Spain and South Korea top Open Signal report
In a new report, crowd-sourced network performance analytics firm Open Signal broke down global LTE download speeds and overall network performance, by asking users equipped with their application to report network metrics, which were then compiled into its “Global LTE” report.
Based on the results, Spain has the fastest LTE speeds with average data rates of 18 megabits per second, with operator Vodafone ES posting the fastest in-country average speed at 25.5 Mbps.
In South Korea, operator LG U+ reportedly has the best coverage, with its network available across 99% of the country.
South Koreans also enjoy the most LTE “time on” at 95%, a statistic that measures proportion of users who have access to an LTE network. Behind South Korea, the countries with the highest percentage of LTE “on time” are: Japan, Kuwait, Hong Kong, Netherlands, United States, Canada, Hungary, Australia, Sweden and Taiwan.
The time on section of the report states: “We see South Korea as having comfortably the best coverage globally, with all three of its networks at the top of the global ranking. LG U+ ranks the best of all of our eligible networks, with its users experiencing 99% time on 4G LTE. … In the United States, Verizon performs best, with its 4G users having access to the network 85.9% of the time, with Sprint some way behind the other U.S. networks.”
In terms of fastest LTE speeds, Netcom in Norway came in at No. 2 behind Spain’s Vodafone, followed by T-Mobile NL in the Netherlands, DNA and Saunalahti in Finland, Vodafone IT in Italy, EE in the United Kingdom, and Taiwan Mobile and SK Telecom in South Korea.
The report authors found that, “Last year’s fastest country, Australia, has fallen to 14th with all of the networks recording similar speeds between 12-15 Mbps. T-Mobile [is] the fastest network for LTE in the U.S., although U.S. LTE speeds rank among the slowest in the world overall.”
Saudi Arabia’s three LTE networks were ranked the slowest coming in at below 5 Mbps.
