MedUX Benchmark Finds UK is Weak for 5G Mobile Network Connectivity

Network benchmarking firm MedUX has today published the results of a new study that examined the United Kingdom’s experience and quality of 5G (mobile broadband) networks. But sadly, it discovers that a “significant gap” remains between aspiration and reality for customers.

The new report – ‘Status of 5G Quality and Experience in Europe‘ – is based on crowdsourced data gathered from over 35 million performance tests in over 40 countries. But it’s worth remembering that mobile data performance is tedious to pin down because end-users are always moving through different areas (indoor, outdoor etc.), using different devices with different capabilities and the surrounding environment is ever changeable (weather, trees, buildings etc.). Not to mention any differences in backhaul capacity at different cell sites or differing spectrum use between operators and masts etc.

The results of this study found that, despite widespread deployment of 5G mobile networks and the United Kingdom being one of the first countries to harness the technology, the average user in the UK is connected to 5G just c.34% of the time (vs 48% across the rest of Europe). The UK was also found to be “among the worst performers in Europe” for fundamental 5G metrics like Download Speed, Upload Speed, Latency, and Packet Loss.

For example, Brits were found to face “higher-than-average streaming stalling ratios” (.45 ratio), meaning more buffering and interruptions when trying to watch content. The UK also shows one of the “worst gaming experiences in Europe“, with the highest average gaming jitter (33.48ms), which can disrupt fast-paced real-time gameplay (FPS shooters etc.).

Even for social media, the UK lags top European performers, with only 40% of users being said to experience optimal performance. By comparison, front-runner Switzerland delivered average 5G downloads of 104Mbps, uploads of 28Mbps, latency at around 16ms, jitter of 9ms and approx. 0.3% packet loss.

However, the results probably won’t come as much of a shock to our readership, which will have seen similar studies before. The UK’s situation tends to reflect a combination of issues, such as the previous government’s U-turn to ban Huawei – this occurred about a year after some operators (e.g. EE) had already started their roll-outs.

Mobile operators previously warned that the Huawei decision, which also impacted existing 4G kit due to the close interdependency of infrastructure, could delay the completion of the 5G roll-out by 2-3 years and add costs of up to £2bn across all operators. In addition, operators have also faced restrictions when it comes to upgrading existing masts to 5G and deploying new ones, although recent rule changes may improve the planning process a bit (here).

Speaking of the government, both the past and present governments have had a tendency to set some rather easy coverage targets for the service, with the latest lot aspiring to “make a renewed push to fulfil the ambition of full gigabit and national 5G coverage by 2030“. But they’ve already delayed the gigabit broadband target to 2032, and it remains to be seen how much 5G coverage will actually be improved by 2030 across all operators.

On top of that, Ofcom could have been faster to release more 5G friendly radio spectrum in order to boost capacity and coverage. For example, the regulator still hasn’t begun the auction for a large chunk of millimetre wave (mmW) radio spectrum frequency in the 26GHz and 40GHz bands (here). But this will happen soon and was delayed by the recent VodafoneThree merger.

Speaking of VodafoneThree, the new company has confirmed (here) that it aims to reach 99.95% UK population coverage of their fastest 5G Standalone (5G SA) network by 2034 (up from the current baseline of 47%), with the figure rising to 71% of the population by this time next year. Suffice to say that improvements are happening, albeit slowly.