Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumer mobile experience. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding the true experience consumers receive on wireless networks.
Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumer mobile experience. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding the true experience consumers receive on wireless networks.
Ooredoo forces a statistical tie against the previous outright winner Zain for Download Speed Experience thanks to an increase in its speed of 7Mbps (17.8%), while Zain’s score remained statistically unchanged. Ooredoo keeps the remaining speed awards in a firm grip, as our users see the fastest 5G speeds on its network, clocking in at 356Mbps for 5G Download Speed and 33.7Mbps for 5G Upload Speed. However, Zain observed the most impressive increase in 5G Download Speed in Kuwait — 67.5Mbps, nearly a quarter faster than in the previous report.
Ooredoo breaks out of the three-way statistical tie it was in with stc and Zain in the previous report and wins Availability outright, with a score of 99.3%. This result represents the percentage of time our users spent connected to 3G or better services on the winner’s network. Ooredoo wins the award due to an increase in its score of 0.4 percentage points, while its rivals’ scores remained statistically unchanged.
Ooredoo successfully defends both Games Experience and 5G Games Experience. The operator wins Games Experience with a score of 67.2 points — 2.1 points higher than in the previous report — and 5G Games Experience with a score of 81 points, due to an increase of 6.8 points. Ooredoo remains the only operator in Kuwait to place in the Fair (65-75) category for overall Games Experience — 4.8 points ahead of the runner-up Zain, which narrowed the gap to the winner down from 5.7 points. Both operators rate Good (75-85) in 5G Games Experience, going up from Fair (65-75) seen in the previous report — and Zain observed the highest increase in its score, of 10.2 points.
Stc wins its only award outright for Excellent Consistent Quality. It claims it for the second time in Opensignal reports, with a score of 70.5%, after a minor increase of 1.8 percentage points — ahead of statistically tied Ooredoo and Zain. For Core Consistent Quality, stc was the sole winner in the previous report, but this time, it ends up in a statistical tie with Zain, with scores of 87.4-87.5%
In the previous report, stc and Zain shared the winners’ podium for 5G Video Experience. However, this time Zain shares the award with Ooredoo with statistically-tied scores of 77.3-77.6 points on a 100-point scale — around 2.1 points ahead of now third-placed stc. All three operators are in a statistical tie for the overall Video Experience award and are therefore its joint winners.
In Opensignal's latest Kuwait Mobile Network Experience report Ooredoo has the largest haul of awards, with six outright and seven joint wins, out of 15 awards available. On top of retaining both Games Experience awards and three out of four available speed awards, Ooredoo claims Availability outright. Zain and stc win eight and five awards, respectively, with stc securing one outright, as it defends Excellent Consistent Quality.
Our Kuwaiti users enjoy one of the best mobile network experiences in the GCC markets, as demonstrated in our recent insight. While Kuwait placed behind Qatar and the UAE for speed categories, it came first for 5G Video Experience on its own and shared the top spot with Bahrain for 5G Availability. Our users in Kuwait also observed the highest improvement in 5G download speeds compared to 4G download speeds out of all GCC markets.
In this report, we have analyzed the mobile network experience for Kuwait's three operators — Ooredoo, stc and Zain — over the 90 days starting October 1, 2022, and ending December 29, 2022.
Ooredoo, stc and Zain jointly win the Video Experience award, with statistically-tied scores in the 63.3-63.9 points range. Compared to the previous report, Ooredoo joins its rivals on the winners’ podium this time around.
In Video Experience — 5G Users, our 5G users saw their overall video experience scores improve by 7.6-8.3 points on all three of these networks compared to the overall scores seen by our users on average — with all Kuwaiti operators still in a three-way statistical tie.
Video Experience scores account for adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR), a technology that allows Opensignal to accurately represent users’ real video experience including video streams up to 4K quality.
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:
Ooredoo retains Games Experience with a score of 67.2 points on a 100-point scale — 2.1 points higher than in the previous report. The operator beats Zain by 4.8 points and stc by 9.6 points — however, the gap between Zain and the winner has fallen 5.7 points in the previous report, thanks to a three-point rise in Zain’s score.
