When we have commented on 5G performance across Europe, we noted that across most of Europe, median 5G speeds have actually decreased, while 5G Availability has increased. The story is very much the same in Switzerland, with additional pressures brought about by having to adhere to strict Electromagnetic Field (EMF) regulations.

Key takeways

• 5G Availability is up. Driven by regulatory obligations, 5G coverage is on the rise in Switzerland, improving 5G Availability and the country’s ranking amongst its peers, such as the Netherlands, France, and Spain. In Q1 2023, Switzerland’s 5G Availability was 54.9%, up from 33% in Q1 2022.
• 5G speeds decline. In terms of median 5G download speeds, Switzerland saw the most significant decrease amongst its neighbors, with the country’s median 5G download speed falling by around 40 Mbps, from 172.69 Mbps in Q1 2022 to 132.10 Mbps in Q1 2023. Sunrise’s 5G speeds dropped the most across all Swiss operators.
• 5G positively impacts QoE and NPS. Our QoE data shows that 5G delivers better results for video streaming and web browsing than 4G and Wi-Fi. Additionally, Net Promoter Scores (NPS) have been higher for users on 5G than those on 4G.

Switzerland leads its peers on 5G Availability

According to Speedtest Intelligence®, Switzerland has shown significant progress in expanding its 5G availability, with the percentage of users on 5G-capable devices accessing 5G networks most of the time increasing from 33% in Q1 2022 to 54.9% in Q1 2023. Despite operating with strict Electromagnetic Field (EMF) regulations, Switzerland has managed to implement 5G while still adhering to safety standards that protect the public from EMF exposure. The majority of European Union countries follow the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) recommendations, which are set at a level 50 times lower than the threshold where health damage has been proven. However, Switzerland’s regulations are even more stringent than those of the EU.

Swiss 5G performance trailing that of its neighbors

In our recent article, we analyzed Speedtest Intelligence® data to categorize 5G performance into four major groups: 5G Leaders ( > 300 Mbps), High Performers (200 – 300 Mbps), Improvers (< 200 Mbps), and 5G Outliers. Except for France, all countries on the chart above had median 5G download speeds below 200 Mbps, placing them in the “5G Improvers” category. While 5G speeds in Austria and Italy improved slightly, most countries we looked at experienced year-on-year decreases in median 5G download speeds. Switzerland had the most significant decline, dropping from 172.69 Mbps in Q1 2022 to 132.10 Mbps in Q1 2023. There are several reasons for the decline in 5G performance, including increased adoption leading to higher network congestion, economic pressure on operators, higher energy costs, and reduced spending power for consumers.

Sunrise 5G speeds dropped the most as operators focus on extending coverage

Switzerland was the first European country to commercially launch 5G, doing so in April 2019. The country’s telecom regulator, ComCom, conducted a spectrum auction for bands including 700 MHz, 1400 MHz, and 3500 MHz. By the end of 2024, those with 700 MHz spectrum must make 5G available to at least 50% of the population, while those with the 1.4 and 3.5 GHz bands must make 5G accessible to at least 25% of the population by the same deadline.

In addition to acquiring new spectrum, operators can also refarm spectrum from existing legacy 2G/3G networks for 4G/5G. Swisscom switched off 2G in April 2021 and plans to shutter its 3G network by the end of 2025. This strategy allows Swisscom to refarm its legacy spectrum for 4G and 5G networks as “only 1.1% of mobile data traffic still runs on the 3G network, yet the technology occupies around 10% of the antenna capacity (ONIR)”.

Due to ONIR legal conditions, cell site transmit power is limited, and operators look to use it as efficiently as possible. They had previously complained that the Ordinance on Protection from Non-ionising Radiation (ONIR) is ten times as strict as European Union regulations. Despite these challenges, Swisscom achieved 61.7% 5G Availability in Q1 2023. Swisscom’s Q1 2023 results note that the operator covers 99% of the Swiss population with a basic version of 5G (using Dynamic Spectrum Sharing, which borrows capacity from its 4G LTE spectrum) and 75% with 5G + (delivered using mid-band spectrum). The operator aims for nationwide 5G+ coverage by 2025.

Salt, which shuttered its 2G service in early 2023, announced that it is covering 99.9% of the territory of Switzerland with 3G, 4G, and 5G.

