United Kingdom Mobile Quality Report

Introduction

The mobile market in United Kingdom comprises several operators, of which four have their own networks with nation-wide coverage: EE, O2, Three and Vodafone. Thus, the network situation for these MNOs acts as a trustworthy barometer of the network situation in the country. A good knowledge of the network situation also allows the customers to perform fully informed decisions.

The objective of this report is to provide a summary of the network situation in United Kingdom for these four MNOs.

This report provides a quick overview of the network situation based on the following KPIs:

• Disconnection time: daily average minutes that the users from a MNO have had only emergency coverage or no coverage.
• 4G and 5G time: percentage of time that the users from a MNO have had 4G and, if available, 5G coverage (including 5G NSA and 5G SA).
• 5G penetration and usage: percentage of users that have 5G connectivity, percentage of time in 5G and percentage of active usage of 5G.
• Network status in the Common Coverage Area: an analysis of the network status, based on the signal strength and the signal quality, for the areas where all two MNOs provide coverage.
• Call type: percentage of use of each call type by operator. This shows which technologies each of their customers primarily use.
• Mobile network latency: percentage of customers on different latency ranks. The ranks are selected according to several performance thresholds.

Summary

The UK telecommunications market is controlled by four operators with their own networks and OMVs: EE, O2, Three and Vodafone. Together, they hold 83% of the market.

In this competition to increase its customer base, O2 is the number 1 operator in UK with 28% of the market. Closely followed by EE with 24%, Vodafone with 19% and Three with 12%.

With the recent approval of the merger between Vodafone and Three, the resulting operator will have every chance of becoming the new number 1 in the United Kingdom, with a 31% market share.

Each operator's network performance is very similar. However, there are some notable differences between them.

If we take into account the disconnection time, Vodafone and Three are statistically tied with the shortest daily disconnection time, with 10 to 11 minutes of daily disconnections.

Regarding 5G, Three is the operator with the highest percentage of 5G customers with a 49%.

On the other hand, EE is the operator that presents the longest 5G coverage time for its 5G clients (80%), while Vodafone is the operator that has the longest time of use of 5G coverage with 33%.

If we look at the types of calls, Vodafone customers use VoLTE for the majority of their calls, with 95% of calls made using this technology.

Finally, regarding latency, in general terms, EE has better latency than its competitors, with 94% of its measurements being rated as at least good latency.

The main key figures are the following:

• The four main operators (EE, O2, Vodafone, Three) in United Kingdom provide 4G or 5G coverage to their customers at least 89% of the time.
• 5G is well established in the country, and the number of 5G users is consistent. The MNOs with the most 5G clients are Three with 49% of 5G users, followed by EE with 47%, Vodafone with 39% and finally O2 with 38% of users using this technology.
• Regarding 5G coverage time for 5G clients, EE provides 5G coverage 80% of the time but only active use 11% of the time. It is followed by O2 with 60% of the time with 5G coverage and 12% active use, with 42% of the time with 5G coverage and 16% active use, and finally Vodafone, which despite having only 26% 5G coverage time, has the highest active usage of all operators, with 33%.
• VoLTE calls are especially relevant for all operators, with at least 70% of calls made using this technology.
• EE is the operator that has the best latency for a decent experience in all possible types of use, with 94% of measurements rated as good or excellent.

Methodology

In the following pages an in-depth description of each analyzed KPI can be found, including the methodology and rationale behind them. At a more general level, the following paragraph describes the data collection methodology.

At a more general level, Weplan Analytics collects crowdsourced data from more than 200 million devices in 31 countries. For this analysis, 4,500 million measurements collected between December 2024 and February 2025 were used.

The following map shows the density of measurements taken throughout United Kingdom by Weplan Analytics.

As the four aforementioned MNOs serve their networks to other parties (such as VMNOs, due to roaming agreements or as part of emergency coverage) they have been filtered by the network provider reported in the SIM card.

