GLOBAL MOBILE NETWORK EXPERIENCE AWARDS 2024


February 2024

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Independent
Real-world experience
Scientific analysis
Author
Sam Fenwick
Principal Analyst

Key Findings

Across Group I markets, our users with Japan’s Rakuten have the best overall experience when playing multiplayer mobile games and using over-the-top voice apps

One of the world’s first adopters of Open RAN, Rakuten, is the outright Global Winner in Group I for both Games Experience and Voice App Experience. Its local rivals, au and SoftBank are Global Leaders for Games Experience and au also earns the same recognition for Voice App Experience. Rakuten is also a Global Leader for Upload Speed Experience, being in third place behind the two Group I Global Winners — Norway’s Telia and Telenor.

Singapore’s StarHub shares first place for Games Experience in Group II with SK telecom and LG U+

Due to a three-way statistical tie, StarHub, SK telecom and LG U+ are Group II’s Global Winners for Games Experience. In addition, StarHub is one of six Global Winners in this group for Video Experience, the others being: Denmark’s 3, TDC and Telia; along with the Netherlands’ Vodafone and T-Mobile.

Telenor Norway places top for Video Experience and Consistent Quality in Group I

Our Norwegian Telenor users have the best experience when streaming on-demand mobile video in Group I, along with the most consistent experience — as it is the sole Global Winner in Group I for Consistent Quality with a score of 89.5%. On top of its first-place finishes for Download Speed Experience and Upload Speed Experience, this makes Telenor a Global Winner across four out of seven categories in Group I. Switching to Group II, Telenor Denmark is the outright Global Winner for Consistent Quality.

India’s Jio and South Korea’s LG U+ come top for Time on 4G/5G

Looking at the proportion of time our smartphone users connect to 4G/5G (excluding those that can only connect to 3G or below), Jio is the sole Global Winner in Group I, while LG U+ achieves the same feat in Group II. Two out of three U.S. national operators are Global Leaders for Time on 4G/5G — AT&T (which is in second place behind Jio) and Verizon. The other two Global Leaders for Time on 4G/5G in Group I hail from Japan — au and NTT docomo.

Telenor Norway and South Korea’s SK telecom are this year’s fastest operators

Norway’s Telenor is the sole Global Winner in Group I for Download Speed Experience. South Korea’s SK telecom achieves the same feat in Group II, with the overall download speeds seen by our users on its network averaging nearly 150Mbps. T-Mobile USA is the operator in second place in Group I, while fellow South Korean operator KT follows SK telecom in Group II. In addition to placing first in their respective groups for Download Speed Experience, both Telenor Norway and SK telecom are Global Winners for Upload Speed Experience — SK telecom wins outright in Group II while Telenor Norway is statistically tied with fellow Norwegian operator Telia in Group I.

5G drives impressive increases in overall download speeds in India and Malaysia

India’s Jio and Airtel are two of the 15 operators with the largest year-on-year (YoY) percentage increases in Download Speed Experience between H2 2022 and H2 2023 in Group I. Our Jio users top the table as their average overall download speeds have increased by 369.3% compared to those seen in H2 2022. These impressive increases are clearly due to these two operators launching 5G in October 2022. Similarly, all six of Malaysia’s national operators, which have recently launched 5G via the country’s 5G wholesale network (Digital Nasional Berhad – DNB) are Global Rising Stars for Download Speed Experience in Group I. Our Maxis users saw the smallest improvement across the six, as would be expected, given that it was the last to launch 5G in August 2023.

Airtel users have the best Video Experience in South Asia’s Group I markets

Across the three markets — India, Pakistan and Afghanistan — in this region that place in Group I, our smartphone users on India’s Airtel have the best available experience when streaming on-demand mobile video over cellular connections. Jio and Vi are Regional Leaders as are Pakistan’s Zong and Jazz. Over in Canada & the U.S., Canada’s Rogers is the Group I Regional Winner while Chile’s Entel earns the same recognition in Latin America.

Telstra is the Group I Regional Winner for Download Speed Experience in East Asia & Pacific

Our users with Australia’s Telstra see the fastest average overall download speeds in East Asia & Pacific’s Group I markets — 57.6Mbps. India’s Jio achieves the same accolade in South Asia, while T-Mobile USA and Mexico’s Telcel come top in Group I for the U.S. & Canada and Latin America, respectively. Over in the Middle East & North Africa, new entrant Vodafone Oman rules the roost in Group I.

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