The evolution of the speed of 5G downloads in 2023 emerges with surprising details in the recent Ookla report. An in-depth analysis reveals significant progress globally, with particular emphasis on frontline countries and developments that have improved user experience. Unfortunately, Europe is not among the leading countries in this sector. Here are the details of the repost.
Ookla's insight: 5G download speed increased by 20% thanks to some countries
According to the latest Ookla report, the “State of Worldwide Connectivity“, the global average 5G download speed recorded a 20% increase in the third quarter of 2023. This increase represents a notable jump from 168,27 Mbps in the third quarter of 2022 to 203,04 Mbps in the same period in 2023. Particularly interesting is the 9% increase among users experiencing the fastest 5G download speeds, moving 525,54 Mbps to 573,12 Mbps.
The leadership in terms of 5G speed has passed from South Korea to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with countries such as Malaysia, India and the Dominican Republic making significant progress. The top ten countries list also includes Qatar, Brazil, Kuwait, Macau, Singapore and India, reflecting a notable geographical diversification.
The United Arab Emirates saw a 14% increase in their average 5G download speed, reaching 592,01 Mbps in 2023, up from 511,68 Mbps in 2022. South Korea, previously leading, recorded an average speed of 507,59 Mbps in the third quarter of 2023.
The success of the UAE has been attributed to the strong market competition, driven by operators such as Etisalat and du, which have led to a significant expansion of 5G coverage in the country. This allowed the UAE to reach the first position already in the second quarter of 2023, with an average download speed of 557,63 Mbps.
Interestingly, although 5G technology is theoretically capable of reaching peaks of 20 Gbps, Real-world speeds have not yet reached Gigabit levels due to network-related economic factors. Many 5G networks are still in non-standalone (NSA) mode, meaning they depend on a 4G LTE network core.
Despite the increase in download speeds, Average 5G upload speeds saw only a modest 1% increase compared to the previous year. Ookla's report also focuses on the performance gains of wired fixed connections globally. Although to a lesser extent than 5G, fixed networks also saw an increase of 19%, reaching a global average speed of 83,95 Mbps in the third quarter of 2023, compared to 70,30 Mbps in 2022. Here too, the Emirates United Arab Emirates stands out with an average download speed of 247,63 Mbps.
The report also highlights that despite developments in underlying network technologies, the Wi-Fi often acts as a bottleneck, reducing the user experience. Wi-Fi performance tends to be 30-40% lower than Ethernet, indicating the need to accelerate the adoption of more advanced Wi-Fi technologies and optimize the home networking environment.
In this regard it is important to remember that the Wi-Fi 7 has been officially certified and will become part of our daily lives starting from 2024. Although smartphones and consumer devices already have support and modems for this technology, the Wi-Fi 7 connection has not yet arrived permanently.
