by Andrey Popov (author) and Giulio Sinibaldi (technical data)
Key takeaways:
Our users see the fastest speeds on 5G FWA in Italy with Fastweb and EOLO. The speeds on these providers are statistically tied – our users experience average download speeds of 66.1-70.1Mbps and average upload speeds between 26.3-27.7Mbps. These speeds are faster than those seen by our users on xDSL/FTTC in Italy on average.
With over 77% of tests passing our quality thresholds (referred to as Consistent Quality metric), our users on 5G FWA with Fastweb, EOLO, WindTre, and Vodafone experience a more consistent service compared to the average of 74% on xDSL/FTTC in Italy.
86% of tests from our Fastweb 5G FWA users pass our quality thresholds, making the provider the leader in the Consistent Quality metric. This translates into a level of service consistency that surpasses Italy’s average experience with FTTH.
In this analysis, Opensignal builds upon the recently published report that examined the overall 5G Fixed Wireless Access (5G FWA) experience in Italy and showed that 5G FWA is a game-changer for broadband services in the country. We now delve further to examine the experience of our users with individual 5G FWA providers.
There are five retail broadband providers offering 5G FWA services in Italy today: EOLO, Fastweb, Linkem, Vodafone, and WindTre. Among these, three (Vodafone, Fastweb, WindTre) operate 5G networks shared with mobile customers, while two (EOLO, Linkem) use their 5G networks exclusively to deliver 5G FWA services.
In Italy consumers are benefiting from an improved selection of ultra-fast broadband options. They can now choose between various providers offering 5G FWA services and often benefit from understanding how the new technology compares to conventional xDSL/fiber-to-the-cabinet (xDSL/FTTC) and fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) technologies. That is why, in this report, we have chosen to compare the experience of 5G FWA providers against one another and also against the country average of the competing technologies.
Our users on 5G FWA with Fastweb, EOLO, WindTre, and Vodafone see over 77% of tests passing our Consistent Quality thresholds, which is a more consistent experience compared to xDSL/FTTC on average in Italy. The same stands true for Upload Speed at over 23.4Mbps for these providers, which is faster than what is seen on average on xDSL/FTTC connections across Italy (20.2Mbps).
On Fastweb’s 5G FWA, 86% of tests pass the Consistent Quality thresholds — the leader in this metric — an experience which is better than what our users see across Italy with FTTH.
The fastest Download Speed in the market among 5G FWA providers is with Fastweb and EOLO (66.1-70.1Mbps), which is faster than what is seen on xDSL/FTTC connections across Italy (54.4Mbps). For Upload Speed the same stands true on Fastweb, EOLO, WindTre and Vodafone (at over 23.4Mbps), which is better than xDSL/FTTC (20.2Mbps).
National Fixed Broadband Experience
Analyzing Consistent Quality across Italy, we see that our users have the best experience on 5G FWA with Fastweb. This is followed by a statistically tied experience users see on EOLO, WindTre and Vodafone. The worst experience on 5G FWA is with Linkem, as recorded by our users across Italy. Consistent Quality is expressed as a percentage of tests that pass thresholds for network speeds, latency, jitter, packet discard and time to first byte. Our users see their experience exceed these thresholds in 85.9% of the tests on Fastweb — around 7.9 percentage points higher than the statistically tied scores for EOLO, WindTre and Vodafone.
Among 5G FWA providers, our users on EOLO and Fastweb share the fastest Download Speed experience across Italy, in the 66.1-70.1Mbps range. This is significantly faster than the experience on Linkem and Vodafone which is in the range of 48.3-49.8Mbps. Fastweb and EOLO are therefore around 19Mbps (39%) faster than the runner-ups Linkem and Vodafone in the market. WindTre is in last place at 39.5Mbps.
Our users across Italy on 5G providers have the fastest Upload Speed experience with EOLO and Fastwev, given their statistically tied scores of 26.3-27.7Mbps. Behind them are Vodafone and WindTre, which are statistically tied with average upload speeds of 23.4-25.1Mbps. This is a much smaller gap between the leaders and the runner-ups for download speeds – of only around 2.8Mbps (11%). Our users on Linkem’s 5G FWA service see a substantially slower average upload speed — 16Mbps.
Providers continue to build out their offers
Fastweb has operated a shared 5G network with WindTre since 2019. Fastweb has also been facilitating the development of 5G FWA through its collaboration with Linkem since 2019 and has been operating its Millimeter Wave (mmWave) 5G FWA service since around December 2020. Fastweb further holds 40MHz in the 3.5GHz band, while Linkem (whose parent company has been renamed to OpNet) has 60MHz of spectrum dedicated to servicing its FWA product in the 3.5GHz band.
All MNOs in Italy hold 200MHz in the mmWave band, but as expected for the two most established MNOs in the country, Vodafone and WindTre hold significant additional spectrum assets — 59.6MHz and 39.2MHz in the low band, and 200MHz and 180MHz in the mid band, respectively (according to data from TeleGeography). Vodafone launched its 5G FWA service in October 2022, while WindTre launched 5G FWA more recently, in April 2023.
Opensignal has deep insight into the real-world fixed broadband experience, which can be used to inform commercial decision-making and better compare how ISPs compare against each other. For more information on how Opensignal can aid both your network and marketing operations, please contact us.
Methodology and definitions
Opensignal references consumer-facing brand names in the reports, however, it is important to note that the ownership and operation of broadband infrastructure may be attributed to different corporate entities.
Plan characteristics — for example, speed tiers or data caps — vary greatly by provider and the dispersion of the plan mix will affect the average experience result. Opensignal’s measurements capture users’ experience, regardless of the plan that they have purchased from their provider. This report analyzes the real-world situation across all users’ plans.
Broadband Consistent Quality
Measures how often users’ experience on a network was sufficient to support common applications’ requirements. Broadband Consistent Quality uses six key performance indicators, including download and upload speed, latency, jitter, packet loss and time to first byte. Metrics are represented as a percentage of users’ tests that have met the minimum recommended performance thresholds to watch HD video, complete group video conference calls and play games. Consistent quality is measured across all users at all hours of the day.
Broadband Download Speed
Measured in Mbps, Broadband Download Speed represents the typical everyday speeds a user experiences across a provider’s network.
Broadband Upload Speed
Measured in Mbps, Broadband Upload Speed measures the average upload speeds for each internet service provider observed by our users across their fixed networks. Typically, upload speeds are slower than download speeds, but this often depends on the technology used for broadband connections.
Opensignal Limited retains ownership of this insight including all intellectual property rights, data, content, graphs & analysis. Reports and insights produced by Opensignal Limited may not be quoted, reproduced, distributed, published for any commercial purpose (including use in advertisements or other promotional content) without prior written consent. Journalists are encouraged to quote information included in Opensignal reports and insights provided they include clear source attribution. For more information, contact [email protected].
