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Airports in the Gulf region and Türkiye have experienced a surge in air passenger traffic. As they compete to be key transit hubs and main tourist and business destinations, high-performance Wi-Fi networks have become increasingly important in shaping the overall passenger experience. We use Speedtest Intelligence® data to evaluate the Wi-Fi performance of the busiest airports in the region between January and August 2025. These insights help to inform travelers where they are more likely to have the best online experience while transiting through an airport in the region or waiting at a lounge to embark on an outbound flight. 

Key Takeaways:

• King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh (RUH) achieves top-tier public Wi-Fi download speeds of over 86 Mbps. Wi-Fi performance in airports across the Gulf region and Türkiye varies significantly, with RUH offering strong public Wi-Fi speeds ahead of Hamad International Airport in Doha (DOH) and Dubai International Airport (DXB). Kuwait International Airport (KWI) and Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi (AUH) fall in the mid-range of download speeds, and the two airports in Istanbul, IST and Sabiha Gokcen (SAW), lag considerably. 
• Very few airport lounges provide superior Wi-Fi performance compared to the general public airport networks. The fastest lounges, such as those in IST and DXB, exhibit a substantial increase in download speeds, 5X for the former and 2X for the latter, compared to public airport Wi-Fi. Top lounges in other airports, such as at RUH and Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi (AUH), offer more modest speed gains. Without the ability to demonstrate superior Wi-Fi performance, lounge operators are missing out on a point of differentiation to add to comfort and other amenities.
• Wi-Fi performance differs greatly between lounges, even within the same airport. This suggests that the specific lounge operator plays a crucial role in determining the quality of the Wi-Fi experience. For instance, in Riyadh (RUH), the Al Fursan lounge significantly outperforms the Plaza Premium and HAYYAK lounges. Similarly, in Dubai (DXB), the Marhaba lounge boasts much faster speeds than the Emirates (EK) lounge or the DIH lounge. Lounge operators must address these performance gaps to remain competitive, attract high-value customers, and enhance guest experience and satisfaction.

Wi-Fi performance varies significantly across Middle East and Türkiye airports

Airline passengers today expect seamless connectivity, from check-in to landing. That is why airport operators need to understand how passengers (and staff) access the internet throughout the venue, and ensure their infrastructure meets their connectivity needs. 

In January 2025, Ookla® analyzed the cellular performance at the busiest airport in the Gulf region and Türkiye. We found that Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International Airport (AUH) achieved top-tier median mobile download speeds of over ​​450 Mbps. In comparison, Istanbul Airport (IST) significantly leads in 5G performance, with download and upload speeds of 861.98 Mbps and 101.96 Mbps, respectively.

This time, we used Speedtest Intelligence data to understand whether the public Wi-Fi networks and lounges of the nine busiest airports in the Middle East and Türkiye deliver the kind of internet experience travelers expect—whether that’s for streaming, video calls, or quick file uploads. We compared median Wi-Fi download and upload speeds at each location over a period of eight months (January to August 2025).

Ookla’s data shows that Wi-Fi performance varies greatly from airport to airport. King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh (RUH) has the highest download speed at 86.34 Mbps, placing it at the top of the list, while its upload speed is a more moderate 25.48 Mbps. In contrast, Hamad International Airport in Doha (DOH) and Dubai International Airport (DXB) demonstrate high upload speeds; Dubai leads with 101.86 Mbps, and Doha follows closely at 96.45 Mbps. DXB and DOH also stand out because they are the only two airports where upload speed is higher than download speed.

The two airports in Istanbul, IST and Sabiha Gokcen (SAW), generally have the lowest speeds. IST has a download speed of 22.65 Mbps and an upload speed of 22.20 Mbps, while SAW ranks at the bottom for both metrics, with a download speed of 9.69 Mbps and an upload speed of 9.52 Mbps.

Other airports, like Kuwait International Airport (KWI) and Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi (AUH), fall in the mid-range for download and upload speeds. At the same time, Sharjah International Airport (SHJ) and Muscat International Airport (MCT) show slower, sub-30 Mbps download speeds.

