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European Carrier Mobile Broadband Network Performance

ARCchart
March 1, 2011
115 Pages - SKU: CCEQ6197792

Abstract Table of Contents Related Reports

Countries covered: Europe

Carriers are using mobile broadband as their weapon of choice in the fight against the commoditization of voice and falling ARPU. 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 94 wireless carriers operating within 28 European countries using a smartphone app. This approach has facilitated the collection of millions of 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, along with a measure of smartphone penetration.

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:

Research methodology
The importance of mobile broadband to carriers
Theoretical versus real-world data speeds
Analysis and comparison of the performance of country data networks
Analysis and comparison of the performance of carriers' data networks
Carrier data throughput profiles
The factors influencing a carrier’s 3G data speed
Measuring the ‘quality’ of a network
The problem of unreliable networks
iPhone and Android carrier market share
Country smartphone penetration
Companies and organisations mentioned, discussed or reviewed include:
Avea Turkey
BASE Belgium
Belgacom Mobile Belgium
Bite GSM Latvia
Bite GSM Lithuania
Bouygues France
Cosmote Greece
Cosmote Romania
DNA Finland
Elia Finland
Elisa Estonia
EMT Estonia
E-Plus Germany
GloBul Bulgaria
Hutchison Austria
Hutchison Denmark
Hutchison Ireland
Hutchison Italy
Hutchison Sweden
Hutchison UK
KPN Mobile Netherlands
LMT Latvia
Meteor Ireland
MobiFon Romania
Mobilkom Austria
Mobistar Belgium
MobiTel Bulgaria
NetCom Norway
Network Norway
O2 Czech Republic
O2 Germany
O2 Ireland
O2 Slovakia
O2 UK
Omnitel Lithuania
Optimus Portugal
Orange Austria
Orange France
Orange Romania
Orange Slovakia
Orange Spain
Orange Switzerland
Orange UK
P4 Poland
Panafon Greece
Pannon Hungary
Polkomtel Poland
PTC Poland
PTK-Centertel Poland
RDS Romania
SFR France
Sonofon Denmark
Sunrise Switzerland
Swisscom Mobile Switzerland
TDC Mobile Denmark
Tele2 Estonia
Tele2 Latvia
Tele2 Lithuania
Tele2 Sweden
Telecom Italia
Telefonica Spain
Telekom Serbia
Telenor Mobil Norway
Telenor Mobil Serbia
Telenor Mobil Sweden
TeliaSonera Denmark
TeliaSonera Finland
TeliaSonera Sweden
TIM Hellas Greece
TMN Portugal
T-Mobile Austria
T-Mobile Croatia
T-Mobile Czech Republic
T-Mobile Germany
T-Mobile Hungary
T-Mobile Netherlands
T-Mobile Slovakia
T-Mobile UK
Turkcell Turkey
VIP Mobile Serbia
VIPnet Croatia
Vivacom Bulgaria
Vodafone Czech Republic
Vodafone Germany
Vodafone Hungary
Vodafone Ireland
Vodafone Italy
Vodafone Netherlands
Vodafone Portugal
Vodafone Spain
Vodafone Turkey
Vodafone UK
WIND Italy
Yoigo Spain

Answers and opinions are provided with respect to the following essential questions:

What are the applications and services driving demand for mobile broadband?
Which carriers are big supporters of Android devices?
Why should carriers be concerned about their network’s data performance?
What is the average data speeds observed in each European country?
Which country has the best performing networks?
How does HSPA+ impact data throughput?
What is the average download, upload and latency supported by each carriers’ networks?
Which are the carriers with Europe’s best performing broadband network?
Which smartphone shows better performance - the iPhone or Android?
Is there a correlation between network maturity and achievable download data speed?
Which carriers are still reliant on GPRS and EDGE infrastructure?

