Oman
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.
Oman
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 most consistent experience in the Sultanate is now with Omantel
Omantel is the new winner of Opensignal’s Consistent Quality award in Oman, scoring 68.9%. 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.
Ooredoo comes top for 5G Games Experience
Ooredoo is now top in Oman when it comes to the quality of experience while playing multiplayer mobile games over 5G connections. The operator wins with a score of 70 points on a 100-point scale, just ahead of previous winner, Vodafone.
Omantel leads in 5G Download Speed
Our Omantel users clocked the fastest 5G download speeds in Oman, 234.7Mbps on average — over a third faster than those with Ooredoo. Contrastingly, Vodafone leads over Omantel in terms of overall average download speeds by 17%. The average 5G download speeds on Omani operators are 2.4-5.4 times faster than the average download speeds across all technologies.
Omantel and Vodafone share the first Reliability Experience award
Omantel and Vodafone are joint winners of Oman's first Reliability Experience award. Opensignal’s Reliability Experience measures the ability of our users to connect to and successfully complete basic tasks on operators’ networks.
Mobile Experience Awards
Market Overview
A quick glance at Opensignal’s latest award table for Oman, and it’s clear that a lot has changed since our last report. In January 2024, Vodafone was the most awarded operator, leading in 11 out of 14 categories, while Omantel held the second-largest haul of awards. However, Omantel is the leading operator in Oman’s mobile network experience landscape this time.
Omantel now leads outright or jointly in eight categories, while Vodafone does so in seven categories. Omantel beats Vodafone in Consistent Quality while holding onto the top spot for 5G Download Speed, 5G Video Experience, and 5G Availability, as well as the overall Coverage and 5G Coverage Experience awards it secured last time. Moreover, both operators also achieved top scores for Reliability Experience and overall Video Experience. Last but not least, Ooredoo is now the outright winner of Availability and 5G Games Experience, as it outperforms Vodafone in both aspects. Most of these changes have resulted from the decline observed in Vodafone’s network experience scores across a few categories, including Consistent Quality as well as overall and 5G Games Experience.
Vodafone is a new entrant in the Sultanate. It launched services in 2022 and its subscriber base has grown significantly since then — 42% by March 2024, capturing 10% of the market share in two years. While this is a noteworthy achievement, typically mobile network operators' infrastructure and spectrum resources do not increase in line with growth in its subscriber base, leading to challenges in coping with increased demand. This is likely one of the reasons contributing to the decline in Vodafone's scores. Currently, Vodafone is enhancing its core services and aiming to expand its 5G network to 90% of the population by the end of this year.
Meanwhile, following the first announcement to sunset 3G networks early last year, Oman’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has published a monthly schedule to phase out 3G gradually. Omantel and Oredoo have started switching off 3G from low-density governates in July 2024, ahead of the complete shutdown planned for the end of the year. This move is aimed at refarming 3G spectrum resources to faster and more efficient 4G and 5G technologies, which will help improve the user experience.
In this report, we examine the mobile network experience of the three main mobile network operators in Oman — Omantel, Ooredoo and Vodafone — over a period of 90 days starting on May 01, 2024, and ending on July 29, 2024, to see how they fared.
Overall Experience
National Analysis
We see a close competition for the Video Experience award. Omantel and Vodafone are joint winners with a lead of around one point over Ooredoo, which places third with a score of 65.1 points.
All three operators in Oman rate Good (58-68) for the quality of the on-demand video streaming experience. A Good (58-68) rating means that our users are, on average, able to stream video at 720p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling.
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
In the previous report, Vodafone won the Games Experience award outright. However, Vodafone shares the podium with Ooredoo this time, scoring three points greater than Omantel. Since the last report, Vodafone's score decreased by eight points, Ooredoo's score decreased by three points and Omantel’s score rose by one point.
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
Vodafone continues to occupy the top spot for Download Speed Experience in Oman, with users’ average speeds surpassing the 50Mbps mark — 17% faster than Omantel and 27% faster than Ooredoo.
