The report identifies Porto and Stockholm as the top-performing cities in terms of Quality of Experience (QoE), a metric measuring user satisfaction. Both cities scored 4.78 out of 5, with Lisbon and Copenhagen also emerging as strong competitors.
However, the findings highlight significant disparities, with Brussels and London ranking at the bottom of the list.
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The research was based on drive tests conducted in Q4 2024 across 15 major cities in 11 European countries, covering a population of over 60 million people. The test vehicles covered more than 5,500 kilometres, assessing how mobile operators are deploying and covering urban areas with 5G services.
Porto ranked first alongside Stockholm in overall QoE, excelling in data and over-the-top (OTT) experience. The Portuguese city recorded the lowest gaming average jitter at just 10 milliseconds and demonstrated exceptional cloud service performance. It also co-led with Lisbon in value for speed, with peak speeds exceeding 800 Mbps in the fastest 10% of sessions.
Additionally, Porto, along with Copenhagen, recorded an impressive 5G availability rate of 86.54%, ensuring 100% connectivity time in 5G Mid-Band n78 for consistently high-quality connections.
Stockholm shares the top ranking in overall QoE and "5G only" QoE, particularly excelling in video streaming. The Swedish capital boasts a 95% 4K playback time rate and the highest median 5G upload speeds at over 116 Mbps.
Stockholm also leads in web browsing, file transferring, and social media experience. The city recorded rapid webpage loading times of under one second, reinforcing its strong digital infrastructure.
Lisbon ranks third in overall QoE, distinguishing itself as the most reliable city for internet connectivity, with a 99.63% success rate in internet sessions. Furthermore, it boasts the fastest 5G download speeds, peaking at 1.9 Gbps, ensuring seamless usage for data-intensive applications.
Lisbon also shares top rankings with Porto in both value for speed and social media experience. Meanwhile, Copenhagen takes the lead in 5G availability, achieving an 86.99% registration rate, demonstrating widespread access to 5G services.
Brussels ranks among the lowest in 5G QoE, struggling with limited 5G availability and slower speeds. The report indicates a need for improvement in overall reliability and streaming performance.
Similarly, London finishes last in overall mobile experience, a position unchanged from 2024. The UK capital suffers from subpar 5G availability, slow speeds, and unreliable performance across multiple services, underscoring the urgent need for network improvements.
MedUX calls for holistic 5G optimisation
The report stresses the importance of a well-rounded approach to 5G quality. Rafael González, SVP EMEA at MedUX said: “This report underscores the importance of a holistic approach to 5G quality. While coverage and speed remain key factors, high-quality 5G connectivity and consistent performance across all services and applications are crucial for delivering a truly superior user experience.”
MedUX also highlights the current limitations in 5G deployment across Europe. The findings reveal that, on average, users in major European cities remain connected to 4G for 25% of the time.
Furthermore, 10% of 5G deployments lack mid-band spectrum, limiting the full potential of 5G networks. The company urges policymakers and operators to prioritise investments in dedicated high-quality 5G infrastructure to meet the European Digital Decade objectives for universal 5G coverage by 2025.
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