Opensignal’s 2026 5G Global Awards name SK Telecom and Vivo as download speed winners in separate market groups, with other operators leading coverage and reliability.

South Korea’s SK Telecom displaced KT at the top of the small land-area category, recording an average 5G download speed of 495.1 Mbps. Brazil’s Vivo retained its large land-area title with 324.3 Mbps. Brazilian rivals Claro and TIM received Global Leader recognition, the tier below Global Winner.

The annual awards assess national mobile network experience across seven categories. Opensignal said the results draw on billions of real-world user experiences collected between 1 January and 29 June 2026.

“The consumer connectivity experience is at the core of everything we do at Opensignal. As the role of 5G in modern life grows, the bar for what great 5G looks like keeps rising. The best operators in the world are defined by how well they deliver on that challenge, and this year’s Global 5G Award winners set the standard.”

Shawn Heidel, President, Network Experience at Opensignal

Opensignal divides providers by market size: the large land-area group covers markets above 200,000 km², while the small land-area group covers those below that threshold. The company uses this division to account for the different challenges of providing 5G across extensive and compact geographies. The speed results therefore represent winners within separate groups, rather than a single global ranking.

Coverage and time on 5G

T-Mobile US retained the large land-area award for 5G Coverage Experience, while Singapore’s Singtel retained the small land-area title. Opensignal’s coverage metric assesses the extent of 5G service while accounting for populated areas.

The new ‘Time on 5G’ category measures a different aspect of connectivity: the proportion of time subscribers with 5G-capable devices spent on an active 5G connection. T-Mobile US led the large land-area group at 79.7 percent, and Singapore’s StarHub led the small land-area group at 68.2 percent.

These measures distinguish the geographical reach of service from the time subscribers actually spend connected to 5G. Singtel and StarHub’s separate wins illustrate how those categories can produce different leaders within the same market.

Reliability results identified another set of winners. Opensignal defines reliability through users’ ability to connect and complete tasks consistently. Japan’s au and SoftBank shared the large land-area title. In the small land-area group, Denmark’s Norlys and Telenor tied with A1’s networks in Austria and Slovenia.

Video, games, and voice results

The Netherlands’ Odido was the sole small land-area winner for 5G Video Experience, scoring 79.9 out of 100. The large land-area award was shared by 12 operators across four countries.

Those winners were Sweden’s 3, Telenor, and Tele2; Norway’s ice, Telenor, and Telia; Finland’s DNA, Elisa, and Telia; and Poland’s T-Mobile, Orange, and Play. The result placed all large land-area video winners in those four European markets, including three Nordic countries.

Germany’s Telekom led the large land-area group for 5G Games Experience with 93 out of 100 points. Switzerland’s Swisscom won the small land-area category with 95.5. The findings describe gaming as a test of network latency, consistency, and responsiveness.

For 5G Voice App Experience, Japan’s au retained the sole large land-area winner title with 85.4 out of 100. South Korea’s KT won the small land-area category with 85.8.

Opensignal separately awards Rising Star recognition to the five operators showing the greatest year-on-year improvement in each category. Peru’s Bitel received that recognition across download speed, reliability, video, games, and voice apps. South Africa’s Vodacom and Albania’s ONE each received three Rising Star titles.

See also: TM Forum calls for controls on telecoms AI agents

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