Belgium
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.
Belgium
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
The fastest overall experience is with Proximus
Proximus is the outright winner of both the Download Speed Experience and Upload Speed Experience awards. This is a change from the last report when it was a joint winner for both Download Speed Experience (alongside Telenet) and Upload Speed Experience (alongside Orange). Our Proximus users observe average overall download speeds of 49.1Mbps — 7.1Mbps (16.9%) faster than those seen on second-placed Telenet. Proximus’ score rose by 4.4Mbps compared to that in the previous report, while Telenet’s is statistically unchanged. Proximus wins Upload Speed Experience with a score of 13Mbps and a lead of 1.5Mbps over second-placed Telenet.
Telenet comes top for 5G Availability
Our Telenet 5G users spend the largest proportion of time with an active 5G connection — 7.9% — making Telenet the outright winner of the 5G Availability award. This is a change from the last report when all three Belgian operators shared the award with statistically tied scores. Telenet wins with a lead of 2.6 percentage points over second-placed Proximus, while Orange is in last place with 2.7%.
Orange users enjoy the fastest average 5G download speeds
Orange continues to hold the 5G Download Speed award in a firm grip, after becoming the first Belgian operator to win it in the previous report. It wins this time with a score of 240Mbps, giving it a lead of around 72.9Mbps over Proximus and Telenet, which are statistically tied for second place with scores of 167-167.1Mbps. Both Orange’s and Telenet’s scores have increased, rising by 25Mbps (11.6%) and 45Mbps (36.9%), respectively, while Proximus’ score is statistically unchanged.
Proximus has the most consistent experience in Belgium
Proximus is the sole winner of the Consistent Quality award — which replaces the Excellent Consistent Quality and Core Consistent Quality awards. It wins with a score of 80.8%, giving it a lead of 0.5 percentage points over second-placed Orange. Telenet is some way behind its rivals with 66.8%. Consistent Quality measures if the network is sufficient to support common mobile application requirements at a level that is ‘good enough’ for users to maintain (or complete) various typical demanding tasks on their devices.
Telenet users have the best multiplayer mobile gaming and over-the-top voice experience on 5G
Telenet is the outright winner of the 5G Games Experience and 5G Voice App Experience awards — both awards were shared by all three operators in the last report due to statistical ties. It wins 5G Games Experience with a score of 87.8 points on a 100-point scale and a lead of around 3.9 points over Orange and Proximus, which are statistically tied for second place. In addition, Telenet is the only Belgian operator to place in the Excellent (85 or above) category for 5G Games Experience, as Orange and Proximus place one category lower — Good (75-85). Telenet wins 5G Voice App Experience with a score of 84.7 points and a lead of 1.7 points over its statistically tied rivals.
Mobile Experience Awards
Market Overview
Once again, our analysis of the Belgium mobile experience reveals many contests that were too close to call for a single operator. However, Proximus and Telenet narrowly have an edge over Orange, as they each are joint winners across seven categories and are outright winners in a further three, while Orange is a joint winner in eight categories and the sole winner of the 5G Download Speed award.
Digi Belgium — a joint venture between Belgium B2B connectivity company Citymesh and Romania’s RCS&RDS has taken a step closer to entering the Belgian mobile market, which it plans to do in 2024. In August 2023, it signed a five-year access right deal with Proximus, enabling national roaming on Proximus’ network. In addition, Proximus has agreed to sell Digi Belgium approximately 400 mobile antenna sites.
In September 2023, Belgium’s telecoms regulator, BIPT — the Belgian Institute for Postal Services and Telecommunications — began a public consultation to assess the market’s interest in using the 26GHz band for mmWave 5G services. mmWave can be used to serve areas that require very high capacity and can deliver extremely fast download speeds compared to 5G in mid and low bands, due to the larger amount of spectrum available.
In this report, we’ve analyzed the mobile network experience for Belgium’s three national operators, Orange, Proximus and Telenet, over the 90-day period starting on May 1, 2023, and ending July 29, 2023.
Overall Experience
National Analysis
All three Belgian operators continue to be joint winners for Video Experience — which quantifies the quality of on-demand video streamed to mobile devices by measuring real-world video streams over an operator's networks. Orange, Proximus and Telenet share the award with statistically tied scores of 66.7-67.9 points on a 100-point scale.
All three operators place at the high end of the Good (58-68) category. This means that our users are, on average, able to stream video at 720p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling.
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
Our first look at the Live Video Experience in Belgium shows that our users see no statistically significant difference in their overall experience when viewing live video streams over mobile connections — measured across all generations of mobile technology. Orange, Proximus and Telenet share the award with tied scores of 56.4-57.5 points on a 100-point scale.
