Hong Kong is gearing up to play a role in the upcoming 2025 National Games of the People’s Republic of China. The event which occurs every four years is expected to attract tens of thousands of attendees, rigorously testing mobile infrastructure and offering ideal real-world environments for evaluating 5G network performance.
This report examines the 5G network performance and user experience across four key venues: Kai Tak Stadium, Hung Hom Stadium, Victoria Park, and Victoria Harbour with the Central Waterfront. These venues are not merely backdrops; they are dynamic arenas where seamless connectivity will be paramount for athletes, officials, media, and spectators alike. Fanling Golf Course and Tseung Kwan O Cycling Stadium, while host venues, were not included in this analysis.
Key Takeaways
Kai Tak Stadium boasts superior 5G coverage, averaging better than -75 dBm RSRP. This establishes it as Hong Kong’s leading venue for high-density mobile usage, with csl and Hutchison HK reporting particularly strong 5G signal strength of -71.27 dBm and -72.3 dBm, respectively. Kai Tak also reported good user experiences; for instance, web page loads consistently occur under one second, with SmarTone achieving 0.85 seconds, and low instant messaging response times are common, with csl reporting 12.10 milliseconds.
While Hong Kong’s 5G networks at these venues delivered remarkable peak download speeds—China Mobile at Hung Hom Stadium reached up to 884.61 Mbps—a substantial performance gap persists, with some users experiencing speeds as low as 2 Mbps. This wide disparity highlights a critical challenge for operators: ensuring consistent and reliable network quality for all users, particularly as attendance swells for the 2025 National Games.
Hong Kong’s key stadiums reported good mobile quality of experience for visitors, with many exceeding national benchmarks from the first half of 2025. Kai Tak Stadium stands out with strong performance that surpasses Hong Kong’s national medians of 1.21 seconds for web page load and 23.44 milliseconds for IM latency. For example, SmarTone delivered a 0.85-second web page load time and csl reported a 12.10-millisecond instant messaging latency.
The new Kai Tak Stadium stands out with the strongest 5G coverage among all major venues
Using data from Speedtest Insights™, collected in the first half (1H) of 2025, we evaluated 5G experience at each venue by measuring the average Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) and Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ). RSRP represents the network signal strength received by a mobile phone. An RSRP value stronger than -80 dBm indicates superior coverage. Measurements between -80 dBm and -90 dBm represent good coverage, while those from -90 dBm to -100 dBm are considered fair coverage. Below this range, expect slower download speeds and potential network disconnections. RSRQ is a metric used to evaluate the quality of the reference signal received by a device. A value of -10 dB or higher indicates excellent network quality while a value between -10 dB and -15 dB is considered good. An RSRQ value lower than -15 dB is poor or indicates no signal at all.
Kai Tak Stadium stands out with the strongest and most consistent 5G signal strength across all major operators. Opened on March 1, 2025, Kai Tak Stadium is Hong Kong’s largest sports infrastructure project and has already hosted numerous local and international events and concerts, drawing over 50,000 attendees. Signal strength (RSRP) at the stadium averages better than -75 dBm, with operators like csl and Hutchison HK reporting particularly strong values of -71.27 dBm and -72.3 dBm respectively. This clearly shows their significant investment in this new flagship venue, likely tied to Kai Tak’s role as a centerpiece of the Games.
While Kai Tak Stadium reported good RSRP values, its RSRQ values are comparatively lower than other venues, with all operators reporting values below -12 dB. This suggests increased network interference or load during peak usage. Although excellent coverage is established, network quality may degrade under peak crowd pressure, indicating that further optimization is needed to ensure a consistently high-quality user experience. Among the operators, csl and China Mobile Hong Kong reported the best RSRQ values at -12.37 dB and -12.4 dB, respectively.
In contrast, Hung Hom Stadium, one of the older venues analyzed, recorded the weakest 5G signal strength overall, with average RSRP values ranging from -81 dBm to -85 dBm. However, it delivered relatively good signal quality. Specifically, Hutchison HK and China Mobile Hong Kong reported strong RSRQ values of -11.06 dB and -11.35 dB, respectively. This indicates that while the radio signal is weaker, the level of interference and network contention is lower. This may be due to reduced user density or lower active usage compared to newer, high-profile venues like Kai Tak.
Other key venues, including Victoria Harbour and Central Waterfront and Victoria Park, show mixed results. These areas have long hosted major festivals and public events, and operators have previously deployed mobile cells to handle surges. Similar moves are expected for the Games.
