Philippines, April 2023, Mobile Network Experience (2023)

National Analysis

Globe is the new outright winner of the Video Experience award — replacing the previous winner, Smart. This means that our Globe users have the best experience on average in the Philippines when streaming mobile video over cellular connections (measured across all generations of mobile technology). Globe wins with a score of 58.2 points on a 100-point scale, ahead of second-placed DITO’s 56.2 points, while former winner Smart is in third place with 52.9 points.

Globe is the only Filipino operator to place in the Good (58-68) category, while Smart and DITO place one category lower — Fair (48-58). This means that our Globe users are, on average, able to stream video at 720p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling.

Turning to the overall video experience of our 5G users (Video Experience – 5G Users), Globe 5G users had the best experience given their score of 63.9 points, giving Globe a lead of 4.4 points over Smart.

Video Experience scores account for adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR), a technology that allows Opensignal to accurately represent users’ real video experience including video streams up to 4K quality.

Definitions

Opensignal’s Video Experience quantifies the quality of video streamed to mobile devices by measuring real-world video streams over an operator's networks. The metric is based on an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach, built upon detailed studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters, including picture quality, video loading time and stall rate, with the perceived video experience as reported by real people. To calculate video experience, we are directly measuring video streams from end-user devices and using this ITU approach to quantify the overall video experience for each operator on a scale from 0 to 100. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions — including Full HD (FHD) and 4K / Ultra HD (UHD) — and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.

In addition to Video Experience, we report on the following metrics related to video experience:

• 5G Video Experience: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users when they were connected to an operator’s 5G network.
• Video Experience – 5G Users: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator's networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G video experience along with the availability of each technology.
• 4G Video Experience: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 4G network.
• 3G Video Experience: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users on an operator’s 3G network.

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National Analysis

Our Globe users have the best overall experience in the Philippines when playing multiplayer mobile games over cellular connections. This is a change from the last report, when Smart won the Games Experience award outright. Globe’s victory was driven by a remarkable rise of 12.1 points (26%), while DITO and Smart’s scores rose by five points (10.8%) and 3.2 points (5.9%), respectively. Globe wins with a score of 58.8 points on a 100-point scale and a lead of 1.2 points over Smart’s 57.6 points.

Looking at the overall games experience of our 5G users (Games Experience – 5G Users), Globe 5G users had the best experience given their score of 60.3 points, giving Globe a lead of 2.6 points over Smart.

Definitions

Opensignal’s Games Experience measures how mobile users experience real-time multiplayer mobile gaming on an operator’s network. Measured on a scale of 0-100, it analyzes how our users’ multiplayer mobile gaming experience is affected by mobile network conditions including latency, packet loss and jitter.

Games Experience quantifies the experience when playing real-time multiplayer mobile games on mobile devices connected to servers located around the world. The approach is built on several years of research quantifying the relationship between technical network parameters and the gaming experience as reported by real mobile users. These parameters include latency (round trip time), jitter (variability of latency) and packet loss (the proportion of data packets that never reach their destination). Additionally, it considers multiple genres of multiplayer mobile games to measure the average sensitivity to network conditions. The games tested include some of the most popular real-time multiplayer mobile games (such as Fortnite, Pro Evolution Soccer and Arena of Valor) played around the world.

Calculating Games Experience starts with measuring the end-to-end experience from users’ devices to internet end-points that host real games. The score is then measured on a scale from 0 to 100.

In addition to Games Experience, we report on the following metrics related to games experience:

• 5G Games Experience: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users when they were connected to an operator’s 5G network.
• Games Experience – 5G Users: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator's networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G games experience along with the availability of each technology.
• 4G Games Experience: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 4G network.
• 3G Games Experience: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO) network.

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National Analysis

Globe completes its hat-trick of overall experiential awards, by replacing Smart as the outright winner of the Voice App Experience award. Globe wins with a score of 75.5 points on a 100-point scale, giving it a lead of less than a point over Smart’s score of 74.7 points. DITO is in last place with 74.3 points.

