Egypt
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.
Egypt
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
WE has the fastest experience in Egypt
WE takes home both the Download Speed Experience and Upload Speed Experience awards, meaning that our WE users had the fastest experience in Egypt. WE wins Download Speed Experience outright with a score of 19.4Mbps, 3.8Mbps (24.4%) ahead of Etisalat — WE shared the award with Etisalat in the previous report. For Upload Speed Experience, WE takes the top spot from Etisalat with a score of 5.8Mbps — Etisalat is now in second place, 0.9Mbps below WE. Orange and Vodafone tie for third place with equal scores of 4.5Mbps.
WE now leads for both Games Experience and Voice App Experience
WE wins the Games Experience and Voice App Experience awards outright — in the previous report WE statistically tied with Vodafone for both awards. WE now wins Games Experience with a score of 46.5 points on a 100-points scale, 1.7 points above second-placed Vodafone. Likewise, for Voice App Experience WE’s score of 72.9 points places it one point ahead of its rival, Vodafone. For both awards, Etisalat comes in third place while Orange trails in fourth.
WE comes first for Consistent Quality in Egypt
WE steps onto the winners’ podium for the Consistent Quality award, which replaces Excellent Consistent Quality and Core Consistent Quality. WE’s score of 52.3% is well above runner-up Vodafone’s score of 45.8%. Etisalat and Orange have even more catching up to do with their respective scores of 37.8% and 36.6% putting them in third and fourth place. Consistent Quality is a measure of how sufficient the network is in supporting common mobile application requirements at a level that is ‘good enough’ for users to maintain (or complete) various typical demanding tasks on their devices.
Etisalat remains top for Availability while Vodafone keeps hold of 4G Availability
Etisalat hangs on to its award for Availability, the proportion of time our users spend with a 3G or better connection. The operator wins the award with a score of 96.4%, just 0.4 percentage points above second-placed Vodafone. Orange and WE tie for third place with statistically equivalent scores. Likewise, Vodafone retains its win for 4G Availability — our Vodafone users with a 4G device and subscription spend 87.5% of their time with a 4G connection.
The best overall experience is on WE
WE has broken out of the statistical ties it was in with Vodafone for Games Experience and Voice App Experience in the last report, making it the sole winner of both awards. It also scoops up the Live Video Experience award and retains its win for Video Experience. These four awards, coupled with its outright wins for both of the speed awards, mean that our WE users have the best overall experience.
Mobile Experience Awards
Market Overview
In this report on the Egyptian mobile network experience the gap has widened between WE and the other three national operators. WE now wins seven awards outright, including both speed awards and all four overall experiential awards. It also takes home the Consistent Quality award. Etisalat and Vodafone slip off the winners’ podium for multiple awards, but manage to retain their respective wins for Availability and 4G Availability. Orange once again does not win an award.
If you are interested in more in-depth Opensignal analyses on the mobile network experience of our Egyptian users, please check out our report on how Egyptians have a better experience in Cairo compared to the rest of the country or our report on how higher usage and congestion affects the Egyptian mobile experience.
In this report, we've analyzed data across four nationwide mobile operators — Etisalat, Orange, Vodafone and WE — gathered in the 90-day period starting on June 1, 2023, and ending on August 29, 2023, to see how they measure up.
Overall Experience
National Analysis
WE retains its outright win for Video Experience. The operator scores 55.4 points, placing it 4.2 points ahead of runner-up Vodafone. Etisalat finishes in third place with its score of 50.4 points, and Orange trails in last place.
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.
National Analysis
WE scoops up the first Live Video Experience award, its score of 49.8 points enough to set it ahead of the competition. Vodafone is hot on WE’s heels with its score of 45.4 points — Etisalat and Orange follow in third and fourth place, respectively.
WE, Vodafone and Etisalat all place in the Good (43-53) category for Live Video Experience, while Orange places one category lower — Fair (33-43). A Good rating means that our users are, on average, able to stream video at least at 720p with satisfactory loading times, little stalling and a substantial live offset.
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
WE now wins Games Experience all to itself, scoring 46.5 points on a 100-point scale. The second and third place rankings are close together, with Vodafone’s score of 44.8 points placing it just above Etisalat, which scores 44.3 points. Orange brings up the rear with a score of 41.5 points.
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
WE wins Voice App Experience outright with a score of 72.9 points on a 100-point scale. Vodafone comes in second place with its score of 71.9 points just one point below the lead. Etisalat manages to take third place, only 0.3 points ahead of fourth-placed Orange.
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
WE wins Download Speed Experience with a score of 19.4Mbps, 3.8Mbps (24.4%) ahead of Etisalat — WE shared the award with Etisalat in the previous report. Vodafone and Orange take third and fourth place, respectively, with scores of 13.9Mbps and 12.3Mbps.
WE achieves this victory due to a 1.1Mbps (6.2%) increase in its score since the previous report. The other three operators’ average download speeds decreased between reports.
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
WE has claimed the award for Upload Speed Experience after passing previous winner, Etisalat. WE wins the award with a score of 5.8Mbps, 0.9Mbps (18.5%) ahead of second-placed Etisalat. Orange and Vodafone tie for third place with equal scores of 4.5Mbps.
Our WE users have seen a boost in their average upload speeds since the last report, with Upload Speed Experience rising 0.3Mbps (5.6%). Conversely, average upload speed has decreased on Orange, Etisalat and Vodafone since the previous report — ranging from a 0.4Mbps drop for Vodafone to a 1.3Mbps drop for Etisalat.
Definitions
Upload Speed Experience measures the average upload speeds for each operator observed by our users across their mobile data networks. Typically upload speeds are slower than download speeds, as current mobile broadband technologies focus resources on providing the best possible download speed for users consuming content on their devices. As mobile internet trends move away from downloading content to creating content and supporting real-time communications services, upload speeds are becoming more vital and new technologies are emerging that boost upstream capacity.
In addition to Upload Speed Experience, we report on five supporting metrics related to upload speeds:
- 5G Upload Speed: The average upload speed observed by Opensignal users with active 5G connections.
- Upload Speed Experience – 5G Users: The average upload speeds experienced by Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator’s networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G upload speeds along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Upload Speed: The average uplink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 4G.
- 3G Upload Speed: The average uplink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO).
Coverage
Etisalat
Orange
Vodafone
WE
National Analysis
Etisalat hangs on to its award for Availability, the proportion of time our users spend with a 3G or better connection. The operator wins the award with a score of 96.4%, just 0.4 percentage points above second-placed Vodafone. Orange and WE tie for third place with statistically equivalent scores.
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
Vodafone retains its win for 4G Availability — our Vodafone users with a 4G device and subscription spend 87.5% of their time with a 4G connection. WE is in second place, 0.9 percentage points below the lead. Orange and Etisalat follow in third and fourth with 85.5% and 78.1%, respectively.
Since the previous report, only users on WE have seen a significant increase in score, 1.8 percentage points, while Orange users saw a decrease of 1.4 percentage points. Orange’s and Vodafone’s scores have not changed by a significant amount.
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.
4G Availability shows the proportion of time Opensignal users with a 4G device and a 4G subscription — but have never connected to 5G — had a 4G 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
WE steps onto the winners’ podium for the Consistent Quality award, which replaces Excellent Consistent Quality and Core Consistent Quality. WE’s score of 52.3% is well above runner-up Vodafone’s score of 45.8%. Etisalat and Orange have even more catching up to do with their respective scores of 37.8% and 36.6% placing them in third and fourth. Consistent Quality is a measure of how sufficient the network is in supporting 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