How America Compares: Mobile Communications
A mobile nation searching for signal.
The calibre of infrastructure used for mobile communications doesn’t always live up to expectations. That’s particularly true in America, where incompatible LTE bands and patchy network coverage can often make internet on the move a rather static (and expensive) experience. It’s interesting to contrast how our oversubscribed and underperforming infrastructure compares to other nations – particularly when identifying scope for future improvements.
That seems crazy when you consider there are now over two billion smartphones in global circulation. It’s been estimated that 90% of Millennials use a phone as their primary internet gateway, and the majority of website visits now come from mobile devices rather than fixed terminals like desktops. It’s a fairly indisputable fact that we are living in a mobile communications golden age. So what’s going on here?
Data Struggles
While 4G is the current standard for wireless communications in most developed nations, the inconsistencies in its adoption provide some useful clues about how the forthcoming 5G standard will be rolled out. Across the pond, the British have some of the world’s fastest 4G connectivity in major cities, underpinning a mobile banking system far more advanced than ours. New Zealand has incredibly fast 4G but with patchy coverage, while the Japanese have the opposite problem – near-universal accessibility but sluggish data transfer speeds.
World Coverage
South Korea is the undisputed world leader in mobile coverage, with a densely-packed population enjoying almost 100% high-speed access. Despite huge infrastructure investment, America’s mobile coverage compares unfavorably even with countries like Kuwait and Hungary. This might be regarded as inevitable, bearing in mind the USA covers 3.8 million square miles and has a widely dispersed population.
However, data released earlier this year by OpenSignal showed that Australia has the fourth-highest 3G/4G availability and the fourth-highest overall speed, despite vast swathes of sparsely populated Outback. America ranked 17th and 38th for availability and speed in OpenSignal’s research, being beaten for speed by Romania and lagging behind Canada for 3G/4G signal availability.
Can You Hear Us Now?
Top nations can often attribute their success to individual cellular providers, with Singapore’s Singtel offering 99.4% outdoor network coverage and speeds of up to 40Mbps. Having invested heavily in submarine cable networks and mobile masts, Singtel now serves almost half the country’s population. And this market dominance is key to its success, compared to the tooth-and-nail battle in America between the big mobile network providers.
Until 2000, Singtel was state-owned, and much of its expertise dates back to an era when it was publicly subsidized. Countries with high levels of public-sector investment in mobile communications also enjoy advantageous conditions for leading communications infrastructure. The UK government has declared war on ‘not-spots’, while British spectrum allocations are awarded to firms who can demonstrate a commitment to improving connectivity and affordability.
A Demanding Economy
After all, improving mobile speeds isn’t rocket science. Network investment and the adoption of new frequency bands will deliver greater capacity and increases in peak speeds, while the introduction of new competitors can also push up industry standards. By comparison, America’s mobile giants are long-established and relatively unwieldy, competing against familiar foes across the same limited spectrum.
This is something 5G’s rollout in the next decade will rectify, adopting radio spectrum frequencies above 6GHz for the first time. It remains to be seen how America’s mobile service providers develop 5G networks compared to other nations, but with an estimated 270 million Americans expected to own mobiles by 2019, tomorrow’s consumers will expect higher levels of service from today’s telco giants.