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 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 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 benchmarking methodology is the de-facto industry standard today and is applied in more than 80 countries worldwide.

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.

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