Spain
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.
Spain
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 has the most reliable experience in Spain
Vodafone is the outright winner of Opensignal’s Reliability Experience award. It wins with a score of 906 points on a 100-1000 point scale — around 10 points ahead of Orange and Movistar, which share second place with their statistically tied scores of 895-896 points. Reliability Experience measures the ability of Opensignal users to connect to and successfully complete basic tasks on operators’ networks.
Movistar users enjoy the best Video Experience
As was the case in the last report, our Movistar users have the best experience when streaming on-demand video — both overall and when connected to 5G. Movistar therefore is once again the outright winner of both the Video Experience and 5G Video Experience awards. Movistar wins Video Experience with a score of 69.1 points on a 100-point scale and a lead of one point over second-placed Vodafone. Movistar is also the only Spanish operator to place in the Very Good (68-78) category — its rivals are in the next category down, Good (58-68). Movistar places first for 5G Video Experience with a score of 76 points and a lead of around two points over Vodafone and Orange, which share second place due to a statistical tie.
The best multiplayer gaming and over-the-top voice app experience is with Vodafone
Vodafone has replaced Movistar as the outright winner of both the overall Games Experience award and the 5G Games Experience award. Vodafone is also the outright winner of both voice app experience awards — overall Voice App Experience and 5G Voice App Experience.
Movistar users continue to see the fastest average speeds
Movistar keeps hold of all four speed awards from the previous report — Download Speed Experience, Upload Speed Experience, 5G Download Speed and 5G Upload Speed. This means that our Movistar users still experience the fastest average speeds in Spain — both when measured across all generations of mobile technology and when connected to 5G specifically. Movistar’s leads for both download speed metrics have increased significantly, while those for Upload Speed Experience and 5G Upload Speed have shrunk. The operator’s Download Speed Experience score has risen by an impressive 32Mbps.
Orange and Vodafone users continue to spend the most time with a mobile broadband connection
As was the case in the last report, Orange and Movistar are joint winners of the Availability award, which recognises operators for the proportion of time that our users spend with a 3G or better connection. They share it this time around with identical scores of 98.9% and a lead of around one percentage point over Vodafone’s and Yoigo’s statistically tied scores of 97.9-98%.
Mobile Experience Awards
Market Overview
Movistar is the most awarded operator in this report — with eight awards won outright and another won jointly. Vodafone is the only other operator to win at least one award outright — it wins Reliability Experience along with all four games and voice app experience awards.
At the start of January 2025, the agreement between Telefónica (Movistar) and DIGI came into force. Under the 16 year deal, Movistar will provide DIGI with domestic roaming and RAN sharing services. DIGI intends to transition from an MVNO to an MNO in Spain over the course of this year — using the spectrum it acquired from the remedies needed to allow the Orange/MasMovil merger to go through — which will become available after mid-2025. However, while DIGI intends to deploy its own mobile sites, according to comments made during its Q3 2024 results call, ‘There is no intention or capacity to build a nationwide mobile network or one that matches the scale of the three existing MNOs in the market.’ As the spectrum available to DIGI is limited it will instead focus on optimising its usage through the combination of its and Movistar’s network.
In this report we examine the mobile network experience of the four main mobile network operators in Spain — Vodafone, Orange, Yoigo and Movistar — over a period of 90 days starting on October 01, 2024, and ending on December 29, 2024, to see how they fared. As both the Orange and Yoigo brands are still present in the market, despite the Orange/MasMovil merger, we continue to report on them separately. Under a deal announced in late October 2024, Ericsson is working to integrate the two networks, and this program will run in parallel with the rollout of 5G standalone access in rural areas.
Overall Experience
National Analysis
As was the case in the last report, our Movistar users have the best overall experience when streaming on-demand video over cellular connections. Movistar therefore remains the winner of the Video Experience award. It wins this time with a score of 69.1 points on a 100-point scale and a lead of one point over second-placed Vodafone’s 67.9 points. Orange comes third with a score of 66.6 points, while Yoigo is in last place with a score of 63.8 points.
Vodafone's, Movistar’s and Orange’s scores have all improved by two points from those seen in the last report. Yoigo's score is statistically unchanged.
Movistar places in the Very Good (68-78) category, while Vodafone, Orange and Yoigo 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
Vodafone wins the Games Experience award outright, replacing the former winner Movistar. Vodafone wins with a score of 71 points on a 100-point scale and a lead of one point over second-placed Movistar’s 69.8 points. Orange comes third with a score of 68.4 points, while Yoigo is last with 66.6 points.
Vodafone's score has increased by one point while Movistar's and Yoigo’s scores have fallen by the same amount. Orange's score hasn't changed by a statistically significant amount from that seen in the previous report.
All operators place in the Fair (65-75) category. This indicates 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
Our Vodafone users have the best overall experience when using over-the-top (OTT) voice services — mobile voice apps such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger. As a result, Vodafone is the outright winner of the Voice App Experience award. It wins with a score of 79.4 points on a 0-100 point scale, giving it a lead of less than one point over second-placed Movistar’s 78.9 points. Orange is in third place with 78.2 points, while Yoigo is in last place with 77.8 points.
