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Colombia

Mobile Network Experience Report
January 2025

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.

Author: Rupert Bapty, Analyst Data Collection Period: Sep 01 - Nov 29, 2024

Colombia

Mobile Network Experience Report
January 2025

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.

Author: Rupert Bapty, Analyst

Data Collection Period: Sep 01 - Nov 29, 2024

Key Findings

Claro tops the charts for coverage

Claro is the outright winner for overall Coverage Experience, meaning that our Claro users continue to have the best coverage experience as they travel around areas where they would reasonably expect to find coverage. Claro keeps hold of Coverage Experience with its score of 8.3 points on a 10-point scale.

The fastest 5G experience is with Movistar

For the first time in Colombian mobile network experience reports, Opensignal has included 5G metrics. Movistar is the first Colombian operator to win both the 5G Download Speed and 5G Upload Speed awards, placing ahead of Tigo in both cases. Our users on Movistar’s network see average 5G download speeds of 352.6Mbps and average 5G upload speeds of 34.2Mbps.

Tigo hangs on to overall Availability, while Claro picks up 5G Availability

Tigo keeps the overall Availability award in a firm grip, winning it outright for a fifth consecutive report — making Tigo the only Colombian operator to win this award since its introduction in July 2022. However, the proportion of time that our 5G users spend with an active 5G connection — 5G Availability — is won outright by Claro. Claro’s score of 13.7% is around eight times that of its peers, Movistar and Tigo, which statistically tie for second place.

Streaming on-demand video is best on Movistar’s 5G network

Our Movistar users enjoy the best experience streaming on-demand video over a 5G network — meaning that Movistar wins the 5G Video Experience award outright. Its score of 76 points on a 100-point scale places it firmly in the Very Good (68-78) category, around three points ahead of Claro and six ahead of Tigo.

Colombians have the most reliable experience on WOM

WOM wins Reliability Experience outright on its introduction to Colombian mobile network experience reports. Opensignal’s Reliability Experience measures the ability of our users to connect to and successfully complete (basic) tasks on operators’ networks. WOM wins with a score of 782 points on a 100-1000 point scale, with Tigo just eight points behind in second place. Additionally, WOM retains the Consistent Quality award, although its lead has shrunk considerably.

Claro boasts the quickest overall speeds

Our Colombian users have the fastest overall average speeds on Claro’s network. As a result, Claro wins both the Download Speed Experience and Upload Speed Experience award outright — a change from the previous report, in which Tigo won both awards. Claro’s overall average download speeds clock in at 19.3Mbps, more than 4Mbps faster than previous winner Tigo’s. For Upload Speed Experience, Claro manages a lead of less than 1Mbps over second-placed Movistar.

Mobile Experience Awards

January 2025, Colombia Report
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Market Overview

For the first time, we have directly compared the mobile network experience and the 5G experience of our Colombian users on the three national operators that have launched a commercial 5G service (Claro, Tigo and Movistar). Additionally, we introduce the Reliability Experience award to Colombian mobile network experience reports. Reliability Experience measures the ability of our users to connect to and successfully complete (basic) tasks on operators’ networks.

With the inclusion of 5G metrics, Claro has become the most awarded operator, picking up four outright and one joint win — winning both overall speed awards and Coverage Experience outright. WOM, Movistar and Tigo tally four, three and two total awards, respectively — WOM is first for both Consistent Quality and Reliability Experience, Movistar claims both 5G speed awards and Tigo hangs on to overall Availability.

Three of the four national operators in Colombia have launched commercial 5G services — Tigo, Claro and Movistar announced the launch in February 2024. All three operators make use of the 3.5GHz spectrum band in their 5G deployments, with Tigo and Movistar placing a joint bid for spectrum in the band. Opensignal’s recent analysis of spectrum in LATAM markets found that the 3.5GHz band is a driving force behind 5G experience in the region.

In early 2024, WOM Colombia filed for bankruptcy, following its sister company in Chile. The future of Colombia’s fourth-largest mobile network operator remains unclear. Opensignal has published an insight exploring what impact WOM’s bankruptcy would have for remaining networks and their subscribers.

Rounding out 2024, Movistar and Tigo have announced that the implementation of their shared network has gone live as of December 23rd. The pair signed an agreement in mid-2023 to pursue a network sharing arrangement via a jointly owned infrastructure company. The combination of Tigo’s and Movistar’s 3G and 4G networks will allow the two companies to use spectrum more efficiently, generating greater resources to expand coverage and optimize service quality for over 35 million subscribers in Colombia.

In this report we examine the mobile network experience of the four main mobile network operators in Colombia — Claro, Movistar, Tigo and WOM — over a period of 90 days starting on September 1, 2024, and ending on November 29, 2024, to see how they fared.

Overall Experience
5G Experience
Coverage
Consistency
Video Experience
Games Experience
Download Speed Experience
Upload Speed Experience
Video Experience
in 0-100 points
Claro
53.4
Movistar
49.7
Tigo
44.5
WOM
53.9
014284256
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
Download Image
Games Experience
in 0-100 points
Claro
50.3
Movistar
45.7
Tigo
50.4
WOM
52.1
014284256
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
Download Image
Download Speed Experience
in Mbps
Claro
19.3
Movistar
12.4
Tigo
15.2
WOM
12.4
05101520
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
Download Image
Upload Speed Experience
in Mbps
Claro
8.9
Movistar
8.1
Tigo
6.8
WOM
7.9
02.557.510
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
Download Image

National Analysis

Claro joins WOM on the winners’ podium for Video Experience, the pair jointly win the award with statistically tied scores of 53.4-53.9 points on a 100-point scale. Movistar places in third with its score of 49.7 points and Tigo comes fourth with a score of 44.5 points.