The Download Speed Experience on Ooredoo has improved by over 10% since the previous report, double the improvement observed on Omantel. Conversely, Vodafone's score hasn't changed significantly.
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
Vodafone remains the winner of the Upload Speed Experience award, with users clocking the fastest upload speeds of 13.1Mbps — 43% faster than Ooredoo, which places second.
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
Omantel and Vodafone remain joint winners of the 5G Video Experience award, leading Ooredoo’s score of 72.4 points by one point.
All operators place in the Very Good (68-78) category for 5G Video Experience. A Very Good (68-78) rating means that our users are, on average, able to stream video at 1080p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling.
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
Ooredoo is now top in Oman when it comes to the quality of experience while playing multiplayer mobile games over 5G connections. Ooredoo wins the 5G Video Experience award with a score of 70 points (on a scale of 0-100), overtaking the previous winner, Vodafone, by a four-point lead. This resulted from a 12-point decline seen on Vodafone, compared to the four-point dip seen on Ooredoo. Omantel’s score rose by two points instead.
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
Omantel wins 5G Download Speed outright, scoring 234.7Mbps, with a huge lead of 60Mbps over Ooredoo.
The average 5G download speeds on the Omani operators are 2.4-5.4 times faster than the average download speeds across all technologies.
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
Vodafone wins the 5G Upload Speed award outright. Our users on Vodafone enjoy the fastest 5G upload speeds in Oman, 24.5Mbps on average and 3Mbps faster than those seen by Ooredoo users. Omantel comes third with a score of 17.9Mbps.
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
National Analysis
Omantel wins the Coverage Experience award outright with a score of 8.3 points on a 10-point scale. Ooredoo places second while Vodafone takes the last spot.
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.
National Analysis
Omantel wins the 5G Coverage Experience award outright with a score of 4.5 points on a 10-point scale, leading over second-placed Ooredoo by one point. Vodafone comes third with a score of 1.8 points.
Compared to the previous report, all three operators’ scores have increased by one point.
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.
National Analysis
Our Ooredoo users spend the highest proportion of their time connected to a 3G or better cellular signal — 98.6%, on average, which is just one percentage point over Omantel’s and Vodafone’s statistically tied scores of 97.2-97.7%.
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.
National Analysis
Omantel and Ooredoo jointly win the 5G Availability award with statistically tied scores of 11.6-12.9% and a lead of around three percentage points over Vodafone.
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.
Consistency
National Analysis
Omantel is the new winner of Opensignal’s Consistent Quality award in Oman; it does so outright with a score of 68.9%, leading over Ooredoo by four percentage points. Vodafone comes third as its Consistent Quality score dropped by 13 percentage points down to 59.7%.
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. It assesses a number of experience indicators such as download speed, upload speed, latency, jitter, packet loss, and time to first byte.
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.
National Analysis
Omantel and Vodafone are joint winners of the first Reliability Experience award in Omani mobile network experience reports with 849-856 points on a 100-1000 scale.
Opensignal’s Reliability Experience measures the ability of our users to connect to and successfully complete (basic) tasks on operators’ networks. It consists of the following components:
Signal Availability — The proportion of time Opensignal users can successfully connect to a mobile network
Data Connectivity — the proportion of time when the network is available and the device can connect to the internet
Task completion — whether tasks initiated by the user’s device are completed
Sufficiency — The probability that (basic) tasks will be executed sufficiently well for the user
Definitions
Opensignal’s Reliability Experience measures the ability of Opensignal users to connect to and successfully complete (basic) tasks on communication service providers’ (CSP) networks. It analyzes how much Opensignal users’ experience is affected by the radio access and core network, along with issues that prevent them from connecting to the internet even if they have a connection to their CSP’s network. It also factors in users’ ability to successfully use lower performance applications including SD video, over-the-top voice calls and web browsing.
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