However, while the above countries have a larger LTE coverage, the rankings are different when it comes to download speeds and the report shows that it is actually countries who have only recently started implementing LTE that are the ones with faster download speeds.
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The US ranks much higher for overall coverage, with approximately 78 percent of the country served by an LTE signal.
LTE speeds of 20 megabits per second are now common in many countries, according to OpenSignal’s report, conducted using data from June and August and published today. South Korea tops the LTE coverage charts with 97% covered, followed by Japan (90%) and Hong Kong (86%).
A new report from OpenSignal paints a bleak picture of the state of 4G LTE in the United States as it compares to the rest of the world. New Zealand, Singapore and Romania are the top 3 countries to offer the best download speeds with 36Mbps, 33Mbps and 30Mbps respectively, but the United States drops to the No. 55 spot out of all 68 countries listed. Wireless speeds are improving even in regions that have traditionally been slower to adopt new technologies.
The United States was among the first to introduce 4G LTE, along with Japan, Germany and Sweden, but early adoption can only get you so far.
In terms of LTE speeds, the United States was in the bottom third alongside India, Mexico and Kazakhstan with download speeds of 10 Mbps.
“In part, these older networks are suffering from their own success”, notes OpenSignal. Both of those are broadband-quality speeds; the United States, less so: our average is 10Mbps. For newer networks in Europe and South America this problem is not as severe, because they’re not as heavily loaded and fewer subscribers compete over the same resources.
Still, “the USA has also failed to keep up with the rest world in both spectrum and technology”, OpenSignal argued.
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In contrast, the best performing nation for LTE – taking into account a combination of speed and coverage – is South Korea, according to data collected from 325,221 users of OpenSignal, an app that maps cellular coverage. “All of the four major USA operators have been expanding into more frequency bands, but none have been able to match the capacity countries like South Korea and Singapore have plowed into their networks”.
