Oman
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.
Oman
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
Vodafone users have the most consistent experience in Oman
Vodafone is the new outright winner of the Consistent Quality award, replacing the previous winner Omantel. Vodafone wins with a score of 74.4% and a lead of four percentage points over second-placed Omantel. Vodafone's victory was driven by a 15-percentage point increase in its score from that seen in the last report, as Omantel's score rose by a single percentage point.
Omantel’s customers are able to get a connection in more places
Our Omantel users continue to have the best experience for both overall coverage and 5G coverage. This means that Omantel is still the outright winner of the Coverage Experience and 5G Coverage Experience awards, which represent the experience users receive as they travel around areas where they would reasonably expect to find coverage. Omantel comes top for Coverage Experience with a score of 8.3 points on a 10-point scale and a lead of less than one point over second-placed Ooredoo. Omantel’s lead is larger for 5G Coverage Experience — it wins with 4.7 points versus second-placed Ooredoo’s 3.9 points.
Vodafone users have the best experience when playing multiplayer games over cellular connections
Vodafone has replaced Ooredoo as the outright winner of the 5G Games Experience award and has also gone from statistically tying for first place for overall Games Experience with Ooredoo in the last report to winning it outright. Vodafone wins Games Experience with a score of 74.5 points on a 100-point scale and a lead of two points over second-placed Ooredoo’s. Vodafone now leads Ooredoo by one point for 5G Games Experience.
Omantel wins the 5G Download Speed award
As was the case last time around, Omantel users see the fastest average 5G download speeds in Oman. This time Omantel wins with a score of 252.3Mbps and a lead of 60Mbps over second-placed Ooredoo’s 191.8Mbps.
The fastest overall experience is with Vodafone
As was the case in the previous report, Vodafone is the outright winner of the overall Download Speed Experience and Upload Speed Experience awards. In addition, it also keeps hold of the 5G Upload Speed award.
Mobile Experience Awards
Market Overview
The awards table has swung back in Vodafone’s favor. Omantel was the most awarded operator in the last report, but this time Vodafone walks home with the lion’s share of awards. It wins 11 out of 14 awards either outright or jointly, including seven outright wins. Omantel has the next largest haul, winning three awards outright and three jointly.
In October 2024, Ericsson announced that it had completed an upgrade of Vodafone Oman’s core network applications and cloud infrastructure, which will allow the operator to deploy 5G standalone access (SA) services. SA enables 5G users to connect to 5G networks without also having to be connected to 4G and enables techniques such as network slicing. This can be used to provide users with premium connectivity packages, giving them higher priority than other users — especially useful in busy areas and at large events where congestion can be an issue.
In this report we examine the mobile network experience of the three main mobile network operators in Oman — Omantel, Ooredoo and Vodafone — over a period of 90 days starting on September 01, 2024, and ending on November 29, 2024, to see how they fared.
Overall Experience
National Analysis
Vodafone is the new outright winner of the Video Experience award — as our Vodafone users have the best available experience when streaming mobile on-demand videos. This is a change from the previous report, when Omantel and Vodafone shared the award due to a statistical tie. Vodafone wins with a score of 70 points on a 100-point scale and a lead of two points over Omantel’s 67.5 points. Ooredoo comes third with a score of 65.9 points.
Vodafone places in the Very Good (68-78) category, while Omantel and Ooredoo place one category lower, in Good (58-68).
A Very Good (68-78) rating means that our users are, on average, able to stream video at 1080p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling. A Good (58-68) rating means that our users are, on average, able to stream video at 720p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling.
Video Experience scores account for adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR), a technology that allows Opensignal to accurately represent users' real video experience including video streams up to 4K quality.
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
Our Vodafone users have the best overall experience in Oman when playing multiplayer mobile games over cellular connections. Vodafone is therefore the new outright winner of the Games Experience award — a change from the last report, when it shared the glory with Ooredoo. Vodafone wins with a score of 74.5 points on a 100-point scale and a lead of two points over second-placed Ooredoo’s 72.5 points. Omantel is in last place with a score of 65 points.
All three operators place in the Fair (65-75) category. This means that users find the experience to be ‘average’. In most cases the game is responsive to the actions of the player with most users feeling like they have control over the game. The majority of players notice a delay between their actions and the outcomes in the game.
