Ookla Speedtest: Telenor with the fastest mobile network for eight months straight

(Fornebu, 8 May 2017) Numbers from the Ookla Speedtest indicate that Telenor provides the fastest mobile network. Data gathered covers September 2016 until April of this year.

“Our customers are the real winners now that Telenor’s mobile network has been named the fastest for eight months straight. Since we enabled full speed for all mobile customers in September, things have really heated up,” says Bjørn Amundsen, Director of Coverage at Telenor.

Amundsen stresses that Telenor have followed a unique strategy in expanding the network, where different frequencies complement one another.

“The result is a stable and very quick mobile network where you can talk, stream and surf seamlessly. The entire 4G network has been upgraded to 4G+, meaning it is more prepared to deal with large amounts of traffic while also maintaining high speeds,” says Amundsen.

Continuous efforts
Telenor emphasises that the upgrade of Norway’s largest mobile network has been, and still is, a long-term project.

“Everyone should be aware that Telenor’s expansion is a continuous project. We are working constantly, now and in the years to come, to provide Norwegians with world-class coverage. There are still places in which we have not yet upgraded to 4G, but I want people to know we are still working on this challenging expansion project,” says Bjørn Amundsen.

Going forward, Telenor will be expanding their 4G network in an additional 2000 locations, resulting in more than 7300 4G mobile stations. This means that 99.8 percent of the Norwegian population and 85 percent of Norwegian land area will have 4G coverage.

Telenor are currently prioritising the improvement of 4G coverage in Northern Norway, where the road coverage is still a challenge.

Simula: Telenor is the fastest
Bjørn Amundsen spends a lot of his time travelling around Norway to test and improve coverage. In the name of coverage, he logs 180–200 travel days annually; 80,000 km by car, motorcycle or snow mobile. The Ookla statistics confirm his own measured values. Amundsen points out that customers use the Ookla app in many different locations, not just in cities or central areas – the app has a high number of users.

Some more recent results have now been published: Simula’s test.

“Although the methodology of the Simula test is disputed, it is interesting that this additional test also claims that Telenor provide the fastest mobile network. Simula’s speed tests give Telenor a score about 15 percent higher than the runner-up,” explains Amundsen.

Top speed since September
In September 2016, Telenor removed the speed restriction in their mobile subscriptions and enabled unlimited speed for all mobile customers. Since then, Telenor’s customers have achieved the highest speeds in the market. And this is now brought to light through measurements carried out by Ookla and Simula.

Unlimited speed means that both private and business customers get boundless access to potential upload and download speeds on the network, or maximum speed, wherever they are.

“Telenor do not only care about providing an excellent streaming or surfing experience via mobile – we also provide 4G Tale (Voice over LTE) and WiFi Tale (Voice over WiFi) for Android and iPhone, which truly give better voice quality and are historically major efforts for thoroughly improving indoor coverage,” concludes Director of Coverage Bjørn Amundsen.