Skip to main content

Italy

Mobile Network Experience Report
May 2023

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.

Author: Andrey Popov, Principal Data Analyst Data Collection Period: Jan 01 - Mar 31, 2023

Italy

Mobile Network Experience Report
May 2023

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.

Author: Andrey Popov, Principal Data Analyst

Data Collection Period: Jan 01 - Mar 31, 2023

Key Findings

Vodafone wins the Excellent Consistent Quality and Core Consistent Quality awards

Vodafone users have the most consistent experience in Italy – with 81.8% of our Vodafone users’ tests meeting the minimum recommended performance thresholds for common demanding applications such as watching HD video, measured by Excellent Consistent Quality. Furthermore, 92.1% of Vodafone users’ tests meet the thresholds for lower demanding applications, measured by Core Consistent Quality. Vodafone wins both consistency awards for the third time in a row — being the sole winner ever since both awards were first included in Opensignal mobile network experience reports for Italy.

Iliad and WindTre share the top spot for Availability

Our Iliad and WindTre users spend the largest proportion of their time with a 3G or better signal — 98.7%. Iliad was the sole winner for the metric, in the last report. Looking at Availability regionally, WindTre dominates in the North East and North West, while Iliad wins outright in the Central and South regions.

Vodafone users have the fastest overall download and upload speeds

Vodafone is the sole winner of both the Download Speed Experience and Upload Speed Experience awards. Our users on this network see the fastest average overall download speeds, clocking in at 37.2Mbps — 1.6Mbps (4.6%) faster than second-placed Fastweb. Vodafone users see average overall upload speeds of 11Mbps — but WindTre is only 0.3Mbps behind the winner.

Iliad is the sole winner for 5G Voice App Experience

Iliad users have the best experience in Italy when using over-the-top voice (OTT) apps over 5G — the operator achieves a score of 82.6 on a 100-point scale, and a lead of around 0.7 points over TIM and Vodafone — which share second place with statistically tied scores of 81.9-82 points. In the last report, the award was shared between Iliad and TIM. All operators in Italy place in the Good (80-87) category for 5G Voice App Experience.

TIM users have the fastest 5G download and upload speeds

In Italy, our TIM users experience the fastest average 5G Download Speed of 270.4Mbps, meaning that TIM continues to win the 5G Download Speed award. TIM secures a 75.1Mbps lead over second-placed Vodafone’s score of 195.4Mbps. TIM also wins the 5G Upload Speed award with a score of 25.5Mbps and a lead of 3.3Mbps. The operator wins both awards for the fourth time in a row, ever since Opensignal started reporting on the Italian 5G experience in November 2021.

Fastweb dominates the market in both 5G Availability and 5G Reach

Fastweb is being featured in our report for the first time and wins both 5G Availability and 5G Reach categories. Our Fastweb 5G users spend 26.7% of their time with an active 5G connection — 2.8 percentage points more than our users spend on second-placed Iliad. Similarly, in 5G Reach, Fastweb scores 6.5 points (on a 10-point scale), 1.6 points ahead of second-placed WindTre, reflecting the geographical extent of the operators’ 5G networks. Fastweb is the outright winner for both metrics across all individual regions of Italy.

Mobile Experience Awards

May 2023, Italy Report
Download Image

Market Overview

In Opensignal’s latest Mobile Network Experience report for Italy, we have, for the first time, included Fastweb alongside the four previously covered national mobile operators.

Vodafone continues to win the most national awards – it wins all five available awards outright for overall experience, and both available awards for the consistency of the user experience. TIM, the largest operator in the country by market share (total sims in December 2022), wins four out of five 5G experience awards outright, with the remaining award, for 5G Voice App Experience, belonging to Iliad. In terms of coverage, WindTre now joins Iliad in sharing the best network Availability (reflecting the share of time our users spend connected to 3G or better signal). It is the newcomer in this report — Fastweb — that wins the 5G Availability and 5G Reach awards, which used to be won by WindTre in Italy.

