The Mobile Broadband Performance of Carrier Networks

Carriers are using mobile broadband as their weapon of choice in the fight against the commoditization of voice and falling ARPU. This reliance on data is set to become more entrenched and 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 268 wireless carriers operating within 103 different countries worldwide using a smartphone software application. This approach has facilitated the collection of over two million 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.

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:

• The importance of mobile broadband to carriers
• Theoretical versus real-world data speeds
• Broadband user terminals - smartphones and datacards
• Analysis and comparison of the performance of country data networks
• Analysis and comparison of the performance of carriers' data networks
• Data performance of BlackBerries versus iPhone and Android handsets
• The factors influencing a carrier's 3G data speed
• Measuring the 'quality' of a network
• The problem of unreliable networks
• Country iPhone market share
• Country BlackBerry usage

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

• What are the applications and services driving consumer demand for mobile data?
• Why should carriers be concerned about their network's data performance?
• What is the average 2G, 2.5G and 3G data speeds observed in countries worldwide?
• Which country has the best performing 3G networks?
• What is the average download, upload and latency supported by carriers' 3G networks?
• Which carrier has the world's best performing 3G network?
• Is there a correlation between network maturity and achievable download data speed?
• Why is data performance on BlackBerries so much lower compared with iPhone and Android devices?
• Why is latency so important?
• How reliable is the research methodology?