Research by OpenSignal found 4G connectivity is becoming more ubiquitous globally, even in underdeveloped markets, while European countries lead the world in delivering a superior mobile experience overall.

The wireless mapping company’s study, which examined the status of mobile networks in 87 countries between January and March based on five key metrics, found average 4G availability across the markets was close to 80 per cent, while 15 markets scored more than 90 per cent.

Four European countries made the top ten for 4G availability (Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and Hungary), while the US and India also made the cut.

However, while the US and India hit high rankings for 4G availability, both were “distinctly mid-table in all other key metrics”, noted OpenSignal.

South Korea topped the 4G availability metric, with Japan in second.

Europe dominates
Out of the five metrics measured by OpenSignal (4G availability; video experience; download speed experience; upload speed experience; and latency), European countries “dominated”, it said.

For example, six European countries made the top ten for its latency experience analysis, with only 13 countries in total averaging scores under 30 milliseconds.

Europe was also the best for video experience, with only six countries out of 25 ranked “very good” coming from outside the continent.

“A look the leading countries across OpenSignal’s metrics show the preeminence of Europe,” the company stated. “In a ranking of the top ten countries who scored highly across all five our key metrics, only two were from outside Europe.”

In other highlights, South Korea, where operators have now launched 5G, was the only country where smartphone users enjoyed average download speeds of more than 50Mb/s, with Norway in second with 48.2Mb/s. The global average from the 87 countries stood at 17.6Mb/s.