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
Once again, Vodafone wins the Download Speed Experience award outright. It does so this time around with a score of 52.9Mbps and a lead of 5Mbps over second-placed Omantel’s 48.3Mbps. Ooredoo comes third with a score of 43.9Mbps.
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
As was the case in the previous report, our Vodafone users observe the fastest overall average upload speeds in Oman. Vodafone therefore retains the Upload Speed Experience award. It wins outright with a score of 17Mbps and a lead of 5Mbps over second-placed Omantel’s 11.7Mbps. Ooredoo is in last place with a score of 10.8Mbps.
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).
5G Experience
National Analysis
Omantel and Vodafone remain joint winners of the 5G Video Experience award — as the statistical tie between their scores remains intact from the last report. They share the award with statistically tied scores of 75.3-75.9 points on a 100-point scale and a lead of around three points over Ooredoo’s 72.4 points.
Vodafone's score has increased by two points, while Omantel's has risen by one point. Ooredoo's score hasn't changed by a statistically significant amount since the previous report.
All three operators place in the Very Good (68-78) category. This indicates that our users are, on average, able to stream video at 1080p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling.
5G Video Experience scores account for adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR), a technology that allows Opensignal to accurately represent users' real video experience including video streams up to 4K quality.
Definitions
5G Video Experience quantifies the quality of mobile video experienced by Opensignal users on real-world video streams when they were connected to 5G. 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 5G Video Experience, we are directly measuring video streams from end-user devices and using this ITU approach to quantify the video experience observed by our users on each operator’s 5G network 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.
National Analysis
Vodafone is the new winner of the 5G Games Experience award, replacing the previous outright winner, Ooredoo. Vodafone wins with a score of 82.1 points on a 100-point scale and a lead of one point over now second-placed Ooredoo’s 80.7 points. Omantel comes third with a score of 69.3 points.
Ooredoo and Vodafone place in the Good (75-85) category, while Omantel places one category lower, in Fair (65-75).
A Good (75-85) rating means that most users deem the experience acceptable. The gameplay experience is generally controllable and the user receives immediate feedback between their actions and the outcomes in the game. Most users do not experience a delay between their actions and the game. A Fair (65-75) rating means that users find the experience to be ‘average’. In most cases the game is responsive to the actions of the player with most users feeling like they have control over the game. The majority of players notice a delay between their actions and the outcomes in the game.
Definitions
5G Games Experience measures how mobile users experience real-time multiplayer mobile gaming on an operator's 5G network. It analyzes how our users’ multiplayer mobile gaming experience was affected by mobile network conditions including latency, packet loss and jitter. 5G Games Experience for each operator is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100.
5G 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 5G Games Experience starts with measuring the end-to-end experience from users’ devices to internet end-points that host real games.
National Analysis
Once again, Omantel is the outright winner of the 5G Download Speed award. It does so this time with a score of 252.3Mbps and a lead of 60Mbps over second-placed Ooredoo’s 191.8Mbps. Vodafone places last with a score of 129.3Mbps.
Omantel's score has risen by 18Mbps, compared to that seen in the last report, while Ooredoo's has increased by 17Mbps. Vodafone's score has improved by 10Mbps.
Definitions
5G Download Speed shows the average download speed experienced by Opensignal users across an operator’s 5G network. 5G Download Speed for each operator is calculated in Mbps (Megabits per second).
National Analysis
Vodafone continues to be the outright winner of the 5G Upload Speed award. It now wins with a score of 28.6Mbps and a lead of 4Mbps over second-placed Omantel’s 24.3Mbps. Ooredoo is in last place with a score of 22.7Mbps.
Definitions
5G Upload Speed measures the average upload speeds experienced by Opensignal users across an operator’s 5G network. 5G Upload Speed for each operator is calculated in Mbps (Megabits per second).
Coverage
National Analysis
Omantel continues to win the Coverage Experience award outright. It does so this time around with a score of 8.3 points on a 10-point scale and a lead of less than one point over second-placed Ooredoo’s 7.9 points. Vodafone places last with a score of 5.5 points.
Vodafone's score has increased by less than one point, while Omantel's and Ooredoo's scores haven't changed by a statistically significant amount from those seen in the previous report.
Definitions
The Opensignal Coverage Experience metric measures the extent of mobile networks in the places people live, work and travel. The metric represents the experience users receive as they travel around areas where they would reasonably expect to find coverage.
