RESULTS IN A NUTSHELL

EE wins the umlaut connect Mobile Benchmark in the UK for the
seventh time. Vodafone maintains the second place. Three manages
to conquer the third rank back from O2 and improves its score
massively. Although also clearly improving its score, O2 ranks fourth.

The network benchmarks conducted by umlaut, part of Accenture, and connect are widely ­accepted as the de-facto industry standard and for
being highly objective. The carefully designed ­methodology of our 2021 benchmark in the United Kingdom represents a ­holistic approach to network bench­marking. It com­bines ­drive tests and walk tests for executing detailed voice and data measurements ­under ­controlled circumstances ­combined with a ­sophisti­cated crowd-sour­cing methodology. This provides profound insights into the overall coverage of voice, data and 5G services as well as real-­world User Down­load Speeds and Latencies. The drive tests and walk tests ­allow for the maximum capabilities of the networks to be evaluated. Crowdsourcing unveils the ­service ­quality and ­performance ­actually experienced by real users. We have ­thoroughly weighed ­these components in order to give a realistic and conclusive assessment of the ­rated networks‘ true ­potential and performance.

EE IS THE OVERALL WINNER, vodafone ranks

second. three and O2 improve their scores

As in our six previous UK benchmarks, the overall winner is EE (in 2016, Vodafone shared the first place with EE). The operator defended its position and earned the ­grade very good. EE scores best in the Crowd and Data ­categories, in Voice ­Vodafone has the lead. As in our three previous benchmarks, Vodafone maintains the second place, showing strong ­results on all assessed categories. 

Three manages to distinctly advance its score in comparison to our previous UK benchmark, earning 118 more score points than last time and improving in all three test categories. This also enables this provider to conquer back the third rank from O2, which had surpassed Three in our previous UK benchmark. But while ranking fourth this time, O2 still achieves a clear score gain and improves its results in the Voice and Data categories.

In London, EE leads at a gap of ten points ahead of Vodafone, while O2 scores a little higher than Three. In our city comparison, EE leads in seven out of ten considered larger UK cities. Vodafone is a local champion in Belfast and Liverpool, while O2 takes the lead in Bradford.

In terms of 5G rollout, all UK operators already show good coverage in the cities. EE offers the highest 5G co-verage in all tested scenarios, while in the 5G high band, Three achieves the highest averageand maximum data rates in all considered scenarios.

With almost 32 million ­mobile subscribers, O2 is the largest mobile network ope­rator. Formerly a subsidiary of ­British Tele­com, O2 plc was purchased  by the Spanish telecommuni-cations com­pany Telefónica in 2006. In 2021, O2 entered a 50:50 joint venture with ­Liberty Global, ­combining Liberty‘s brand Virgin Media and O2.

The joint company also owns half of the mobile virtual network operator Tesco Mobile which operates on the O2 network in the UK. The operators claim to cover approx. 99 percent of the UK popu­lation with 4G.

O2 operates its 4G ­network mainly on 800 MHz with addditional 1800, 2100 and 2600 MHz ­coverage in metropolitan areas. ­Addi­tio­nally, O2 provides 2G on 900 MHz and 3G on 900 and 2100 MHz. Like the other UK opera­tors, O2 is operating Voice over LTE (VoLTE) in most of its 4G network.

O2 is also continuously rolling out 5G, using its 3500 and 700 MHz spectrum for 5GNR. In late 2021, the company claimed to be live with 5G in over 150 towns and cities, with plans to ­extend 5G coverage soon to over 215 towns and cities.

With approximately 26 ­mil­lion customers, EE (formerly Everything ­Everywhere) is the second largest mobile network operator in the UK. Since 2016, EE has been part of the ­British Telecom Group. 

EE ­started offering its 4G service in 2012. Regarding 4G/LTE ­cove­rage, EE reports geographic coverage instead of ­population coverage. They quote ­Ofcom reporting an 85 percent 4G geographic coverage which equates to more than 99 percent of the population. EE ope­rates its 4G network at 800, 1800, 2100 and 2600 MHz. Additionally, it offers 2G at 1800 and 3G at 2100 MHz. 

EE operates a growing number of “4G+“ cells that support up to 5CA (five ­carrier frequencies) with up to 1 Gbps under the name “4GEE”. Voice over LTE (VoLTE) is available in most of its 4G ­network. 

