Puerto Rico maintains 5G leadership with top coverage, strong adoption
Puerto Rico continues to lead the Caribbean in 5G network availability, surpassing both regional neighbors and the mainland United States, according to a new report by Speedtest Intelligence from Ookla.
During the first half of 2025, mobile users in Puerto Rico spent 73.8% of their device time connected to 5G — the highest level recorded among Caribbean countries and territories. That figure exceeds the mainland U.S., which posted 63.7%, the report said.
Puerto Rico’s early launch of 5G in 2019 laid the foundation for its current leadership, according to Kerry Baker, who leads Ookla’s research and content efforts in North America.
“As the earliest market to launch 5G, Availability leader Puerto Rico sees its 5G devices connected to a 5G network (Claro, Liberty Mobile, T-Mobile) the vast majority of the time (87.4%) — a figure that surpasses even the mainland United States (74.1%),” the report reads.
Unlike other Caribbean locations that have focused on high-traffic tourist zones, Puerto Rico adopted a broad, infrastructure-driven deployment strategy. That approach has supported both geographic reach and user experience as demand has grown.
The U.S. Virgin Islands, which launched 5G in 2020, ranked second in the region with 63.6% availability overall and 75.5% among 5G-capable devices. Bermuda followed at 31.2%, with Aruba at 20.2%. Other territories, including Martinique, Guadeloupe and Saint Martin — all of which launched 5G in 2025 — reported availability below 3%.
Still, availability is only part of the picture. Puerto Rico’s mature 5G network supports high user volume, which affects speed performance. The island posted a median 5G download speed of 129.23 megabits per second (Mbps), lower than newer networks in Guadeloupe (459.12 Mbps) and Martinique (438.21 Mbps), but significantly higher than Bermuda (86.27 Mbps) and the U.S. Virgin Islands (26.72 Mbps).
These variations illustrate what the report calls a “performance paradox”: newer, lightly loaded networks often show faster speeds, while mature networks like Puerto Rico’s balance speed with broader access and higher traffic volumes.
Ookla also noted Puerto Rico’s advanced and consolidated mobile ecosystem. Mobile connectivity on the island includes 20.6% 4G and just 2.3% 3G, with older technologies representing a negligible share. The island also reported no 5G roaming usage, suggesting robust domestic infrastructure. In contrast, other Caribbean territories such as Saint Martin and Martinique still show higher roaming activity and heavier reliance on legacy technologies.
From 2024 to 2025, Puerto Rico improved its 5G availability across all devices by 13.6 percentage points — an 18% year-over-year increase. Bermuda posted a 51-point gain but started from a much smaller base.
Ookla’s findings suggest Puerto Rico is now positioned to leverage its 5G infrastructure for broader economic applications, including enterprise services, smart city initiatives and next-generation connectivity.
While countries like Aruba, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands have made progress, much of the region remains in early-stage rollout phases. Regulatory delays, smaller populations and geographic challenges have slowed deployment across many Caribbean islands.
