Mexican operators are yet to launch 5G services on a large commercial scale. The Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) made spectrum in 600 MHz and 3.3 GHz bands available for potential use for 5G deployments and the Mexican government recommended a two-year exemption in annual licence payments for operators willing to roll out 5G networks in the 600 MHz and 1500 MHz, based on commercial concessions that will be issued in 2021 and 2022.
Key findings
AT&T dethrones Telcel in the Voice App Experience category
Ever since we introduced the award for Voice App Experience in Mexico in October 2019, Telcel has won it in all our reports — until now, as AT&T comes first this time. However, AT&T won by a hair, scoring 74.7, just 0.2 points above Telcel. Both operators surpassed 74 points in this category and regained their Acceptable ratings, that their briefly lost in our last report.
Another triumph for AT&T for 4G Availability
AT&T has secured its seventh consecutive victory for 4G availability, this time with a score of 90.3% — 3.6 percentage points ahead of Telcel. This means that AT&T has increased its lead by 0.3 percentage points compared to our previous report. However, Telcel again rated the highest for 4G Coverage Experience, winning the award again with a score of 7.5 points — up by 0.2 points from that seen last time.
Telcel claims the Download Speed Experience award again
Our Telcel users enjoyed the fastest download speeds in Mexico — 26.3 Mbps, significantly higher than those experienced by our Movistar (15.7 Mbps) and AT&T (14.6 Mbps) users. However, Telcel’s Download Speed Experience score slightly declined by 1.1 Mbps (4.1%), while third-placed AT&T managed to reduce the gap between it and its competitors, with an increase of 0.9 Mbps (6.8%).
Telcel wins the Upload Speed Experience, but others are closing the gap
Telcel came victorious in the Upload Speed Experience category yet again, with 10.1 Mbps — beating the runner-up AT&T by 2.2 Mbps. Our users on both AT&T and Movistar observed increased average upload speeds, compared to our previous report — by 0.5 Mbps (7.0%) and 0.8 Mbps (11.9%) respectively.