Iliad, since its mobile launch in May 2018, continues to amass market share at the expense of TIM, Vodafone and WindTre, according to December 2022 data from AGCOM. Fastweb is another new arrival among national Italian operators, having received the title of country’s fifth MNO in July 2019. Fastweb has its own 3.5GHz and 26GHz spectrum assets, but its infrastructure operates in conjunction with WindTre, as set out in an agreement from June 2019 that stipulates the provision of fiber backhaul by Fastweb, while WindTre will provide FastWeb with 4G (and previous generations) coverage via national roaming.

Fastweb also continues to concentrate on the delivery of its fiber business, expanding the footprint of its fiber and 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) broadband networks. WindTre and Iliad, at the start of January 2023, created 50%-50% joint venture (Zefiro Net) to collaborate on expanding mobile network coverage across the country.

In November 2022, TIM announced that it has selected Ericsson to provide it with a 5G core network — which will underpin 5G standalone (SA) rollout. The operator lags behind others in 5G coverage metrics, so to secure its competitive position in the long run, the operator needs to further invest in its 5G network. TIM has also recently completed the shutdown of its 3G network.

Opensignal has recently published analysis of the Italian mobile sector’s competitive landscape, which assessed the direction the Italian operators are pursuing with improving connectivity for users. The quality and speed of broadband connectivity in Italy has been explored in another one of Opensignal’s recent publications — Italy Fixed Broadband Experience Report.

In this report, we've analyzed real-world data gathered in the 90 days starting on January 1, 2023 and ending on March 31, 2023 to compare mobile network experience of Italy’s five national operators — Fastweb, Iliad, TIM, Vodafone and WindTre.

Overall Experience
5G Experience
Coverage
Consistency
Video Experience
Games Experience
Voice App Experience
Download Speed Experience
Upload Speed Experience
All Users
5G Users
Video Experience
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
67.0
Iliad
68.2
TIM
67.5
Vodafone
68.8
WindTre
67.2
017.53552.570
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
Download Image
Video Experience – 5G Users
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
70.0
Iliad
71.5
TIM
71.2
Vodafone
70.1
WindTre
70.5
019385776
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
Download Image
All Users
5G Users
Games Experience
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
68.6
Iliad
71.7
TIM
74.0
Vodafone
75.8
WindTre
69.2
020406080
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
Download Image
Games Experience – 5G Users
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
64.6
Iliad
70.8
TIM
74.1
Vodafone
74.4
WindTre
68.0
019385776
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
Download Image
All Users
5G Users
Voice App Experience
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
79.2
Iliad
80.2
TIM
80.5
Vodafone
81.0
WindTre
79.4
021.54364.586
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
Download Image
Voice App Experience – 5G Users
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
78.1
Iliad
80.2
TIM
81.1
Vodafone
81.1
WindTre
78.9
021.54364.586
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
Download Image
All Users
5G Users
Download Speed Experience
in Mbps
Fastweb
35.6
Iliad
28.6
TIM
30.5
Vodafone
37.2
WindTre
31.5
010203040
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
Download Image
Download Speed Experience – 5G Users
in Mbps
Fastweb
66.4
Iliad
46.8
TIM
49.4
Vodafone
62.3
WindTre
53.0
017.53552.570
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
Download Image
All Users
5G Users
Upload Speed Experience
in Mbps
Fastweb
9.8
Iliad
7.4
TIM
9.4
Vodafone
11.0
WindTre
10.8
0481216
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
Download Image
Upload Speed Experience – 5G Users
in Mbps
Fastweb
10.3
Iliad
7.7
TIM
10.8
Vodafone
11.6
WindTre
11.2
0481216
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
Download Image
National Analysis
Regional Analysis

National Analysis

Our users on Vodafone’s network have the best video streaming experience in Italy. Vodafone wins the Video Experience award outright with a score of 68.8 points on a 100-point scale, and a lead of 0.6 points on second placed Iliad, which jumped from fourth to second. Vodafone and Iliad place in the Very Good (68-78) category for the quality of the user experience when streaming mobile video, while other operators place one category lower, with a Good (58-68) rating.

This is the fifth consecutive mobile network experience report in which Vodafone wins the Video Experience award in Italy.

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.

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.

Learn more

National Analysis

Our users have their best experience playing multiplayer mobile games over cellular connections on Vodafone’s network. The operator scores 75.8 points on a 100-point scale, with a 1.8-point lead over second-placed TIM’s score of 74 points. Vodafone therefore achieves user experience in the Good (75-85) category, while other operators place one category lower — Fair (65-75).

