Canada Ranks 2nd in G7 for 5G Standalone Share, Reveals Ookla Data

Last week, Ookla released its new global 5G Standalone report, titled, A Global Reality Check on 5G SA and 5G Advanced in 2026.

While Canada did not appear in global 5G report from Ookla this year, specific data requested by iPhone in Canada confirms our position in the transition to 5G Standalone (SA) technology. As of the end of 2025, Canada’s 5G SA sample share reached 8.8%, placing it second among G7 nations.

The United States leads the G7 with a 31.6% share. Canada’s 8.8% puts it ahead of several international peers, including the UK, Japan, and France. In early 2023, Canada’s SA share was 0.15%. The growth to 8.8% by Q4 2025 follows a period of consistent quarterly increases in standalone network traffic.

Technical Performance: SA vs. NSA in Canada

The shift from 5G Non-Standalone (NSA) to Standalone (SA) involves moving the mobile signal to a dedicated 5G core. According to an Ookla spokesperson, this transition results in a measurable difference in network performance for Canadian users.

In the fourth quarter of 2025, median download speeds on SA networks reached 204 Mbps, compared to 125 Mbps on NSA networks. This represents a 64% performance gap. Latency also saw a reduction, dropping from 38.7 ms on NSA to 27.8 ms on SA. These figures indicate that while only a small portion of the Canadian market is currently on Standalone, the hardware provides higher speeds and lower lag for those connected to it.

Rogers, Telus and Bell have been shifting to 5G+, which is essentially the coupling of 3500 MHz and 3800 MHz mid-band spectrum to allow for faster, more reliable and capable 5G speeds (especially in dense environments).

While Canada’s 5G+ networks use mid-band spectrum for a balance of speed and range, they lack the multi-gigabit performance of mmWave found in the U.S. and South Korea. This is because ISED has not yet auctioned off the 26 GHz and 38 GHz bands, leaving Canadian carriers without the high-frequency spectrum needed to hit 10 Gbps speeds in dense areas like stadiums. This has resulted in smartphone makers such as Apple offering two different versions of the iPhone for both Canada and the U.S. at times.

Global Context and Adoption Rates

North America currently leads the world in 5G Standalone (SA) adoption acceleration, with its regional share jumping from 8.2% to nearly 30% over the last two years. This growth is primarily driven by the United States, where all three major carriers have already deployed nationwide standalone infrastructure.

In contrast, China continues to dominate global availability with a massive 80.9% SA share, while the Middle East leads in performance with median download speeds of 1.13 Gbps. Europe remains significantly behind, with its 2.8% SA share trailing North America by 27 percentage points.

Canada’s current share of 8.8% is notable within the G7, though it remains a fraction of the total 5G user base. As more devices and network sites are updated to support the standalone core, this percentage is expected to represent a larger portion of the overall Canadian mobile experience.