MALAYSIA BEST IN NETWORK SURVEY
Thailand in 2nd place, followed by Indonesia and the Philippines, says Tutela
MALAYSIA ranked the best in providing consistent telecommunications quality compared with three other countries in Southeast Asia.
Celcom Axiata Bhd had the distinct advantage over other operators in 4G coverage in major cities and most population centres in Sabah and Sarawak.
According to a survey by Tutela Technologies Ltd, a Canadian crowdsourced mobile data company, Celcom’s 3G coverage was most apparent in the inland of the peninsula and rural areas in Sabah and Sarawak.
The survey was carried out in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.
Malaysia’s networks achieved the “best excellent quality”, with 56.9 per cent of connections meeting the needs of the most demanding use.
Thailand is in second place, followed by Indonesia and the Philippines.
Neither Maxis Bhd nor Digi.Com Bhd — two other big mobile players — could match Celcom’s 4G coverage across the country.
Maxis also appeared to have particularly good 3G coverage on the country’s smaller islands.
Tutela said even though Malaysia does not appear to have a clear advantage in the amount of time spent on 4G compared with 3G, the speed difference is still significant, indicating that where a long-term evolution network provides coverage, it works well.
When comparing only 4G networks, Malaysia has the advantage with an average download speed of nearly 14 megabits per second (Mbps).
Tutela’s survey entitled “The State of Mobile Networks Report in Southeast Asia” aggregates performance and usage data from over 250 million mobile devices across the globe.
The survey also showed three of four operators in Malaysia scored above 90 per cent for basic consistent quality, with Maxis taking the first place ahead of Digi and U Mobile Sdn Bhd.
Maxis also scored 69 per cent in “best of any operator” in the region.
Celcom, which has the fastest average download speed of any individual operator, is in last place, signalling that there is more to a good network than just fast average download speeds.
Malaysians were the heaviest users of mobile data, with 66 per cent of all data traffic going over a mobile connection compared with just 23 per cent in the Philippines. The four countries are relatively close when it comes to basic quality with intended usage, such as web browsing, simple applications (Facebook, WhatsApp, email) and Voice over Internet Protocol calls.
For the excellent quality category, Maxis takes the lead at 68.9 per cent and Celcom is in second place at 61.6 per cent.
Digi is third, with 57.5 per cent. U Mobile’s last-place finish is unsurprising, given its average download speed of 4.3 Mbps, according to the report.
It said the mobile operator has promised 4G network expansion, with a target of 90 per cent population coverage by the middle of this year.
On data usage, smartphone owners in Malaysia used their mobile connection the most, with cellular connections handling two-thirds of all smartphone data traffic.