Danish and Austrian carriers top European mobile broadband rankings

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Danish and Austrian carriers top European mobile broadband rankings

Study assesses the download, upload and latency performance of 94 European carriers

By LLOYD BEVAN

Published: 13 April, 2011

The growing importance of mobile data is leading many consumers to place increasing scrutiny on the quality of an operator's broadband service and less attention to voice. In an interesting study recently published by research firm, ARCchart, the mobile broadband networks of 94 European carriers is assessed for their download, upload and latency performance. The results show a dramatic difference in performance amongst European carriers, with Hutchison (Three) in Denmark and Mobilkom in Austria topping the league table.

The data speeds and latency which a mobile network is capable of supporting has a very real impact on the experience which users have on their mobile device, particularly with the growing popularity of smartphones and tablets. Media streaming, viewing photos on social network sites and voice over IP services like Skype, Facetime and Google Talk are all influenced by the robustness of the wireless data network the device is connected to, and the quality can spell the difference between an enjoyable user experience or the application being aborted in frustration.

The ARCchart study is based on data speed and latency measurements collected using a speed test smartphone app, resulting in the collection of millions of 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. In its analysis of European operators, ARCchart has estimated averages for download speed, upload speed, latency and overall network quality for 94 carriers in 28 European countries.

The results show a wide variation in network performance amongst the carriers, unsurprising considering the different levels of investments which operators have pumped into their data networks, both in terms of supporting evolved 3G technologies, like HSPA and HSPA+, as well as rolling out infrastructure to cover wide swaths of the population. Some mobile operators are achieving data speeds two or three times faster than competing carriers in the same market. For example, in Germany, T-Mobile shows the country's fastest download average of 1,459 Kbps while E-Plus manages just 649 Kbps. In the UK, Hutchison's upload average is 646 Kbps, while Orange is just 212 Kbps.

ARCchart assembled a performance matrix in order to determine which mobile operators achieve the best overall performance across the four metrics measured in the study - download, upload, latency and network quality. The results show that Hutchison (Three) Denmark has the best overall mobile broadband network of all the European carriers examined, followed by Mobilkom in Austria. Hutchison Denmark shows one of the best average uploads of 637 Kbps while Mobilkom tops the download ranking with an average throughput speed of 2,448 Kbps.

Perhaps of more interest are the mobile operators which fall towards the bottom of the list. While the bottom 20 carriers in the ranking are mainly from developing Eastern and Southern European countries, also included are two British providers - T-Mobile UK and Orange UK. T-Mobile UK shows one of the poorest download speeds, averaging just 676 Kbps. The bottom 20 also includes two Italian carriers and one German.