In this Information Age, the Internet speed is the key to revolutionizing our industry and allowing us to compete with developed countries. However, this is also the reason that is holding Malaysia back from moving into our Industry Revolution 4.0.
According to a recent report by Opensignal that focuses on the impact of 5G on the mobile network throughout selected markets in the world, it is found that Malaysia has the second-lowest mobile download speed in the region.
While the report revolves around 5G, it also features the 4G markets that include Malaysia.
Meanwhile, the study acknowledges the rollout of the national 5G network by Digital Nasional Berhad that took place in the middle of December last year, but Malaysia was still deemed as a market that has “no 5G influence”.
As compared to the Southeast Asian countries featured in the report, Thailand and Philippines were categorised under “earlier 5G market”; Indonesia and Singapore under “later 5G market”; Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam under “no 5G influence”, and Brunei, Laos, and Myanmar being not part of the 100 markets covered by the report.
Among the key data, the report focuses on is the differences between the download speed experience in Q1 2019 and Q4 2021 which uses data that was collected from 1 January to 30 March 2019 as well as 1 October to 29 December 2021.
According to the data presented in the table, it can be seen that Malaysia has the 2nd slowest download speed in Q4 2021 even though we were the 3rd fastest SEA country in Q1 2019.
Does this mean that our neighbouring countries had been sending us behind the ranks with 5G? According to Opensignal, the study classifies the SEA countries as non-4G and 5G markets. Hence, 5G may not be the immediate answer.
For example, Vietnam has surpassed Malaysia back in 2019 and was able to increase the gap further by the end of 2021 just using 4G. In the meantime, Cambodia is not a 5G market but its download speed has improved tremendously in just 2 years and is only 1.3Mbps slower than Malaysia.
Coming back to Malaysia, Digital Nasional Bhd had aimed to expand Malaysia’s 5G coverage to around 40% of the country’s populated area by the end of 2022. There are also plans to boost the country’s 4G speed to 35Mbps within the same timeframe.
Hopefully, when these projects are completed, we will be able to see an improvement in the download speed.
What do you think about this? Share your thoughts!
