Open Signal, a website that aims to "to become the global authority on wireless networks," released a report this month assessing LTE coverage ranges and download speeds in several nations. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia were included in the report, with Kuwait ranking No. 3 in coverage at 83 percent and Saudi Arabia coming in at 17th with 59 percent LTE coverage.
However, both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia also ranked toward the bottom for download speeds, with 6 Mbps in Kuwait and only 3 Mbps in Saudi Arabia. The nation with the fastest download speed is Spain, with a whopping 18 Mbps. South Korea boasted the highest level of LTE coverage at 95 percent.
The report determined coverage based on how much time actual users had access to LTE networks, instead of physical geography of where networks worked. This criteria was used because "coverage is most important where users actually spend their time," according to the report.
Although they were not included in the Open Signal report, several other regional nations have LTE networks such as Algeria, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. A few others may see the launching of LTE networks this year. Open Signal did not include data from all of these countries because of small sample sizes, stating in the report that it has "only included networks ... where we feel that our data accurately represents the user experience."
As the report explains, LTE overall is the fastest available network technology, performing quicker than 3G and WiFi around the world. Still, the difference in speed between LTE and WiFi varies greatly by country. Saudi Arabia's LTE is only twice as fast as 3G on average.