Vodafone has been consistently winning the Games Experience awards in Italy, ever since the metric started to be reported in mobile network experience reports. Vodafone now wins the Games Experience award for the seventh time in a row.

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.

Learn more

National Analysis

Vodafone is the outright winner of the Voice App Experience award, with a score of 81 points on a 100-point scale. TIM and Iliad follow closely behind, with scores of 80.5 and 80.2. The three operators place in the Good (80-87) category for user experience, while our WindTre and Fastweb users have an Acceptable (74-80) user experience when making calls over over-the-top (OTT) apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger or Skype.

Vodafone now wins the Voice App Experience award outright for the seventh time in a row, having jointly won it in the time prior to that.

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.

Learn more

National Analysis

Our users observe the fastest average overall download speeds on Vodafone’s network — 37.2Mbps, 1.6Mbps (4.6%) faster than second-placed Fastweb’s score of 35.6Mbps. As a result, Vodafone is the winner of the Download Speed Experience award.

Vodafone’s Download Speed Experience has been steadily trending upwards over the past two years, this time again achieving a 2Mbps (5.6%) increase since the last report. The biggest increase, however, belongs to TIM with a rise of 3.6Mbps (13.4%) this time around. Fastweb is being reported for the first time in our mobile network experience reports.

This is the fourth time in a row that Vodafone has won the Download Speed Experience award in Italy.

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).

Learn more

National Analysis

Vodafone is the winner of the Upload Speed Experience award with a score of 11Mbps. The operator wins by a small margin of 0.3Mbps over second-placed WindTre given the latter’s score of 10.8Mbps. TIM, Iliad and Fastweb all score below 10Mbps.

This is the second time Vodafone wins the Upload Speed Experience award in Italy – the category having been previously dominated by WindTre.

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).

Learn more

Regional Analysis

Similarly to the national awards table, where Vodafone leads as the outright winner across all overall experience categories, we see Vodafone perform almost equally well across individual regions. Of the 30 available regional awards, Vodafone picks up 25 (either outright or jointly).

In the Central region of Italy, Vodafone wins outright across all five metrics, making it the region with the strongest showing for the operator. Fastweb is the fastest operator in terms of Download Speed Experience in the Southern region of Italy and ties with Vodafone for first place in Sicily. WindTre has the fastest Upload Speed Experience in the North Eastern and North Western regions of Italy, among all operators. For Video Experience, Iliad has the best user experience among the national operators in the Southern region of Italy, while TIM is respectively the best in Sardinia.