A few airport lounges offer better Wi-Fi performance than public airport networks, but the majority need improvements 

Good Wi-Fi in airport lounges is essential for enhancing the travel experience, especially as their popularity grows. With more travelers seeking comfort and productivity during layovers, the demand for reliable internet access has never been higher.

Airport and airline companies position lounges as distinctive features to cater to the needs of business travelers, families, and leisure travelers. A survey by Airport Dimensions revealed that lounge users enjoy the airport more than non-users. Lounge visits are common among frequent travelers in the Middle East, with 66% of those in the U.A.E. and 60% in Saudi Arabia utilizing lounges during their trips. This trend is driven by various factors, including the desire for a more comfortable environment and the availability of amenities, but also the increasing number of financial institutions that incorporate premium travel-related benefits such as lounge access into their loyalty strategies. 

Lounges typically offer dedicated and faster Wi-Fi than the general airport network, making them an attractive option for business travelers and those looking to maximize productivity. Hamad International Airport in Doha is the exception where a single public Wi-Fi network is deployed and accessible to everyone, including inside the lounges. 

We used Speedtest Intelligence data again to examine the download speed that is typically experienced at different airport lounges, and we selected the venues with the highest number of samples, indicating more popularity. Note that we have excluded Kuwait International Airport (KWI) or Sharjah International Airport (SHJ), as there were no Speedtest samples captured that were associated with lounges in these two locations. We have also aggregated samples from different lounges within the same airport that share the same Wi-Fi Service Set Identifier (SSID). 

Ookla data suggests that the fastest lounge’s Wi-Fi performance in all airports is superior to that of the general public Wi-Fi network. The most dramatic difference is at Istanbul Airport (IST), where the YOTEL lounge Wi-Fi clocks in at 119.46 Mbps, while the public Wi-Fi lags far behind at 22.65 Mbps. Similarly, airports in Riyadh (RUH) and Dubai (DXB) show substantial advantages for Saudia’ Al Fursan and Marhaba lounge users over the free public Wi-Fi, with lounge speeds reaching 120.5 Mbps and 101.98 Mbps, respectively.

The Pearl Lounge in Abu Dhabi Airport (AUH) shows the smallest speed increase over the free Wi-Fi network. At the other end of the spectrum, Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen Airport (SAW) recorded the slowest speeds for lounge Wi-Fi at 25.8 Mbps, lagging the other airports in public Wi-Fi ranking.

Wi-Fi performance across lounges in the same airport exhibits strong variation, emphasizing that the choice of a lounge could be a critical factor for travelers needing a fast internet connection. In Riyadh’s RUH, the Al Fursan lounge delivers a fast median download speed of 120.5 Mbps, contrasting strongly with Plaza Premium and HAYYAK lounges in the same airport, which offer sub-22 Mbps speeds. A similar, though less extreme disparity can be observed in Istanbul Airport (IST), where YOTEL lounges provide a download speed that is more than double that of the iGA lounge at 48.32 Mbps. 

Dubai International Airport (DXB) is another example of substantial intra-airport variability. While Marhaba lounge boasts a speed of nearly 101.98 Mbps, airline Emirates’s (EK) lounges provided slower download speeds of just over 60 Mbps. The Dubai International Hotel (DIH) lounge offers a mere 29.16 Mbps download speed at the same location.

Airports like Abu Dhabi (AUH) and Muscat (MCT) exhibit more consistent, albeit moderate, speeds across their lounge offerings in the 40-55 Mbps range; still, it is faster than the public airport Wi-Fi. The Plaza Premium Lounge in Istanbul (SAW) offers slightly better Wi-Fi than the public Wi-Fi but still lags behind the other lounges, except its sister lounge in Abu Dhabi.

The surge in air passenger traffic and growing demand for seamless connectivity underscore a critical need for airport operators and lounge managers to prioritize and invest in their Wi-Fi infrastructure to enhance their overall experience and gain a competitive edge. Our analysis of the busiest airports in the Gulf region and Türkiye shows that while some locations offer high-performance Wi-Fi networks, the variability in speeds across different venues and even within the same airport’s lounges highlights significant opportunities for improvement. 

