Saudi Arabia
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.
Saudi Arabia
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
Mobily wins the Best Network award
Mobily earns the title of Best Network, which recognizes operators providing outstanding overall experiences nationally in key Opensignal metrics.
stc sweeps the speed experience awards
stc takes home the Download Speed Experience, Upload Speed Experience, 5G Download Speed Experience and 5G Upload Speed Experience awards — all won outright. In the previous report, Mobily pulled ahead of stc for 5G Upload Speed Experience award, which stc now wins back.
The best video experience is on the Mobily network
Mobily wins both the Video and 5G Video Experience awards. It claims the Video Experience award with a score of 64.4 (on a 100-point scale) and a lead of over three points on stc. The operator also comes first for 5G Video Experience with a score of 74.5 and a lead of almost three points on stc.
stc once again takes the Coverage and 5G Coverage Experience awards home
stc continues their run of domination on the Coverage and 5G Coverage Experience awards. It wins with a 8.5 (out of 10 possible points) in Coverage Experience and a sizeable, nearly three-point lead over Mobily. stc also scores a leading 3.1 points for 5G Coverage Experience, over a point ahead of second-place Mobily.
Mobily now wins the Reliability Experience outright
In the previous report, Mobily and stc won Reliability Experience jointly with statistically-tied scores of 805 and 804 respectively on a 100-1000 scale. While both operators improved their scores, Mobily now wins Reliability Experience outright with a score of 849, while stc scored a respectable 820.
Mobile Experience Awards
Market Overview
It is a two-horse race in Saudi Arabia, as Mobily and stc end with seven awards each. Both win six outright and one jointly, sharing the winners’ podium for Games Experience. Mobily wins include outright wins in Consistent Quality and Reliability. tc wins both Coverage Experience & 5G Coverage Experience outright, along with all four speed awards.
Mobily also earns the title of Best Network, which recognizes operators providing outstanding overall experiences nationally in key Opensignal metrics.
At the end of June, the Communications, Space & Technology Commission of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia published their Spectrum Outlook for Commercial and Innovative Use 2025-2027. The plan goes over the Kingdom’s plans for increasing capacity for mobile networks via new spectrum and the future usage of spectrum for broader satellite, fixed wireless and private network usage. Opensignal has written about the high adoption of FWA in Saudi Arabia here. In other recent news, operator Zain KSA and technology company Huawei have finished deploying 600 mhz 5G Standalone, also known as 5G+, for commercial purposes. Zain KSA’s initial zone of 5G+ Coverage is currently only in some parts of Riyadh and will expand later to all of Riyadh and Jeddah. Zain’s CTO Mohammad AlNujaidi commented that “This deployment represents a major leap forward in expanding Zain KSA’s 5G reach and reliability, empowering individual and enterprise users with high-performance digital experiences. Also, by enabling wide-area coverage with fewer sites, the technology supports more efficient infrastructure, reinforcing our commitment to sustainable innovation.”
In this report we examine the mobile network experience of the three main mobile network operators in Saudi Arabia — Mobily, stc and Zain — over a period of 90 days starting on July 1, 2025, and ending on September 28, 2025, to see how they fared.
Overall Experience
National Analysis
Mobily wins the Video Experience award outright again with a score of 64.4 points on a 100-point scale and a lead of three points over second-placed stc's 61 points. Zain comes third with a score of 54.8 points.
Stc and Mobily place in the Good (58-68) category, while Zain places one category lower, in Fair (48-58).
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. A Fair (48-58) rating means that our users are, on average, able to stream video at 720p or better with satisfactory loading times and substantial 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
In the previous report, Mobily won the Games Experience award outright. Stc and Mobily win the Games Experience award jointly with statistically tied scores of 69.2-69.4 points on a 100-point scale and a lead of around 15 points over third-placed Zain's 54.1 points.
Stc and Mobily place in the Fair (65-75) category, while Zain places one category lower, in Poor (40-65).
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
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
stc retains the Download Speed Experience award,with a score of 63.8Mbps and a lead of almost 7Mbps over second-placed Mobily's 56.9Mbps. Zain comes third with a score of 43.7Mbps.
Stc, Mobily and Zain increased their scores by 9Mbps, 3Mbps and 2Mbps respectively.
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
stc remains the sole winner of the Upload Speed Experience award, with a score of 13.4Mbps, commanding a lead of 1Mbps over second-placed Mobily's 12.3Mbps. Zain comes third with a score of 7.9Mbps.
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).