Regional Analysis Summary: Italy, Mobile Network Experience Report, May 2023

Region
Video Experience
Games Experience
Voice App Experience
Download Speed Experience
Upload Speed Experience
Central
V
V
V
V
V
North East
V
V
V
V
W
North West
V
V
T
V
V
W
Sardinia
T
T
V
T
V
V
V
Sicily
V
V
V
F
V
V
South
I
T
V
V
F
V
Mobile Network Experience Report | May 2023 | © Opensignal Limited
Download Image
Selected region
  • A-I
    • Central
  • J-R
    • North East
    • North West
  • S-Z
    • Sardinia
    • Sicily
    • South
Video Experience
in Central
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
64.9
Iliad
67.3
TIM
65.9
Vodafone
67.9
WindTre
65.1
Download Image
Games Experience
in Central
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
65.6
Iliad
70.2
TIM
72.7
Vodafone
73.6
WindTre
64.3
Download Image
Voice App Experience
in Central
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
78.2
Iliad
79.6
TIM
80.0
Vodafone
80.6
WindTre
78.0
Download Image
Download Speed Experience
in Central
in Mbps
Fastweb
32.3
Iliad
27.6
TIM
27.3
Vodafone
35.5
WindTre
28.4
Download Image
Upload Speed Experience
in Central
in Mbps
Fastweb
8.9
Iliad
7.1
TIM
8.5
Vodafone
11.2
WindTre
9.2
Download Image
Video Experience
in North East
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
69.2
Iliad
70.6
TIM
69.4
Vodafone
71.1
WindTre
70.2
Download Image
Games Experience
in North East
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
70.3
Iliad
74.4
TIM
75.5
Vodafone
79.2
WindTre
74.8
Download Image
Voice App Experience
in North East
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
79.8
Iliad
80.9
TIM
81.1
Vodafone
81.4
WindTre
80.6
Download Image
Download Speed Experience
in North East
in Mbps
Fastweb
41.8
Iliad
34.9
TIM
35.6
Vodafone
45.3
WindTre
38.9
Download Image
Upload Speed Experience
in North East
in Mbps
Fastweb
10.3
Iliad
7.9
TIM
9.8
Vodafone
10.8
WindTre
12.5
Download Image
Video Experience
in North West
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
68.2
Iliad
68.6
TIM
69.4
Vodafone
70.7
WindTre
68.6
Download Image
Games Experience
in North West
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
71.6
Iliad
73.5
TIM
78.8
Vodafone
80.5
WindTre
73.8
Download Image
Voice App Experience
in North West
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
79.8
Iliad
80.6
TIM
81.5
Vodafone
81.5
WindTre
80.2
Download Image
Download Speed Experience
in North West
in Mbps
Fastweb
38.2
Iliad
28.7
TIM
33.8
Vodafone
41.6
WindTre
33.8
Download Image
Upload Speed Experience
in North West
in Mbps
Fastweb
10.6
Iliad
7.7
TIM
10.8
Vodafone
10.7
WindTre
12.1
Download Image
Video Experience
in Sardinia
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
67.1
Iliad
67.4
TIM
69.2
Vodafone
68.4
WindTre
67.3
Download Image
Games Experience
in Sardinia
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
68.5
Iliad
71.1
TIM
74.1
Vodafone
74.7
WindTre
68.1
Download Image
Voice App Experience
in Sardinia
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
79.7
Iliad
80.4
TIM
81.2
Vodafone
81.4
WindTre
79.5
Download Image
Download Speed Experience
in Sardinia
in Mbps
Fastweb
31.9
Iliad
26.0
TIM
34.3
Vodafone
35.5
WindTre
29.7
Download Image
Upload Speed Experience
in Sardinia
in Mbps
Fastweb
9.6
Iliad
7.2
TIM
9.7
Vodafone
11.7
WindTre
9.8
Download Image
Video Experience
in Sicily
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
66.2
Iliad
67.2
TIM
67.1
Vodafone
67.9
WindTre
66.4
Download Image
Games Experience
in Sicily
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
66.1
Iliad
69.8
TIM
69.5
Vodafone
72.2
WindTre
68.1
Download Image
Voice App Experience
in Sicily
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
79.4
Iliad
80.2
TIM
80.4
Vodafone
81.0
WindTre
79.6
Download Image
Download Speed Experience
in Sicily
in Mbps
Fastweb
32.9
Iliad
25.2
TIM
28.7
Vodafone
33.3
WindTre
28.2
Download Image
Upload Speed Experience
in Sicily
in Mbps
Fastweb
9.7
Iliad
6.9
TIM
9.2
Vodafone
12.1
WindTre
10.4
Download Image
Video Experience
in South
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
64.7
Iliad
66.3
TIM
65.4
Vodafone
65.8
WindTre
65.0
Download Image
Games Experience
in South
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
64.3
Iliad
68.0
TIM
70.5
Vodafone
70.6
WindTre
63.8
Download Image
Voice App Experience
in South
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
78.0
Iliad
79.2
TIM
79.6
Vodafone
80.2
WindTre
78.2
Download Image
Download Speed Experience
in South
in Mbps
Fastweb
30.7
Iliad
25.8
TIM
26.7
Vodafone
29.8
WindTre
27.4
Download Image
Upload Speed Experience
in South
in Mbps
Fastweb
8.4
Iliad
6.7
TIM
8.3
Vodafone
10.5
WindTre
9.2
Download Image
5G Video Experience
5G Games Experience
5G Voice App Experience
5G Download Speed
5G Upload Speed
5G Video Experience
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
75.1
Iliad
76.7
TIM
77.6
Vodafone
71.8
WindTre
75.3
020406080
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
Download Image
5G Games Experience
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
71.8
Iliad
76.9
TIM
79.2
Vodafone
77.0
WindTre
74.5
020406080
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
Download Image
5G Voice App Experience
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
81.0
Iliad
82.6
TIM
81.9
Vodafone
82.0
WindTre
81.3
021.54364.586
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
Download Image
5G Download Speed
in Mbps
Fastweb
137.9
Iliad
70.5
TIM
270.4
Vodafone
195.4
WindTre
103.8
069138207276
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
Download Image
5G Upload Speed
in Mbps
Fastweb
17.8
Iliad
11.0
TIM
25.5
Vodafone
22.2
WindTre
18.3
07.51522.530
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
Download Image
National Analysis
Regional Analysis