More details about the methodology can be found here.

Connectivity

Connectivity: Daily disconnection time

The following graphic shows the disconnection time as the average number of minutes that each customer of each MNO experiences disconnections throughout the day.

Disconnection time includes moments when a customer has no coverage at all (such as underground parkings, inside elevators, so far away from an antenna that connection is not possible...) or moments when a customer only has emergency coverage, that is, the ability to perform only emergency calls. This disconnected time may (and, in most cases, will) be discontinuous, and is the average of the daily disconnection time for all users.

If we take into account the disconnection time, Vodafone and Three are statistically tied with the shortest daily disconnection time, with 10 to 11 minutes of daily disconnections.

Among UK operators, Vodafone and Three has the shortest daily disconnection time, with only 10 to 11 minutes of daily disconnections. Three follows closely behind O2 with 13 minutes, and EE with 14 minutes.

Connectivity: 4G and 5G time

As a result of the development of 5G technology, legacy technologies such as the 2G and 3G networks are being turned off with the aim of freeing up electromagnetic spectrum to make room for more modern technologies such as 4G and 5G. This is because the frequencies are limited, so it is necessary to turn off the old ones so that the new ones can occupy those frequencies. Thus, one of the main objectives of operators is to guarantee at least adequate 4G coverage, and for those that already meet this objective, the focus turns to 5G.

Three offers the longest 4G and 5G coverage for its customers, maintaining coverage 97% of the time. Vodafone and EE follow closely behind with 96%, and O2 with 89%.

5G penetration and usage

EE's 5G rollout in the UK began in May 2019. Vodafone began offering commercial 5G services in July 2019, and Three launched its 5G service in August 2019. Finally, O2 launched its 5G network in October 2019.

Despite this early 5G adoption, British users are not enjoying the technology's high speeds due to several decisions that have complicated rapid expansion. Among these decisions, the most significant are:

• In 2020, the British government ordered the retirement of all Huawei 5G-related technology. This forced operators to replace Huawei equipment with Nokia and Ericsson technology, which led to significant increases in costs and time, delaying the expansion of 5G networks.
• 4G technology has been repurposed to create 5G networks, significantly limiting their potential.
• Most 5G networks are using mid-band frequencies, which, while offering a balance between coverage and speed, do not achieve the highest 5G speeds found in high-frequency bands.

The future auction of spectrum in high-frequency bands is expected to resolve some of these issues, but this will not be finalized until the merger between Vodafone and Three (expected to be finalized this semester) and, with this merger, the associated spectrum redistribution.

The possibility of a customer to use the 5G network depends on several factors:

1. Their device must be 5G compatible.
2. The MNO must have a 5G network.
3. The client must contract a mobile plan that allows the 5G to be used, since not all MNOs offer full access to the 5G network as part of their regular plans.

The following charts show the percentage of users per MNO that have 5G access, and the percentage of time they are under 5G coverage. To establish whether a user is a 5G client or not, their 5G connectivity has been checked: if they have connected to the 5G network at least once, they are considered 5G clients.

Percentage of 5G users by carrier

The percentage of 5G customers in the UK is remarkable, with Three having the most 5G customers at 49%. EE is close behind at 47%, Vodafone at 39%, and finally O2 at 38%.

Percentage of time spent under 5G coverage for 5G clients by carrier

If we look at the amount of time each user has 5G coverage available, EE leads the way with 80% of the time available. It's followed by O2 with 60%, Three with 42%, and Vodafone with 26% of the time under 5G coverage.

Percentage of 5G usage time for 5G users

When a user connects to the 5G network, they can do so under a Stand Alone (5G SA, pure 5G) or Non Stand Alone (5G NSA, 5G supported by the LTE network) connection.

