Malaysia continues to lead 5G network performance in Southeast Asia — Ookla

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia continues to lead in Southeast Asia in terms of 5G network performance, with the country’s 5G median download speed at 451.79 megabytes per second (Mbps), which is higher than the download speed of Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, according to Ookla’s Speedtest Intelligence report.

Ookla, a global leader in connectivity intelligence, said Singapore’s 5G median download speed stands at 329.73 Mbps, Thailand at 129.40 Mbps and the Philippines 125.14 Mbps.

The report said that Malaysia’s 5G network scored the highest consistency score globally for the fourth quarter of 2023 (4Q 2023) at 97.3 per cent.

“The result indicates that 97.3 per cent of Speedtest Intelligence samples on Malaysia’s 5G networks exceeded the consistency threshold, which is currently set at a minimum download speed of 25 Mbps and a minimum upload speed of 3 Mbps,” it said in its 4Q 2023 Speedtest Intelligence report.

In comparison, other top countries such as North Macedonia and the United Arab Emirates, reported lower consistency scores of 94.1 per cent and 93.9 per cent, respectively.

In terms of 5G availability, Ookla, which specialises in internet speed testing and analysis, said the 5G availability in Malaysia has increased to 27.0 per cent in 4Q 2023 from 21.0 per cent in 1Q.

Malaysia has adopted an approach to its 5G rollout by implementing a Single Wholesale Network (SWN) model through the formation of Malaysia’s Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB) in 2021.

“Since its launch more than two years ago, Malaysia’s 5G network has consistently performed well, making it one of the best-performing 5G networks worldwide,” it said.

The report also noted that all states in Malaysia have experienced at least a 1.45 times increase in their overall mobile speeds across all technologies.

“Malaysia’s government administrative city of Putrajaya emerged as having the fastest mobile median download speeds in the country at 190.86 Mbps, an increase of more than 2.5 times compared to 4Q 2022, which was at 61.24 Mbps,” it said.