National Analysis

All of the operators in Italy place in the Very Good (68-78) category for the quality of user experience when watching online video on a 5G connection. Our TIM users have the best experience with a score of 77.6 on a 100-point scale – making TIM the outright winner of the 5G Video Experience award. This is the third consecutive time that TIM is the sole winner of the 5G Video Experience award.

5G Video Experience scores account for adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR), a technology that allows Opensignal to accurately represent users’ real video including video streams up to 4K quality.

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.

Learn more

National Analysis

Our TIM users have the best multiplayer mobile gaming experience when connected to 5G, with a score of 79.2 points on a 100-point scale. Vodafone and Iliad place just behind with statistically tied scores of 76.9-77 points, placing all three operators’ user experience in the Good (75-85) category. Fastweb and WindTre place in the category below, Fair (65-75).

This is the third consecutive time that TIM has won the 5G Games Experience award outright.

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.

Learn more

National Analysis

All of the Italian operators place in the Good (80-87) category for the quality of our users’ experience when making calls via over-the-top apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger or Skype while using a 5G connection. Iliad has the best experience in the country, with a score of 82.6 on a 100-point scale — making it the winner of the 5G Voice App Experience award. This is a change from the last report, when Iliad and TIM were joint winners, as their scores were statistically tied.

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.

Learn more

National Analysis

Our TIM users continue to see the fastest average 5G download speeds — this time clocking up an impressive 270.4Mbps, making TIM again the winner of the 5G Download Speed award. Vodafone follows in second place with a score of 195.4Mbps — 75.1Mbps slower than TIM.

Our Vodafone and WindTre users saw quite remarkable increases of 22.3Mbps and 27.4Mbps, respectively. However, the average 5G download speeds seen by TIM and Iliad users have declined since the previous report — being 13.9Mbps and 6.9Mbps slower this time around, respectively. In this report, we are including our users’ experience on Fastweb for the first time in a mobile network experience report.

TIM wins the 5G Download Speed award for the fourth time in a row — ever since the metric was introduced to mobile network experience report in Italy — Vodafone continues to close the distance between it and its rival.

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).

Learn more

National Analysis

TIM is the sole winner of the 5G Upload Speed award, as our users observe the fastest average 5G upload speeds on its network — 25.5Mbps. Vodafone places second with 22.2Mbps.

TIM wins the 5G Upload Speed award for the fourth time in a row — ever since the metric was introduced to mobile network experience reports in Italy. However, Vodafone continues to narrow the gap between it and TIM, going down from TIM’s speed being faster by 5.2Mbps in the last report, to 3.3Mbps in the current report.

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).

Learn more

Regional Analysis

TIM continues to have the best showing for the 5G Experience category. Looking across six regions in Italy, with 30 available award categories, TIM is either a sole or joint winner in 24 of them. For 5G Download Speed, TIM is the outright winner across all regions in Italy.

Iliad has the second best showing in terms of awards, with eight wins. Iliad performs particularly strongly in the 5G Voice App Experience category, as it is the sole winner in Italy’s Central, North Eastern, and Southern regions.

