Saudi Arabia
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.
Saudi Arabia
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
Stc users continue to see the fastest average speeds
Once again, stc is the outright winner of all four speed awards — Download Speed Experience, Upload Speed Experience, 5G Download Speed and 5G Upload Speed. This is the eighth report in a row in which stc wins both the Download Speed Experience and Upload Speed Experience awards. It is also the fourth time in a row that wins both the 5G Download Speed and 5G Upload Speed awards outright.
Mobily comes top for overall video experience — both on-demand and in real-time
Mobily is the first Saudi operator to win Opensignal’s new Live Video Experience award. It does so with a score of 56.5 points on a 100-point scale, giving it a lead of 1.4 points over second-placed stc, while Zain is further behind with 46.6 points. Mobily has also replaced stc as the outright winner of the Video Experience award and shares the 5G Video Experience and 5G Live Video Experience awards with stc. This is a change from the last report, when stc was the outright winner of the 5G Video Experience award.
Stc 5G users spend the most time on 5G and connect to it in the most locations
Stc has gone from statistically tying with Mobily and Zain for the 5G Availability award in the last report to winning it outright. This means that our stc 5G users spend the greatest proportion of their time with an active 5G connection. In addition, stc is the first operator to win the new 5G Coverage Experience award, leading its rivals by an impressive margin.
Mobily users spend the most time with a 3G or better connection while stc users find a cellular signal in the most locations
Mobily has gone from sharing the Availability award with stc in the previous report, to winning it outright. It comes top with a score of 97.8%, giving it a lead of 1.3 percentage points over stc’s 96.5%. However, stc picks up Opensignal’s new Coverage Experience award, which measures the geographic coverage of populated areas from our users on 2G, 3G, 4G, & 5G connections. Stc wins with a score of 8.7 points, 3.3 points ahead of second-placed Mobily.
The best multiplayer gaming experience is with stc
Stc remains the outright winner of both the Games Experience and 5G Games Experience awards — as our users on its network continue to have the best available experience in Saudi Arabia when playing online multiplayer mobile games over cellular connections — both when measured across all generations of mobile technology and on 5G. However, stc’s lead over second-placed Mobily in both categories has dropped markedly — falling from 5.7 points to 2.3 points for Games Experience and from six points to 1.6 points for 5G Games Experience – mainly driven by declines in stc’s scores.
Mobile Experience Awards
Market Overview
Looking across the awards table, stc continues to win the majority of awards outright — but Mobily’s share has increased. Stc wins 10 out of 15 awards outright — including all four speed awards, both games experience awards, three out of four coverage awards and Consistent Quality — which replaces the Excellent Consistent Quality and Core Consistent Quality awards featured in previous reports.
Mobily has gone from sharing three awards with stc in the previous report — as part of a three-way tie with Zain in the case of 5G Availability — to winning three outright: Video Experience, Live Video Experience and Availability. Mobily also shares the 5G Video Experience and 5G Live Video Experience awards with stc. As stc now wins 5G Availability outright, Zain does not win any awards this time around — jointly or outright.
Saudi Arabia's stc Group is expanding its 5G network to over 75 cities across the country. The expansion aims to advance the Saudi digital economy, aligning with the goals of Saudi Vision 2030 and the Kingdom’s digital transformation initiatives.
Zain and Red Sea Global have introduced what they claim is the world's first zero-carbon 5G network in Saudi Arabia's Red Sea Project. Powered by renewable energy, it aligns with Vision 2030 and supports luxury eco-tourism with 50 resorts, 8,000 hotel rooms, and 1,000 residences.
In this report we look at the mobile network experience of the three national mobile network operators in Saudi Arabia — Mobily, stc and Zain — over a period of 90 days starting on July 1, 2023 and ending on September 28, 2023, to see how they fare against each other.
We include for the first time Live Video Experience and 5G Live Video Experience — these new metrics quantify the quality of real-time video streamed to mobile devices by measuring video streams over an operator's network. They measure a range of technical parameters including picture quality, video loading time, stall rate and also live playback offset — the delay between the event occurring in real-time and being observed by the viewer.
