Milan and Rome chase on 5G deployment

While many associate 5G simply with a faster Internet connection, MedUX's recent report, released at the Mobile World Congress 2025, tells a different story. 5G is not just a race for megabits per second: it is a radical transformation that redefines the economic, social and technological fabric of European cities. However, not all cities are making the most of this revolution. Milan and Rome, for example, occupy rearguard positions in the European ranking of the quality of the 5G experience.

This is said by MedUX, a company specialising in the testing and benchmarking of fixed and mobile networks, in its report '5G Quality of Experience Benchmark in Europe' for 2025, which analyses 5G performance in 15 European cities. The study shows that while cities such as Porto and Stockholm excel in 5G adoption and efficiency, Milan and Rome lag behind. The coverage and reliability of 5G in the two Italian metropolises are below the European average, with unstable connections and fluctuating speeds.

One of the big problems is that users in major European cities are only connected to 5G 65 per cent of the time. This means that, for more than a third of the time, even those with a compatible smartphone are surfing 4G networks, effectively reducing the transformative potential of 5G.

Lisbon earns a place of honour thanks to its outstanding connection reliability, with a 99.6 per cent success rate in Internet sessions. This figure is not just a statistic, but a determining factor for remote work and the attraction of digital talent. A merciless comparison for Milan and Rome, where continuity of connection is still a utopia.

As for the uses of 5G, online gaming and streaming take the lead. MedUX's research shows that Scandinavian cities, particularly Copenhagen and Stockholm, offer the best streaming experience due to loading times of less than 1.6 seconds.