For its 5G deployment, EE uses spectrum at 700, 2100 and 3500 MHz. In 2021, EE announced to offer 5G in more than 160 towns and cities in the UK. The operator plans to cover half of the UK population by early 2023 and the “entire“ UK by 2028.

Vodafone UK is part of the international Vodafone Group which is also headquartered in the UK. The Vodafone Group owns and operates networks in
30 countries. 

­Vodafone UK launched 4G/LTE in 2013. With around 17 million ­mobile sub­scri­bers, Vodafone is
the third largest mobile ­network in the UK. 

In June 2012, ­Vodafone and O2 signed a deal to “pool” their network techno­logies, creating a single ­national grid of 18,500 transmitter sites. Both operators how­ever announced they would ­continue to use their own independent spectrum.

­Vodafone ­operates 4G/LTE at 800, 900, 1500, 1800, 2100 and 2600 MHz and claims to cover 99 percent of the UK population. Additionally, ­Vodafone ­offers 2G at 900 MHz and 3G at 900 and 2100 MHz. With “4G+”, Vodafone ­offers up to 1 Gbps – as well as Voice over LTE (VoLTE). 

By the end of 2021, the ­operator has deployed 5G in 124 locations across the UK and has announced a further speed up of its 5G roll-out during 2022.

Three UK is a subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa and launched its mobile ­service in the UK in 2003. As a ­relatively young operator Three started
as a 3G-only network supplemented by 2G via ­national roaming. In ­December 2013, Three began to roll out its 4G/LTE ­service and expan­ded it ­rapidly all over the UK. With about 9.5 mil­lion customers, Three is the ­smallest ­mobile network ­operator in the UK.

Three offers “4G Advanced“ at 800, 1500, 1800 and 2100 MHz as well as 3G on 2100 MHz. The ­company claims to cover more than 99 ­percent of the UK‘s population with at least 3G. Voice over LTE (VoLTE) is available in most of its 4G network. According to the company, “Three’s customers
use 3.5x more data than the average Brit“ – competitive pricing and the availability of unlimited data tariffs will certainly play a part in this.

The operator rolls out 5G at 3500 and 3700 MHz and claims to offer more spectrum for its 5G service than any other UK network operator. From 66 towns and cities in February 2020, Three has ­continuously extended its 5G network coverage.

A close look at the UK networks

The network bench­marks conduc­ted by umlaut and connect are ­widely accepted as a com­pletely objective ­authority. In 2021/2022, we present the umlaut connect Mobile Benchmark in the United Kingdom for the seventh time, further enhancing its methodology.

umlaut, headquartered in Aachen, Germany, is a world leader in mobile network ­testing. The company was formerly known as P3 communications, changed its name in autumn 2019, and has become a part of Accenture in 2021. umlaut has over 4,300 employees, distributed in over 50 locations all around the world­, with a ­turnover of ­more than 400 mil­lion Euros. umlaut is partnering with the ­inter­national telecommunica­tions magazine connect, which has 28 years of editorial expertise and is one of the leading test ­authorities in ­Europe for tele­communica­tion ­products and services. ­Together, we – umlaut and connect – ­have been ­conducting the most impor­tant network benchmark test in Germany for almost 20 years, ­extending it to other European countries since 2009. As the de-facto industry standard, our benchmarking methodology focuses on customer-perceived network quality.

The 2021 umlaut connect ­Mobile Benchmark in the UK consists of
drive tests and walk tests conducted from October 25th to November 15th, 2021. Four drive test cars together covered about 10,000 kilometres, visiting 19 cities and 46 towns. Additionally, two walk test teams visited ten cities and travelled on trains bet­ween them. The test areas account for 17.3 million people, or approx. 26 percent of the total popula­tion of the UK. In addition, the results of ­extensive crowdsourcing ­analyses, considering 24 weeks from end of May to early November 2021 are included in the score.

“Congratulations to EE for winning the umlaut connect Mobile Benchmark in the UK for the seventh time! Vodafone follows with strong results and a lead in the Voice ­category. Three deserves acknow-ledge­ment for the highest score improvement in this benchmark, while O2 improved in the Voice and Data categories compared to our previous Benchmark. We also see
great enhancements in terms of 5G deployment in the UK, with EE offering the best 5G coverage, Vodafone offering strong 5G reliability, Three the highest data rates and O2 a very competitive overall performance. It is visible, that all UK operators have worked hard to expand their 5G coverage and to strengthen their 4G offerings.”

Hakan Ekmen, CEO umlaut