This is also the first report on the Saudi mobile network experience to include Coverage Experience and 5G Coverage Experience. These two awards measure the extent of mobile networks in the places people live, work and travel. They represent the experience users receive as they travel around areas where they would reasonably expect to find coverage.
Overall Experience
National Analysis
Mobily is the new outright winner of the Video Experience award, replacing stc. Mobily wins with a score of 60 points on a 100-point scale, giving it a lead of 1.7 points over the previous winner. While both operators’ scores are down from the previous report, Mobily’s has proven more resilient, dropping by 0.9 points, while stc’s has fallen by 3.6 points. Zain continues to bring up the rear, this time with a score of 50.9 points.
Both stc and Mobily continue to place in the Good (58-68) category. This means that our stc and Mobily users are, on average, able to stream on-demand video at 720p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling. The experience of our users on Zain’s network remains one category lower – Fair (48-58).
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
Mobily is the first Saudi operator to win Opensignal’s new Live Video Experience award. It comes top with a score of 56.5 points on a 100-point scale, 1.4 points ahead of second-placed stc’s 55.1 points, while Zain is further behind with 46.6 points.
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
Stc is still top for the overall experience of our users in Saudi Arabia when playing multiplayer mobile games over cellular connections. It wins the Games Experience award outright — this time with a score of 55.6 points on a 100-point scale, followed by Mobily with 53.2 points, while Zain comes last with 38.7 points. While stc beats second-placed Mobily by a margin of 2.3 points, this is down from the lead of 5.7 points that stc commanded in the last report.
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
This is the eighth time in a row that stc wins the Download Speed Experience award outright. The operator comes top this time with a score of 40.2Mbps, while Mobily is in second-place with 38Mbps and Zain brings up the rear with 24.1Mbps. Since the previous report, Mobility’s score has risen by 0.8Mbps, while stc’s and Zain’s have fallen by 3.7Mbps and 1.3Mbps, respectively. These changes have cut into stc’s winning margin, reducing it from 6.7Mbps to 2.2Mbps.
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
Stc is once again the outright winner of the Upload Speed Experience — having never lost it to another operator since we first began reporting on the Saudi mobile network experience back in April 2019. This time around, our stc users observe average overall upload speeds of 11.1Mbps, 2.3Mbps (25.5%) faster than those seen by Mobily users. Zain is in last place with 6.8Mbps.
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
Mobily and stc are joint winners of the 5G Video Experience award, with statistically tied scores of 71.5-71.6 points on a 100-point scale, while Zain places last with 69.8 points. This is a change from the last report when stc won the award outright with a score of 73.9 points and a lead of 1.1 points over Mobily. While both stc and Mobily’s scores are down from the previous report, Mobily users saw the smaller drop — a decline of 1.4 points, as stc’s score has fallen by 2.3 points.
However, all three operators continue to place in the Very Good category, which means our users were, on average, able to stream on-demand 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
Mobily and stc share the first 5G Live Video Experience award to feature in a Saudi mobile network experience report, as they have statistically tied scores of 67.5-68 points on a 100-point scale. Zain brings up the rear with 65.9 points.
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
Stc is the winner of the 5G Games Experience award for the fourth time in a row. It comes top this time around with a score of 68.2 points on a 100-point scale. While it wins by a margin of 1.6 points, this is down from the lead of six points that it commanded in the previous report. Mobily remains in second place, while Zain stays in third — this time with a score of 43 points. The drop in stc’s lead was driven by a 4.8-point decline in its score from the previous report. Both stc and Mobily continue to place in the Fair (65-75) category, while Zain keeps its Poor (40-65) rating.
This means that our stc and Mobily users find their experience when playing multiplayer mobile games over 5G connections to be ‘average’. In most cases, the game is responsive to the actions of the player with most users feeling like they have control over the game. The majority of players notice a delay between their actions and the outcomes in the game.