Definitions
Opensignal’s Live Video Experience quantifies the quality of real-time video streamed to mobile devices by measuring video streams over an operator's network. The metric extends the existing International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach used for Opensignal's on-demand Video Experience metric, built upon detailed studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters, including live playback offset, picture quality, video loading time and stall rate, with the perceived live video experience as reported by real people. To calculate live video experience, we are directly measuring live video streams from end-user devices and using this extension of ITU's approach to quantify the overall live video experience for each operator on a scale from 0 to 100. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.
National Analysis
As was the case in the last report, Orange and Proximus share the Games Experience award. The two operators jointly win with statistically tied scores of 75.4-75.6 points on a 100-point scale, while Telenet is in last place with 68.8 points.
The two joint winners — Orange and Proximus — place in the Good (75-85) category, while Telenet earns a Fair (65-75) rating. A Good rating indicates that most users deem the experience acceptable. The gameplay experience is generally controllable and users receive immediate feedback between their actions and the outcomes in the game. Most users do not experience a delay between their actions and the game.
Definitions
Opensignal’s Games Experience measures how mobile users experience real-time multiplayer mobile gaming on an operator’s network. Measured on a scale of 0-100, it analyzes how our users’ multiplayer mobile gaming experience is affected by mobile network conditions including latency, packet loss and jitter.
Games Experience quantifies the experience when playing real-time multiplayer mobile games on mobile devices connected to servers located around the world. The approach is built on several years of research quantifying the relationship between technical network parameters and the gaming experience as reported by real mobile users. These parameters include latency (round trip time), jitter (variability of latency) and packet loss (the proportion of data packets that never reach their destination). Additionally, it considers multiple genres of multiplayer mobile games to measure the average sensitivity to network conditions. The games tested include some of the most popular real-time multiplayer mobile games (such as Fortnite, Pro Evolution Soccer and Arena of Valor) played around the world.
Calculating Games Experience starts with measuring the end-to-end experience from users’ devices to internet end-points that host real games. The score is then measured on a scale from 0 to 100.
In addition to Games Experience, we report on the following metrics related to games experience:
- 5G Games Experience: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users when they were connected to an operator’s 5G network.
- Games Experience – 5G Users: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator's networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G games experience along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Games Experience: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 4G network.
- 3G Games Experience: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO) network.
National Analysis
Orange, Proximus and Telenet continue to be locked in a statistical tie for the Voice App Experience award. Therefore, all three operators remain joint winners — this time with scores of 78.6-79.2 points on a 100-point scale.
The three operators all place in the Acceptable (74-80) category. This indicates that some users are satisfied with their overall experience when using over-the-top voice apps over cellular connections and listeners are generally able to comprehend without repetition. However, perceptible call quality impairments are experienced by some users. Clicking sounds of short duration or distortion are heard, and/or the volume may be sufficiently loud.
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
Proximus has gone from being a joint winner for Download Speed Experience alongside Telenet in the the last report to winning the award outright. This change was driven by a 4.4Mbps increase in Proximus’ score, while Telenet’s is statistically unchanged. Our Proximus users observe average overall download speeds of 49.1Mbps — 7.1Mbps (16.9%) faster than those seen on second-placed Telenet. Orange is in third place with 33.8Mbps and its score has risen by 2.1Mbps (6.6%) 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
Proximus is the new outright winner of Upload Speed Experience, having broken the statistical tie between it and Orange that existed in the previous report. Proximus wins with a score of 13Mbps and a lead of 1.5Mbps over second-placed Telenet’s 11.5Mbps, while Orange has dropped down to last place with a score of 10.9Mbps.
Definitions
Upload Speed Experience measures the average upload speeds for each operator observed by our users across their mobile data networks. Typically upload speeds are slower than download speeds, as current mobile broadband technologies focus resources on providing the best possible download speed for users consuming content on their devices. As mobile internet trends move away from downloading content to creating content and supporting real-time communications services, upload speeds are becoming more vital and new technologies are emerging that boost upstream capacity.
In addition to Upload Speed Experience, we report on five supporting metrics related to upload speeds:
- 5G Upload Speed: The average upload speed observed by Opensignal users with active 5G connections.
- Upload Speed Experience – 5G Users: The average upload speeds experienced by Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator’s networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G upload speeds along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Upload Speed: The average uplink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 4G.
- 3G Upload Speed: The average uplink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO).