Ooredoo remains the only operator in Kuwait to place in the Fair (65-75) category — users find the experience to be ‘average’. In most cases the game is responsive to the actions of the player with most users reporting that they feel like they have control over the game. The majority of players report that they notice a delay between their actions and the outcomes in the game.
Turning to Games Experience — 5G Users, Zain and Ooredoo saw the highest improvement compared to Games Experience, of 7.4 and 7.1 points respectively. Stc’s improvement is slightly smaller, at 5.7 points.
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:
Ooredoo and Zain remain joint winners of the Voice App Experience award, with statistically tied scores of 79.3-79.6 points on a 100-point scale. Both Ooredoo’s and Zain’s scores increased by 1.4 points, while stc — by 1.2 points. All operators in Kuwait place in the Acceptable (74-80) category — same as in the previous report. This means some users are satisfied, but some experience perceptible call quality impairments.
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:
Ooredoo forces a statistical tie against the previous outright winner Zain for Download Speed Experience thanks to an increase in its speed of 7Mbps (17.8%). Meanwhile, both stc’s and Zain’s scores remained statistically unchanged. As a result, Ooredoo and Zain are joint winners for Download Speed Experience, with scores of 46.6-46.7Mbps — besting stc by around 12Mbps.
Looking at Download Speed Experience — 5G Users, our 5G users enjoyed the fastest average overall download speeds on Ooredoo’s network, clocking in at nearly 170Mbps — 9Mbps faster than those on Zain’s network. Our Ooredoo 5G users saw an uplift of 3.6 times compared to the overall experience of all our users — followed by Zain (3.4 times) and stc (2.8 times). Compared to the previous report, our 5G users observed substantial increases in their overall Download Speed Experience of 41.2Mbps (32%) on Ooredoo’s network and 32.8Mbps on Zain’s (25.6%), while their stc peers saw no statistically significant difference.
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:
Ooredoo wins Upload Speed Experience outright, with a score of 16Mbps and a winning margin of 2.7Mbps over Zain. Ooredoo widens its lead over the runner-up from 1.4Mbps seen in the previous report due to an increase in its score of 1.1Mbps, while Zain’s score remained statistically unchanged. Meanwhile, stc brings up the rear with a score of 11.6Mbps — 1.1Mbps slower than in the previous report.
Turning to Upload Speed Experience — 5G Users, Ooredoo had the highest score of 21.3Mbps — the only operator to hit the 20Mbps mark, after a 3.7Mbps increase since the previous report. Our Ooredoo 5G users enjoyed 32.9% faster average overall upload speeds than the network average — followed by Zain (26.1%) and stc (20.6%).
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:
In the previous report, stc and Zain shared the winners’ podium for 5G Video Experience. However, this time Zain shares the award with Ooredoo with statistically-tied scores of 77.3-77.6 points on a 100-point scale — around 2.1 points ahead of now third-placed stc.
Compared to their Video Experience results, their 5G Video Experience scores are more than 10 points higher — ranging from 12 points for stc to 13.7 and 13.8 points for Zain and Ooredoo, respectively.
5G Video Experience scores account for adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR), a technology that allows Opensignal to accurately represent users’ real video experience including video streams up to 4K quality.
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.
Ooredoo keeps 5G Games Experience in a firm grip, winning it with a score of 81 points on a 100-point scale, after an increase of 6.8 points. However, second-placed Zain saw the highest rise of 10.2 points compared to the previous report — followed by stc’s increase of 8.9 points.
Both Ooredoo and Zain rate as Good (75-85) in 5G Games Experience, going up from Fair (65-75) seen in the previous report. Most users deem the experience acceptable. The gameplay experience is generally controllable and the user receives immediate feedback between their actions and the outcomes in the game. Most users do not experience a delay between their actions and the game. Stc also places in a category higher than in the previous report — going up from Poor (40-65) to Fair (65-75) this time around.
Compared to their Games Experience results, Ooredoo’s and Zain’s 5G Games Experience scores are 13.8 and 13.5 points higher, respectively. Meanwhile, stc’s 5G Games Experience score is 9.9 higher than its Games Experience result.
