5G in Italy: Opensignal crowns TIM and WindTre, but there is glory for all

There is glory for the four Italian operators in the Opensignal’s first Italian report on 5G. If in yesterday’s balance regarding mobile networks as a whole, it was Vodafone that stood out almost indisputably, different verdicts emerge from what the 5G infrastructure is taken into account. THE absolute winners I am WindTre, which exceeds the availability and coverage of 5G, and TIM, which separates the competition, and not even a bit, in terms of download and upload speed.

In the three Opensignal elaborations on videos, games and communications with voice applications, a substantial parity between TIM, Vodafone and Iliad, which “lacks” of equal merit only in the index relating to games. To create its first 5G newsletter in Italy, Opensignal observed the four operators in the 90 days between July 1 and September 28.

About him availability of the 5G signal, as anticipated, to make good and bad weather be WindTre: Operator customers stayed connected on 5G for 22.3% of the time against 5.8% of Vodafone users, the first of the “others”. Opensignal explains the significant difference to WindTre’s choice to rely on this 5G startup phase on Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) technology that enables “combine” the frequency spectrum 4G and 5G (1.8 + 2.6 + 3.7 GHz), while TIM, Vodafone and Iliad use the 3.7 GHz single band which offers higher speeds (and the difference will be seen in uploads and especially downloads) but also less coverage. The availability of the 700 MHz band (July 2022), which compared to the previous ones allows covering greater distances at the expense of the speed of the network.

TIM is largely redeemed for download speed: Opensignal found average download speeds in 5G of more 273 Mbps, almost 150 megabits per second more than the first follower, Vodafone with 126 Mbps. TIM’s performance is not surprising, since the operator had already distinguished itself in September in the 5G report compiled by Opensignal after observing the performance of the operators of Worldwide. The power relationship with respect to coverage, however, was reversed, with WindTre ended up in the queue of the group by virtue of only 64.7 Mbps recorded in the download.

Opensignal explains the results, as well as with the 3.7 GHz band that “covers” less but “goes” more, with the acquisition by TIM and Vodafone of 80 MHz of the 3.7 GHz spectrum compared to 20 MHz of the same gang owned by WindTre and Iliad: hence the differences in terms of speed, which are (and will likely remain) appreciably different between the top two and bottom two in the rankings. Considering the load, the balance of power remains almost unchanged, with TIM leading the line of operators and Iliad in the queue. However, it is surprising (negatively) to see such low average upload speeds in 5G – clearly, there is still a lot to do.

Shared victory between TIM, Vodafone and Iliad in the 5G video experience from Opensignal, an indicator that gives a single numerical dimension to different factors that affect video playback such as load times and resolution. WindTre and Iliad don’t end up too far behind the leaders, but the gap widens in the 5G gaming experience where TIM and Vodafone look down on the strength of several more percentage points on the parameter that takes into account factors that determine the gaming experience such as latency and jitter.

As to 5G voice app experience The opening signal to make the big voice is Iliad, which at 80/100 stands out above Vodafone and TIM, while WindTre is a bit further behind with almost 78 points. However, minimal differences in the parameter that quantifies the 5G experience offered in applications that offer voice services, such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger, just to give a few examples.