As 5G is continuing to advance in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Qatar comes joint-top for 5G peak download speed and upload speed in the GCC.
Across the region, 5G is rapidly becoming the most important wireless connectivity technology.
According to a report by Opensignal, an independent analytics company specialised in quantifying the mobile-network experience, 'The UAE tops 5G download speed in the GCC region, where our users measured 333.3 Mbps on average, followed by Qatar and Kuwait. Both UAE and Qatar are in a statistical tie for the top spot for 5G peak download speed, with statistically tied scores of 792.9-866.3 Mbps and for 5G upload speed with scores of 26.7-28.5 Mbps.'
Qatar has made great strides in rolling out 5G infrastructure across the country which was evident during the FIFA World Cup 2022. 5G readiness has enabled the telecom providers to offer consumers a wider range of content and services, assisted by faster and more reliable connections.
The report said,“Across the Gulf, the speed metrics of the top placed countries were significantly higher than the bottom ones – with UAE leading Oman by 62.5 percent in 5G download speed. 5G peak download speed was at least two and a half times as fast as the average 5G download speed in all six GCC markets.'
Analysing the user experience while they were connected to an operator's 5G network, all countries in the Gulf measured a 5G video experience score that was either very good (65-75) or excellent (75 or above). Kuwait is top for 5G video experience and is the only market with an excellent experience score of 77.3 points.The story is different for 5G games experience, which is influenced by different types of mobile network conditions including latency, packet loss and jitter – for which UAE and Bahrain were the top performers with 74.4-75.7 points. There was a significant difference in the real-world experience across markets, it added.
There was only a modest difference in the 5G voice app experience between markets, equivalent to 2.5 points on the 100 point scale. All countries in the Gulf had a good (75-85) experience score.
This measure quantifies the experience of over-the-top voice services using popular mobile voice apps, examples of which include WhatsApp and Facetime. Kuwait, Oman and UAE top the table here with statistically tied scores of 80.7-81.5 points on a 100 point scale.
Users experienced a staggering uplift in the speeds on 5G networks when compared with older 4G technology. Across the six markets in the GCC, average download speeds were between 5.6 and 10 times faster on the new 5G network compared with older 4G. Similarly, there was a large jump in 5G video experience with 5G connectivity boosting the mobile video streaming experience by between 22.6 percent and 46.2 percent. These stark differences highlight the importance of helping users to connect to 5G as often as possible so they can enjoy this better experience.
The report further said,“When we compare the proportion of time our 5G enabled users spent with an active 5G connection across the markets - the measure of 5G availability - Kuwait, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia did remarkably well. While Saudi Arabia ranks third, it is by far the largest market in both geographic area and by population – and its score of 22.5 percent represents a reasonably high 5G network availability among its users. Still, it is behind Kuwait (at 36.5 percent) and Bahrain (at 32.9 percent), which statistically tied for the top spot. Much smaller markets than Saudi Arabia scored lower, with Qatar, UAE and Oman all in a statistical tie, 6.1-6.8 percentage points behind Saudi Arabia.'
Source: https://menafn.com/1105366621/Qatar-Among-Joint-Top-For-5G-Peak-Download-Speed-In-GCC-Region