New research by Opensignal has found that South Africa scores poorly relative to many other nations when it comes to the quality of data voice calls over mobile networks using apps such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger.

With an overall score of 72.5/100, South Africa is ranked in the “poor” category alongside countries such as Bolivia, Guatemala, Panama and Indonesia. Read the full report here (PDF).

Opensignal analyses consumer mobile experience worldwide, showing the true user experience consumers receive on wireless networks.

Europe dominates Opensignal’s new measure of mobile voice app experience. Of the 19 countries that achieved a “good” rating (80 to 87), only six were from outside Europe, it said. All six were relatively highly developed Asian markets, including Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.

“There is a clear voice experience divide between mature markets and developing countries,” Opensignal said. “Nearly two-thirds of Latin American countries, along with the vast majority of African and Middle Eastern markets, rated ‘poor’ or below.”

Not one country worldwide ranked as “excellent” or “very good”, with Belgium topping the global ranking with a “good” score of 82.6/100. The worst country in the ranking is Uzbekistan, with a voice app experience of 56.1, or “unintelligible”. Libya was second last with 56.5, with Kenya in third last place with a score of 61.2, placing it in the “very poor” category where most users are “dissatisfied”.

57 billion measurements

Opensignal analysed data from 80 countries, drawn from 57 billion measurements from 23 million Android and iOS devices.

“There is clear evidence of a global divide between more mature countries, fast-growing ones and developing countries when it comes to voice app experience,” it said. “None of the European markets we analysed scored less than an ‘acceptable’ ranking, while the vast majority of the African and Middle Eastern nations rated ‘poor’ or lower. This pattern was mirrored in the Americas, where the US and Canada ranked ‘acceptable’, while barely a third of the Latin American markets (including Brazil) achieved this rating.”