Airport authorities and lounge operators must actively monitor and enhance their Wi-Fi capabilities to meet and exceed traveler expectations and differentiate their offerings in a competitive market. By doing so, they can unlock new growth opportunities, improve customer loyalty, and strengthen their position as major global travel hubs.

Please contact us for more details on how tools such as Speedtest Intelligence can help provide actionable insights into network performance and become Speedtest Certified™ to publicly demonstrate your commitment to delivering top-tier internet experiences for every traveler. 

Ookla retains ownership of this article including all of the intellectual property rights, data, content graphs and analysis. This article may not be quoted, reproduced, distributed or published for any commercial purpose without prior consent. Members of the press and others using the findings in this article for non-commercial purposes are welcome to publicly share and link to report information with attribution to Ookla.

About the Author

Karim Yaici

Karim Yaici is the Lead Industry Analyst at Ookla covering the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region. Previously, he directed Analysys Mason’s MEA research program, where he was responsible for telecoms forecasts, market reports, consumer surveys, and custom research.

The immunotherapy success rate for breast cancer has become an increasingly important question as immune-based treatments continue to reshape oncology. While chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and targeted therapies have long been standard approaches, immunotherapy has emerged as a transformative option, particularly for aggressive types like triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Patients and clinicians alike now ask: How effective is immunotherapy for breast cancer, and who benefits the most?

Read More About Triple-Negative Breast Cancer on OncoDaily

Understanding Immunotherapy in Breast Cancer

To evaluate the immunotherapy success rate for breast cancer, it’s essential to understand how these treatments work. Immunotherapy activates the body’s immune system to detect and destroy tumor cells. However, breast cancer cells often evade immune detection by exploiting inhibitory pathways such as PD-1 and PD-L1, which suppress immune responses. Drugs that block these pathways, known as checkpoint inhibitors, restore immune activity and enable the body to attack cancer cells.

Among the breast cancer subtypes, TNBC is considered the most responsive to immunotherapy because it tends to have higher levels of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and PD-L1 expression. These immune characteristics make TNBC more immunogenic compared to hormone receptor–positive (HR+) or HER2-positive tumors.

FDA-Approved Immunotherapy Treatments

The most notable breakthroughs defining the immunotherapy success rate for breast cancer come from trials involving atezolizumab and pembrolizumab. Atezolizumab (Tecentriq) was the first immune checkpoint inhibitor approved for breast cancer. In the landmark IMpassion130 trial, atezolizumab combined with nab-paclitaxel extended progression-free survival in patients with PD-L1–positive metastatic TNBC compared to chemotherapy alone. Median progression-free survival increased from 5.0 months to 7.5 months, representing a 38% reduction in disease progression risk (Schmid et al., New England Journal of Medicine, 2018).

Later, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) achieved FDA approval following the KEYNOTE-355 trial, which combined pembrolizumab with chemotherapy in metastatic TNBC. Among patients with PD-L1 expression (CPS ≥10), pembrolizumab improved median overall survival from 16.1 to 23.0 months, marking a 35% increase in survival (Cortes et al., Lancet, 2022). These findings have made pembrolizumab the cornerstone of immunotherapy in PD-L1–positive metastatic TNBC, greatly influencing the immunotherapy success rate for breast cancer.

Immunotherapy in Early-Stage Breast Cancer

Immunotherapy has shown even greater promise in early-stage disease, where it is used alongside chemotherapy to improve surgical and long-term outcomes. The KEYNOTE-522 trial demonstrated that pembrolizumab combined with chemotherapy before and after surgery improved both pathologic complete response (pCR) and event-free survival in high-risk early TNBC. Patients who received pembrolizumab achieved pCR in 64.8% of cases, compared to 51.2% with chemotherapy alone, while three-year event-free survival improved from 76.8% to 84.5% (Schmid et al., NEJM, 2022). This established pembrolizumab as part of the standard regimen for early-stage TNBC and significantly improved the immunotherapy success rate for breast cancer in this setting.

