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Five in a row: T-Mobile wins the umlaut connect Mobile Benchmark in the Netherlands again
2020/12/08 - With the grade “outstanding”, KPN ranks second, Vodafone ranks third showing “very good” results
Aachen, 2020/12/08 - For the sixth time, umlaut, the global consultancy company and world leader in mobile network testing and benchmarking, and connect, the international telecommunication test magazine for consumers, have assessed the mobile networks in the Netherlands. Following a series of both drive tests and walk tests as well as crowdsourcing measurements, T-Mobile is the overall winner and was named “Best in Test” operator of the country – for the fifth time in a row. KPN follows at a close distance. Both operators achieve the grade “outstanding“. Vodafone ranks third place, with “very good” results.
Hakan Ekmen, CEO Telecommunication at umlaut, explains: “Congratulations to the Netherlands and T-Mobile being ’Best in Test’ for the fifth time in a row in our umlaut connect Mobile Benchmark. Again, all operators show excellent performances with their networks. On top, we already see a very good 5G coverage and performance in the Netherlands.”
T-Mobile takes the win with an overall score of 962 out of 1,000 points. The operator leads in the Voice and Crowdsourcing discipline, while also providing very good results in the Data discipline, including 5G. KPN ranks second, scoring eight points behind the overall winner with 954 points. The operator leads the field in terms of Data performance. This is also due to its convincing results in the 5G assessment. With 945 points, Vodafone ranks third with a strong performance. While the operator scores a little behind its competitors in the drive tests and walk tests, Vodafone achieves particularly strong results in the Crowdsourcing category, especially due to the analysis’ best latency results.

The drive tests and walk tests were conducted during November 2020.
They covered inner-city areas, outer metropolitan and suburban areas.
Also, measurements were taken in smaller towns and cities and along
connecting highways. Four drive test cars covered 5,760 kilometres
together. The areas selected for the 2020/2021 test account for more than 6.2
million people, or roughly 36.3 per cent of the total population of the
Netherlands. Additionally, umlaut conducted crowd-based analyses of the
Dutch networks contributing 20 per cent to the end result - with more
than 45,000 Dutch users contributing around 240 million measurement
samples between late May and early November 2020. The crowdsourcing test
area represents 98.8 percent of the Netherland’s built-up area.
For the first time, the regular measurement scope also included 5G.
Where the new network is available, it was also registered in our drive
tests and walk tests and thus already plays an important role in the
Data discipline – depending, of course, on the roll-out status achieved.
In view of the surprisingly good results of the candidates and the
importance of 5G for the future, connect decided to award an innovation
accolade for the 5G roll-out in the Netherlands. All three operators
offer a very high reliability during 5G downloads. In a neck-and-neck
race between KPN and T-Mobile in this category, KPN is slightly ahead
and thus receiving the "5G Innovation Award 2021”.
In comparison to the umlaut connect Mobile Benchmark in 2019, all
three operators have lost some points. Dirk Waasen, director of WEKA
MEDIA PUBLISHING and publisher of connect, explains: “As we continuously
adapt the test’s scoring thresholds to reflect the latest technological
advancements, achieving score gains becomes more and more difficult –
even for strong contenders. Also, our Crowdsourcing methodology has been
significantly updated, making the results in this discipline not 1:1
comparable to those of our previous benchmark. However, what is most
important this year: All three Dutch operators manage to provide very
stable connections to their users – even in today‘s particularly
demanding times.”
The carefully designed 2020/2021 benchmark in the Netherlands reflects the
holistic approach to evaluate and objectively compare the performance
and service quality of mobile networks from the users’ perspective. It
combines drive tests and walk tests – for detailed voice and data
measurements under controlled circumstances – with a comprehensive
analysis of crowdsourcing data.
The umlaut connect Mobile Benchmark is totally independent combining
the expertise of umlaut, the industry’s advocate and global authority
regarding measuring network performance, with more than 25 years of
editorial experience and testing knowledge of connect that is regarded
as a leading consumer authority in Europe. The independent benchmark
methodology of umlaut assures a fair, transparent and neutral evaluation
of the networks under test. The benchmark is positioned to be a unique
measure for management and supervisory boards to compare their networks
with others, and for customers to get a better understanding of how the
different networks perform.
Please find the full English report below.
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