Hong Kong
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.
Hong Kong
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
Csl takes the Download Speed Experience award
In the last report, csl jointly won the award alongside CMHK and SmarTone but now csl moves ahead and wins it outright. Our csl users' average download speeds of 36.3 Mbps were over 6 Mbps ahead of CMHK and SmarTone, which are both tied for second place.
Csl users have the best experience sharing photos and videos
With the fastest Upload Speed Experience, our csl users will find it quicker and easier to share photos and videos on social media sites, or to send documents by email or upload them into cloud services. Alongside csl's Download Speed Experience win, it means csl has the best overall speed experience in Hong Kong.
All 5G categories are fiercely contested
No company wins any of the 5G awards outright in this report. However, the results do not all go the same way. Csl joint wins the most 5G awards with six, followed by five joint wins for SmarTone. Both CMHK and 3 jointly win in four 5G categories.
3 overtakes SmarTone to win the Core Consistent Quality award
Both 3 and SmarTone increased their score since the last report when SmarTone was the sole winner. However, 3 improved more and so with a score of 90.8% wins the award outright. SmarTone is now in second place with a score of 90.2%. Core Consistent Quality measures how often users' experience was sufficient to support common applications.
CMHK wins Excellent Consistent Quality again
To understand network support for more demanding applications, Excellent Consistent Quality has higher thresholds than Core Consistent Quality. CMHK's score of 68.3% means it wins the award in this report, although 3 is closing the gap with CMHK and is now less than one point behind with a score of 67.4%.
Csl takes the Voice App Experience crown from SmarTone
With a score of 78.8 csl wins the award. Former winner SmarTone is close behind with a score of 77.5. Voice App Experience quantifies the real-time communications network experience using popular voice apps, examples of which include FaceTime, LINE, WeChat and Whatsapp.
Mobile Experience Awards
Market Overview
Hong Kong mobile operators continue to improve their 5G services. Following a spectrum auction, in June 2022 operators have started to deploy 5G innovation subsidy scheme to December 31, 2022.
With other blocks of spectrum becoming usable for Hong Kong's mobile operators, the fierce competition in 5G is set to continue. How quickly operators are able to deploy 5G on high capacity 4.9 GHz bands will be important to boost video experience, high sustained speeds, as well as maximizing Excellent Consistent Quality results in future Opensignal reports.
Overall Experience
National Analysis
All four operators are statistically tied in overall Video Experience with scores of 52.5-55.2 on a 100 point scale. These scores show there is room for improvement in Hong Kong in mobile video streaming.
When we compare the overall experience of 5G Users — not all users — there are higher scores on all four operators although they are still tied. 5G Users' overall video streaming experience ranged from 62.7 to 64.9 points and placed in the Good category (55-65) meaning users had an acceptable but inconsistent experience, even from the same video streaming provider and particularly for higher resolutions, with noticeably slow loading times and stalling not being uncommon.
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
For multiplayer mobile gaming, 3 and csl jointly win the award with scores of 76.4-77.4. This means they placed in the Good (75-85) category, which means most users deemed the experience acceptable. The gameplay experience 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.
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
With a score of 78.8 on a 100 point scale, csl wins the overall Voice App Experience award. SmarTone was close behind with a score of 77.5.
However, all four operators rated as Acceptable (74-80). Some users were satisfied. Perceptible call quality impairments were 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
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
In the last report three operators — CMHK, csl and SmarTone — jointly won the Download Speed Experience award with statistically tied scores ranging from 30 to 31.7 Mbps. However, this is no longer the case and one operator now wins the award outright.
With csl our users enjoyed average download speeds of 36.3 Mbps and csl now wins the award. Former joint winners CMHK and SmarTone now tie for second place with scores of 29.3-29.5 Mbps. 3 again is behind as our 3 users had average speeds of 26.1 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
Csl pulls ahead of previous joint winner CMHK to win the Upload Speed Experience award outright. CMHK's score dropped from 8.6 Mbps last time to 7.7 Mbps in this report. Our csl users experienced average upload speeds of 9.3 Mbps. CMHK and 3 tie for second place with scores of 7.7 Mbps and 7.9 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
Three operators jointly win the 5G Video Experience award. 3 catches previous joint winners CMHK and SmarTone and all three have statistically tied scores running from 79.3 to 79.7 on a 100 point scale.
These scores rank as Excellent (75 or above). This means all users had a very consistent experience when connected to 5G across all video streaming providers and resolutions tested, with fast loading times and almost non-existent stalling.
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
3 and csl jointly win the 5G Games Experience award with scores of 86.5-89.9. Only the two winners had an Excellent (85 or above) multiplayer gaming experience.
Excellent means that the vast majority of users deemed this network experience acceptable. Nearly all gamers felt like they had control over the game and they received immediate feedback on their actions. There was not a noticeable delay in almost all cases.
Notably, 3 has replaced CMHK as joint winner of 5G Games Experience in this report. CMHK now slips back having scored 83.1. CMHK and SmarTone users had a Good (75-85) gaming experience when connected to 5G.
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
CMHK and 3 jointly win the 5G Voice App Experience award with statistically tied scores of 81.9-83. Both operators retain the award because they also jointly won the award last time too.
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
Csl and Smartone overtake CMHK to jointly win the 5G Download Speed award. In the last report, CMHK won the award outright because our CMHK users had average 5G download speeds of 155 Mbps. Now, CMHK scores 148.5 Mbps and our csl and SmarTone users had a faster experience.
With statistically tied scores of 157.1-173.3 Mbps, csl and SmarTone now share the 5G Download Speed award. Notably, these 5G speeds are several times faster than the highest overall Download Speed Experience score of 36.3 Mbps indicating the uplift in experience enabled by 5G.
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
SmarTone catches csl and now jointly wins the 5G Upload Speed award which csl won outright last time. The two operators have statistically tied scores of 31.3-34 Mbps. Upload speeds are important for business users connecting to cloud storage services and for consumers to share photos or videos on social media sites or for messaging direct to friends.
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
In the overall Availability category 3, csl and SmarTone jointly win the award with near perfect scores of 98.8%-99.2%. While CMHK misses out on the award this time, it is extremely close behind with a score of 98.7%.
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.
National Analysis
There is nothing to separate the 5G Availability on all four operators as their scores are statistically tied ranging from 21% to 26%. This means that users spend approximately one quarter of time with an active 5G connection The roll out of the new 700 MHz 5G spectrum should help operators increase 5G Availability in future.
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
All four operators are statistically tied in 5G Reach. This means our Hong Kong users saw no difference across the operators in the proportion of locations that they visited that had a 5G signal.
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.
Consistency
National Analysis
CMHK wins the Excellent Consistent Quality award with a score of 68.3%. This means that slightly over two thirds of tests met the minimum thresholds for more demanding applications. While CMHK retains the award, 3 is now very close behind with a score of 67.4%.
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
3 takes the Core Consistent Quality award from previous winner SmarTone. However, the two operators' scores are very close: winner 3 scored 90.8% while SmarTone was less than one percentage point behind with 90.2%.
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