The latest 5G report from Opensignal has revealed the top mobile operators in Canada in terms of 5G download speed and 5G upload speed between April 1, 2022 and June 29, 2022.
Customers have experienced 5G download speed of 136.5 Mbps at Bell, 135.6 Mbps at Telus and 98.1 Mbps at Rogers.
Customers have experienced 5G upload speed of 24.2 Mbps at Rogers, 18.5 Mbps at Telus and 18.2 Mbps at Bell.
The margin is substantial as the average 5G download speeds of Bell and Telus users was 38.6-39.1 percent faster than the speeds seen by Rogers users (98.1 Mbps).
Rogers leads in 5G Reach and 5G Availability. Rogers users spent 13.3 percent of the time with an active 5G connection compared with 11.4-11.9 percent 5G Availability seen by Telus and Bell users. Rogers also wins 5G Reach outright with a score of 5.2 on a 10 point scale, just ahead of Bell and Telus’ scores in the 4.8-4.9 point range. 5G Reach represents the proportion of locations a 5G user visits that have a 5G signal.
Carriers have recently begun the process of deploying this new mid-band spectrum for 5G services after securing 3.5GHz spectrum during the 5G auction last summer.
Rogers launched mid-band 5G — with its first location going live in Nanaimo, British Columbia. Rogers aims to expand it to urban centers — Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver — and multiple rural areas.
Bell has made 5G Available with 3.5 GHz in Toronto, Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Barrie and select areas of Mississauga under the 5G+ banner.
Telus also announced that it will be using the new spectrum to offer 5G through an Unlimited 5G+ package.
Operators are well into the 5G deployment cycle. Still, the 4G/5G uplift in Canada’s user experience has been lower than that seen by their peers in other 5G countries. This is because Canadian carriers have been limited to deploying 5G in lower spectrum bands.
The use of 3.5 GHz spectrum band for 5G in Canada should help carriers to accelerate the 5G experience. Previously Canadian carriers have been limited in the amount of new spectrum that is usable for 5G and often deployed 5G in lower bands, Opensingal said in its report.