Traditional coverage metrics typically estimate either a percentage of land area covered, or a percentage of population covered; often neither will be an accurate measurement of the true user expectation and experience. In many markets there are areas where neither population density nor geographic area reflect the importance of coverage to users. For example, in a large mountain range most users will not expect coverage in the wilderness, but poor coverage in the relatively small area of a ski resort is critical for the enjoyment of a holiday. Estimates based purely on population give undue significance to coverage in the most densely populated areas.
Coverage Experience measures geographic coverage of populated areas and therefore more accurately reflects the coverage expectations and experience of typical users. It can give a result that is somewhat different to traditional estimates based on either geographic or population measures. The metric uses a scale from 0 to 10.
National Analysis
As was the case in the last report, Omantel is the outright winner of the 5G Coverage Experience award. It wins this time around with a score of 4.7 points on a 10-point scale and a lead of one point over second-placed Ooredoo’s 3.9 points. Vodafone comes third with a score of 2.2 points.
All three operators’ scores have increased by less than a point compared to those seen in the previous report.
Definitions
The Opensignal Coverage Experience metric measures the extent of mobile networks in the places people live, work and travel. The metric represents the experience users receive as they travel around areas where they would reasonably expect to find coverage.
Traditional coverage metrics typically estimate either a percentage of land area covered, or a percentage of population covered; often neither will be an accurate measurement of the true user expectation and experience. In many markets there are areas where neither population density nor geographic area reflect the importance of coverage to users. For example, in a large mountain range most users will not expect coverage in the wilderness, but poor coverage in the relatively small area of a ski resort is critical for the enjoyment of a holiday. Estimates based purely on population give undue significance to coverage in the most densely populated areas.
Coverage Experience measures geographic coverage of populated areas and therefore more accurately reflects the coverage expectations and experience of typical users. It can give a result that is somewhat different to traditional estimates based on either geographic or population measures. The metric uses a scale from 0 to 10.
5G Coverage Experience shows the proportion of places Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription had an active 5G connection.
National Analysis
Ooredoo has gone from winning the Availability award in the last report outright to sharing it with Vodafone as their scores are now statistically tied. They jointly win with scores of 96.4-97.6%, giving them a lead of around one percentage point over Omantel’s 96.4%. While Vodafone and Omantel share the same scores, Vodafone is a joint winner because its confidence intervals overlap with Ooredoo’s while Omantel’s do not.
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.
National Analysis
As was the case in the last report, Omantel is a joint winner of the 5G Availability award — however, the other operator on the winners’ podium has changed, with Vodafone replacing Ooredoo. The two joint winners place first with statistically tied scores of 13.1-14.9% and a lead of around two percentage points over Ooredoo’s 11.5%.
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.
5G Availability shows the proportion of time Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription had an active 5G connection.
Consistency
National Analysis
Vodafone is the new outright winner of the Consistent Quality award, replacing the previous winner Omantel. Vodafone wins with a score of 74.4% and a lead of four percentage points over second-placed Omantel’s 70.1%. Ooredoo is in last place with a score of 68%.
Vodafone's victory was driven by a 15-percentage point increase in its score from that seen in the last report, as Omantel's score rose by a single percentage point. Ooredoo's score has increased by three percentage points.
This metric 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 demanding tasks on their devices. It assesses a number of experience indicators such as download speed, upload speed, latency, jitter, packet loss, and time to first byte.
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 throughput, upload throughput, 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.
National Analysis
All three Omani operators share the Reliability Experience award with statistically tied scores of 861-866 points on a 100-1000 point scale. This is a change from the last report, when only Omantel and Vodafone shared the award.
Opensignal’s Reliability Experience measures the ability of our users to connect to and successfully complete (basic) tasks on operators’ networks. It consists of the following components:
- % time connected — The proportion of time Opensignal users can successfully connect to a mobile network
- Data Connectivity — the proportion of time when the network is available and the device can connect to the internet
- Task completion — whether tasks initiated by the user’s device are completed
- Sufficiency — The probability that (basic) tasks will be executed sufficiently well for the user
Definitions
Opensignal’s Reliability Experience measures the ability of Opensignal users to connect to and successfully complete (basic) tasks on communication service providers’ (CSP) networks. It analyzes how much Opensignal users’ experience is affected by the radio access and core network, along with issues that prevent them from connecting to the internet even if they have a connection to their CSP’s network. It also factors in users’ ability to successfully use lower performance applications including SD video, over-the-top voice calls and web browsing.
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.
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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