London’s mobile networks fall to bottom of Europe’s capital league

London’s mobile networks have fallen from seventh place among 18 European capitals for median download speed in 2021 to last place in Ookla’s Q3 2026 comparison. The findings point to growing congestion and the difficulty of expanding capacity as demand rises, leaving the capital with the slowest speeds and the highest latency under heavy use.

Ookla measured London’s median 5G download speed at 109.43 Mbps and upload speed at 11.40 Mbps; weekday morning downloads in central London fell to 80.07 Mbps, 27 per cent below weekend levels at the same time. Operators face barriers including rooftop sites being taken out of use during redevelopment and planning refusals: around three quarters of street mast applications filed since 2019 were rejected, while applications have fallen by more than four fifths since 2022. A draft London plan due for adoption in 2028 proposes measures to protect service during construction and make more sites available.