Winner in 13 out of 18 categories of Opensignal's Communication Experience Analysis Awards, Winning More categories than Ever

KDDI Corporation
Okinawa Cellular Telephone Company

Tokyo, October 16, 2024―KDDI Corporation and Okinawa Cellular Telephone Company (powered by the KDDI network) took first place in 13 out of 18 categories of global analytics company Opensignal's Mobile Experience Awards (hereinafter "this award") [1] of its Japan Report, released on October 16, 2024. The companies won the five categories they had won the previous time in April 2024, as well as eight new categories such as "Consistency" and "Reliability Experience," winning more categories than any other MNO in Japan.

By the end of May 2024, KDDI had increased stations' output and optimized antenna angles for Sub6 (3.7 GHz/4.0 GHz range) for high-volume, high-speed 5G communication. This increased Sub6's service area and improved data speed too [2]. At the same time, KDDI is working across the company on a daily basis to improve communication quality including data speed (throughput) and latencies by implementing measures, such as the active use of the expanded Sub6, total optimization including 4G-repurposed frequencies and review of the communication channels of entire networks.

KDDI and Okinawa Cellular were the winners in the Video Experience, Live Video Experience, Games Experience, and Voice App Experience sections of the report's "5G Experience" categories that assesses users' experience of quality when using various content on 5G.
The two companies were also the sole winners of "Consistent Quality" which evaluates the total level of data speed, latencies, packet losses, and so on, and of "Reliability Experience" which measures user's connectivity to networks, and assesses the ability of allowing users to complete tasks, maintaining a certain quality during live streaming, video playing and gaming without breaking up.

Going forward, KDDI and Okinawa Cellular will continue to increase service areas and improve daily communication quality, to provide the best communication quality to customers through their multiple brands which are au, UQ mobile and Povo (powered by the KDDI network).

■Specific efforts to improve user experience quality

KDDI operates 94,000 5G stations (of which 39,000 are Sub6 stations) which is the highest number in the industry [3]. Previously, KDDI was operating Sub6 stations with lower output and lower antenna angles to prevent interference from satellite communication, but after satellite interference requirements were eased at the end of fiscal 2023, KDDI quickly increased Sub6 station output and optimized antenna angles from fiscal 2024. This increased Sub6 areas as well as data speed, especially in the Kanto area.
This has achieved a 5G data speed (typical effective speed) of over 300 Mbps in Sub6 areas, allowing users to play high-quality videos without stress.

To maximize the effects of expanding Sub6, KDDI improved data speed by tuning and actively monitoring Sub6 and minimized latency by reviewing entire networks' communication channels.
In addition, to swiftly implement improvement measures, KDDI also collected device app data and station communication logs, customer feedback on social media and automated part of analyses and responses.

■Opensignal's Mobile Experience Report

After improving 5G's Sub6 quality, KDDI took first place in "5G Video Experience," "5G Live Video Experience,", "5G Games Experience" and "5G Voice App Experience". Furthermore, after improving data speed and latencies, KDDI also became the sole winner in "Consistency Experience" and "Reliability Experience," which also benefited the aforementioned.

(Reference)

■KDDI's effort to improve area quality

For customers' better experience in connecting to networks in their daily lives, KDDI has been proactively enhancing areas that attract many people, such as along railway lines and commercial areas. Also, for better connectivity in extraordinary situations, KDDI is also implementing communication measures using vehicle mounted base stations and Starlink in mountainous areas and outdoor events where it is difficult to lay fiber optic lines. Furthermore, to increase au areas across Japan, KDDI plans to provide direct satellite-to-smartphone communication services by the end of 2024. This will provide users with connectivity in their daily lives, in extraordinary situations, and in any place as long as the sky is in sight.