Mobile Quality of Service

Today Arcep is publishing the results of its 2024 mobile quality-of-service (QoS) audit of the Antilles, Guiana, Mayotte and Réunion. All of the data are available on the “Mon réseau mobile” (My mobile network) website and as open data sets. These publications give consumers in France’s overseas departments and territories the ability to compare local operators’ performance, and for local decision-makers to obtain an assessment of mobile connectivity in their territory.

This audit represents more than 528,000 measurements taken in Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guiana, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin, Mayotte and Réunion, on a total of ten mobile operators’ networks. The audit concerned the most widely used mobile services – web browsing, video streaming, downloads, voice calls and receiving text messages – to be able to assess the performance of every overseas operator’s network in an entirely comparable manner, and under a variety of conditions.

In 2024, Arcep made changes to its download speed indicators in the overseas territories, to obtain a more accurate picture of the user experience

As it did for the latest QoS audit in Metropolitan France, Arcep made changes to the speed indicators presented in its audit of overseas operators’ networks, to be able to provide a more accurate reflection of the different, most common ways that users employ their mobile phones.

This new presentation creates the ability to better inform consumers about speeds, tailored to their particular needs. It highlights the proportion of tested lines whose download speed exceeded each of the thresholds indicated below, rather than the average download speed measured:

• 3 Mbit/s: speed suited to the least demanding mobile internet uses, such as web browsing;
• 8 Mbit/s: speed suited to the most widespread uses, such as video streaming;
• 30 Mbit/s: speed suited to the most demanding uses, such as collaborative tools for business purposes.

The new mobile QoS indicators provide a more accurate measure of users’ experience. This approach has the added benefit of not creating an incentive for operators to engage in a “speed race”, but rather to be part of the drive to achieve digital sustainability, initiated by Arcep.

Results by territory

The findings are to be assessed on a territory-by-territory and operator-by-operator basis, for each type of mobile application. Arcep also invites everyone to visit the “Mon réseau mobile” website to view the complete findings, by territory, of which a preview can be found in the annex to this media release.

• In Martinique, the perceived voice quality for calls (the call’s MOS[1]) is good for all operators. The Orange network continues to score highest on a large majority of indicators, for both voice calls and internet uses. Outremer Télécom (OMT) stands out on internet uses (web browsing, video streaming, etc.), providing almost comparable quality to Orange. Free Caraïbe ranks second on most voice/texting QoS indicators for the second year in a row.
• In Guadeloupe, Orange provides the best quality of service on the vast majority of indicators. OMT stands out on internet uses (web browsing, video streaming, etc.) where it ranks second. Along with Digicel, Free Caraïbe, whose network performance was being measured for the second time, performed well on voice call quality, and both place second on the dedicated indicators.
• In Guiana, Digicel is tied for second with OMT on the majority of voice indicators (excluding SMS), for the first time in an Arcep audit. OMT also delivered good performances, coming second on internet uses. Orange continues to lead the rankings in Guiana on the majority of mobile internet QoS indicators, particularly in terms of the speeds provided to users, and this regardless of application.
• In Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin, all operators’ performances on voice quality and internet uses are weaker than in the rest of the national territory. Orange delivered the strongest performance on most indicators in Saint Barthélemy. Digicel and Free Caraïbe rank second for voice and texting in both territories. In Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin, Dauphin Telecom performed well on mobile quality of service, just behind Orange. UTS ranks last on most indicators.
• In Mayotte, mobile quality of service remains weaker overall than in the rest of the national territory. Operators SRR and Orange score highest on mobile quality of service in Mayotte, and are tied on the vast majority of voice/SMS and mobile internet indicators. Telco OI closes out the ranks, albeit with good results on voice/texting indicators.
• In Reunion: for voice calls and texting, SRR and Orange scored highest on a large majority of indicators audited by Arcep, notably for mobile internet. For voice callas and texting, Zeop Mobile has risen to third place. Telco OI performed wells on mobile internet uses, but continues to trail behind in the rankings.

