Sri Lanka
Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumers' connectivity experiences. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding what happens when people use their mobile and broadband connections in their daily life.
Sri Lanka
Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumers' connectivity experiences. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding what happens when people use their mobile and broadband connections in their daily life.
Key Findings
Dialog users enjoy the fastest mobile speeds in Sri Lanka
Dialog is once again the outright winner of both speed awards — Download Speed Experience and Upload Speed Experience. Dialog users continue to experience the fastest download and upload speeds in Sri Lanka, clocking in at 12.8Mbps and 4.8Mbps on average, respectively — 1.9Mbps (17.9%) and 0.9Mbps (24.3%) faster than those seen with second-placed Mobitel.
Dialog users have the most consistent experience
Dialog wins the Consistent Quality award with a score of 50.1%, significantly greater than Airtel and Mobitel’s statistically tied score of 40.1-40.4%. This indicates that Dialog users experience the greatest proportion of tests that meet the minimum thresholds to support more demanding commonly used mobile applications, such as video calling or uploading an image to social media.
Dialog and Mobitel jointly win the Availability award
Our users on Dialog and Mobitel spend the greatest proportion of time connected to a 3G or better cellular signal. As a result, both operators are joint winners of the Availability award, with statistically tied scores of 91.5-92%. However, when we look at the proportion of time 4G users connect to 4G — 4G Availability — Airtel and Dialog are joint winners with scores of 88.9-89.5%.
The best Games and Voice App Experience is with Dialog
Our Dialog users observe the best available quality of experience while playing multiplayer mobile games and using over-the-top (OTT) voice services on mobile voice apps in Sri Lanka. Dialog leads in Games Experience by a significant margin of 10.5 points over Mobitel, which places second. Additionally, Dialog is the only operator in Sri Lanka to earn an Acceptable (74-80) rating for Voice App Experience.
Airtel and Dialog are top for Live Video Experience
Airtel and Dialog share Opensignal’s inaugural award for Live Video Experience, which quantifies the quality of real-time video streamed to mobile devices by measuring video streams over an operator's network. Airtel and Dialog lead with statistically tied scores of 36.6-38.7 points (on a 100-point scale).
Dialog and Mobitel are joint winners of Video Experience
Dialog and Mobitel lead in terms of Video Experience — the quality of experience while streaming on-demand videos — in Sri Lanka with statistically tied scores of 46.9-48.8 points (on a 100-point scale) — 5.7 points higher than last-placed Airtel and Hutch.
Mobile Experience Awards
Market Overview
Opensignal’s latest analysis of Sri Lanka shows that Dialog remains the operator to beat when it comes to users’ mobile network experience. Dialog is the winner across all 10 award categories, either joint or outright. The operator wins four overall experience awards outright, outperforming the competition in Video Experience and Games Experience, as well as both the speed categories — Download Speed Experience and Upload Speed Experience. Furthermore, when it comes to Consistent Quality, Dialog stands out as the undisputed champion, leading by a huge margin.
Dialog is also the joint winner of the Live Video Experience award alongside Airtel. Additionally, Dialog and Mobitel are joint winners for Availability. This is a change from our previous report when Dialog won the Availability award outright.
In this report, we have analyzed the mobile network experience for Sri Lanka's four operators, Airtel, Dialog, Hutch and Mobitel — over the 90 days starting April 1, 2023 and ending June 29, 2023.
Overall Experience
National Analysis
Dialog and Mobitel are now the joint winners of the Video Experience award with statistically tied scores of 46.9-48.8 points (on a 100-point scale). This means that, on average, our Sri Lankan users enjoy the best available quality of on-demand mobile video streaming when connected to Dialog or Mobitel’s network.
Definitions
Opensignal’s Video Experience quantifies the quality of video streamed to mobile devices by measuring real-world video streams over an operator's networks. The metric is based on an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach, built upon detailed studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters, including picture quality, video loading time and stall rate, with the perceived video experience as reported by real people. To calculate video experience, we are directly measuring video streams from end-user devices and using this ITU approach to quantify the overall video experience for each operator on a scale from 0 to 100. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions — including Full HD (FHD) and 4K / Ultra HD (UHD) — and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.
In addition to Video Experience, we report on the following metrics related to video experience:
- 5G Video Experience: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users when they were connected to an operator’s 5G network.
- Video Experience – 5G Users: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator's networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G video experience along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Video Experience: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 4G network.
- 3G Video Experience: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users on an operator’s 3G network.
National Analysis
Airtel and Dialog are joint winners of the Live Video Experience award with statistically tied scores. This means our Airtel and Dialog users observe the best quality of experience in Sri Lanka while streaming live video over cellular connections.
Definitions
Opensignal’s Live Video Experience quantifies the quality of real-time video streamed to mobile devices by measuring video streams over an operator's network. The metric extends the existing International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach used for Opensignal's on-demand Video Experience metric, built upon detailed studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters, including live playback offset, picture quality, video loading time and stall rate, with the perceived live video experience as reported by real people. To calculate live video experience, we are directly measuring live video streams from end-user devices and using this extension of ITU's approach to quantify the overall live video experience for each operator on a scale from 0 to 100. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.
