Connectivity report
Analysis of the general situation regarding internet connectivity and the downgrade caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, and the Autonomous Community of Valencia.
This report analyses internet connection performance in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, and the Autonomous Community of Valencia during the first part of 2020. Its goal is to see and compare the level these connections in Catalan-speaking regions and how they have been affected following the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown.
The data was obtained from a partnership agreement with Ookla, one of the world leaders in connectivity verification and data analysis regarding internet performance.
Download speed
The capacity of a connection to download data from the internet to the system requesting it.
Upload speed
The capacity of a connection to send data from a system to the internet.
Connection latency
The time it takes a data package to reach the server performing the speed test.
Connection download speed
The higher the figure, the better the connectivity and the greater the download speed.
Fixed connection
Catalonia currently has the highest download speed of these three regions, at an average of almost 150 Mbps, which is comparable with that of the European countries with the best broadband service (e.g. Switzerland) and above the Spanish average (129 Mbps). As of early March, when the first cases of coronavirus were diagnosed, the connection download speed started to generally slow down in the Balearic Islands, the Autonomous Community of Valencia and Catalonia.
Following the arrival of the pandemic, Catalonia has suffered the greatest drop in download speed, followed by the Autonomous Community of Valencia. The Balearic Islands withstood the state of emergency quite well, with a drop of less than 4% following complete lockdown.
Mobile connection
Just before the pandemic, the Balearic Islands has the best mobile connection in terms of data downloads, at an average speed of 39 Mbps. The Balearic Islands maintained the highest download speed during the state of emergency and complete lockdown, with temporary behaviour that was almost identical to that of Switzerland, although with download speeds that were 40% slower.
The region most affected during the first stage of the state of emergency and partial lockdown was, once again, the Autonomous Community of Valencia. Despite this, the trend changed upon entering the period of complete lockdown, partially correcting the situation when it became the region to be least affected on average.
Connection upload speed
The higher the figure, the better the connectivity and the greater the upload speed.
Fixed connection
Focusing on the download speed since January, Catalonia has the highest speed at an average of 145 Mbps, followed by the Balearic Islands and the Autonomous Community of Valencia.
Upon arrival of the pandemic, the Autonomous Community of Valencia suffered the greatest drop in speed, followed by Catalonia.
Mobile connection
On examining upload speeds, it is seen that the Balearic Islands had the best figures (12.77 Mbps), slightly ahead of Catalonia.
The strongest impact was in the Autonomous Community of Valencia and the Balearic Islands at the start of the state of emergency. In Catalonia, this trend arrived once the state of emergency had been declared, and is more gradual than in the other two regions.
Connection latency
This is present in any connection. Each operation made in a network has a certain latency.
Fixed connection
In general, since January Catalonia had the best connectivity results of the three regions studied in terms of latency, 21.7% lower in fixed connections and 15.2% lower in mobile connections than the Spanish average.
Upon the arrival of the pandemic, fixed connection latency generally worsened across the board at the start of partial lockdown, and then remained stable or improved.
Mobile connection
The variability of mobile latency between the Balearic Islands and the Autonomous Community of Valencia was not overly noteworthy as of January, representing just 0.16 ms.
During the pandemic, while mobile latency seemed to improve in the Balearic Islands during lockdown (values with a slightly downward trend), in Catalonia the situation progressively worsened during the same period. The Autonomous Community of Valencia followed what seemed to be the trend in Spain, with a peak in latency during partial lockdown that quickly evened off on entering complete lockdown.