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
This is the fourth report in a row that our stc users have observed the fastest average 5G download speeds. Stc therefore once again wins the 5G Download Speed award, doing so this time with a score of 242.4Mbps, giving it a lead of 31.5Mbps over second-placed Mobily’s 210.9Mbps, while Zain is in last place with 198.2Mbps. While stc’s winning margin remains impressive, it is down from the lead of 53.1Mbps it commanded in the previous report, as Mobily’s score rose by 8.9Mbps and stc’s declined by 12.5Mbps. Zain’s score remains 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
Stc is once again the outright winner of the 5G Upload Speed award. Our stc users observe average 5G upload speeds of 25.1Mbps, 1.3Mbps (5.6%) faster than the 23.8Mbps seen by Mobily users. Zain is in last place with 17.6Mbps. Stc’s lead has shrunk from the last report, when it won by a margin of 3.2Mbps — as its score has dropped by 2Mbps, while Mobily’s is statistically unchanged.
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
Mobily
stc
Zain
National Analysis
Stc is the first Saudi operator to win Opensignal’s new Coverage Experience award — it does so outright with a score of 8.7 points on a 10-point scale. It leads Mobily by 3.3 points and is 4.2 points ahead of Zain’s 4.6 points.
Definitions
The Opensignal Coverage Experience metric measures the extent of mobile networks in the places people live, work and travel. The metric represents the experience users receive as they travel around areas where they would reasonably expect to find coverage.
Traditional coverage metrics typically estimate either a percentage of land area covered, or a percentage of population covered; often neither will be an accurate measurement of the true user expectation and experience. In many markets there are areas where neither population density nor geographic area reflect the importance of coverage to users. For example, in a large mountain range most users will not expect coverage in the wilderness, but poor coverage in the relatively small area of a ski resort is critical for the enjoyment of a holiday. Estimates based purely on population give undue significance to coverage in the most densely populated areas.
Coverage Experience measures geographic coverage of populated areas and therefore more accurately reflects the coverage expectations and experience of typical users. It can give a result that is somewhat different to traditional estimates based on either geographic or population measures. The metric uses 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.
National Analysis
Stc wins the new 5G Coverage Experience award outright. It does so with a score of 2.2 points on a 10-point scale, while both Mobily and Zain have scores of 1.2 points.
Definitions
The Opensignal Coverage Experience metric measures the extent of mobile networks in the places people live, work and travel. The metric represents the experience users receive as they travel around areas where they would reasonably expect to find coverage.
Traditional coverage metrics typically estimate either a percentage of land area covered, or a percentage of population covered; often neither will be an accurate measurement of the true user expectation and experience. In many markets there are areas where neither population density nor geographic area reflect the importance of coverage to users. For example, in a large mountain range most users will not expect coverage in the wilderness, but poor coverage in the relatively small area of a ski resort is critical for the enjoyment of a holiday. Estimates based purely on population give undue significance to coverage in the most densely populated areas.
Coverage Experience measures geographic coverage of populated areas and therefore more accurately reflects the coverage expectations and experience of typical users. It can give a result that is somewhat different to traditional estimates based on either geographic or population measures. The metric uses a scale from 0 to 10.
5G Coverage Experience shows the proportion of places 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.
National Analysis
Mobily is the new outright winner of the Availability award. This is a change from the last report when it was a joint winner alongside stc as their scores were statistically tied. Mobily’s victory is mostly due to a 1.2 percentage point drop in stc’s score. Mobily wins with a score of 97.8%, while stc is now in second place with 96.5% and Zain continues to bring up the rear with 95.7%.
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.
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
Our stc 5G users spend the greatest proportion of time with an active 5G connection. Stc is the outright winner of the 5G Availability award — a change from the previous report when all three Saudi operators shared the winners’ podium. Stc comes top with a score of 22%, beating Mobily and Zain by around 1.7 percentage points — given their statistically tied scores of 19.9-20.8%.
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
stc comes top for Consistent Quality with a score of 57.5%, giving it a lead of 1.1 percentage points over Mobily’s 56.4%. Zain is in last place with 41.7%. The Consistent Quality award replaces the Excellent Consistent Quality and Core Consistent Quality awards which featured in previous mobile network experience reports.
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