All four Spanish operators place in the Acceptable (74-80) category. This means that some of our users are satisfied. Some others experience perceptible call quality impairments, such as clicking sounds of short duration or distortion and/or the volume may not be sufficiently loud. However, 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
Our Movistar users continue to see the fastest overall average speeds in Spain. Movistar therefore keeps hold of the Download Speed Experience award. It wins this time with a score of 77.5Mbps and a lead of 25Mbps over second-placed Orange’s 52.2Mbps. Yoigo comes third with a score of 34.1Mbps, while Vodafone is last with 31.8Mbps.
Movistar's score has increased the most, rising by an impressive 32Mbps. Orange's score has improved by 13Mbps, while Vodafone's is up by 6Mbps. Yoigo's score has increased the least, rising by 3Mbps.
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
Movistar once again wins the Upload Speed Experience award outright with a score of 13.4Mbps and a lead of 1Mbps over Vodafone, which places in second with its score of 12.8Mbps. Orange comes third with a score of 11.1Mbps. Yoigo comes fourth with a score of 9.4Mbps.
Both Vodafone's and Movistar’s scores have increased by 1Mbps. Orange's score has risen by less than 1Mbps. Yoigo's score hasn't changed by a statistically significant amount from that seen in the previous report.
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
Movistar remains the outright winner of the 5G Video Experience award as our Movistar users continue to observe the best experience when streaming on-demand video over 5G connections in Spain. Movistar wins this time around with a score of 76 points on a 100-point scale and a lead of around two points over Vodafone and Orange, which share second place with their statistically tied scores of 73.9-74.1 points. Yoigo comes last with a score of 71 points.
Three out of four Spanish operators’ scores have increased by a statistically significant amount from the previous report — Yoigo being the exception as its score is essentially unchanged. Vodafone's score has increased the most, rising by three points. Orange's score has improved by two points while Movistar's has risen by one.
All operators place in the Very Good (68-78) category. This means that our users are, on average, able to stream video at 1080p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling when connected to 5G.
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, a change from the last report, when Movistar held the award. Vodafone wins with a score of 78 points on a 100-point scale and a lead of one point over second-placed Movistar’s 77 points. Orange comes third with a score of 76.3 points, while Yoigo is in last place with a score of 75.1 points.
All four operators place in the Good (75-85) category. This means that most users deem their experience acceptable when connected to 5G. 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.
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
Vodafone is the outright winner of the 5G Voice App Experience award. It wins with a score of 82.1 points on a 0-100-point scale and a lead of around one point over Movistar’s and Yoigo’s statistically tied scores of 81.2-81.3 points. Orange is in last place with 81 points.
All four Spanish operators place in the Good (80-87) category. This indicates that many of our users are satisfied with their over-the-top voice app experience when connected to 5G. However, minor quality impairments are experienced by some users. For example, clicking sounds of distortion are rarely present.
Definitions
5G Voice App Experience quantifies the experience of Opensignal users when using over-the-top voice apps — such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger — on an operator’s 5G network. It uses 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. 5G Voice App Experience for each operator is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100.
National Analysis
Our Movistar users continue to see the fastest average 5G download speeds in Spain. As a result, Movistar remains the outright winner of the 5G Download Speed award. It wins this time around with a score of 267.4Mbps and a lead of 84Mbps over second–placed Orange’s 183.7Mbps. Yoigo comes third with a score of 134Mbps, while Vodafone is last with 112.9Mbps.
Movistar's lead has increased significantly compared to that seen in the last report as its score has risen by 17Mbps. Orange's and Vodafone’s scores have increased by 8Mbps and 6Mbps, respectively, while Yoigo's has dropped by 9Mbps.
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
Once again, Movistar is the outright winner of the 5G Upload Speed award. It wins this time around with a score of 25.9Mbps and a lead of around 3Mbps over Vodafone and Orange, which share second place with their statistically tied scores of 22.5-22.6Mbps. Yoigo is last with 20.5Mbps.
Movistar’s lead has nearly halved from that seen in the last report as its score has dropped by 3Mbps. Vodafone’s has risen by 2Mbps, while Orange's and Yoigo's scores haven't changed by a statistically significant amount since the previous report.
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
As was the case in the last report, Orange and Movistar are joint winners of the Availability award. They share it this time around with identical scores of 98.9% and a lead of around one percentage point over Vodafone’s and Yoigo’s statistically tied scores of 97.9-98%.
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
Movistar is the new winner of the 5G Availability award, replacing Orange. Movistar wins with a score of 37.7% and a lead of 13 percentage points over second-placed Orange’s 24.3%. Yoigo comes third with a score of 15.2%, while Vodafone is in last place with 14.3%.
Movistar's victory is due to a huge increase of 22 percentage points from that seen in the previous report, which far outstrips the seven percentage point rise in Orange’s score. Both Vodafone’s and Yoigo’s scores have increased by three percentage points.
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
Movistar continues to win the Consistent Quality award outright. It does so this time around with a score of 80.6% and a lead of two percentage points over second-placed Orange’s 78.6%. Yoigo is third with a score of 76.4%, while Vodafone is last with 76%.
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
Vodafone wins the Reliability Experience award outright with a score of 906 points on a 100-1000 point scale and a lead of around 10 points over Orange and Movistar, which share second place with their statistically tied scores of 895-896 points. Yoigo is last with 875 points.
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