Carriers are using mobile broadband as their weapon of choice in the fight against the commoditization of voice and falling ARPU. This reliance on data is set to become more entrenched and it is therefore imperative that carriers have networks which can consistently and reliably deliver good data performance to their customers.
This study is based on the data speed and latency measurements collected for 268 wireless carriers operating within 103 different countries worldwide using a smartphone software application. This approach has facilitated the collection of over two million individual test readings from tens of thousands of users who have conducted tests for virtually every mobile carrier in virtually every country in the world. Using these readings, ARCchart has been able to estimate averages for download speed, upload speed, latency and overall network quality.
This report shows there is wide variation in the network performance between carriers and there is a genuine risk that carriers which develop a reputation for inferior performance will suffer high churn and an overall loss of subscribers.
Topics of coverage include:
- The importance of mobile broadband to carriers
- Theoretical versus real-world data speeds
- Broadband user terminals – smartphones and datacards
- Analysis and comparison of the performance of country data networks
- Analysis and comparison of the performance of carriers' data networks
- The factors influencing a carrier’s 3G data speed
- Measuring the ‘quality’ of a network
- The problem of unreliable networks
- Country iPhone market share
- Country BlackBerry usage
Companies and organisations mentioned, discussed or reviewed include:
Apple
AT&T Wireless
BASE
Bell Mobility
Bouygues
Celcom
Cellcom
Claro Brazil
Claro Chile
Colombia Movil
Comcel Colombia
Cosmote
CSL
CTI Movil
DiGi
DNA Finland
Elisa
Entel Chile
E-Plus
Excelcomindo
Google
Hutchison 3 Australia
Hutchison 3 Denmark
Hutchison 3 Ireland
Hutchison 3 Italy
Hutchison 3 Sweden
Hutchison 3 UK
Hutchison Telephone
Indosat
KPN Mobile
Kyivstar GSM
LMT
Maxis
MegaFon
Meteor Mobile
MobileOne
Mobistar
Movistar Argentina
Movistar Chile
Movistar Colombia
Movistar Mexico
Movistar Spain
MTN South Africa
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MTS Russia
NetCom
Network Norway
NTT DoCoMo
O2 Germany
O2 Ireland
O2 Slovakia
O2 UK
Oi
Omnitel
Optimus
Optus
Orange France
Orange Romania
Orange Slovakia
Orange Spain
Orange Switzerland
Orange UK
P4
Pannon
Partner
PCCW
Pelephone
Polkomtel
Proximus
PTC
PTK Centertel
Rogers Wireless
SFR
SingTel Mobile
Skype
SmarTone
Softbank BB
Sonofon
StarHub
Sunrise
Swisscom Mobile
TAC
TDC Mobil
Telcel
Tele2 Sweden
Telecom NZ
Telecom Personal
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Telefonica O2 Czech Republic
Telenor Mobile
Telenor Mobile Pakistan
Telenor Sverige
TeliaSonera Denmark
TeliaSonera Finland
TeliaSonera Sweden
Telkomsel
Telstra
TIM
TIM Brazil
TMN
T-Mobile Croatia
T-Mobile Czech Republic
T-Mobile Germany
T-Mobile Hungary
T-Mobile Netherlands
T-Mobile Slovakia
T-Mobile UK
T-Mobile US
Turkcell
VimpelCom
Vivo
Vodacom
Vodafone Australia
Vodafone Czech Republic
Vodafone Egypt
Vodafone Germany
Vodafone Greece
Vodafone Hungary
Vodafone India
Vodafone Ireland
Vodafone Italy
Vodafone Netherlands
Vodafone New Zealand
Vodafone Portugal
Vodafone Romania
Vodafone Spain
Vodafone Turkey
Vodafone UK
WIND
WIND Hellas
Xfera
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Answers and opinions are provided with respect to the following
essential questions:
- What are the applications and services driving consumer demand for mobile data?
- Why should carriers be concerned about their network’s data performance?
- What is the average 2G, 2.5G and 3G data speeds observed in countries worldwide?
- Which country has the best performing 3G networks?
- What is the average download, upload and latency supported by carriers’ 3G networks?
- Which carrier has the world’s best performing 3G network?
- Is there a correlation between network maturity and achievable download data speed?
- Why is latency so important?
- How reliable is the research methodology?