National Analysis
Our users on Dialog enjoy the best experience in Sri Lanka when playing multiplayer mobile games over cellular connections. Dialog wins the Games Experience award with a score of 57.8 points on a 100-point scale, giving it a lead of 10.5 points over second-placed Mobitel.
Definitions
Opensignal’s Games Experience measures how mobile users experience real-time multiplayer mobile gaming on an operator’s network. Measured on a scale of 0-100, it analyzes how our users’ multiplayer mobile gaming experience is affected by mobile network conditions including latency, packet loss and jitter.
Games Experience quantifies the experience when playing real-time multiplayer mobile games on mobile devices connected to servers located around the world. The approach is built on several years of research quantifying the relationship between technical network parameters and the gaming experience as reported by real mobile users. These parameters include latency (round trip time), jitter (variability of latency) and packet loss (the proportion of data packets that never reach their destination). Additionally, it considers multiple genres of multiplayer mobile games to measure the average sensitivity to network conditions. The games tested include some of the most popular real-time multiplayer mobile games (such as Fortnite, Pro Evolution Soccer and Arena of Valor) played around the world.
Calculating Games Experience starts with measuring the end-to-end experience from users’ devices to internet end-points that host real games. The score is then measured on a scale from 0 to 100.
In addition to Games Experience, we report on the following metrics related to games experience:
- 5G Games Experience: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users when they were connected to an operator’s 5G network.
- Games Experience – 5G Users: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator's networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G games experience along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Games Experience: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 4G network.
- 3G Games Experience: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO) network.
National Analysis
Dialog wins the Voice App Experience award outright with a score of 76.4 points (on a 100-point scale). This means that our users on Dialog perceive the best available experience while using over-the-top (OTT) voice app services such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger. Dialog leads in Voice App Experience by three points over second-placed Mobitel, and 6.8 points over last-placed Hutch. With these scores, Dialog places in the Acceptable (74-80) category for Voice App Experience, while its competitors place one category lower — Poor (66-74).
An Acceptable Voice App Experience means some users are satisfied. Perceptible call quality impairments are experienced by some users. Clicking sounds of short duration or distortion are heard, and/or the volume may not be sufficiently loud. Listeners are generally able to comprehend without repetition.
Definitions
Opensignal's Voice App Experience measures the quality of experience for over-the-top (OTT) voice services — mobile voice apps such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger — using a model derived from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach for quantifying overall voice call quality and a series of calibrated technical parameters. This model characterizes the exact relationship between the technical measurements and perceived call quality. Voice App Experience for each operator is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100.
In addition to Voice App Experience, we report on the following metrics related to voice app experience:
- 5G Voice App Experience: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users when they were connected to an operator’s 5G network.
- Voice App Experience – 5G Users: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator's networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G voice app experience along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Voice App Experience: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 4G network.
- 3G Voice App Experience: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO) network.
National Analysis
Dialog users experience the fastest overall download speeds in Sri Lanka, 12.8Mbps on average — 1.9Mbps faster than Mobitel. On the other hand, Airtel and Hutch users are further behind with scores of 8.3Mbps and 7.4Mbps, respectively.
Since the last report, our Hutch users have seen the biggest uplift of 2Mbps, followed by the 1Mbps increase seen by users on Dialog. In contrast, users on Airtel and Mobitel did not see a statistically significant change compared to the last report.
Definitions
Measured in Mbps, Download Speed Experience represents the typical everyday speeds a user experiences across an operator’s mobile data networks.
In addition to Download Speed Experience, we report on the following metrics related to download speeds:
- 5G Download Speed: The average download speed observed by Opensignal users with active 5G connections.
- Download Speed Experience – 5G Users: The average download speeds experienced by Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator’s networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G download speeds along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Download Speed: The average downlink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 4G.
- 3G Download Speed: The average downlink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO).
National Analysis
Dialog wins the Upload Speed Experience award with a score of 4.8Mbps — 0.9Mbps ahead of second-placed Mobitel. Hutch places third with a score of 2.8Mbps, followed by Airtel with a score of 1.8Mbps.
Definitions
Upload Speed Experience measures the average upload speeds for each operator observed by our users across their mobile data networks. Typically upload speeds are slower than download speeds, as current mobile broadband technologies focus resources on providing the best possible download speed for users consuming content on their devices. As mobile internet trends move away from downloading content to creating content and supporting real-time communications services, upload speeds are becoming more vital and new technologies are emerging that boost upstream capacity.
In addition to Upload Speed Experience, we report on five supporting metrics related to upload speeds:
- 5G Upload Speed: The average upload speed observed by Opensignal users with active 5G connections.
- Upload Speed Experience – 5G Users: The average upload speeds experienced by Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator’s networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G upload speeds along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Upload Speed: The average uplink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 4G.
- 3G Upload Speed: The average uplink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO).
