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.
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.
Telekom remains on top for Reliability Experience, scoring 925 points (on a 100–1000 scale) ahead of O2 (912) and Vodafone (899). All operators improved versus the last report, showing a broad uplift of mobile network reliability in Germany. This mirrors last year’s result when we first introduced the Reliability award, as Telekom continues to lead.
Telekom now wins 5G Download Speed outright with 173.8Mbps, ahead of Vodafone (154.3Mbps) and O2 (114.5Mbps), revising last report’s finding when Vodafone and Telekom tied with equivalent experience for the joint win. Since the last report, Telekom’s 5G speed rose while Vodafone and O2 declined.
O2 retains the Coverage Experience award with 8.7/10, narrowly ahead of Telekom (also 8.7/10, but lower at the decimal level). In 5G Coverage Experience, Telekom leads with 5.6/10, ahead of Vodafone (5.0) and O2 (4.4). This aligns with the previous report’s message that O2 led overall coverage while Telekom led on 5G coverage — both positions remain.
Updating last report’s claim that Telekom held both Video Experience awards: Telekom and O2 now share the overall Video Experience, while O2 wins 5G Video Experience outright just ahead of Telekom. Meanwhile, Telekom remains top for Games Experience overall and on 5G.
Telekom keeps the Availability award with 98.1%, now less than one percentage point ahead of Vodafone and O2. On 5G Availability, Telekom leads at 21.7%. Compared with the last report, Vodafone improved strongly overall and on 5G. Telekom still leads, but competitors have tightened the race.
Telekom wins both Download Speed Experience (68.9Mbps) and Upload Speed Experience (13.2Mbps). Vodafone follows on download, with O2 coming next, while on upload O2 is ahead of Vodafone. Compared to the previous report, O2’s download rose the most (+7Mbps), Telekom gained +4Mbps, and Vodafone dipped -1Mbps.
Germany’s mobile market is dominated by three main network operators — Deutsche Telekom (Telekom), Vodafone, and O2 Telefónica — while a fourth player, 1&1, is emerging as a challenger as it progresses with expansion of its own 5G network.
Telekom continues to dominate the German mobile network experience, winning 11 awards outright and sharing the Video Experience award with O2. Out of the 14 total awards in this report, Telekom misses out only two – most prominently on Coverage Experience which O2 retains as an outright win from the previous report, and 5G Video Experience which O2 snatched for itself.
In this report, Opensignal recognizes Telekom as Germany’s Best Network. Telekom distinguishes itself with the most reliable connections, the most consistent quality, and the fastest download speeds — all backed by outstanding coverage results nationwide. These results reflect Telekom’s strong focus on network leadership and customer experience. At Deutsche Telekom’s 2024 Capital Markets Day, the group emphasized its ambition to offer “the best products and the best services on the best network,” and stated that “turning customers into fans is at the heart of our strategy” – proving commitment to this in its home market.
The wider German market remains highly competitive, shaped by two key structural trends. First, operators have completed their 3G shutdowns and now face challenges in phasing out 2G networks due to continued reliance of legacy and IoT devices. Second, coverage obligations linked to spectrum licence extensions are shaping investment strategies in infrastructure modernization and expansion. These efforts have particularly improved connectivity along transport corridors such as motorways and railways, as shown in our recent analysis of the market.
Deutsche Telekom plans to switch off its 2G (GSM) network by June 2028, refarming spectrum to 4G and 5G. It will ensure that remaining 2G-only areas receive 4G/5G coverage before the shutdown. Telekom has also prepared its network for Next Generation eCall (NG eCall), the LTE/IMS-based emergency call system, amid ongoing debate about reliance on 2G for critical services. Alongside these efforts, Telekom is expanding its Open RAN deployment and network modernization initiatives.
Vodafone aims to retire its 2G network by September 2028, maintaining limited 2G support for essential IoT use until end-2030. Already last year the operator completed its nationwide 5G Standalone (SA) rollout — branded “5G+” — offering lower latency and higher capacity for consumers and Industry 4.0, having back then stated its 5G network had 92% population coverage. Although Germany remains a challenging market for Vodafone commercially, recent results indicate that Vodafone’s network upgrade programme is beginning to deliver improvements.
O2 Telefónica continues to expand its 5G network rapidly, reporting over 98% population coverage in H1 2025. It is also activating additional 3.6GHz capacity across major cities including Berlin, Hamburg, Bremen, Dresden, Frankfurt am Main, Mannheim, Munich, Essen, Düsseldorf, and Cologne — part of a sustained build-out programme running through 2024–2025.
1&1 operates a cloud-native Open RAN 5G network, and continues its rollout nationwide. The first phase of expansion focuses on cities and urban areas with high population density. In locations where the 1&1 5G network does not yet have its own coverage during the rollout, customers automatically use the antennas of the national roaming partner, Vodafone, throughout the country.
With four MNOs now active in 5G — from Vodafone’s nationwide 5G Standalone and O2’s broad population coverage to Telekom’s Open RAN expansion and 1&1 progressing with its network rollout — Germany’s mobile landscape is undergoing structural transition. Operators are refarming spectrum, preparing for the 2G sunset, and optimizing their live 5G networks.
In this report we examine the mobile network experience of the three main mobile network operators in Germany — O2, Telekom and Vodafone — over a period of 90 days starting on July 1, 2025, and ending on September 28, 2025, to see how they fared.
In the previous report, Telekom won the Video Experience award. This time, Telekom and O2 share the Video Experience award with statistically tied scores of 69.5-69.7 points (out of 100), putting them around two points ahead of Vodafone at 67.1 points.
Since the last report, O2’s score is up by three points, Telekom’s by one point, and Vodafone’s by one point.