5G Experience
National Analysis
Orange and Telenet are joint winners of the 5G Video Experience award, with statistically tied scores of 75.7-76.8 points on a 100-point scale. Proximus is in last place with 75.1 points. This is a change from the last report, when all three operators shared the award.
Orange, Proximus and Telenet all place in the Very Good (68-78) category for 5G Video Experience — one category higher than they do for overall Video Experience. A Very Good rating indicates that our users are, on average, able to stream video at 1080p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling when connected to 5G.
Definitions
5G Video Experience quantifies the quality of mobile video experienced by Opensignal users on real-world video streams when they were connected to 5G. The metric is based on an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach, built upon detailed studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters, including picture quality, video loading time and stall rate, with the perceived video experience as reported by real people. To calculate 5G Video Experience, we are directly measuring video streams from end-user devices and using this ITU approach to quantify the video experience observed by our users on each operator’s 5G network on a scale from 0 to 100. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions — including Full HD (FHD) and 4K / Ultra HD (UHD) — and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.
National Analysis
Our users observe no statistically significant difference in their experience across Belgium’s three operators when watching real-time video streams over 5G connections on mobile devices. As a result, Orange, Proximus and Telenet share the Live Video Experience award with tied scores of 66.3-68.2 points on a 100-point scale.
Definitions
Opensignal’s Live Video Experience quantifies the quality of real-time video streamed to mobile devices by measuring video streams over an operator's network. The metric extends the existing International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach used for Opensignal's on-demand Video Experience metric, built upon detailed studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters, including live playback offset, picture quality, video loading time and stall rate, with the perceived live video experience as reported by real people. To calculate live video experience, we are directly measuring live video streams from end-user devices and using this extension of ITU's approach to quantify the overall live video experience for each operator on a scale from 0 to 100. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.
5G Live Video Experience quantifies the quality of mobile video experienced by Opensignal users on real-world live video streams when they were connected to 5G.
National Analysis
Telenet is the new sole winner of the 5G Games Experience award, after sharing the award with Orange and Proximus in the last report. Telenet wins with a score of 87.8 points on a 100-point scale and a lead of around 3.9 points over Orange and Proximus, which are statistically tied for second place. In addition, Telenet is the only Belgian operator to place in the Excellent (85 or above) category, as Orange and Proximus place one category lower — Good (75-85).
An Excellent rating indicates that the vast majority of our users deem this network experience acceptable. Nearly all users feel like they have control over the game and they receive immediate feedback on their actions when connected to 5G. There is not a noticeable delay in almost all cases.
Definitions
5G Games Experience measures how mobile users experience real-time multiplayer mobile gaming on an operator's 5G network. It analyzes how our users’ multiplayer mobile gaming experience was affected by mobile network conditions including latency, packet loss and jitter. 5G Games Experience for each operator is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100.
5G Games Experience quantifies the experience when playing real-time multiplayer mobile games on mobile devices connected to servers located around the world. The approach is built on several years of research quantifying the relationship between technical network parameters and the gaming experience as reported by real mobile users. These parameters include latency (round trip time), jitter (variability of latency) and packet loss (the proportion of data packets that never reach their destination). Additionally, it considers multiple genres of multiplayer mobile games to measure the average sensitivity to network conditions. The games tested include some of the most popular real-time multiplayer mobile games (such as Fortnite, Pro Evolution Soccer and Arena of Valor) played around the world. Calculating 5G Games Experience starts with measuring the end-to-end experience from users’ devices to internet end-points that host real games.
National Analysis
As with 5G Games Experience, Telenet has gone from sharing the 5G Voice App Experience award with Orange and Proximus to winning it outright. Telenet wins with a score of 84.7 points on a 100-point scale and a lead of around 1.7 points over its rivals, which tie for second place with identical scores of 83 points. However, all three Belgian operators place in the Good (80-87) category
A Good rating for 5G Voice App Experience means that many of our users are satisfied with their experience when using over-the-top voice apps over 5G connections. However, minor quality impairments are experienced by some users. Sometimes the background is not quite clear, it could have been either hazy or not loud enough. Clicking sounds or distortion are very rarely present.
Definitions
5G Voice App Experience quantifies the experience of Opensignal users when using over-the-top voice apps — such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger — on an operator’s 5G network. It uses a model derived from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach for quantifying overall voice call quality and a series of calibrated technical parameters. This model characterizes the exact relationship between the technical measurements and perceived call quality. 5G Voice App Experience for each operator is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100.
