Maldives
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.
Maldives
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
Our users had the best mobile gaming experience on Ooredoo’s network
In the previous report, Dhiraagu and Ooredoo jointly won Games Experience. This time, however, Ooredoo is the sole winner of this award after a 7.1 point increase in its score. Ooredoo wins with a score of 66.7 points. This means, our users had the best experience on Ooredoo’s network when playing real-time multiplayer mobile games on mobile devices. Dhiraagu was 8.3 points behind the winner.
Our Ooredoo users enjoyed the fastest mobile speeds in the Maldives
Ooredoo broke out of the statistical ties it was in with Dhiraagu for two speed awards in the previous report and wins them outright this time around. Our users saw the fastest average download speeds in the Maldives, clocking in at 37.2 Mbps — 4.9 Mbps (15.2%) faster than Dhiraagu. Ooredoo also claims the Upload Speed Experience award, with a score of 7.9 Mbps — 1.6 Mbps (26.1%) ahead of Dhiraagu.
Dhiraagu secures its only joint win for Availability
Dhiraagu shared six victories with Ooredoo in the previous report — but this time its award count dropped to just one joint win with its rival, for Availability. Both operators share the winners’ podium with statistically tied scores of 97.6-97.7%, which reflect the percentage of time our users remained connected to 3G or better services.
Our Ooredoo users had a Good Video Experience
On top of Games Experience, Ooredoo claims two other experiential awards, after breaking out of statistical ties it was in with Dhiraagu — Video Experience and Voice App Experience. The operator wins them outright with scores of 55.7 points and 77.9 points, respectively. It commanded a lead of nearly 10 points over Dhiraagu for Video Experience and 2.8 points for Voice App Experience. Ooredoo placed in the Good (55-65) for the quality of video services, while both operators rated as Acceptable (74-80) for voice app services.
Ooredoo wins 4G Coverage Experience outright for the second time in a row
Ooredoo retains the 4G Coverage Experience award, with a score of 9.2 points on a 10 point scale — and with a winning margin of 0.4 points over its competitor, Dhiraagu. This means our users on the winner’s network connected to 4G services in more than nine out of 10 locations visited by our users on both operators’ networks. The two operators’ scores were statistically unchanged from the previous report.
Ooreedoo wins both consistency awards by impressive margins
Ooredoo claims both consistency awards for the second consecutive Opensignal report. It wins Excellent Consistent Quality (HD video, group video conference calls and gaming) with a score of 80.4% and Core Consistent Quality (lower performance applications including SD video, voice calls and web browsing) with a score of 88.5%. These scores reflect the percentage of users’ tests in which the operator met the minimum recommended performance thresholds. In both metrics, Ooredoo commanded stunning leads over Dhiraagu, of 29.8 and 24.8 percentage points, respectively.
Mobile Experience Awards
Market Overview
In the previous report on mobile network experience in the Maldives, we saw a tightly-fought duel between the two national operators across all the metrics, with six joint wins out of the nine available awards. However, this time Ooredoo successfully broke out of statistical ties with Dhiraagu for five awards — both speed and all three experiential categories. Dhiraagu remains a joint winner only for Availability. Ooredoo retains 4G Coverage Experience and both consistency awards which it previously won outright.
The International Finance Corporation together with the Asian Development Bank have committed $55 million to finance Dhiraagu’s investment in enhancing its digital infrastructure and internet experience — with part of it dedicated to expanding 5G services. Meanwhile, Ooredoo Maldives stated in August that it has deployed 5G services across Greater Male — in areas including Male, Villimale, Hulhumale and Hulhule.
Our results in this report are based on measurements collected across two major mobile operators in Maldives – Dhiraagu and Ooredoo – over the period of 90 days between August 1, 2022 and October 29, 2022, to see how they fared. 5G results contributed to the overall scores.
Overall Experience
National Analysis
Ooredoo pulls ahead of Dhiraagu and wins Video Experience outright with a score of 55.7 points on a 100-point scale. Dhiraagu trails behind with a score of 45.9 points — 9.9 points behind Ooredoo. The experience of our Ooredoo users rated as Good (55-65), while that of Dhiraagu users placed in a category below — Fair (40-55).
A Good video experience rating means 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
Ooredoo triumphs in Games Experience with a score of 66.7 points, after a 7.1 point increase since the previous report. It beats the previous joint winner Dhiraagu by 8.3 points. The runner-up scored 58.4 points and saw no statistically significant change in its score.
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
Ooredoo broke out of a statistical tie it was in with Dhiraagu for Voice App Experience and wins the award outright with a score of 77.9 points — 2.8 points ahead of Dhiraagu.
Our users on both these networks enjoyed an Acceptable (74-80) Voice App Experience. This means that some users were satisfied but some experienced perceptible call quality impairments. 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
Our Ooredoo users saw the fastest average download speeds in the Maldives, clocking in at 37.2 Mbps — 4.9 Mbps (15.2%) faster than those on Dhiraagu. As a result, Ooredoo wins the Download Speed Experience award outright for the first time ever. This is due to Ooreedoo users’ average download speeds rising by 5.1 Mbps (16%). Meanwhile, Dhiraagu’s Download Speed Experience score was statistically unchanged from the previous report.
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
After sharing the trophy with Dhiraagu in the previous report, Ooredoo claims the Upload Speed Experience award all to itself, with a score of 7.9 Mbps — This was 1.6 Mbps (26.1%) faster than what our users on Dhiraagu’s network experienced. Ooreedo’s score remained statistically unchanged, but Dhiraagu’s score dropped by a substantial 22.1% (1.8 Mbps), which led to the operator dropping off the winners’ podium
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).
Coverage
National Analysis
This time around, Dhiraagu wins only one award jointly, Availability. Both operators share the winners’ podium with statistically tied scores of 97.6-97.7%, which reflect the percentage of time our users remained connected to 3G or better services. Both networks saw no statistically significant changes in their scores since the previous report.
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
Ooredoo retains the 4G Coverage Experience award, with a score of 9.2 points on a 10 point scale — and with a winning margin of 0.4 points over its competitor, Dhiraagu. This means our users on the winner’s network connected to 4G services in more than nine out of 10 locations visited by our users in the Maldives. Both operators’ scores were statistically unchanged from the previous report.
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.
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