Top-end 5G download speeds exceed 800 Mbps while lower-end results drop below 10 Mbps
Analysis of Speedtest Intelligence® data across the four venues reveals strong overall performance with clear differences between operators and locations. While all venues demonstrated usable 5G speeds, users at the lower end of the measured speeds (the lower 10th percentile) experienced significantly slower performance, which varied heavily depending on the operator.
At the top end, users experienced excellent performance. China Mobile Hong Kong stood out with speeds exceeding 880 Mbps at Hung Hom and 777 Mbps at Kai Tak. csl and SmarTone followed with top-tier speeds ranging from 326 Mbps to over 680 Mbps. The wide gap between the top and bottom users underlines a key challenge: ensuring consistent quality across the full range of network conditions.
While peak and median speeds offer a glimpse into a network’s overall capability, examining the lower 10th percentile of download performance provides critical insights into minimum user speeds, especially under less optimal conditions like cell edge or moderate congestion. Across the four key venues, the lower 10th percentile download speeds ranged significantly, from 2.00 Mbps to 140.32 Mbps. This wide variance indicates that while networks are robust on average, pockets of weaker performance can still impact user experience, especially for data-intensive applications like HD streaming or video calls. While this baseline generally supports basic activities like web Browse, messaging, and standard-definition video for most operators, the stark differences across operators and locations underscore the importance of understanding these minimum guarantees.
SmarTone demonstrated strong low-percentile performance, leading at Hung Hom Stadium with 94.49 Mbps, Kai Tak Stadium with 97.57 Mbps, and Victoria Harbour and the Central Waterfront with 54.41 Mbps. China Mobile Hong Kong exhibited good low-percentile performance at Victoria Park, recording a speed of 140.32 Mbps. Conversely, csl’s 2.00 Mbps at Hung Hom Stadium indicates an area for significant improvement in minimum speed delivery.
Overall, the data shows that while Hong Kong’s 5G infrastructure can deliver excellent speeds, the range between the slowest and fastest measurements remains wide. This suggests that improving performance consistency is key to ensuring a better experience for all users, especially as networks prepare to support dense crowds and high traffic during the 2025 National Games.
Kai Tak Stadium leads the way in 5G web load time and low-latency messaging
Consumer QoE™ data from the first half of 2025 was analyzed to examine web page load times and instant messaging latency across the four venues. These measurements represent consumers’ actual experiences using the internet and sharing messages and media. They also indicate how effectively operators support everyday applications in high-traffic environments. The data shows that mobile web page load time and instant messaging at Hong Kong’s selected major event venues presents a varied performance landscape when compared against the national median data from the first half of 2025. The national median web page load time for 1H 2025 is 1.21 seconds, and instant messaging latency is 23.44 ms.
Web browsing performance varied across venues, with Kai Tak Stadium again ranking best, as all operators delivered web page load times below one second. SmarTone’s performance of 0.85 seconds and China Mobile Hong Kong’s 0.89 seconds both surpassed the national median of 1.21 seconds. This aligns with observations of Kai Tak’s infrastructure and optimized 5G deployments. At other venues, many web page load times also remained below the national median. For example, China Mobile Hong Kong recorded 1.00 seconds at Victoria Harbour and Central Waterfront, and 0.95 seconds at Victoria Park, all faster than the national median. However, Hutchison HK recorded 1.44 seconds at Victoria Park and 1.43 seconds at Hung Hom Stadium, indicating areas for potential optimization to align with the national median at these specific locations.
Instant messaging latency across the stadiums generally falls within the national median of 23.44 ms, with some venues demonstrating significantly faster response times. Kai Tak again led the way, with all operators delivering WhatsApp response times below 17 ms. csl reported 12.10 ms at Kai Tak, while SmarTone and Hutchison HK both recorded 13 ms. At other venues, a range of latencies was observed. For example, csl at Hung Hom Stadium recorded 19.40 ms, Hutchison HK at Victoria Harbour/Central Waterfront recorded 18.40 ms, and SmarTone at Hung Hom Stadium recorded 21.60 ms. These results remain within or below the national median. However, some specific instances, such as SmarTone recording 25.40 milliseconds at Victoria Park and China Mobile Hong Kong recording 25.60 milliseconds at Central Waterfront, above the national median.
The data reinforces that strong 5G performance requires more than just high speeds. Responsive browsing and low-latency messaging are just as critical, especially in stadiums and public venues where users expect instant access and uninterrupted communication. To meet rising expectations during large-scale events like the 2025 National Games, operators will need to maintain focus on end-to-end quality—not just coverage and speed, but also responsiveness and reliability.
Source: https://www.ookla.com/articles/hongkong-major-stadiums-1h2025
