Canada Mobile Quality Report

Introduction

The Canadian mobile market comprises several operators, of which five have their own networks with an extensive coverage: Bell Mobility, Freedom Mobile, Rogers Wireless, Telus Mobility and Vidéotron. 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 Canada for these five carriers.

It should be kept in mind that Freedom Mobile and Vidéotron have reached and agreement for Vidéotron, part of the Quebecor group, to acquire Freedom Mobile. Although neither of these MNOs has a nation-wide coverage, they have large customers bases as they provide services in densely populated cities. It is also worth noting that there are other MNOs (such as SaskTel or Eastlink Wireless) that provide only regional coverage in less populated areas and have rather small market shares. Consequently, these MNOs can not be properly compared with their competitors and are left out of the current study.

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.
• 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 five main mobile network operators have a good network situation in Canada. However, there are some notable differences between them.

In terms of connectivity, the five operators have very similar disconnection times, with Bell Mobility and Freedom Mobile having 12 minutes of limited connectivity or disconnection per day, Telus Mobility having 15, Videotrón experiencing 17 minutes and Rogers Wireless reaching 19 minutes of disconnection a day. It is relevant to highlight that all five operators offer 4G/5G coverage at least 92% of the time, which highly guarantees the quality of service provided by these operators.

These Canadian operators offer good coverage. Regarding areas of "Good" or "Very Good" network, Rogers leads the list with 84% of its covered area with good or very good coverage, followed by Freedom Mobile (77%), Vidéotron (76%), Bell Mobility (68%) and Telus Mobility (67%). It should be noted that Bell Mobility and Telus Mobility are parte of a MOCN (Multi Operator Core Network) agreement that causes them to share their network. Thus, their figures regarding quality of the coverage area are essentially the same, with small differences due to different usage by end-clients. Also, it must be kept in mind that these figures make reference to the common coverage area. In the case of Canada this means areas with presence from Rogers Wireless, at least one of Bell Mobility or Telus Mobility and at least one among Freedom Mobile and Vidéotron have have pressence. Due to the consideration of Freedom Mobile and Vidéotron for the analysis, this area will mainly be urban.

In terms of 5G penetration and usage, Vidéotron leads the number of users with 5G capability with 31% of its users having access and capability to use the 5G network. Rogers Wireless and Telus Mobility have 25% and 22% respectively of users with 5G capability and access, whereas Bell Mobility has 11% respectively of their users with 5G capabilities. Freedom Mobile has no 5G deployment yet, although the acquisition by Vidéotron, once effective, may turn this situation around. For those with 5G access, Bell Mobility, Rogers Wireless and Telus Mobility offer very similar 5G coverage times, providing 5G around 83% of time. Vidéotron lags behind providing its 5G clients with only 67% of coverage time under 5G.

Finally, in terms of latency, the Canadian MNOs exceed 80% of measurements classified as good or excellent. However, Bell Mobility stands out with 53% of measurements with excellent latency, followed by Vidéotron with 50%, Freedom Mobile with 49%, Telus Mobility with 45% and finally Rogers Wireless with 43% of measurements with excellent latency.

The main key figures are as follows:

• The main operators in Canada, Bell Mobility, Freedom Mobile, Rogers Wireless, Telus Mobility and Vidéotron, offer 4G and 5G technology coverage at least 92% of the time.
• Excluding Freedom Mobile (which has no 5G network) between 13% and 31% 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, on average, around 79% of their coverage time.
• At least 80% of all MNOs' measurements have a latency good enough to offer an adequate experience for every possible use.

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, 106 million measurements collected between July and September 2022 were used.

The following map shows the density of measurements taken throughout Canada 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 five 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.

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 Canadian operators, Bell Mobility and Freedom Mobile have the lowest disconnection time with only 12 daily minutes of disconnection. From less disconnection time to more disconnection time, Telus Mobility, Vidéotron and Rogers Wireless are statistically in a range of between 15 and 19 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, Bell Mobility, Freedom Mobile and Telus Mobility provide 4G or 5G coverage (if available) 95% of the time. Vidéotron follows with 94% of 4G or better coverage time, and lastly Rogers Wireless provides 4G or 5G access at least 92% 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 Canada commenced in 2020, with Rogers Wireless launching 5G NSA in January 2020. Bell Mobility and Telus Mobility followed suite in June 2020, and Vidéotron deployded its own 5G network at the end of 2020, although with a limited scope. Rogers Wireless kept the lead in the 5G area by deploying the first 5G SA network in early 2021.

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 Canada Freedom Mobile is the only major MNO not offering 5G. The operator with the most 5G clients is Vidéotron, with 31% of this type, followed by Rogers Wireless and Telus Mobility, with 25% and 22% respectively of their users with 5G access, and finally Bell Mobility with 13% of its customers being 5G clients.

Regarding 5G coverage time for 5G clients, there are some differences between operators: Bell Mobility, Rogers Wireless and Telus Mobility are statistically tied at around 83% of 5G coverage time for its customers; Vidéotron, on the other hand, only provides 5G to its 5G clients during 67% of their coverage time.

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 Canadá 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. However, as we are taking Freedom Mobile and, specially, Vidéotron, into consideration, the weight of urban areas will be higher. It should also be noted that Bell Mobility and Telus Mobility have a MOCN

To ensure a fair comparison between carriers only areas with presence from Rogers Wireless, at least one of Bell Mobility or Telus Mobility and at least one among Freedom Mobile and Vidéotron have been analyzed.

The overall network situation in the common coverage area for the analyzed operators, area-wise, is good. Rogers Wireless presents the best result with 99% of the area with fair or better coverage, followed closely by Vidéotron with 97%, Freedom Mobile with 94% and Bell Mobility and Telus Mobility tied with 91% of the area rated as at least fair.

Regarding areas with good or very good network coverage, Rogers Wireless tops the list with 84% of the area classified as such, followed by Freedom Mobile and Vidéotron statistically tied at around 76%, and Bell Mobility and Telus Mobility statistically tied at around 67% of the area with good or very good network coverage.

Measurement-wise the general network situation is similar. Rogers Wireless has the best result, with 91% of measurements being fair or better. It is followed by and statistical tie by Freedom Mobile and Vidéotron at around 89%, and a second tie by Bell Mobility and Telus Mobility of around 80% of measurements being at least fair.

If we focus on "Good" and "Very Good" measurements, the order remains the same: Rogers Wireless maintains the lead with 71% of "Good" and "Very Good" measurements, followed by Freedom Mobile and Vidéotron tied with around 66%, and Bell Mobility and Telus Mobility tied with about 52% of "Good" and "Very Good" measurements.

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.

All MNOs present a similar latency situation. Vidéotron leads with 85% of its events classified as at least good, closely followed by all the other MNOs with between 80% and 82% of its measurements being good or excellent.

Regarding the percentage of measurements with excellent latency, Bell Mobility tops the list with 53% of its measurements being excelent. Vidéotron and Freedom Mobility follow closely, statistically tied with around 50% of measurements having excellent latency. In last place, Rogers Wireless and Telus Mobility are tied with around 44% of their measurements with excellent latency.