Sunrise also discontinued 2G in early 2023 and plans to decommission its 3G networks to free up spectrum and improve network efficiency. According to the latest data from Sunrise, the company provides high-speed 5G to over 1,048 cities/towns and basic 5G to over 96.7% of the population. Our data shows that Sunrise prioritized 5G coverage over performance. Sunrise’s 5G Non-Standalone (NSA) network promotes ENDC (E-UTRAN New Radio – Dual Connectivity). In situations where a 5G NR layer is not present, 5G coverage is reported on user devices, but those users saw decreased performance as their devices were actually still on 4G.

Beyond bandwidth – all eyes on latency

Bandwidth alone isn’t everything when it comes to a good consumer experience. Latency is just as important, especially for services like gaming, AR/VR, the Metaverse, and other apps that require quick responses. Ookla has introduced a new measure called loaded latency, which helps identify the origin of latency problems. Loaded latency is measured during data-heavy download and upload portions of Speedtest, which can reveal issues when multiple applications are running on the same connection. For example, high download latency may occur when someone in the household is installing a large game, while high upload latency can happen when someone is uploading a video to the cloud.

Smooth gameplay without interruptions or buffering is crucial for gamers, which is why low latency is important. Indeed, high latency can cause gameplay to stop altogether. According to a study by Deloitte, 45% of people in Switzerland played video games at least once in the last six months, which is lower than the European average of 55%. Swiss gamers spend an average of 8 hours per week playing video games, compared to Europe’s average of 15 hours per week. While Swiss users may not game as much as their European counterparts, the door is wide open for operators to promote gaming and other immersive experiences such as AR/VR and the broader metaverse market. In early 2023, the Swiss Metaverse Association (Metassociation) was established as a private-public partnership to bring major industry players together, encourage innovation, and position Switzerland as a leading metaverse location. Sunrise and Swisscom are both founding members of the Metasssociation as they look for new avenues to generate revenue.

5G delivers better Quality of Experience (QoE) compared to 4G

The Ookla Consumer QoE™ platform provides valuable insights into the quality of the user experience across various services like web browsing, video streaming, gaming, and video conferencing. With digital services in Switzerland (e-banking, streaming, etc) seeing high usage, we looked at performance differences between 4G, 5G, and Wi-Fi technologies for a few services to see which generation of technology offered the best QoE

A survey by Moneyland.ch showed that 89% of Swiss people use at least one video streaming service, with Netflix being the most popular, watched by 58% of Swiss viewers in 2022. For those who stream videos, the time it takes for videos to start and/or buffer is a critical factor to consider. Ookla’s Consumer QoE data for March 2023 indicates a nearly 20% decrease in video start time when comparing 4G and 5G networks, with 5G users seeing much quicker video start times than those on 4G.

5G delivers comparable browsing results to Wi-Fi, making it a great option for web browsing (and quicker than 4G). 

Video conferencing continues to be an integral part of everyday life. According to IGEM Digimonitor 2022 study, 4.0 million people (61% of the population) use a video conferencing tool at least occasionally, with 1.1 million (18%) continuing to video conference daily. Based on Ookla’s Consumer QoE data for March 2023, fixed networks deliver the best video conferencing experience – in terms of both latency and jitter – but 5G wasn’t far behind in either measure.

5G positively impacts NPS

Net Promoter Score (NPS) from Speedtest Intelligence paints a largely positive picture of current 5G networks in Switzerland. NPS is a key performance indicator of customer experience, categorizing users into Detractors (those that score 0-6), Passives (scores between 7 and 8), and Promoters (score of 9-10), with the NPS representing the percentage of Promoters minus the percent of Detractors, displayed in the range from -100 to 100.

In our recent article, we found that 5G users, on average, rated their network operator with NPS scores that were universally higher than those for 4G LTE users. The story is similar in Switzerland, where 5G NPS scores were almost ten times higher for 5G than 4G. What’s more, just over half of Swisscom 5G users are promoters (54%) compared to 33% for Salt and 32% for Sunrise.

We will continue to measure 5G performance in Switzerland. If you have access to 5G in Switzerland, take a Speedtest® on Android or iOS to report how your operator is performing.

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