Coverage
Airtel
Dialog
Hutch
Mobitel
National Analysis
In our last report, Dialog won the Availability award outright, however since then, its score has dropped slightly by 1.8 percentage points, while that of its competitors did not see a statistically significant change. As a result, Dialog and Mobitel are now the joint winners for Availability. This means our users on these networks spend the highest proportion of time connected to a cellular signal.
Definitions
Our availability metrics are not a measure of a network’s geographical extent. They won’t tell you whether you are likely to get a signal if you plan to visit a remote rural or nearly uninhabited region. Instead, they measure what proportion of time people have a network connection, in the places they most commonly frequent — something often missed by traditional coverage metrics. Looking at when users have a connection rather than where, provides us with a more precise reflection of the true user experience.
We also keep track of the instances that leave mobile users most frustrated: when there is no signal to connect to at all. The most common dead zones users struggle with occur indoors. As most of our availability data is collected indoors (as that’s where users spend most of their time), we’re particularly astute at detecting areas of zero signal.
Our availability metrics take a user-centric, time-based approach that complements the user-centric and geographical-based methodology used by our reach metrics.
Availability shows the proportion of time all Opensignal users on an operator’s network had either a 3G, 4G or 5G connection.
Map Definition
The coverage maps show the locations where we received measurements from users connecting with 3G or better mobile service. Each map provides an indication of the areas in which it is possible to obtain mobile service from that mobile operator.
National Analysis
Looking at the proportion of time users spend connected to 4G services — 4G Availability — Airtel and Dialog remain joint winners with statistically tied scores of 88.9-89.5%. Mobitel follows behind with 84.1%, while Hutch lags in last place with 77.2%.
Definitions
Our availability metrics are not a measure of a network’s geographical extent. They won’t tell you whether you are likely to get a signal if you plan to visit a remote rural or nearly uninhabited region. Instead, they measure what proportion of time people have a network connection, in the places they most commonly frequent — something often missed by traditional coverage metrics. Looking at when users have a connection rather than where, provides us with a more precise reflection of the true user experience.
We also keep track of the instances that leave mobile users most frustrated: when there is no signal to connect to at all. The most common dead zones users struggle with occur indoors. As most of our availability data is collected indoors (as that’s where users spend most of their time), we’re particularly astute at detecting areas of zero signal.
Our availability metrics take a user-centric, time-based approach that complements the user-centric and geographical-based methodology used by our reach metrics.
4G Availability shows the proportion of time Opensignal users with a 4G device and a 4G subscription — but have never connected to 5G — had a 4G connection.
Map Definition
The coverage maps show the locations where we received measurements from users connecting with 3G or better mobile service. Each map provides an indication of the areas in which it is possible to obtain mobile service from that mobile operator.
Consistency
National Analysis
Dialog was the outright winner of the Excellent Consistent Quality and Core Consistent Quality awards in the previous mobile network experience report, and it continues to hold the top spot for consistency, being the first operator in Sri Lanka to win the new Consistent Quality award, which replaces the previous consistency metrics. Dialog comes top for Consistent Quality with a score of 50.1%, giving it a lead of almost 10 points over second-placed Airtel and Mobitel. Meanwhile, Hutch is last placed with a score of 38.3%.
Definitions
Consistent Quality measures if the network is sufficient to support common mobile application requirements at a level that is ‘good enough’ for users to maintain (or complete) various typical tasks on their devices.
We combine different experience indicators such as download speed, upload speed, latency, jitter, packet discard, and time to first byte to calculate Consistent Quality. These components are evaluated against thresholds recommended by various more demanding common applications used for a range of common tasks.
To calculate the metric value, the proportion of tests that pass the requirements of Consistent Quality is multiplied by the test success ratio, which is the proportion of completed tests to all tests conducted. Tests that pass indicate that activities such as video calling, uploading an image to social media, or using smart home applications will be possible without noticeable lag or slowdown.
Related Analysis
Our Methodology
Collecting billions of individual measurements daily from over 100 million devices globally, Opensignal independently analyzes mobile and broadband user experience on every major network operator around the globe.
About Opensignal
Opensignal is the leading global provider of independent insights into consumers' connectivity experiences and choice of carrier. Our proprietary insights into mobile and broadband networks give operators the solutions they need to profitably compete and win, from executive level scorecards and public validation to pin-point level engineering analytics and consumer decision dynamics.
Check how your internet connection impacts your favorite apps with the Meteor App
Journalists, please retain the Opensignal logo and copyright
(© Opensignal Limited) information when using this image.
This image may not be used for any commercial purpose, including use in advertisements or other promotional content, without prior written consent.
Confidence Intervals
For every metric we calculate statistical confidence intervals indicated on our graphs. When confidence intervals overlap, our measured results are too close to declare a winner. In those cases, we show a statistical draw. For this reason, some metrics have multiple operator winners.
In our bar graphs we represent confidence intervals as boundaries on either sides of graph bars.
In our supporting-metric charts we show confidence intervals as +/- numerical values.
Why confidence intervals are vital in analyzing mobile network experience