.
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
AT&T remains the winner of the Voice App Experience award. This means that our AT&T users once again observed the best available overall experience in Mexico when using over-the-top voice apps such as Facebook Messenger, Skype and WhatsApp. AT&T wins with a score of 74.1 points on a 100 point scale, giving it a lead of 4.8 points over second placed Telcel’s 69.2 points. Movistar is in third place with 67.5 points.
As in the last report, AT&T was the only operator in the Acceptable (74-80) category. This means that some of our AT&T users were satisfied. Perceptible call quality impairments were experienced by some of them. 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.
In contrast, both our Telcel and Movistar users had a Poor (66-74) Voice App Experience. This means that many of them were dissatisfied. Call quality impairments were experienced by many Telcel and Movistar users. Distortion, clicking sounds or silence were experienced during the call. These were perceptible and may have been annoying.
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
Our Telcel users continued to observe the fastest overall download speeds — measured across all generations of mobile technology. This means that Telcel is still the sole winner of the Download Speed Experience award. It wins with a score of 24.8 Mbps — 8.5 Mbps (52.3%) higher than second placed AT&T’s 16.3 Mbps. Movistar is in third place with 15.6 Mbps.
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
Telcel is the outright winner of the Upload Speed Experience award, as it was in the last report. It wins this time with a score of 8.4 Mbps, 1.4 Mbps (20.6%) faster than Movistar’s 7 Mbps. AT&T is in third place with 6.5 Mbps.
Our Movistar users were the only ones that saw an increase in their overall upload speeds since the last report — a rise of 0.5 Mbps. In contrast, AT&T and Telcel users’ speeds dropped by 0.3 and 0.6 Mbps, respectively.
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
AT&T and Telcel are joint winners of the 5G Video Experience award, as there was not a statistically significant difference in our users’ experience when streaming mobile video over 5G between the two operators. The operators share the award with scores of 73.5-74.6 points on a 100 point scale and placed in the Very Good (65-75) category.
This means that users observed generally fast loading times and only occasional stalling when connected to 5G but the experience might have been somewhat inconsistent across users and/or video providers/resolutions.
AT&T saw the largest uplift when we compare the operators’ 5G Video Experience scores against those for overall Video Experience — an impressive 33.9 points. Telcel’s 5G Video Experience score was 25.3 points higher than that for Video Experience.
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
AT&T is the first Mexican operator to win the 5G Games Experience award — it does so with a score of 76.1 points and a lead of 9.3 points over Telcel’s 66.8 points. AT&T and Telcel users saw an impressive improvement in their experience when playing multiplayer mobile gamers over 5G connections, compared to the overall experience across all generations of mobile technology. The operators’ 5G Games Experience scores were 23.7-24 points higher than those for overall Games Experience.
AT&T placed in the Good (75-85) category. This means that most users deemed the experience acceptable. The gameplay experience when connected to 5G was generally controllable and the user received immediate feedback between their actions and the outcomes in the game. Most users did not experience a delay between their actions and the game.
In contrast, Telcel received a Fair (65-75) rating, indicating that most of our Telcel users deemed their experience when connected to 5G 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
As with 5G Games Experience, AT&T is the first operator in the country to win the 5G Voice App Experience award. It wins with a score of 81.8 points on a 100 point scale and a lead of 2.7 points over Telcel’s 79.1 points. Both operators place one category higher for 5G Voice App Experience than they do for the overall Voice App Experience. AT&T moves up from Acceptable (74-80) to Good (80-87) due to an uplift of 7.8 points. Telcel goes from Poor (66-74) to Acceptable (74-80), due to an uplift of 9.9 points.
AT&T’s Good rating means that many users were satisfied with their over-the-top voice app experience when connected to 5G. Minor quality impairments were experienced by some users. Sometimes the background was not quite clear, it could have been either hazy or not loud enough. Clicking sounds or distortion were very rarely present.
Some of our Telcel users were satisfied with their 5G Voice App Experience. Perceptible call quality impairments were experienced by some of them. 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
Our Telcel users observed the fastest average 5G download speeds in Mexico — 140.7 Mbps, 2.6 times AT&T users’ 55.1 Mbps. As a result, Telcel is the outright winner of the 5G Download Speed award. Telcel users also observed the greatest uplift in download speeds between their overall speeds and those on 5G — as the operator’s 5G Download Speed score was 5.7 times higher than that for Download Speed Experience. Our AT&T users observed a smaller — but still impressive — uplift of 3.4 times.
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
In contrast to 5G Download Speed, AT&T is the outright winner of the 5G Upload Speed award. It wins with a score of 25.7 Mbps, 3.7 Mbps ahead of Telcel’s 22 Mbps. AT&T users’ average 5G upload speeds were 3.9 times their overall speeds, while Telcel users reported an uplift of 2.6 times.
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
AT&T
Movistar
Telcel
National Analysis
AT&T and Movistar are still joint winners of the Availability award, as the statistical tie between the two operators’ scores remains unbroken since the last report. The two operators win with scores of 98.3-98.4% — the proportion of time that our users on their networks had a 3G connection or better. Telcel is in third place with 97%.
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
Telcel is the first Mexican operator to win the award for 5G Availability, as our 5G users on its network spent the largest proportion of their time connected to 5G — 7.6%. Telcel wins by an impressive margin — its score is 2.6 times higher than AT&T’s 2.9%. 5G Availability is an important measure of the 5G experience, as users cannot enjoy the superior experience that 5G can provide if they are not connected to 5G.
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
Telcel wins 5G Reach outright — doing so with a score of 2.9 points on a 10 point scale, almost double AT&T’s 1.5 points. 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.
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.
National Analysis
Telcel remains the outright winner of the 4G Coverage Experience award, doing so with an unchanged score of 7.8 points on a 10 point scale. It wins with a lead of 2.1 points over second placed AT&T.
As Movistar finished migrating its 3G and 4G traffic onto AT&T’s network part way through this report’s data collection period, our Movistar users will find it easier to find a 4G signal than its score indicates.
Definitions
4G Coverage Experience measures 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.
In simple terms, 4G Coverage Experience measures the mobile coverage experience in all the locations that matter most to everyday users — i.e. all the places where they live, work and travel. It considers all the areas that Opensignal users visit, the portion of locations that 4G is available to them, and locations that more users visit have higher importance to them.
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.
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