National Analysis
Orange wins the 5G Download Speed award for the second time in a row. This time it wins with a score of 240Mbps and a lead of around 72.9Mbps over Proximus and Telenet, which are statistically tied for second place with scores of 167-167.1Mbps. Orange’s score is up 25Mbps (11.6%) from the last report. However, the greatest improvement was seen by our Telenet users — who reported an increase of 45Mbps (36.9%) in their average 5G download speeds — allowing the operator to move up from last place to share second place with Proximus – whose score is statistically unchanged from the previous report.
Definitions
5G Download Speed shows the average download speed experienced by Opensignal users across an operator’s 5G network. 5G Download Speed for each operator is calculated in Mbps (Megabits per second).
National Analysis
As was the case last time around, all three Belgian operators share the 5G Upload Speed award. Orange, Proximus and Telenet are joint winners with statistically tied scores of 25.2-27.4Mbps.
Definitions
5G Upload Speed measures the average upload speeds experienced by Opensignal users across an operator’s 5G network. 5G Upload Speed for each operator is calculated in Mbps (Megabits per second).
Coverage
Orange
Proximus
Telenet
National Analysis
Orange, Proximus and Telenet are joint winners of the Availability award as our users observe no statistically significant difference in the proportion of time they spend with a 3G or better connection between the three operators. This is a change from the previous report when Orange and Telenet were the only joint winners. The three operators share the award this time around with tied scores of 96.7-97.6%.
Definitions
Our availability metrics are not a measure of a network’s geographical extent. They won’t tell you whether you are likely to get a signal if you plan to visit a remote rural or nearly uninhabited region. Instead, they measure what proportion of time people have a network connection, in the places they most commonly frequent — something often missed by traditional coverage metrics. Looking at when users have a connection rather than where, provides us with a more precise reflection of the true user experience.
We also keep track of the instances that leave mobile users most frustrated: when there is no signal to connect to at all. The most common dead zones users struggle with occur indoors. As most of our availability data is collected indoors (as that’s where users spend most of their time), we’re particularly astute at detecting areas of zero signal.
Our availability metrics take a user-centric, time-based approach that complements the user-centric and geographical-based methodology used by our reach metrics.
Availability shows the proportion of time all Opensignal users on an operator’s network had either a 3G, 4G or 5G connection.
Map Definition
The coverage maps show the locations where we received measurements from users connecting with 3G or better mobile service. Each map provides an indication of the areas in which it is possible to obtain mobile service from that mobile operator.
National Analysis
Telenet is the new outright winner of the 5G Availability award, as our Telenet 5G users spend the largest proportion of time with an active 5G connection — 7.9%. Last time around, all three Belgian operators shared the award with statistically tied scores. Telenet wins with a lead of 2.6 percentage points over second-placed Proximus, while Orange is in last place with 2.7%.
Definitions
Our availability metrics are not a measure of a network’s geographical extent. They won’t tell you whether you are likely to get a signal if you plan to visit a remote rural or nearly uninhabited region. Instead, they measure what proportion of time people have a network connection, in the places they most commonly frequent — something often missed by traditional coverage metrics. Looking at when users have a connection rather than where, provides us with a more precise reflection of the true user experience.
We also keep track of the instances that leave mobile users most frustrated: when there is no signal to connect to at all. The most common dead zones users struggle with occur indoors. As most of our availability data is collected indoors (as that’s where users spend most of their time), we’re particularly astute at detecting areas of zero signal.
Our availability metrics take a user-centric, time-based approach that complements the user-centric and geographical-based methodology used by our reach metrics.
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.
Consistency
National Analysis
Proximus comes top for Consistent Quality — which replaces the Excellent Consistent Quality and Core Consistent Quality metrics from previous reports. Proximus wins the award with a score of 80.8%, giving it a lead of 0.5 percentage points over second-placed Orange. Telenet is firmly in last place with 66.8%. Consistent Quality measures if the network is sufficient to support common mobile application requirements at a level that is ‘good enough’ for users to maintain (or complete) various typical demanding tasks on their devices.
Definitions
Consistent Quality measures if the network is sufficient to support common mobile application requirements at a level that is ‘good enough’ for users to maintain (or complete) various typical tasks on their devices.
We combine different experience indicators such as download speed, upload speed, latency, jitter, packet discard, and time to first byte to calculate Consistent Quality. These components are evaluated against thresholds recommended by various more demanding common applications used for a range of common tasks.
To calculate the metric value, the proportion of tests that pass the requirements of Consistent Quality is multiplied by the test success ratio, which is the proportion of completed tests to all tests conducted. Tests that pass indicate that activities such as video calling, uploading an image to social media, or using smart home applications will be possible without noticeable lag or slowdown.
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