Austria Mobile Quality Report

Introduction

The Austrian mobile market comprises several operators, of which three have their own networks: A1, Drei and Magenta Telekom. Thus, the network situation for these MNOs acts as a trustworthy barometer of the network situation in the country. A good knowledge of the network situation also allows the customers to perform fully informed decisions. The objective of this report is to provide a summary of the network situation in Austria for these three carriers.

This report provides a quick overview of the network situation based on the following KPIs:

• Disconnection time: daily average minutes that the users from a MNO have had only emergency coverage or no coverage.
• 4G and 5G time: percentage of time that the users from a MNO have had 4G and, if available, 5G coverage (including 5G NSA and 5G SA).
• 5G penetration and usage: percentage of users that have 5G connectivity, and percentage of time in 5G.
• Network status in the Common Coverage Area: an analysis of the network status, based on the signal strength and the signal quality, for the areas where all five MNOs provide coverage.
• Call technology usage: percentage of measurements of each call technology per MNO. This shows which technologies are mainly used by the customers.
• Mobile network latency: percentage of customers on different latency ranks. The ranks are selected according to several performance thresholds.

Summary

The data collected by Weplan Analytics shows that, overall, the three main mobile network operators have a good network situation in Austria. However, there are some notable differences between them.

In terms of connectivity, the three operators have very similar disconnection time, with Drei and Magenta Telekom having 6 minutes per day and A1 having 7 minutes of daily disconnection. It is relevant to highlight that all three operators offer 4G/5G coverage at least 96% of the time, which highly guarantees the quality of service provided by these operators.

These Austrian operators offer good coverage. Regarding areas of "Good" or "Very Good" network, A1 leads the list with 62%, followed by Magenta Telekom with 53% and Drei with 51% of the area being at least "Good".

In terms of 5G penetration and usage, Magenta Telekom stands out compared to its competitors with 16% of 5G customers, followed by Drei and A1 with just 8% of 5G customers. However, A1 provides 5G coverage 84% of the time, while Drei and Magenta Telekom do so around 57% and 46% of the time, respectively.

VoLTE technology for calls is the most commonly used by all three operators, with an average usage rate of 77%. It's worth noting that A1's customers use it considerably less than Drei and Magenta Telekom's customers. A1's customers use it 65% of the time, while Magenta Telekom and Drei customers use it 86% and 80% of the time, respectively. 3G technology remains relevant in the country, being the second most-used option by these operators' customers.

Finally, in terms of latency, the Austrian MNOs exceed 85% of measurements classified as good or excellent. However, Magenta Telekom stands out with 73% of measurements with excellent latency, followed by A1 with 63%, and finally Drei with 43% of measurements with excellent latency.

The main key figures are as follows:

• The main operators in Austria, A1, Magenta Telekom and Drei, offer 4G and 5G technology coverage 96% of the time.
• On average, approximately 11% of the customers from the analyzed operators are 5G customers (i.e. customers who have a device compatible with 5G technology) and can access it around 62% of their coverage time.
• At least 84% of all MNOs' measurements have a latency good enough to offer an adequate experience for every possible use.
• VoLTE technology for calls is the most used.

Methodology

In the following pages an in-depth description of each analyzed KPI can be found, including the methodology and rationale behind them. At a more general level, the following paragraph describes the data collection methodology.

At a more general level, Weplan Analytics collects crowdsourced data from more than 200 million devices in 31 countries. For this analysis, 535 million measurements collected between june and august 2023 were used.

The following map shows the density of measurements taken throughout Austria by Weplan Analytics.

The most relevant insights can be found in the Summary section above. A detailed account of each one comprises the rest of the report below.

As the three aforementioned MNOs serve their networks to other parties (such as VMNOs, due to roaming agreements or as part of emergency coverage) they have been filtered by the network provider reported in the SIM card.

It's important to mention that in this analysis, both the mentioned MNOs and the MVNOs that exclusively operate on one of the MNOs' networks were included. This is because of the significance that MVNOs hold in the country.

More details about the methodology can be found here.

Connectivity

Connectivity: Daily disconnection time

The following graphic shows the disconnection time as the average number of minutes that each customer of each MNO experiences disconnections throughout the day. Disconnection time includes moments when a customer has no coverage at all (such as underground parkings, inside elevators, so far away from an antenna that connection is not possible...) or moments when a customer only has emergency coverage, that is, the ability to perform only emergency calls. This disconnected time may (and, in most cases, will) be discontinuous, and is the average of the daily disconnection time for all users.

Among the Austrian operators, Drei and Magenta have the lowest disconnection time with only 6 daily minutes of disconnection, followed by A1 with 7 daily minutes of disconnection.

Connectivity: 4G and 5G time

With the advent of the newer 5G technology older technologies such as 2G and 3G are being turned off to liberate the RF spectrum. Thus, guaranteeing at least a proper 4G coverage is one of the main goals for MNOs, and for those who already have 4G sorted out, the focus turns to 5G.

In terms of 4G and 5G connectivity, Magenta Telekom has coverage of these technologies 98% of the time, while A1 and Drei are statistically tied, achieving coverage at these technologies 96% of the time.

5G penetration and usage

The possibility of a customer to use the 5G network depends on several factors:

1. Their device must be 5G compatible.
2. The MNO must have a 5G network.
3. The client must contract a mobile plan that allows the 5G to be used, since not all MNOs offer full access to the 5G network as part of their regular plans.

The deployment of the 5G network in Austria commenced in 2019. In September 2020, a multi-band auction was conducted, which included spectrum in the 700 MHz band. This auction also imposed obligations to expand coverage and address areas without mobile broadband coverage and regions served by only one network operator.