Regional Analysis Summary: Italy, Mobile Network Experience Report, May 2023

Region
5G Video Experience
5G Games Experience
5G Voice App Experience
5G Download Speed
5G Upload Speed
Central
T
I
T
V
I
T
T
V
North East
I
I
W
I
T
V
W
North West
T
T
I
T
T
T
Sardinia
T
T
T
V
T
T
Sicily
T
T
F
I
T
V
T
T
V
South
T
T
I
T
T
Mobile Network Experience Report | May 2023 | © Opensignal Limited
Download Image
Selected region
  • A-I
    • Central
  • J-R
    • North East
    • North West
  • S-Z
    • Sardinia
    • Sicily
    • South
5G Video Experience
in Central
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
74.3
Iliad
76.5
TIM
77.7
Vodafone
73.7
WindTre
74.4
Download Image
5G Games Experience
in Central
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
69.7
Iliad
77.1
TIM
78.1
Vodafone
77.8
WindTre
71.1
Download Image
5G Voice App Experience
in Central
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
80.3
Iliad
82.6
TIM
81.6
Vodafone
82.1
WindTre
80.5
Download Image
5G Download Speed
in Central
in Mbps
Fastweb
125.5
Iliad
70.3
TIM
255.1
Vodafone
188.0
WindTre
94.5
Download Image
5G Upload Speed
in Central
in Mbps
Fastweb
16.6
Iliad
10.7
TIM
23.7
Vodafone
23.7
WindTre
16.4
Download Image
5G Video Experience
in North East
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
75.7
Iliad
77.3
TIM
76.3
Vodafone
70.4
WindTre
76.1
Download Image
5G Games Experience
in North East
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
73.8
Iliad
79.0
TIM
72.5
Vodafone
76.5
WindTre
78.5
Download Image
5G Voice App Experience
in North East
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
81.7
Iliad
83.1
TIM
80.2
Vodafone
82.0
WindTre
82.0
Download Image
5G Download Speed
in North East
in Mbps
Fastweb
145.6
Iliad
78.5
TIM
211.6
Vodafone
199.0
WindTre
106.8
Download Image
5G Upload Speed
in North East
in Mbps
Fastweb
19.2
Iliad
12.0
TIM
18.2
Vodafone
20.6
WindTre
20.4
Download Image
5G Video Experience
in North West
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
75.5
Iliad
76.6
TIM
78.3
Vodafone
69.6
WindTre
76.0
Download Image
5G Games Experience
in North West
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
74.2
Iliad
78.1
TIM
84.6
Vodafone
77.1
WindTre
78.2
Download Image
5G Voice App Experience
in North West
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
81.5
Iliad
82.8
TIM
83.2
Vodafone
81.9
WindTre
81.8
Download Image
5G Download Speed
in North West
in Mbps
Fastweb
144.2
Iliad
68.6
TIM
309.1
Vodafone
198.1
WindTre
108.6
Download Image
5G Upload Speed
in North West
in Mbps
Fastweb
18.6
Iliad
11.2
TIM
30.9
Vodafone
19.6
WindTre
20.0
Download Image
5G Video Experience
in Sardinia
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
75.6
Iliad
76.4
TIM
79.3
Vodafone
72.9
WindTre
75.5
Download Image
5G Games Experience
in Sardinia
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
72.8
Iliad
75.5
TIM
85.3
Vodafone
78.6
WindTre
73.8
Download Image
5G Voice App Experience
in Sardinia
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
81.5
Iliad
82.4
TIM
83.7
Vodafone
82.9
WindTre
81.5
Download Image
5G Download Speed
in Sardinia
in Mbps
Fastweb
118.4
Iliad
71.4
TIM
274.9
Vodafone
191.2
WindTre
92.4
Download Image
5G Upload Speed
in Sardinia
in Mbps
Fastweb
17.2
Iliad
10.6
TIM
31.7
Vodafone
23.4
WindTre
17.3
Download Image
5G Video Experience
in Sicily
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
75.1
Iliad
76.4
TIM
78.4
Vodafone
73.4
WindTre
75.4
Download Image
5G Games Experience
in Sicily
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
70.0
Iliad
73.6
TIM
79.7
Vodafone
76.0
WindTre
73.4
Download Image
5G Voice App Experience
in Sicily
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
81.5
Iliad
82.3
TIM
82.4
Vodafone
82.1
WindTre
81.3
Download Image
5G Download Speed
in Sicily
in Mbps
Fastweb
134.6
Iliad
65.2
TIM
282.4
Vodafone
189.9
WindTre
103.8
Download Image
5G Upload Speed
in Sicily
in Mbps
Fastweb
17.8
Iliad
10.4
TIM
29.1
Vodafone
26.9
WindTre
18.0
Download Image
5G Video Experience
in South
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
74.6
Iliad
76.2
TIM
77.6
Vodafone
73.6
WindTre
74.5
Download Image
5G Games Experience
in South
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
68.7
Iliad
75.5
TIM
79.0
Vodafone
76.4
WindTre
70.6
Download Image
5G Voice App Experience
in South
in 0-100 points
Fastweb
80.4
Iliad
82.4
TIM
81.7
Vodafone
81.7
WindTre
80.5
Download Image
5G Download Speed
in South
in Mbps
Fastweb
130.7
Iliad
64.3
TIM
281.8
Vodafone
194.3
WindTre
101.9
Download Image
5G Upload Speed
in South
in Mbps
Fastweb
15.3
Iliad
9.5
TIM
26.6
Vodafone
23.3
WindTre
15.6
Download Image