Our Colombian users on Claro, WOM and Movistar have seen their scores increase by 3-4 points, while those on Tigo have seen a decrease of one point.

Claro, Movistar and WOM place in the Fair (48-58) category, while Tigo places one category lower, in Poor (under 48). A Fair (48-58) rating means that our users are, on average, able to stream video at 720p or better with satisfactory loading times and substantial 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.

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National Analysis

WOM has pulled into first place for Games Experience award, overtaking the previous winner, Tigo. WOM’s score of 52.1 points on a 100-point scale gives it a lead of around two points over Claro and Tigo, which place in second with their statistically tied scores of 50.3-50.4 points. Movistar comes fourth with a score of 45.7 points.

Movistar, Claro and WOM have seen a boost in their scores since the previous report, ranging from 2-3 points. Conversely, Tigo's score has decreased by less than 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.

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National Analysis

Claro is the new outright winner of the Download Speed Experience award — a change from the previous report, when the award was won outright by Tigo. Claro’s average overall download speeds clock in at 19.3Mbps, giving it a lead of 4Mbps over Tigo and 7Mbps over statistically tied Movistar and WOM.

Average download speeds have increased across all four national Colombian operators, with users on Claro enjoying the largest increase, of 6Mbps.

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).

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National Analysis

Claro finishes first for Upload Speed Experience, winning the award outright with a score of 8.9Mbps. Movistar places in second with its score of 8.1Mbps, while WOM and Tigo place third and fourth, respectively.

Between reports, WOM's score has increased by 2Mbps, Claro's and Movistar’s by 1Mbps. Tigo's score has decreased by 1Mbps.

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).

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5G Video Experience
5G Games Experience
5G Download Speed
5G Upload Speed
5G Video Experience
in 0-100 points
Claro
73.0
Movistar
76.0
Tigo
70.3
020406080
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
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5G Games Experience
in 0-100 points
Claro
66.1
Movistar
70.5
Tigo
73.1
019385776
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
Download Image
5G Download Speed
in Mbps
Claro
169.1
Movistar
352.6
Tigo
337.3
090180270360
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
Download Image
5G Upload Speed
in Mbps
Claro
24.5
Movistar
34.2
Tigo
32.3
010203040
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
Download Image

National Analysis

Movistar wins the 5G Video Experience award outright with a score of 76 points on a 100-point scale and a lead of three points over second-placed Claro. Tigo comes third with a score of 70.3 points.

All operators place in the Very Good (68-78) category. This means 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.

5G 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

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.

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National Analysis

Tigo takes home the gold for 5G Games Experience. Tigo wins with a score of 73.1 points on a 100-point scale and a lead of three points over Movistar. Claro comes third with a score of 66.1 points.

All operators place in the Fair (65-75) category. This means that our users find the experience to be ‘average’ when connected to 5G. 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.

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National Analysis

Our users have the fastest average 5G download speeds on Movistar’s network, making it the outright winner of the 5G Download Speed award. Movistar’s score of 352.6Mbps is slightly ahead of Tigo’s 337.3Mbps, and over double Claro’s 169.1Mbps.

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).

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National Analysis

Movistar wins the 5G Upload Speed award outright with a score of 34.2Mbps, ahead of second-placed Tigo, with its score of 32.3Mbps. Claro comes third with a score of 24.5Mbps.

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).

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Coverage Experience
Availability
5G Availability
Coverage Experience
in 0-10 points
Claro
8.3
Movistar
4.0
Tigo
4.0
WOM
2.6
02.557.510
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
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Availability
% of time
Claro
96.9
Movistar
97.0
Tigo
98.7
WOM
98.0
0255075100
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
Download Image
5G Availability
% of time
Claro
13.7
Movistar
1.8
Tigo
1.5
0481216
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
Download Image

National Analysis

Claro retains its outright win for Coverage Experience, doing so this time with a score of 8.3 points on a 10-point scale and a lead of four points over the next closest operator, Movistar. Tigo comes third and WOM places fourth.

Scores on all four operators have increased by less than one point since the last report.

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.

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National Analysis

Tigo remains number one for Availability, winning the award outright with a score of 98.7% and a lead of one percentage point over WOM. Claro and Movistar share third place with statistically tied scores of 96.9-97%.

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.

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National Analysis

Claro wins the 5G Availability award outright with a score of 13.7% and a lead of around 12 percentage points over Movistar and Tigo, which place in second with their statistically tied scores of 1.5-1.8%.

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.

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Consistent Quality
Reliability Experience
Consistent Quality
% of tests
Claro
40.8
Movistar
45.1
Tigo
41.7
WOM
47.9
012.52537.550
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
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Reliability Experience
100-1000 points
Claro
683
Movistar
750
Tigo
774
WOM
782
100272.5445617.5790
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Read why confidence intervals are important.
Download Image

National Analysis

WOM hangs on to the Consistent Quality award, although its lead has shrunk since the previous report. WOM wins this time with a score of 47.9% and a lead of three percentage points over Movistar. Tigo comes third with a score of 41.7% and Claro comes just behind, in fourth.

WOM’s lead has been whittled down due to its score decreasing slightly between reports, while Movistar's score rose by 11 percentage points. Claro's and Tigo’s scores also increased, both by seven percentage points.

This metric 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.

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National Analysis

WOM is the first Colombian operator to win the Reliability Experience award in a mobile network experience report, doing so outright with a score of 782 points on a 100-1000 point scale and a lead of eight points over second-placed Tigo. Movistar and Claro come third and fourth with their respective scores of 750 points and 683 points.

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:
% time connected — 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.

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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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