Saudi telecom quality doesn't guarantee market share: Opensignal

Opensignal's latest report on Saudi Arabia's telecom sector shows a familiar gap: network quality alone does not determine market share. The analytics firm studied the nine largest cities and found that operators leading in speed and coverage often trail in commercial performance, and vice versa.

Saudi Arabia ranked first globally in mobile data download speeds among countries with large geographical areas, according to Opensignal's Q2 2026 Global Network Excellence Index. That result reflects a decade of spectrum policy and more than $1.5 billion in 5G investment by the three carriers since 2019. But the infrastructure spending has not translated into market share gains at the same rate.

At the operator level, stc holds the largest national market share at 49%, followed by Mobily at 23.8% and Zain KSA at 14.6%. Mobile virtual network operators now account for roughly 12% of the market, Opensignal said, up from a marginal position in prior years. Virgin Mobile KSA and Lebara are among the largest MVNOs by subscriber count; they target specific segments with digital packages, eSIM services and international calling.

Mobily led the service quality index in seven of the nine cities studied during the second quarter: Riyadh, Jeddah, Makkah, Abha, Hail, Al Hofuf and Khamis Mushait. That advantage translated into above-average market share only in Jeddah and Makkah, Opensignal said. Riyadh represents Mobily's biggest opportunity–the capital has the best quality but Mobily's share remains below its national average. The challenge there is no longer network quality, Opensignal noted, but pricing, distribution and customer acquisition.

stc led in quality in Madinah and Dammam, yet its market share in both cities ran below its national average. That signals an opportunity to convert a technical lead into commercial gains, the firm said. In contrast, stc held strong market shares in Abha, Khamis Mushait and Hail without leading the quality index there, reflecting its historical brand presence.

Zain KSA did not top the quality index in any city. Even so, its market share exceeded the national average in Makkah and Madinah, supported by pricing and distribution. Those positions could come under pressure as MVNOs expand and secondary SIM usage grows, Opensignal said. Multi-SIM usage stands at 17% among stc customers, 27% among Mobily's and nearly 37% among Zain KSA's. A subscriber may keep a SIM from one operator while routing most data through another network, making the registered share higher than the actual usage and revenue share.

Opensignal argued that network quality has become a basic requirement in major cities, no longer a differentiator. Operators best positioned to grow share will link investment decisions to city-level commercial strategies rather than rely on national averages. The shift to 5G performance consistency, responsiveness and availability as key competitive metrics will test those strategies in the second half of 2026, the firm said.