Regional Analysis
Regional Analysis Summary: Saudi Arabia, Mobile Network Experience Report, October 2025
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A-I
- Abha
- Al Hofuf
- Dammam
- Hail
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J-R
- Jeddah
- Khamis Mushayt
- Madina
- Mecca
- Riyadh
in Abha
in Abha
in Abha
in Abha
in Al Hofuf
in Al Hofuf
in Al Hofuf
in Al Hofuf
in Dammam
in Dammam
in Dammam
in Dammam
in Hail
in Hail
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in Hail
in Jeddah
in Jeddah
in Jeddah
in Jeddah
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in Khamis Mushayt
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in Riyadh
in Riyadh
in Riyadh
5G Experience
National Analysis
Once again, Mobily wins the 5G Video Experience award outright with a score of 74.5 points on a 100-point scale and a lead of three points over second-placed stc's 71.6 points. Zain comes third with a score of 69.5 points.
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.
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
Mobily again wins the 5G Games Experience award outright with a score of 81.1 points on a 100-point scale and a winning margin of two points over second-placed stc's 79.1 points. Zain comes third with a score of 62.2 points.
Stc and Mobily place in the Good (75-85) category, while Zain places two categories lower, in Poor (40-65).
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.
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
stc defends the 5G Download Speed award outright with a score of 253.9Mbps, beating the runner-up Zain by 29Mbps. Mobily comes third with a score of 214.2Mbps.
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
After Mobily won 5G Upload Speed in the previous report, stc reclaims this award with a score of 27.8Mbps, beating Mobily by 1Mbps..
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).
Regional Analysis
Regional Analysis Summary: Saudi Arabia, Mobile Network Experience Report, October 2025
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A-I
- Abha
- Al Hofuf
- Dammam
- Hail
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J-R
- Jeddah
- Khamis Mushayt
- Madina
- Mecca
- Riyadh
in Abha
in Abha
in Abha
in Abha
in Al Hofuf
in Al Hofuf
in Al Hofuf
in Al Hofuf
in Dammam
in Dammam
in Dammam
in Dammam
in Hail
in Hail
in Hail
in Hail
in Jeddah
in Jeddah
in Jeddah
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in Khamis Mushayt
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Coverage
National Analysis
stc again wins the Coverage Experience award outright with a score of 8.5 points on a 10-point scale and a lead of three points over second-placed Mobily's 5.6 points. Zain comes third with a score of 4.5 points. This score indicates that stc has the widest and most extensive geographic coverage footprint in populated areas among Saudi Arabia’s mobile operators.
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
stc remains the sole winner of the 5G Coverage Experience award with a score of 3.1 points on a 10-point scale and a lead of over one point over second-placed Mobily's 1.8 points. Zain comes third with a score of 1.4 points.
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
Mobily keeps the Availability award in a firm grip, claiming it once again, this time a score of 98% and a lead of less than one percentage point over second-placed stc's 97.4%. Zain comes third with a score of 95.7%. These figures represent the proportion of time Opensignal users spend with a 5G, 4G, or 3G mobile 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.
Regional Analysis
Regional Analysis Summary: Saudi Arabia, Mobile Network Experience Report, October 2025
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A-I
- Abha
- Al Hofuf
- Dammam
- Hail
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J-R
- Jeddah
- Khamis Mushayt
- Madina
- Mecca
- Riyadh
in Abha
in Abha
in Abha
in Al Hofuf
in Dammam
in Dammam
in Dammam
in Hail
in Jeddah
in Jeddah
in Jeddah
in Khamis Mushayt
in Khamis Mushayt
in Khamis Mushayt
in Madina
in Madina
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Consistency
National Analysis
Mobily retains the top spot for Consistent Quality. It wins the award outright with a score of 63.9% and a lead of five percentage points over second-placed stc's 58.6%. Zain comes third with a score of 38.3%.
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
Mobily breaks out of a statistical tie it was in with stc for Reliability Experience in the previous report. It now wins the Reliability Experience award outright with a score of 849 points on a 100-1000 point scale and a lead of 29 points over second-placed stc's 820 points. Zain comes third with a score of 729 points.
Mobily's score improved by 43 points while Stc's score improved by 16 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.
Regional Analysis
Regional Analysis Summary: Saudi Arabia, Mobile Network Experience Report, October 2025
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A-I
- Abha
- Al Hofuf
- Dammam
- Hail
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J-R
- Jeddah
- Khamis Mushayt
- Madina
- Mecca
- Riyadh
in Abha
in Abha
in Al Hofuf
in Al Hofuf
in Dammam
in Dammam
in Hail
in Hail
in Jeddah
in Jeddah
in Khamis Mushayt
in Khamis Mushayt
in Madina
in Madina
in Mecca
in Mecca
in Riyadh
in Riyadh
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