Wireless coverage mapping agency OpenSignal’s new survey has shown that while the mobile industry may be turning its attention to 5G, there’s still “plenty of activity surrounding 4G”.
In its report, ” The State of LTE (June 2017)”, has observed that as new LTE networks come Online & old networks gain new life through LTE-advanced upgrades, 4G signals were making their way into new niches across the globe, & operators were pushing the boundaries of 4G speeds.
“Our measurements for 4G availability, which tracks how often 4G subscribers in a country have access to an LTE signal, is gradually improving around the world. In some countries in East Asia LTE signals are as ubiquitous as 2G and 3G signals, while in the vast majority of countries we examined, our testers were able to connect to LTE more than 60% of the time,” said the report.
India shot up the LTE availability rankings, “reflecting a rare instance in which a single operator can have an outsized impact on a mobile market in just a short time.” India’s Jio’s nationwide 4G launch in September attracted 100 million LTE subscribers, making 4G services far more accessible in India but at the expense of lower average speeds
The analysis has also singled out South Korea for “its exceptional LTE service.” The country scored highest in 4G availability & 2nd highest in 4G speed in the tests. Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway & Singapore also performed exceptionally in both categories.
The report said the top 2 slots in the “4G availability chart” had not changed. South Korea & Japan were still the only 2 countries able to provide LTE connectivity more than 90% of the time in the tests by OpenSignal. But there was quite a bit of movement in the rest of the Top 10. The US landed in the 4th spot, up from 10th in the last report. Taiwan & Hungary debuted in the Top 10 list with availability scores just over 83%.
The report then presented an analysis of where it found “the most powerful signals.” Singapore, South Korea & Hungary again topped the LTE speed charts. Norway joined those 3 in the list of countries that average LTE download connections of 40 Mbps or greater — speeds that rival wired broadband connections in most countries.
The top average speed that OpenSignal measured, Singapore held steady at around 46 Mbps, but speeds were rising throughout the top tier of nations. 15 countries now average LTE speeds 30 Mbps, compared to 11 countries from the last report.
Many of LTE’s earliest adopters dominate the speed list. Singapore, South Korea, Australia, Norway & the Netherlands have had the better part of 6 years to fully deploy, optimize and upgrade their original LTE networks. But not all of LTE’s pioneers were among the top performers in LTE speeds. The US, & to a lesser extent Japan, lagged well behind their 4G peers when it comes to high-performance connections, said the report.
A particularly notable region for fast 4G speeds was Eastern Europe. Hungary, Romania, Latvia & Lithuania had long stood out in LTE speed measurements thanks to their early pursuit of LTE-advanced technologies, but Bulgaria, Croatia & Serbia were now joining them in the top tier of OpenSignal’s speed chart with powerful networks of their own. Western Europe also had a few states with cause to brag. Spain & Italy had begun to set themselves apart from their neighbors with high-bandwidth LTE-advanced services.
For the rest of the report, click here.
4G Speed Comparison Chart
This chart by OpenSignal shows the average download connection speed that users in each country see when connecting to LTE networks.