Austria's major telecommunications operators established ambitious goals for their 5G rollout, aiming to cover 90% of the country's population by the end of 2025.

The following charts show the percentage of users per MNO that have 5G access, and the percentage of time they are under 5G coverage. To establish whether a user is a 5G client or not, their 5G connectivity has been checked: if they have connected to the 5G network at least once, they are considered 5G clients.

In Austria all carriers offer 5G. The operator with the most 5G clients is Magenta Telekom, with 16% of this type, followed by Drei and A1, statistically tied, with only 8%.

Regarding 5G coverage time for 5G clients, there are some differences between operators: A1 leads, providing 5G coverage 84% of the time; Drei and Magenta Telekom provide 5G coverage 57% and 46% of the time, respectively.

4G and 5G network status

There are two main network performance indicators used to address the network status: signal strength and signal quality. Each technology has its own measurements, but five great categories can be established:

• Very Good: the network performance for all usages should be excellent.
• Good: the network performance for all usages may present occasional difficulties but is good overall.
• Fair: most network network-dependent usages (such as calls or data usage) will have at least a decent performance.
• Degraded: network usage may be unstable and unreliable but allows for basic usage such as calls with acceptable quality and very slow data transfer rate.
• Very Degraded: apart from emergency calls network usage is nearly impossible.

There are two ways to analyze these categories: by percentage of covered area or by percentage of measurements. Most measurements take place in urban areas, where coverage is better, while in european countries most of the territory is not urban, so the percentage of area with a problematic network situation may be different from the percentage of measurements with a problematic network situation.

To ensure a fair comparison between carriers only areas with presence from all MNOs have been analyzed.

The overall network situation in the common coverage area for the analyzed operators, area-wise, is good. A1 presents the best result with 94% of the area with fair or better coverage, followed closely by Magenta Telekom with 90% and, in last place Drei, with 89% of the area rated as at least fair.

Regarding areas with good or very good network coverage, A1 tops the list with 62% of the area classified as such, followed by Magenta Telekom with 53% and Drei with 51%.

Measurement-wise the general network situation is similar. A1 has the best result, with 85% of measurements being fair or better. Followed by Drei and Magenta Telekom, statistically tied, with 81% of measurements being at least fair.

If we focus on "Good" and "Very Good" measurements, the order remains the same: A1 maintains the lead with 57% of "Good" and "Very Good" measurements, followed by Drei with 50% and Magenta Telekom with 49% of "Good" and "Very Good" measurements.

Call type percentage

Although 2G and 3G are capable of data usage, the advent of 4G and more recently 5G technologies have relegated them to mostly call usage. The absence of 4G-based call technology ensured that 2G and 3G were still relevant, since they were the unique technologies to make a phone call. The development of VoLTE (Voice over LTE) calls during the 2010s marked the beginning of the end for these legacy technologies.

However, not all customers can benefit from VoLTE calls. For a customer to use this technology several conditions must be met:

1. Their MNO must provide 4G and VoLTE.
2. They must have a phone capable of performing VoLTE calls.
3. They must have a mobile plan that includes VoLTE calls.
4. Their phone must be homologated by the MNO and the manufacturer to perform VoLTE calls.

The fourth condition means that a customer can have VoLTE with one MNO but lack of it with a different MNO, using the same cellphone. If a customer connected to 4G without VoLTE capabilities tries to perform a call, a hand-off process to 2G or 3G network takes place. Depending on the method this process is called CSFB (the most common one) or SRVCC. Aside from those technologies, VoWiFi (Voice over Wi-Fi) is also used when a Wi-Fi network is available.

VoLTE technology is the most commonly used, with Magenta Telekom's customers using this technology 86% of the time, followed by Drei's customers at 80% of the time, and A1's customers at only 65% of the time. The second most used technology is 3G (either directly or through CSFB), with A1 users utilizing it 29% of the time, followed by Drei users at 16%, and Magenta Telekom users at 12%.

Magenta Telekom has announced its plans to gradually shut down the 3G network throughout the year 2024, marking a milestone in the evolution of mobile networks in Austria. On their part, both A1 and Drei have confirmed their intentions to follow this path and phase out their 3G networks in 2025.

After the 3G shutoff, customers who have a 3G-enabled device that doesn’t support 4G/LTE or 5G can only use the 2G network.

Latency status

Latency is the measurement of how much time it takes for the information to be transmitted between the user and the network. A lower latency means a faster, and smoother network experience, whereas a higher latency means that the network experience will not be as good, or even unusable. This makes latency a good indicator for user experience. We have divided latency in four main groups:

• Excellent latency: very smooth user experience, even with the most data-intensive usage, such as gaming or 4K streaming.
• Good latency: good user experience, although gaming may not be as fluid and 4K may present occasional problems.
• Degraded latency: mediocre user experience. Gaming and 4K are either uncomfortable or impossible, videochat may present noticeable lag, messaging with multimedia may take a long time to load and loading a web may be slow.
• Bad latency: essentially unusable network. Only the lightest usage, such as sending messages without multimedia works decently.

The three MNOs present a similar latency situation. Magenta Telekom leads with 90% of its events classified as at least good, closely followed by A1 with 87%, and Drei with 86% of their events with this classification.

Regarding the percentage of measurements with excellent latency, Magenta Telekom once again tops the list, with 73% of measurements having excellent latency. It is followed by A1 with 63% of measurements classified as such. In last place is Drei, with 43% of measurements with excellent latency.