Network testing specialists at Ookla have published an analysis of mobile roaming speeds across Europe during a year shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Existing vaccines remain effective against the Delta variant, which is spreading quickly in countries such as the UK. However, reduced protection—especially after only one dose—has already delayed the lifting of remaining restrictions by several weeks.
A more contagious or vaccine-resistant variant could significantly reverse progress in a worst-case scenario. The likeliest outcome, though, is gradual normalization of activities that were limited over the past year—such as international travel—accompanied by sensible precautions like face masks and regular use of hand sanitiser in shared spaces.
With international travel increasingly possible again, how did roaming performance across Europe fare over the last year?
Ookla’s data show that roaming speeds in most European markets were slower in Q1 2021 compared with local speeds. In 19 of the 26 countries with statistically viable samples, median roaming download speeds were lower than median local download speeds.
Among the seven countries where roaming delivered faster download speeds, Latvia saw the largest improvement, with a 23.4 percent increase. Estonia followed with a 22.8 percent gain, and Ireland recorded a 19.5 percent increase.
The UK showed nearly identical performance whether users were roaming or on local networks (28.09 Mbps roaming vs. 27.96 Mbps local). Hungary recorded a similar outcome, with only a 0.5 percent decrease when roaming.
Other countries experienced larger declines in median roaming speed, with drops of at least 8.5 percent. The Netherlands recorded the steepest fall: Dutch users’ median download speed dropped 65.8 percent, from 77.52 Mbps locally to 26.48 Mbps while roaming.
Overall, median roaming speeds across Europe rose by 6.9 percent between Q1 2020 and Q1 2021.
Estonia led year-over-year improvements in median roaming speed, increasing 51.5 percent from 27.82 Mbps to 42.16 Mbps. The Netherlands followed with a 44 percent rise (from 18.39 Mbps to 26.48 Mbps), and Luxembourg posted a 39.8 percent jump (from 18.82 Mbps to 26.31 Mbps).
Several countries pulled the European median down with decreases in median download speed, including Slovakia (20%), Italy (19.7%), Ireland (18.9%), Greece (13.5%), the UK (4.7%), Germany (2.9%), Czechia (2.4%), Finland (1.6%), and Portugal (0.2%).
A full copy of Ookla’s European roaming analysis is available from Ookla’s Speedtest Insights.
(Photo by KOBU Agency on Unsplash)
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