Subtype-Specific Success Rates

The immunotherapy success rate for breast cancer varies substantially across molecular subtypes. Triple-negative breast cancer remains the leading beneficiary, while other forms show more limited results.

In triple-negative breast cancer, immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy achieves objective response rates between 35% and 40% in metastatic PD-L1–positive disease and pathologic complete response rates above 60% in early-stage tumors. For HER2-positive breast cancer, research combining checkpoint inhibitors with trastuzumab or other HER2-targeted therapies has yielded response rates of 10–15% (Niikura et al., Cancer Science, 2021). In contrast, hormone receptor–positive breast cancer tends to be less immunogenic, and response rates are typically below 10%, though ongoing trials with checkpoint inhibitors and CDK4/6 inhibitors aim to improve outcomes (Emens et al., JCO, 2023).

Read About Breast Cancer Cure Rate on OncoDaily

Combination Strategies to Improve Success

To enhance the immunotherapy success rate for breast cancer, oncologists are exploring combination strategies that target multiple biological pathways simultaneously. Combining immunotherapy with chemotherapy has been the most successful, as chemotherapy can increase tumor antigen release and improve immune system recognition. Other promising combinations include immunotherapy with PARP inhibitors for BRCA-mutated tumors, radiotherapy to induce immunogenic cell death, and HER2-targeted agents to increase immune activation. Each approach aims to make resistant breast cancers more responsive to immunotherapy, thereby improving overall success rates.

Overall Success Rate and Outcomes

Current evidence shows that the immunotherapy success rate for breast cancer depends strongly on disease stage, tumor biology, and biomarker expression. Across all breast cancer subtypes, the average response rate to immunotherapy ranges from 20% to 30%. In PD-L1–positive TNBC, response rates reach up to 40% in metastatic disease and over 60% in early-stage cases when pembrolizumab is combined with chemotherapy. Meanwhile, patients without PD-L1 expression or with hormone receptor–positive disease generally experience limited benefits, underscoring the importance of biomarker-driven therapy.

Factors Influencing Immunotherapy Response

Several key factors influence the immunotherapy success rate for breast cancer. PD-L1 expression is the most reliable predictor of response, with higher expression correlating with better outcomes. Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes also enhance immunogenicity, improving the effectiveness of checkpoint blockade. In addition, high tumor mutational burden (TMB) and BRCA mutations increase neoantigen formation, enhancing immune detection. These biomarkers are now routinely assessed to determine eligibility for immunotherapy.

Safety and Tolerability

Although immunotherapy has clear benefits, it can cause immune-related side effects, including thyroid inflammation, pneumonitis, hepatitis, and skin reactions. These events occur in about 15–20% of patients and are usually manageable with corticosteroids. Compared to traditional chemotherapy, immunotherapy tends to offer a more favorable safety profile, especially in long-term use.

Read About AI in Breast Cancer Detection on OncoDaily

Future Perspectives

The future of immunotherapy in breast cancer looks promising. Researchers are developing new immune checkpoint inhibitors targeting LAG-3, TIGIT, and TIM-3, as well as personalized cancer vaccines and CAR T-cell therapies directed at breast-specific antigens like MUC1 and HER2. Combining these approaches with genetic and immune profiling will likely increase the immunotherapy success rate for breast cancer even further, expanding its use beyond TNBC to other subtypes.

Conclusion

The immunotherapy success rate for breast cancer varies widely depending on tumor characteristics. The greatest benefits are seen in PD-L1–positive triple-negative breast cancer, where pembrolizumab and atezolizumab have shown remarkable results, with response rates of 35–65% depending on disease stage. In early-stage TNBC, immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy has become a standard treatment, significantly improving survival and cure potential. Although results remain modest in HER2-positive and hormone receptor–positive cancers, ongoing research and combination strategies are rapidly expanding immunotherapy’s impact. With continued scientific progress, the immunotherapy success rate for breast cancer is expected to rise, offering new hope to patients across the spectrum of disease.

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Written by Armen Gevorgyan, MD