All three of the Philippines’ national operators place in the Acceptable (74-80) category. This indicates that some of our users are satisfied and listeners are generally able to comprehend without repetition. However, perceptible call quality impairments are experienced by some users. Clicking sounds of short duration or distortion are heard, and/or the volume may not be sufficiently loud.

In terms of the overall voice app experience of our 5G users (Voice App Experience – 5G Users), Globe 5G users had the best experience with their score of 76.2 points, giving Globe a lead of 1.2 points over Smart.

Definitions

Opensignal's Voice App Experience measures the quality of experience for over-the-top (OTT) voice services — mobile voice apps such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger — using a model derived from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach for quantifying overall voice call quality and a series of calibrated technical parameters. This model characterizes the exact relationship between the technical measurements and perceived call quality. Voice App Experience for each operator is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100.

In addition to Voice App Experience, we report on the following metrics related to voice app experience:

• 5G Voice App Experience: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users when they were connected to an operator’s 5G network.
• Voice App Experience – 5G Users: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator's networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G voice app experience along with the availability of each technology.
• 4G Voice App Experience: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 4G network.
• 3G Voice App Experience: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO) network.

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National Analysis

Smart continues to win the overall Download Speed Experience award outright, doing so this time with a score of 25.3Mbps — 2.6Mbps (11.2%) faster than DITO’s 22.8Mbps and 9.1Mbps (56%) ahead of Globe’s score of 16.2 Mbps. However, Smart’s lead has more than halved from the 5.3Mbps it enjoyed in the last report. This is because second-placed DITO’s score has risen by an impressive 5.6Mbps (32.3%), while our Smart and Globe users’ average download speeds have risen by 2.9Mbps (12.7%) and 2.1Mbps (14.8%), respectively.

In addition to winning Download Speed Experience outright, Smart also has the highest score for Download Speed Experience – 5G Users, 51.3Mbps versus Globe’s 32.9Mbps. This measures the average download speeds of our 5G users across all generations of mobile technology.

Definitions

Measured in Mbps, Download Speed Experience represents the typical everyday speeds a user experiences across an operator’s mobile data networks.

In addition to Download Speed Experience, we report on the following metrics related to download speeds:

• 5G Download Speed: The average download speed observed by Opensignal users with active 5G connections.
• Download Speed Experience – 5G Users: The average download speeds experienced by Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator’s networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G download speeds along with the availability of each technology.
• 4G Download Speed: The average downlink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 4G.
• 3G Download Speed: The average downlink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO).

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National Analysis

DITO wins the Upload Speed Experience award outright for the third report in a row, winning this time with a score of 5.2Mbps. DITO’s lead has risen from 0.5Mbps to 0.8Mbps, as Globe users saw a 0.9Mbps (26.1%) increase in their average overall upload speeds, which pushed Globe into second place — replacing Smart — while DITO’s score rose by a smaller (but still impressive) 0.7Mbps (16.2%). Smart users saw the smallest improvement — a rise of 0.3Mbps (8.2%).

Definitions

Upload Speed Experience measures the average upload speeds for each operator observed by our users across their mobile data networks. Typically upload speeds are slower than download speeds, as current mobile broadband technologies focus resources on providing the best possible download speed for users consuming content on their devices. As mobile internet trends move away from downloading content to creating content and supporting real-time communications services, upload speeds are becoming more vital and new technologies are emerging that boost upstream capacity.

In addition to Upload Speed Experience, we report on five supporting metrics related to upload speeds:

• 5G Upload Speed: The average upload speed observed by Opensignal users with active 5G connections.
• Upload Speed Experience – 5G Users: The average upload speeds experienced by Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator’s networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G upload speeds along with the availability of each technology.
• 4G Upload Speed: The average uplink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 4G.
• 3G Upload Speed: The average uplink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO).

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Regional Analysis Summary: Philippines, Mobile Network Experience Report, April 2023

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