The quality of 5G connectivity across various cities in Europe has been disclosed. MedUX, a benchmarking firm for fixed and mobile networks, conducted a study involving 10 cities, including Barcelona, Paris, Lisbon, and London. Among these cities, London ranked the lowest in terms of 5G quality of experience, while Berlin topped the list.
The report utilized robots to accurately assess both fixed and mobile wireless internet broadband, identifying and addressing network issues. Additionally, contributions from telecom providers, regulators, and enterprises were incorporated to benchmark and monitor networks.
Berlin boasts the highest 5G coverage among European cities, reaching 89.6%, according to the report. It also excels in 5G streaming, offering an average latency of under 40 milliseconds. Rafael Galarreta, MedUX’s chief marketing officer, praised Berlin’s proficiency, stating, “They excel in certain aspects and do things very well.”
He also emphasized Berlin’s excellence in video streaming and data services for over-the-top (OTT) media. Berlin, Barcelona, and Paris scored the highest among European cities in the report, surpassing the 5G quality benchmark. Meanwhile, Lisbon, Milan, and Porto were the runners-up. London, however, ranked near the bottom of the European 5G networks ranking, with only about 77.5% of the city’s population currently equipped with 5G-enabled devices, which is below the urban average.
London also lags behind in downlink speeds, providing users with an average download speed of 143 megabits per second (Mbps), significantly lower than Lisbon’s 528 Mbps, Porto’s 446 Mbps, and Barcelona’s 326 Mbps. Munich in Germany, besides London, had the second-worst city for 5G downlink speeds, with average download speeds of 259 Mbps.
Galaretta noted that the UK mobile networks are lagging behind in speed, accessibility, and network responsiveness, particularly affecting latency. This impacts data-intensive apps like online gaming, especially cloud gaming, which delivers games constantly to users through a remote data center.