Ookla Says London Is Now Last of 18 European Capitals for Mobile Download Speed

London has fallen from seventh to last among 18 European capitals for median mobile download speed, according to new research from Ookla, the company behind Speedtest. In an analysis by Luke Kehoe published on 19 October 2026, Ookla says London’s median download speed was 109.43 Mbps in Q3 2026, behind Rome and well below the median of the other capitals.

London’s speeds have risen, but other capitals have improved faster, Ookla says. Its findings point to a city where 5G adoption has outrun capacity, networks clog when commuters arrive, and adding new masts is getting harder. That matters for one of Europe’s biggest economies, where businesses and public services increasingly depend on mobile connections.

From early 5G leader to last place

Ookla says London was among the first European capitals to launch 5G, which lifted it to seventh of 18 for median download speed by mid-2021. By Q3 2026, it had “the slowest median download speed of the 18, at 109.43 Mbps, behind Rome (125.26 Mbps) and well below the 172.22 Mbps median of the other capitals.”

Since early 2023, London has also had the slowest upload speed of the 18 every quarter, and the highest latency under load for the worst 10% of samples, Ookla says. Latency under load measures how long data takes to make a round trip while a connection is busy, showing how a network copes under heavy use.

The decline tracks 5G, Ookla argues. London’s 5G median peaked at 200 Mbps in Q2 2021, when 41% of tests ran on 5G, fell to 102 Mbps by Q3 2023 and has recovered only to 133 Mbps, with 80% of tests now on 5G. Paris, a comparably large capital, “has held its 5G median above 225 Mbps since mid-2021.”

Congestion arrives with the commuters

The City of London and Westminster hold about 1.5 million jobs but only 213,000 residents, Ookla says. On weekdays, their median download speed falls through the morning to 80.07 Mbps at 13:00, 27% below the same hours at weekends, while latency under load rises 26%. As commuters arrive, more phones share the same cells.

There is one bright spot. London still has the lowest mobile latency of the 15 UK cities Ookla studied, at a median of 38 ms, helped by its place at the centre of the UK’s internet. Across the capital, Ookla also found that the least affluent neighbourhoods are 18% faster than the most affluent.

Why capacity is hard to add

UK operators own few of the sites their antennas use, and in central London much of the network sits on rooftops. Ookla says a 2017 reform of the Electronic Communications Code cut what landowners earn, giving building owners less reason to host antennas. Landlords can also end leases with a notice to quit, often when a building is redeveloped.

London’s planning records show the effect, according to Ookla. Applications for new street masts have fallen by more than four-fifths since 2022, and almost three in four new street masts decided since 2019 were refused, against one in five upgrades. Conservation areas cover 77% of Westminster.

“Planning restrictions, particularly in conservation areas, make it harder to install and upgrade the mobile equipment London needs,” Kehoe, Ookla’s lead industry analyst, told The Register.

Our read

London’s slide is less about technology than about property and planning: operators have the 5G kit but struggle to find places to put it. Ookla notes that the Mayor’s draft London Plan now acknowledges that notices to quit have eroded connectivity, and asks boroughs to work with operators on sites in conservation areas. Whether those planning changes and the VodafoneThree network merger lift speeds will show up in Ookla’s next quarterly figures.

Sources

1. Ookla: London mobile performance analysis (Luke Kehoe, 19 October 2026).
2. The Register: “London’s mobile networks fall to bottom of Europe’s capital league” (Dan Robinson, 20 October 2026).

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