Fastweb

Iliad

TIM

Vodafone

WindTre

Availability
5G Availability
5G Reach
Availability
% of time
Fastweb
96.0
Iliad
98.7
TIM
95.1
Vodafone
97.5
WindTre
98.7
0255075100
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
Download Image
5G Availability
% of time
Fastweb
26.7
Iliad
24.0
TIM
2.6
Vodafone
10.2
WindTre
22.5
07.51522.530
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
Download Image
5G Reach
in 0-10 points
Fastweb
6.5
Iliad
3.9
TIM
0.8
Vodafone
3.0
WindTre
4.9
02468
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
Download Image
National Analysis
Regional Analysis

National Analysis

Iliad and WindTre are joint winners of the Availability award, with identical scores of 98.7%. This means that our Iliad and WindTre users spent the largest proportion of time connected to either 3G, 4G, or 5G.

The two operators are the only ones to have ever won the Availability award, with Iliad coming top last time around and WindTre winning in the May 2022 report, but Vodafone has been closing the distance. In this report, Vodafone sees a 0.8 percentage point higher score compared to the previous report, the largest improvement seen across Italy’s operators this time around. In this report, we are including our users’ experience on Fastweb for the first time in a mobile network experience 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.

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.

Learn more

National Analysis

Our Fastweb 5G users spend the largest proportion of time with an active 5G connection — 26.7% of the time. Fastweb is therefore the winner of the 5G Availability award.

Iliad has recorded a notable increase since the last report of 8.9 percentage points, the largest improvement seen this time around. In this report, we are including our users’ experience on Fastweb for the first time in a mobile network experience 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.

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.

Learn more

National Analysis

Fastweb dominates in 5G Reach — which measures the proportion of locations where our users observed 5G out of all the places they visited. Fastweb scores 6.5 points on a 10-point scale. In the last report WindTre had the best 5G Reach in Italy – the operator is now the runner-up with a score of 4.9 points (1.6 points behind the winner).

In this report, we are including our users’ experience on Fastweb for the first time in a mobile network experience report.

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.

Learn more

Regional Analysis

Fastweb is the outright winner across all the regions in Italy, for both 5G coverage metrics — 5G Availability and 5G Reach. These metrics represent the proportion of time our 5G users spend with an active 5G connection, and the proportion of places where 5G signal was available out of the locations that users have visited, respectively.

Iliad and WindTre carve up the Availability regional awards between themselves — the two operators both collect two outright wins and share first place with each other in Sardinia and Sicily. Availability represents the proportion of time our users spend with a 3G or better connection on the network.