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.
In the previous report, Ooredoo, stc and Zain were all in a three-way statistical tie for the 5G Voice App Experience award, which resulted in a joint win for all Kuwaiti operators. This time, however, stc slips off the winners’ podium, leaving Ooredoo and Zain as joint winners with scores of 83-83.7 points.
All Kuwaiti operators place in the Good (80-87) category. This means many users are satisfied but some experience minor quality impairments.
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.
Ooredoo is the sole winner of 5G Download Speed, as our users on this network see the fastest 5G speeds in Kuwait, clocking in at 356Mbps — 16.1Mbps ahead of Zain. However, Zain observed the most impressive increase in 5G Download Speed in Kuwait — 67.5Mbps, nearly a quarter faster than in the previous report. As a result, Zain has whittled away on Ooredoo’s lead, narrowing it down from 59.5Mbps in the last report to 16.1Mbps this time around — as Ooredoo’s score increased by 24.1Mbps. In contrast, stc sees no statistically significant changes in its 5G Download Speed result and brings up the rear with a score of 172.5Mbps.
Ooredoo and Zain observed impressive 5G to overall uplifts — our users saw 7.6 times and 7.3 times faster average download speeds when connected to 5G, respectively, compared to the operators’ overall Download Speed Experience. Stc’s improvement was slightly smaller but still substantial — its 5G Download Speed score was five times than its Download Speed Experience.
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).
Our 5G users on Ooredoo’s network enjoy average 5G upload speeds clocking in at 33.7Mbps — and as a result, the operator wins 5G Upload Speed outright. Ooredoo commands an impressive lead over second-placed Zain of 7.7Mbps (29.4%) and beats third-placed stc by 13.9Mbps (69.9%). Both Ooredoo and Zain observed increases in their average 5G upload speeds — of 3.8Mbps and 2.9Mbps respectively — but stc’s 5G Upload Speed score remained statistically unchanged.
Comparing Kuwaiti operators’ 5G Upload Speed scores to their Upload Speed Experience scores — our 5G users on Ooredoo’s and Zain’s networks observed average upload speeds around twice as fast when connected to 5G services than the all user’ average for each operator across all mobile generations. Stc followed closely, with its 5G Upload Speed 1.7 times faster than its Upload Speed Experience.
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).
Ooredoo breaks out of the three-way statistical tie it was in with stc and Zain in the previous report, winning Availability outright with a score of 99.3%. This means Ooredoo users spend 99.3% of time connected to 3G or better services. Ooredoo wins the award due to an increase in its score of 0.4 percentage points, while its rivals’ scores remained statistically unchanged. Both stc and Zain are in a statistical tie for second place, with scores of 98.9-99%.
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.
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.
All three operators in Kuwait — Ooredoo, stc and Zain — win the 5G Availability award with statistically tied scores of 39.2-43.5%.
Previously, only stc and Zain were joint winners for 5G Availability, but Ooredoo leaps on the winners’ podium after an impressive increase in its score, of 12.8 percentage points. Meanwhile, both stc and Zain scores remain statistically unchanged.
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.
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.
Ooredoo, stc and Zain are in a three-way statistical tie for 5G Reach, with scores ranging between 5.4 and 6.7 points on a 10-point scale. This means our users were connected to a 5G network in at least five out of 10 locations they visit.
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.
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.
Stc comes first for Excellent Consistent Quality for the second consecutive time in Opensignal reports, with a score of 70.5%, ahead of statistically tied Ooredoo and Zain. This award is stc’s only outright win this time around. The operator observed a minor increase of 1.8 percentage points — meanwhile, Ooredoo and Zain’s scores improved by 5.5 and 3.6 percentage points, respectively.
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.
In the previous report, stc was the sole winner for Core Consistent Quality, but this time, it ends up in a statistical tie with Zain, with scores of 87.4-87.5% — due to declines in their scores of three and 1.6 percentage points, respectively. Ooredoo brings up the rear with a score of 83.8% — however, it was the only operator to see an increase in its score this time around, of 3.8 percentage points.
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.
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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