The introduction of 5G has caused the country to drop in the global speed ranks, says report

by ANIS HAZIM / pic source: digital-nasional.com.my

MALAYSIA has tumbled nine spots to 70th in the 2021 global download speed ranking due to the delayed arrival of the 5G network.

According to Opensignal Ltd’s Global Network Experience Awards report, the introduction of 5G has caused Malaysia as well as Singapore to drop in the global speed ranks.

“Strong and early 5G markets have leapfrogged markets where 5G launched late such as Malaysia or where new spectrum for 5G is limited, such as Singapore,” the report said.

Notably, Malaysia’s 5G only arrived at the end of 2021 as part of the single 5G wholesale network under Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB).

Meanwhile, Malaysian mobile users’ average download speed is below the average which is enjoyed by users in Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

“The experience for mobile users in these countries lagged Malaysia as recently as 2019, but have enjoyed substantial improvements over the past two and a half years, partly due to the preparation and introduction of 5G.

On gaming experiences such as multiplayer real-time mobile gaming, Malaysia scored 61.9 on a 100-point scale and was placed 43rd across 100 global markets which is significantly better than the download experience score.

“Opensignal points out that current 5G networks (based on the initial 5G standards) do not significantly improve the characteristics of mobile services that underpin a great real-time multiplayer gaming experience,” it added

The report noted that a great games experience requires a combination of low latency, little packet loss and low jitter.

“The factors have not changed dramatically yet due to the fact that the current iterations of 5G still rely heavily on 4G infrastructure,” it continued.

When it comes to games experience, Opensignal said Malaysia was still outperformed by Singapore with a score of 79.7 and ranked fourth, followed by Vietnam (score 70.9, rank 25th) and Thailand (score 64.2, rank 40th).

However, Malaysia surpassed Indonesia with a score of 59.6 and ranked 51st, Cambodia (score 44.1, rank 58th) and the Philippines (score 41.2, rank 56th).