January 30th 2020

For the second year in a row, Tutela’s State of Mobile Networks report finds that the Norwegian users experience the best mobile quality when compared to users in Sweden, Denmark and Finland – able to do use cases like 1080p video streaming, group HD video calling and real time mobile gaming 5% more often. The new report from Tutela, a global crowdsourced mobile data company, analyzed over 60 billion measurements from more than 14 million devices across Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark, collected between July 1st 2019 and December 31st 2019. 

Norway:

By operator, Telenor was the conclusive leader in Norway, delivering the best Excellent Consistent Quality (93.3%), Core Consistent Quality (99.4%) and median download throughput (29.6 Mbps). It also tied with ice for median upload throughput (Telenor achieved 8.4 Mbps, with ice on 8.5 Mbps - within the margin of error), while ice won outright for median latency (15.6 ms). 

Sweden:

By operator, 3 proved impressive in Sweden, taking the lead for Excellent and Core Consistent Quality (88.8% and 98.7% respectively) and median download throughput (21.6 Mbps). Telia led for upload speed (8.5 Mbps), while Tele2 was ranked top for median latency (13.2 ms). 

Finland:

By operator, Telia took the lead for both Excellent and Core Consistent Quality (88.4% and 98.5% respectively) in Finland , as well as tying with Elisa for the fastest median upload throughput (Elisa achieved 9.2 Mbps, while Telia achieved 9.3 Mbps – within the margin of error). DNA had the fastest median download throughput (24.9 Mbps), and Elisa won for best latency (13.5 ms). 

Denmark:

By operator, TDC proved dominant across the board, taking the top spot in all five of the categories tested including Excellent and Core Consistent Quality (89.9% and 98.7% respectively) and median download speed (28.0 Mbps). 

Overall findings from the report include:

• Norway also led in terms of median download speed - coming in at 25.5 Mbps, over 7 Mbps faster than fourth-place Sweden. Norwegian users also spent 2% more time on 4G networks compared to the other Nordic countries. This combined with other data that suggest Norwegian users use the smallest amount of cellular data explains Norway’s lead on download and Consistent Quality –  its users spend the most time on lightly-loaded LTE networks. Meanwhile, Finland led for both median upload speed (9.2 Mbps) and latency (13.8 ms). 
• Core Consistent Quality – Tutela’s metric for how often users are able to do everyday use cases like SD video and sharing content on social media – is incredibly strong across the entire Nordic region, with 10 of 14 operators tested seeing more than 98% of tests pass this benchmark, and all but one exceeding 95%. However, the picture for Excellent Consistent Quality – for use cases such as HD video streaming or real time mobile gaming – was more varied, with over 22% separating the first and last-ranked operators in the report. 
• Latency was routinely excellent across all operators tested in the report. Nordic operators have been among some of the world leaders in using LTE as a replacement for fixed home broadband, where users are more likely to demand a stable and responsive connection for applications like online gaming. 

Tom Luke, VP at Tutela commented: “Each year the Nordics stands out as a leader in delivering not just high-quality wireless networks but also a notably outstanding mobile experience for its subscribers. The big question now is when the Nordic’s early pilots and initial rollouts of 5G technology begin to have a noticeable impact on mobile experience for consumers – something we’ve yet to see as we enter into 2020. However, no doubt as 5G phone penetration increases and more networks deploy 5G across the region, the Nordics will be a pivotal case study as it looks to maintain its place as a global leader in the telecoms space.”

The full report is available online here.