Three Ireland is the fastest 5G operator in Ireland while Eir is the best operator in Ireland in terms of 5G availability, according to analysis by Ookla.
Despite being the last major mobile operator to launch its 5G network in Ireland, Three has achieved the fastest download speeds in the market in the second half of 2021.
Its median download speed of 238.7Mbps was a 20% increase year-on-year and significantly quicker than both Eir (141.45) and Vodafone (127.88), which both saw their speeds fall dramatically from the previous year, from 155.37 and 206.46, respectively.
The median 5G upload speeds across all operators were very similar at 19.89 Mbps (Vodafone) and 22.35 Mbps for 3, and 22.24 Mbps for eir during Q3-Q4 2021.
Ookla credited Three's work with Ericsson to bolster its radio access network and rebuild over 1,000 deployments for its substantial improvement while using excess capacity in the 1.8GHz band to deploy 5G in rural towns and villages.
In Association with
Three had joined Ericsson's global Startup 5G program in May 2021 to leverage innovation in 5G for the purposes of commercialisation and monetisation, and the companies extended their partnership by launching an indoor 5G network to improve manufacturing efficiency at Glanbia's cheese plant in Co Kilkenny.
Similarly, Vodafone has partnered with Irish Manufacturing Research to launch Ireland's first standalone 5G mobile private network (MPN), which it plans to expand upon by installing a multi-edge computing environment as part of a two-year deal.
In terms of availability, Eir is way out in front with 26.6% availability nationwide, ahead of Three (8.2%) and Vodafone (6.4%) and more than double the nationwide average of (11.7%), thanks in part to the company's €1bn investment in its fibre, 5G and 4G networks.
The former state-owned telecoms provider's 5G network is now available in 430 towns and cities, up from 336 in October, with Eir claiming the network is available to more than 70% of the population.
Ookla recently found that media 5G download speeds in Ireland compare somewhat favourably to other European countries, with the Irish average of (162.5Mbps) slower than that of France (190.2Mbps), Switzerland (188.3Mbps) and the UK (176.22Mbps) but quicker than Germany (155.9Mbps) and the Netherlands (142.6Mbps).
Switzerland, however, had the fastest median upload speed over 5G at 35.51 Mbps during Q3-Q4 2021, followed by the Netherlands (31.29 Mbps), Germany (25.80 Mbps), Ireland (21.20 Mbps), France (15.19 Mbps), and the U.K. (14.79 Mbps).
Cork had the fastest average download speeds in Ireland at 340Mbps, an increase of 14% year-on-year, with Three's network in the region maintaining speeds of 509Mbps, far ahead of Galway (264.7Mbps), Limerick (264.4Mbps) and Dublin (246.9Mbps).
Data from ComReg show the number of 5G mobile voice and mobile broadband customers rose by 31.4% in the final three months of 2021 from 298,479 to 392,082 and that such plans account for 5% of all subscriptions.
(Pic: Getty Images)
