Mobile networks: Orange dominates 4G, difficult beginnings of Free's 5G

Good news: the overall quality of mobile internet and telecoms networks has made a qualitative leap in 2021. But all four operators have not had the same progress.

Arcep published on Friday its annual assessments of the quality of service provided on mobile networks in France.

For this, it carried out from May to September last more than a million measurements in different conditions such as rural areas or public transport.

The annual report cards have fallen, room for the class council.

First assessment on the original purpose of mobile networks: to phone and send a message.

Across the country, the Orange student has "a call rate maintained for 2 minutes and without disruption" the highest (86%), followed by Bouygues Telecom and SFR (82%) and Free Mobile (81% ).

Similar ranking for receiving SMS as fast as an Olympic 100m.

96% are received in less than 10 seconds at Orange, 94% for Bouygues Telecom and SFR, and 92% for Free Mobile.

The operators are in a pocket handkerchief for the average call establishment time, around 2 seconds, except for Free Mobile which climbs to 3 seconds.

The 4G offer on the rise

Arcep has also taken an interest in mobile Internet - mainly carried by 4G networks - by testing the display of websites in several configurations. In dense and intermediate areas, that is to say urban centers well equipped with antennas, the Orange network displays web pages in less than 5 seconds in 98% of cases, Bouygues Telecom is not far away (96 %) like SFR (95%) then Free Mobile (93%). In rural areas, Free Mobile (83%) comes close to the incumbent operator Orange (90%) while Bouygues Telecom and SFR are on an equal footing (81%). “This indicator, on average across all operators, has gained more than 8 points in rural areas compared to 2020,” Arcep is satisfied.

Another speed test is the quality of the videos watched in streaming.

Bouygues Telecom is leading the way in dense areas with 94% of videos viewed in optimal quality, followed by Orange (91%) and Free Mobile and SFR (90%).

In places where there are fewer relay antennas, Orange maintains a short lead of 4 points over its competitors, including Free, which ranks second.

Finally to put an end to the mobile Internet part, Orange offered during the tests an average speed in all areas of 110 Mb / s, far ahead of SFR (69 Mb / s) and Bouygues (55 Mb / s) and especially Free Mobile (50 M / s).

5G is not exploiting its potential

Marketed for less than a year, the new generation of mobile Internet or 5G has also been evaluated mainly in large cities where the core of these new networks has been deployed. Arcep has implemented an evaluation method by placing itself in the shoes of a subscriber to a 5G offer with a compatible smartphone.

The biggest contributor to frequency auctions, Orange offers the best downlink speeds, for downloading or streaming for example, with an average of 142 Mb / s for the whole of France. Its customers benefit from an average of 227 Mb / s, i.e. double the 4G speed, under the best conditions and in urban centers. SFR has a 5G offer with 84 Mb / s on average throughout France and 145 Mb / s only in dense areas. Bouygues Telecom is not far away with 71 Mb / s on average and 130 Mbit / s in urban areas. Despite its slogan of "France's leading 5G network" and the cheapest commercial offer, Free Mobile is in last place with 31 Mb / s on average and its 5G network shows little difference between dense areas and intermediate areas. or rural.

However, it should be kept in mind that 5G networks are still in the deployment phase and follow a higher rate than 4G, which will have taken several years to reach its current maturity, which is progressing after a disrupted year 2020.