Regional Analysis Summary: Italy, Mobile Network Experience Report, May 2023

Region
Availability
5G Availability
5G Reach
Central
I
F
F
North East
W
F
F
North West
W
F
F
Sardinia
I
W
F
F
Sicily
I
W
F
F
South
I
F
F
Mobile Network Experience Report | May 2023 | © Opensignal Limited
Download Image
Selected region
  • A-I
    • Central
  • J-R
    • North East
    • North West
  • S-Z
    • Sardinia
    • Sicily
    • South
Availability
in Central
% of time
Fastweb
95.5
Iliad
98.4
TIM
93.8
Vodafone
96.8
WindTre
98.3
Download Image
5G Availability
in Central
% of time
Fastweb
26.1
Iliad
22.7
TIM
1.7
Vodafone
9.9
WindTre
21.4
Download Image
5G Reach
in Central
in 0-10 points
Fastweb
6.3
Iliad
3.5
TIM
0.6
Vodafone
2.7
WindTre
4.8
Download Image
Availability
in North East
% of time
Fastweb
96.3
Iliad
98.8
TIM
96.4
Vodafone
97.7
WindTre
98.9
Download Image
5G Availability
in North East
% of time
Fastweb
27.6
Iliad
24.5
TIM
4.2
Vodafone
10.5
WindTre
23.0
Download Image
5G Reach
in North East
in 0-10 points
Fastweb
6.3
Iliad
3.8
TIM
1.1
Vodafone
2.7
WindTre
4.6
Download Image
Availability
in North West
% of time
Fastweb
96.3
Iliad
98.9
TIM
95.9
Vodafone
97.7
WindTre
98.9
Download Image
5G Availability
in North West
% of time
Fastweb
27.9
Iliad
25.3
TIM
2.6
Vodafone
12.4
WindTre
23.4
Download Image
5G Reach
in North West
in 0-10 points
Fastweb
6.5
Iliad
4.1
TIM
0.7
Vodafone
3.4
WindTre
4.9
Download Image
Availability
in Sardinia
% of time
Fastweb
95.2
Iliad
98.8
TIM
94.2
Vodafone
96.8
WindTre
98.8
Download Image
5G Availability
in Sardinia
% of time
Fastweb
26.5
Iliad
23.2
TIM
2.1
Vodafone
11.8
WindTre
22.6
Download Image
5G Reach
in Sardinia
in 0-10 points
Fastweb
6.4
Iliad
3.4
TIM
0.6
Vodafone
2.9
WindTre
4.8
Download Image
Availability
in Sicily
% of time
Fastweb
95.4
Iliad
98.9
TIM
95.3
Vodafone
97.4
WindTre
98.9
Download Image
5G Availability
in Sicily
% of time
Fastweb
34.1
Iliad
26.2
TIM
2.0
Vodafone
10.0
WindTre
28.9
Download Image
5G Reach
in Sicily
in 0-10 points
Fastweb
6.8
Iliad
4.1
TIM
0.6
Vodafone
2.6
WindTre
5.5
Download Image
Availability
in South
% of time
Fastweb
95.7
Iliad
98.6
TIM
94.8
Vodafone
97.4
WindTre
98.5
Download Image
5G Availability
in South
% of time
Fastweb
25.4
Iliad
17.2
TIM
2.6
Vodafone
8.2
WindTre
19.4
Download Image
5G Reach
in South
in 0-10 points
Fastweb
6.2
Iliad
2.7
TIM
0.9
Vodafone
2.3
WindTre
4.4
Download Image
Excellent Consistent Quality
Core Consistent Quality
Excellent Consistent Quality
% of tests
Fastweb
72.6
Iliad
76.7
TIM
60.8
Vodafone
81.8
WindTre
75.3
021.54364.586
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
Download Image
Core Consistent Quality
% of tests
Fastweb
84.8
Iliad
90.7
TIM
87.8
Vodafone
92.1
WindTre
88.4
024487296
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
Download Image

National Analysis

Vodafone is the sole winner of the Excellent Consistent Quality award with its score of 81.8%, 5.1 percentage points higher than second-placed Iliad’s 76.7%.

Vodafone wins the Excellent Consistent Quality award for the third time in a row, and ever since the metric started to be reported in Opensignal mobile network experience reports for Italy.

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.

Learn more

National Analysis

As is the case with Excellent Consistent Quality, Vodafone is the outright winner of the Core Consistent Quality award. The operator wins with a score of 92.1%, 1.4 percentage points ahead of second-placed Iliad’s 90.7%.

Vodafone wins the Core Consistent Quality award for the third time in a row and ever since the metric started to be reported in Opensignal mobile network experience reports for Italy.

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.

Learn more

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.

Check how your internet connection impacts your favorite apps with the Meteor App