When a user connects to the 5G NSA network, they can use only the LTE part (although they still see on their terminal that it is connected to 5G) or also the 5G part. Connecting in one way or another is mainly due to the use and capacity of the network, with the 5G network being prioritized for intensive data uses (e.g. streaming, video calls, video games, etc.) and leaving the 4G network for less intensive uses (e.g. messaging, low consumption web browsing, etc.).

The following graph shows the percentage of time that users are connected to a 5G network and are also using 5G technology.

If we look at the amount of time each user spends on available 5G, Vodafone users use the 5G network 33% of the time, followed by Three at 16%, O2 at 12%, and finally EE at 11% of the time.

4G and 5G network status

There are two main network performance indicators used to address the network status: signal strength and signal quality. Each technology has its own measurements, but two great categories can be established:

• Very Good: the network performance for all usages should be excellent.
• Good: the network performance for all usages may present occasional difficulties but is good overall.
• Fair: most network network-dependent usages (such as calls or data usage) will have at least a decent performance.
• Degraded: network usage may be unstable and unreliable but allows for basic usage such as calls with acceptable quality and very slow data transfer rate.
• Very Degraded: apart from emergency calls network usage is nearly impossible.

There are two ways to analyze these categories: by percentage of covered area or by percentage of measurements.

Most measurements take place in urban areas, where coverage is better.

However, it is important to note that in most countries the majority of the territory is not urban, so the percentage of area with a problematic network situation may be different from the percentage of measurements with a problematic network situation.

Overall, all operators offer decent coverage in the UK's common coverage areas.

EE is the best-performing operator, with 81% of the area rated as at least decent. Vodafone follows closely behind with 79%, O2 with 77%, and Three with 63%.

It's also worth noting that Vodafone is the operator with the largest area rated as at least good, with 38%.

If we look at the measurements rather than the area, the overall picture is very similar.

Vodafone is the best-performing operator, with 75% of measurements rated as at least decent. EE is close behind with 74%, O2 with 69%, and finally Three with 62%.

Call type percentage

Although 2G and 3G technologies allow the use of data, the development of 4G and 5G has left these technologies largely relegated to use in phone calls.

However, not all customers can benefit from VoLTE calls, since in order for them to be used, the following conditions must be met:

1. Your MNO must provide 4G and VoLTE.
2. They must have a phone capable of making VoLTE calls and a mobile plan that includes VoLTE.
3. Your phone must be approved by the MNO and the manufacturer to make VoLTE calls.

The last condition means that a customer, without changing their phone, can have VoLTE with one operator, but not have it with another. When a 4G connected customer without VoLTE capability (for any reason) attempts to make a call, a handover process to the 2G or 3G network occurs.

This process, depending on the method applied, is called CSFB (the most common) or SRVCC. In addition, there is also VoWiFi (Voice over Wi-Fi) technology, which is used when a Wi-Fi network is available.

VoLTE is the most widely used technology by Vodafone customers, with at least 93% of calls using this technology. Three follows with 91%, EE with 89%, and O2 with 70%.

It's worth noting that O2 still maintains a significant percentage of calls made over 3G.

Latency status

Latency is the measurement of how much time it takes for the information to be transmitted between the user and the network. A lower latency means a faster, and smoother network experience, whereas a higher latency means that the network experience will not be as good, or even unusable. This makes latency a good indicator for user experience. We have divided latency in four main groups:

• Excellent latency: very smooth user experience, even with the most data-intensive usage, such as gaming or 4K streaming.
• Good latency: good user experience, although gaming may not be as fluid and 4K may present occasional problems.
• Degraded latency: mediocre user experience. Gaming and 4K are either uncomfortable or impossible, videochat may present noticeable lag, messaging with multimedia may take a long time to load and loading a web may be slow.
• Bad latency: essentially unusable network. Only the lightest usage, such as sending messages without multimedia works decently.

There is very little difference in latency between operators.

EE has the best results, with 94% of its measurements rated as good or excellent. Vodafone follows with 92%, Three with 90%, and O2 with 85% of measurements rated as good or excellent.