Telekom and O2 fall into the Very Good (68-78) category, while Vodafone is one step lower in Good (58-68).
Very Good (68-78) means users can generally stream at 1080p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling. Good (58-68) means users can generally stream at 720p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling.
Video Experience scores reflect adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR), which lets us represent real-world video quality up to 4K.
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:
Like in the previous report, Telekom wins the Games Experience award. Telekom now wins the Games Experience award outright with 82.2 points (out of 100), leading by five points over O2 at 77.5 points. Vodafone ranks third with 75.8 points.
O2’s score is up by five points, Telekom’s by four points, and Vodafone’s by one point.
All operators rate as Good (75-85). Good experience means most users find gameplay acceptable. Controls generally feel responsive with immediate feedback, and most users do not notice delay between their actions and the game.
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:
Like in the previous report, Telekom wins the Download Speed Experience award. Telekom now wins the Download Speed Experience award outright with 68.9Mbps, leading by 13Mbps over Vodafone at 56.3Mbps. O2 is third at 47.4Mbps.
Since the last report, O2’s average download speed has increased by 7Mbps, Telekom’s by 4Mbps, while Vodafone’s has decreased by 1Mbps.
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:
Like in the previous report, Telekom wins the Upload Speed Experience award. Telekom now wins the Upload Speed Experience award outright with 13.2Mbps, about 2Mbps ahead of O2 at 11.1Mbps. Vodafone places third with 10.8Mbps.
O2’s upload speed has increased by 1Mbps, while Telekom’s and Vodafone’s have each decreased by 1Mbps since the last report.
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:
In the previous report, Telekom won the 5G Video Experience award. O2 now wins the 5G Video Experience award outright with 76.4 points (out of 100), narrowly ahead of Telekom at 76.2 points. Vodafone follows with 75.1 points.
O2’s score is up by one point, while Vodafone’s and Telekom’s are each down by one point.
All operators are rated Very Good (68-78). Very Good experience means users can generally stream at 1080p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling.
5G Video Experience scores reflect adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR), representing real user video quality up to 4K.
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.
Like in the previous report, Telekom wins the 5G Games Experience award. Telekom now wins the 5G Games Experience award outright with 91.1 points (out of 100), two points ahead of O2 at 89.2 points. Vodafone follows with 88.2 points.
O2 is up by four points, Telekom and Vodafone are each up by one point.
All operators are rated Excellent (85 or above).
Excellent (85 or above) means the vast majority of users find the experience acceptable — controls feel in their hands, feedback is immediate, and noticeable delay is rare.
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.
In the previous report, Telekom and Vodafone shared the 5G Download Speed award. Telekom now wins the 5G Download Speed award outright with 173.8Mbps, 20Mbps ahead of Vodafone at 154.3Mbps. O2 places third with 114.5Mbps.
Telekom’s 5G download speed is up by 7Mbps, while Vodafone’s is down by 11Mbps and O2’s by 6Mbps since the last report.
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).
Like in the previous report, Telekom wins the 5G Upload Speed award. Telekom now wins the 5G Upload Speed award outright with 27.2Mbps, 5Mbps ahead of Vodafone at 21.9Mbps. O2 follows with 20.3Mbps.
O2’s speed has increased by less than 1Mbps, while Vodafone’s is down by 5Mbps and Telekom’s by 4Mbps since the last report.
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).
Like in the previous report, O2 wins the Coverage Experience award. O2 now wins the Coverage Experience award outright with 8.7 points on a 10-point scale, a lead of less than one point over second-placed Telekom’s 8.7 points. Vodafone is third with 8.5 points.
Vodafone, Telekom and O2 have each increased by less than one point since the previous report.
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.
Like in the previous report, Telekom wins the 5G Coverage Experience award. Telekom now wins the 5G Coverage Experience award outright with 5.6 points on a 10-point scale, one point ahead of Vodafone at five points. O2 scores 4.4 points.
Vodafone, O2 and Telekom have each increased by around one point since the previous report.
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.
Like in the previous report, Telekom wins the Availability award. Telekom now wins the Availability award outright with 98.1%, leading by less than one percentage point over Vodafone and O2, which are statistically tied at 97.6-97.7%.
Compared with the last report, Vodafone is up by two percentage points, O2 by one point, and Telekom by one point.
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.
Like in the previous report, Telekom wins the 5G Availability award. Telekom now wins the 5G Availability award outright with 21.7%, four percentage points ahead of Vodafone at 16.9% and O2 at 15.4%.
Since the last report, Vodafone is up by four percentage points, O2 by three points, and Telekom by two points.
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.
Like in the previous report, Telekom wins the Consistent Quality award. Telekom now wins the Consistent Quality award outright with 80%, four percentage points ahead of O2 at 75.6%. Vodafone follows with 73.6%.
This metric checks whether the network is good enough to support common mobile apps and more demanding tasks. It considers download and upload speeds, latency, jitter, packet loss, and time to first byte.
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.
Like in the previous report, Telekom wins the Reliability Experience award. Telekom now wins the Reliability Experience award outright with 925 points on a 100-1000 point scale, 13 points ahead of O2 at 912 points. Vodafone follows with 899 points.
Compared with the last report, O2 is up by 27 points, Vodafone by 23 points, and Telekom by 22 points.
Opensignal’s Reliability Experience measures how consistently users can connect and complete basic tasks. It includes:
% time connected — how often users can connect to a mobile network
Data Connectivity — how often the network is available and the device can access the internet
Task completion — whether tasks started by the device are completed
Sufficiency — the likelihood that basic tasks will be executed well enough for the user
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.
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.
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.
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.
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