Opensignal's 2026 5G Global Awards: South Korea's SK Telecom Hits 495 Mbps - and What the Winners Mean for Travelers
Opensignal announced its annual 5G Global Mobile Network Experience Awards on September 30, 2026, ranking national 5G networks on measurements taken directly on users' phones. For travelers, the list is a useful map of where 5G is genuinely good, with one important caveat about how travel eSIMs connect.
What happened
The awards cover Download Speed, Video, Games, Voice App, Reliability and Coverage Experience, plus a category new for 2026: Time on 5G. Data was collected between January 1 and June 29, 2026. Opensignal splits markets by size, with large land-area markets above 200,000 km2 and small ones below it, arguing that covering a big country is a different challenge from covering a compact one.
Key results from Opensignal's release and Brazilian outlet TELETIME:
- Download speed, small markets: South Korea's SK Telecom won at 495.1 Mbps, ahead of KT (484.2 Mbps) and LG U+ (453.3 Mbps).
- Download speed, large markets: Brazil's Vivo won at 324 Mbps, followed by Claro (319 Mbps), TIM (308 Mbps) and Algeria's Ooredoo (307 Mbps).
- Coverage Experience: T-Mobile US (large markets) and Singtel in Singapore (small markets) repeated last year's wins.
- Time on 5G: T-Mobile US led large markets with 79.7%, and Singapore's StarHub topped small markets.
- Reliability: Japan's au and SoftBank shared the large-market win; Denmark's Telenor and Norlys and Austria's and Slovenia's A1 shared the small-market title.
- Games and video: Germany's Telekom and Switzerland's Swisscom led Games Experience; the Netherlands' Odido won small-market Video.
- Rising Stars: Peru's Bitel earned recognition in five categories, the biggest mover overall.
A speed win is not a coverage win
TELETIME noted a telling contrast in Brazil: the three fastest networks for download speed did not rank near the top for coverage. TIM placed 11th on coverage with 6.2 points against T-Mobile's leading 8.2, while Vivo and Claro were outside the top 20, and no Brazilian operator appeared in the top 20 for Time on 5G. For a visitor, that means fast 5G exists, but you may not always be connected to it.
Why it matters for travelers
South Korea, Singapore, Japan, the Nordics and the US dominate the podium, and these are popular destinations. If your trip includes them, you can expect strong 5G in covered areas. Two cautions apply.
First, awards measure the home operators' own subscribers. A travel eSIM usually connects through a partner network, which may or may not be the award winner. Before you buy, check which network your plan uses in that country. Our guide to which travel eSIMs actually give you 5G abroad explains what to look for.
Second, 5G Standalone roaming is still rare. Even where 5G is excellent for locals, visitors often fall back to 4G or non-standalone 5G. We tracked that gap in 5G Standalone Roaming Arrives in 2026.
What to do before you fly
Confirm your phone supports the 5G bands of your destination, enable 5G in your eSIM line settings, and install your eSIM before departure. If you are heading to a top-ranked market, a data-only travel eSIM from a provider such as HOLASIM lets you test it on arrival without a roaming bill.
Rankings like these show where 5G is strongest. Whether your phone actually uses it depends on the partner network behind your eSIM.