Ofcom Study Benchmarks Speeds of UK 4G and 5G Mobile Networks

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today published their 2024 Mobile Matters report, which uses Opensignal’s crowdsourced data (collected between October 2023 and March 2024) to benchmark the performance of UK mobile broadband networks by both technology (2G to 5G), nation and operator choice – including Three UK, O2, Vodafone and EE.

The results hold few surprises, but they do still reveal some interesting details. For example, 78% of cellular network connections were to 4G networks over the 6-month period they looked at, with just 19.6% of connections being on 5G. Where a 5G network was available from their mobile network operator, mobile users were able to access data services on a 5G network on 98.4% of occasions (compared to 97.2% over 4G and 85.0% over 3G).

The proportion of mobile connections that were on 5G was also found to be twice as high in urban areas (20.9%) than in rural areas of the UK (10.4%). In rural areas, the proportion of connections on 4G (85.6%) and 3G (3.8%) networks were higher than in urban areas (76.9% and 2.1% respectively). But this splits down a little differently by each nation:

Naturally, 5G networks were also found to offer faster downstream connectivity than 4G and 3G. Some 47% of 5G connections had an average download speed of 100Mbit/s or higher (vs 11% on 4G and 4% on 3G) and just 1% had an average speed of under 2Mbit/s (vs 5% on 4G and 22% on 3G).

Speaking of which, Three UK had the highest share of 5G download speeds at 100Mbit/s or higher (60%), while the proportion of O2 connections with a 100Mbit/s+ download speed over both 5G (32%) and 4G (3%) was much lower than the other operators (MNOs) – O2 also had the highest proportion of 5G and 4G download speed measurements that were under 10Mbit/s.

In addition, Three UK had the fastest average response time (latency) over 5G of 16.3 milliseconds. Over 4G, EE had the fastest average response time (18.3ms), while O2 customers had the slowest average response time on 5G (21.4ms) and Vodafone had the slowest response time on 4G (23.7ms)

Ofcom’s Mobile Matters 2024 Results

Share of cellular network connections

• 5G and 4G accounted for 97.6% of cellular network connections. Our analysis shows that 78.0% of cellular network connections were to 4G networks over the 6-month period we looked at, with 19.6% of connections being on 5G networks, 2.3% over 3G and just 0.1% were on 2G.

Comparison of cellular technologies

• The proportion of cellular data connections that were successful was highest on 5G. Where a 5G network was available from their mobile network operator, mobile users were able to access data services on a 5G network on 98.4% of occasions. This compared to 97.2% over 4G and 85.0% over 3G.

• The time taken to download a 2MB file was much longer over 3G than 4G and 5G. Downloading a smaller (2MB) file can be representative of many typical activities undertaken on mobile devices, for example downloading photos or short low-resolution video clips in messaging apps or social media usage. On average, it took 4.3s to download a 2MB file over 3G, compared to 0.8s on 4G and 0.3s over 5G.

• Larger file downloads highlight the benefit of 5G over 4G. While 2MB downloads took an average of 56% less time over 5G than 4G, 5MB downloads took 65% less time on 5G than over 4G.

• Upload times for 1MB files were shortest on 5G. On average, it took 0.5s to upload a 1MB file over 5G, a significantly shorter amount of time than the 0.8s average over 4G and the 3.8s average recorded on 3G.

• 5G networks offer faster downstream connectivity than 4G and 3G. We analysed data connection speeds using tests that consume as much data as possible over the duration of the test. The results of these show that 47% of 5G connections had an average download speed of 100 Mbit/s or higher (vs 11% on 4G and 4% on 3G) and 1% had an average speed of under 2 Mbit/s (vs 5% on 4G and 22% on 3G).

• The same is true for upload connection speeds over 5G. The results of similar timed upload tests show that 29% of 5G uploads had an average speed of 20 Mbit/s or higher (compared to 15% on 4G and 3% on 3G) and 11% were less than 1 Mbit/s (compared to 20% on 4G and 44% on 3G).

• Response times on 3G are around double those on 4G and 5G. Average response times (latency) recorded over 3G connections (42.3ms) were around twice of those on 4G (21.9ms) and 5G (18.9ms).

MNO comparison

• Three customers had the highest proportion of cellular network connections that were on 5G. Over the period we looked at, 21.4% of Three cellular network connections were on 5G. Vodafone had the lowest proportion of connections that were on 5G (15.0%) and the highest average share of connections on 4G, at 82.7 %. O2 customers had the lowest 4G proportion, at 73.9%.

• EE had the highest average data connection success rates over both 4G and 5G. However, the differences observed between the MNOs’ 5G and 4G data connection success rates were very small (with there being less than 0.5 percentage points between the lowest and highest recorded values for each technology).

• File downloads took longer on O2 than on the other MNOs’ networks. This was true of 2MB, 5MB and 10MB file downloads over both 4G and 5G mobile networks.

• Three had the fastest average response time (latency) over 5G. Over 4G, EE had the fastest average response time (18.3ms), while O2 customers had the slowest average response time on 5G (21.4ms) and Vodafone had the slowest response time on 4G (23.7ms).

• Three had the highest share of 5G download speeds at 100 Mbit/s or higher (60%). The proportion of O2 connections with a 100 Mbit/s+ download speed over both 5G (32%) and 4G (3%) was much lower than the other MNOs and O2 also had the highest proportion of 5G and 4G download speed measurements that were under 10 Mbit/s.

• EE had the highest proportion of 5G and 4G upload speed tests that were 20 Mbit/s or higher. EE also had the lowest proportion of upload speeds under 1Mbit/s over 5G, while Vodafone customers had the lowest proportion under 1 Mbit/s on 4G. O2 had the lowest proportion of 5G and 4G speed tests at 20Mbit/s or higher, and the highest proportion under 1Mbit/s over both cellular technologies.

Comparison by nation and rurality

• The share of cellular network connections that were on 5G was twice as high in urban areas than in rural areas. In urban areas of the UK, 20.9% of cellular network connections were on 5G, compared to 10.4% in rural areas. In rural areas, the proportions of connections on 4G and 3G were higher than in urban areas.

• Differences in 5G and 4G data connection success rates across the UK nations were only small. Our analysis showed bigger differences over 3G, with Northern Ireland having the highest and Wales the lowest average success rates. Connection success rates were higher in urban areas than in rural areas at a UK level over 3G, while the opposite was true for 4G and 5G (although the differences were small).

• There was minor variation in 2MB file download times over 5G and 4G across the UK nations. The observed differences were larger over 3G, with England recording shorter average time to download a 2MB file (4.3s) than Northern Ireland and Wales (4.8s and 4.6s respectively). The average time to download a 2MB file was longer in rural areas than in urban areas over all three cellular technologies at a UK level.

• Northern Ireland had a lower-than-average proportion of 5G and 4G download speed measurements of 100 Mbit/s or higher and a higher proportion under 10 Mbit/s. Urban connections had a higher proportion of faster connections and a lower proportion of slower connections than in rural areas over all three cellular technologies at a UK level.

• Northern Ireland also had the lowest proportion of 5G upload speeds at 20 Mbit/s or higher (25%) and the highest proportion under 1 Mbit/s. Over 4G, Northern Ireland and Wales had a lower-than-average proportion of upload speed tests with speeds of 20 Mbit/s or higher, and a higher-than-average proportion under 1 Mbit/s. The proportion of upload speed tests at 20 Mbit/s or more was higher (and the proportion under 1 Mbit/s lower) in urban areas than in rural areas across all three cellular technologies.