A. METHODOLOGY: A.1 Data Source - the App; A.2 Limitations of the App; A.3 The Results; A.4 Availability of the Raw Data
B. INTRODUCTION: B.1 Real World Network Limitations; B.2 Report Overview
C. COUNTRY ANALYSIS: C.1 Download Performance; C.2 Mobile Broadband Network Quality; C.3 Smartphone Popularity
D. CARRIER ANALYSIS: D.1 Overall Performance Carrier Ranking; D.2 Austria; D.1 Belgium; D.1 Bulgaria; D.1 Czech Republic; D.1 Denmark; D.1 Finland; D.2 France; D.1 Germany; D.1 Greece; D.1 Hungary; D.1 Ireland; D.2 Italy; D.1 Netherlands; D.1 Norway; D.1 Poland; D.2 Portugal; D.1 Romania; D.2 Slovakia; D.1 Spain; D.2 Sweden; D.3 Switzerland; D.1 UK
E. DISCUSSION & FINDINGS: E.1 Status of HSDPA and HSPA+; E.2 Legacy Infrastructure Still Prevalent; E.3 Factors Affecting Performance; E.4 Android Challenging iPhone; E.5 Smartphone Penetration; E.6 iPhone Exclusives Retain Advantage; E.7 Android Handsets Outperform iPhone
List of Tables: Table 1 - List of countries and cities covered in this research; Table 2 - HSDPA and HSUPA support by the four iPhone models; Table 3 - HSDPA user equipment categories; Table 4 - Country download average league table; Table 5: Country mobile broadband network quality ratings; Table 6 - Summary of network performance for Austrian carriers; Table 7 - Summary of network performance for Austria Belgian; Table 8 - Summary of network performance for Bulgarian carriers; Table 9 - Summary of network performance for Czech carriers; Table 10 - Summary of network performance for Danish carriers; Table 11 - Summary of network performance for Finnish carriers; Table 12 - Summary of network performance for French carriers; Table 13 - Summary of network performance for German carriers; Table 14 - Summary of network performance for Greek carriers; Table 15 - Summary of network performance for Hungarian carriers; Table 16 - Summary of network performance for Irish carriers; Table 17 - Summary of network performance for Italian carriers; Table 18 - Summary of network performance for Dutch carriers; Table 19 - Summary of network performance for Norwegian carriers; Table 20 - Summary of network performance for Polish carriers; Table 21 - Summary of network performance for Portuguese carriers; Table 22 - Summary of network performance for Romanian carriers; Table 23 - Summary of network performance for Slovak carriers; Table 24 - Summary of network performance for Spanish carriers; Table 25 - Summary of network performance for Swedish carriers; Table 26 - Summary of network performance for Swiss carriers; Table 27 - Summary of network performance for British carriers
List of Figures: Figure 1 - Approximate downlink speeds for various cellular air interfaces and protocols; Figure 2 - Download distribution profiles for Finnish carriers; Figure 3 - iPhone and Android popularity by country; Figure 4 - Smartphone popularity by country; Figure 5 - Carrier league table, ranked by overall performance rating; Figure 6 - Download distribution profiles for Finnish carriers; Figure 7 - Average download and upload performance for Austrian carriers; Figure 8 - Download distribution profiles for Austrian carriers; Figure 9 - Austrian carrier market share estimate for iPhone and Android devices; Figure 10 - Average download and upload performance for Belgian carriers; Figure 11 - Download distribution profiles for Belgian carriers; Figure 12 - Belgian carrier market share estimate for iPhone and Android devices; Figure 13 - Average download and upload performance for Bulgarian carriers; Figure 14 - Download distribution profiles for Bulgarian carriers; Figure 15 - Bulgarian carrier market share estimate for iPhone and Android devices; Figure 16 - Average download and upload performance for Czech carriers; Figure 17 - Download distribution profiles for Czech carriers; Figure 18 - Czech carrier market share estimate for iPhone and Android devices; Figure 19 - Average download and upload performance for Danish carriers; Figure 20 - Download distribution profiles for Danish carriers; Figure 21 - Danish carrier market share estimate for iPhone and Android devices; Figure 22 - Average download and upload performance for Finnish carriers; Figure 23 - Download distribution profiles for Finnish carriers; Figure 24 - Finnish carrier market share estimate for iPhone and Android devices; Figure 25 - Average download and upload performance for French carriers; Figure 26 - Download distribution profiles for French carriers; Figure 27 - French carrier market share estimate for iPhone and Android devices; Figure 28 - Average download and upload performance for German carriers; Figure 29 - Download distribution profiles for German carriers; Figure 30 - German carrier market share estimate for iPhone and Android devices; Figure 31 - Average download and upload performance for Greek carriers; Figure 32 - Download distribution profiles for Greek carriers; Figure 33 - Greek carrier market share estimate for iPhone and Android devices; Figure 34 - Average download and upload performance for Hungarian carriers; Figure 35 - Download distribution profiles for Hungarian carriers; Figure 36 - Hungarian carrier market share estimate for iPhone and Android devices; Figure 37 - Average download and upload performance for Irish carriers; Figure 38 - Download distribution profiles for Irish carriers; Figure 39 - Irish carrier market share estimate for iPhone and Android devices; Figure 40 - Average download and upload performance for Italian carriers; Figure 41 - Download distribution profiles for Italian carriers; Figure 42 - Italian carrier market share estimate for iPhone and Android devices; Figure 43 - Average download and upload performance for Dutch carriers; Figure 44 - Download distribution profiles for Dutch carriers; Figure 45 - Dutch carrier market share estimate for iPhone and Android devices; Figure 46 - Average download and upload performance for Norwegian carriers; Figure 47 - Download distribution profiles for Norwegian carriers; Figure 48 - Norwegian carrier market share estimate for iPhone and Android devices; Figure 49 - Average download and upload performance for Polish carriers; Figure 50 - Download distribution profiles for Polish carriers; Figure 51 - Polish carrier market share estimate for iPhone and Android devices; Figure 52 - Average download and upload performance for Portuguese carriers; Figure 53 - Download distribution profiles for Portuguese carriers; Figure 54 - Portuguese carrier market share estimate for iPhone and Android devices; Figure 55 - Average download and upload performance for Romanian carriers; Figure 56 - Download distribution profiles for Romanian carriers; Figure 57 - Romanian carrier market share estimate for iPhone and Android devices; Figure 58 - Average download and upload performance for Slovak carriers; Figure 59 - Download distribution profiles for Slovak carriers; Figure 60 - Slovak carrier market share estimate for iPhone and Android devices; Figure 61 - Average download and upload performance for Spanish carriers; Figure 62 - Download distribution profiles for Spanish carriers; Figure 63 - Spanish carrier market share estimate for iPhone and Android devices; Figure 64 - Average download and upload performance for Swedish carriers; Figure 65 - Download distribution profiles for Swedish carriers; Figure 66 - Swedish carrier market share estimate for iPhone and Android devices; Figure 67 - Average download and upload performance for Swiss carriers; Figure 68 - Download distribution profiles for Swiss carriers; Figure 69 - Swiss carrier market share estimate for iPhone and Android devices; Figure 70 - Average download and upload performance for British carriers; Figure 71 - Download distribution profiles for British carriers; Figure 72 - British carrier market share estimate for iPhone and Android devices; Figure 73 - Carrier Top 20, ranked by download average; Figure 74 - Carrier Bottom 20, ranked by download average

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European Carrier Mobile Broadband Network Performance

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