The survey, by OpenSignal, rates the countries based on overall mobile video experience – and Europe rated well in the global survey by the company.
“Nine European countries achieved scores in the very good (65-75) range (out of a global total of just 11), including our overall leader, the Czech Republic,” said Ian Fogg, vice president for analysis at OpenSignal. “Also representing Europe in the very good category were Hungary, Norway, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland and Slovakia, while most of the other European countries were in the good category.”
The ratings do not cover just download speed, but take other factors into account to measure the viewers’ overall quality of service.
“Indeed, our top country in overall download speed, South Korea, was over 5Mbps ahead of its closest rival, but only managed a placing of sixteenth in our overall [global] video experience analysis,” said Fogg.
“What was also surprising was the relatively poor showing of some of Europe’s economic giants including Germany, the UK and France (which was one of just two European countries in the fair range).”
He added: “All three of these countries were firmly in the bottom half of our European table for video experience, below arguably less-developed markets such as Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia. This reflects a wider phenomenon we have observed in larger European markets where our analysis shows 4G speeds and availability are stagnating and even dropping in some instances.”
OpenSignal reported that none of the countries it analysed made it into the excellent range, “meaning the mobile industry still has work to do when it comes to a great user video experience”, said Fogg. “We’ve seen that countries with extremely powerful LTE networks in terms of speed and availability aren’t necessarily providing the best video experience.”