5G technology measured for the first time in Réunion in 2024

5G network quality was measured for the first time by Arcep’s 2024 QoS audit for operators that have deployed this technology in Réunion.

The audit reveals that 5G technology delivers the ability to achieve higher speeds, particularly on operator Orange’s networks, which tops the rankings on this indicator. On other mobile internet indicators (Web page load time, video streaming, etc.), however, results are comparable to those achieved with 4G.

N.B. although Telco OI has begun to deploy a 5G network in Réunion, it was not possible to measure the specific performances of that network for the purposes of this audit.

All of the results of this 5G audit can be found via Arcep open datasets and in the section in the Annex to this press release dedicated to Réunion.

Detailed indicators are provided below, for each territory.

Average upload speeds: average upstream speed expressed in Mbit/s

Speed > 3, 8 and 30 Mbit/s: Percentage of download speed above the 3, 8 and 30 Mbit/s threshold (≥30 Mbit/s rate below)

Calls: success rate for calls maintained for two minutes, of which those with perfect audio quality (on-net/off-net for residential, off-net only for roadways)

MOS (mean opinion score) for call maintenance, which measures the difference between the live call and the benchmark sample (on-net/off-net for residential, off-net only for roadways)

SMS: success rate for text messages received in under 10s (on-net/off-net for residential, off-net only for roadways)

Web browsing: Pages loaded in under 10 seconds, of which pages loaded in under five seconds

Video streaming: success rate for a 2-minute viewing with decent quality streaming, of which perfect quality streaming

Average upload speeds: average upstream speed expressed in Mbit/s

Speed > 3, 8 and 30 Mbit/s: Percentage of download speed above the 3, 8 and 30 Mbit/s threshold (≥30 Mbit/s rate below)

Calls: success rate for calls maintained for two minutes, of which those with perfect audio quality (on-net/off-net for residential, off-net only for roadways)

MOS (mean opinion score) for call maintenance, which measures the difference between the live call and the benchmark sample (on-net/off-net for residential, off-net only for roadways)

SMS: success rate for text messages received in under 10s (on-net/off-net for residential, off-net only for roadways)

Web browsing: Pages loaded in under 10 seconds, of which pages loaded in under five seconds

Video streaming: success rate for a 2-minute viewing with decent quality streaming, of which perfect quality streaming

Average upload speeds: average upstream speed expressed in Mbit/s

Speed > 3, 8 and 30 Mbit/s: Percentage of download speed above the 3, 8 and 30 Mbit/s threshold (≥30 Mbit/s rate below)

Calls: success rate for calls maintained for two minutes, of which those with perfect audio quality (on-net/off-net for residential, off-net only for roadways)

MOS (mean opinion score) for call maintenance, which measures the difference between the live call and the benchmark sample (on-net/off-net for residential, off-net only for roadways)

SMS: success rate for text messages received in under 10s (on-net/off-net for residential, off-net only for roadways)

Web browsing: Pages loaded in under 10 seconds, of which pages loaded in under five seconds

Video streaming: success rate for a 2-minute viewing with decent quality streaming, of which perfect quality streaming

Average upload speeds: average upstream speed expressed in Mbit/s

Speed > 3, 8 and 30 Mbit/s: Percentage of download speed above the 3, 8 and 30 Mbit/s threshold (≥30 Mbit/s rate below)

Calls: success rate for calls maintained for two minutes, of which those with perfect audio quality (on-net/off-net for residential, off-net only for roadways)

MOS (mean opinion score) for call maintenance, which measures the difference between the live call and the benchmark sample (on-net/off-net for residential, off-net only for roadways)

SMS: success rate for text messages received in under 10s (on-net/off-net for residential, off-net only for roadways)

Web browsing: Pages loaded in under 10 seconds, of which pages loaded in under five seconds

Video streaming: success rate for a 2-minute viewing with decent quality streaming, of which perfect quality streaming