4G in Malaysia: 12.7Mbps Average Speeds, No 4G signal 14% of the time – Opensignal data

The latest data from Opensignal reveals that Malaysians don’t have access to a 4G network, on a national average of 14% of the time.

Data from Opensignal are measured based on 4G Availability — the proportion of time 4G users spent connected to 4G services. Opensignal found that national 4G Availability stands at 86%, which means that on average, 4G users in Malaysia are able to access a 4G network 86% of the time.

A few months ago, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) claims that 4G LTE coverage in populated areas in Malaysia stood at 91.8%. This means only 8.2% of the human populated areas don’t have 4G coverage, if data from MCMC were to be believed.

According to Opensignal, at the top of the list for 4G Availability is the federal territory and the capital city of Kuala Lumpur (91.8%), followed by Pulau Pinang (89.7%) and Putrajaya (89.5%). Malaysian 4G users in seven regions, including Selangor, Melaka, Perlis and Labuan, reported 4G Availability above the national average of 86%. At the same time, those in Johor and Kedah were less than one point away. In contrast, users in Sabah, Sarawak and Kelantan experienced significantly lower 4G Availability, reporting 80% or less.

MCMC also claims that the average mobile Internet speeds are currently 25Mbps in Malaysia. Meanwhile real user experience data from Opensignal reveals that Malaysians only get a national average speeds of just 12.7Mbps, far from what MCMC claims, with speeds don’t even exceed 17Mbps across 13 states and three federal territories of Malaysia.

“…the government also wants to provide the rakyat with high-speed mobile internet with speeds averaging 35 Mbps. But when we analyzed current real-world national 4G speeds we found that Malaysian users observed an average 4G Download Speed of 12.7 Mbps, or approximately one third of the planned goal,” according to Opensignal, in reference to data from MCMC.

Average 4G Speeds in Malaysia measured by Opensignal from August-October 2020:

1. Putrajaya: 16.5Mbps
2. Kuala Lumpur: 16Mbps
3. Selangor: 13.9Mbps
4. Pahang: 13.7Mbps
5. Negeri Sembilan: 13.4Mbps
6. Sarawak: 13Mbps
7. Johor: 12.9Mbps
8. Melaka: 12.7Mbps
9. Perak: 12.7Mbps
10. Labuan: 12.5Mbps
11. Pulau Pinang: 12Mbps
12. Terengganu: 11.7Mbps
13. Kelantan: 10.8Mbps
14. Sabah: 10.6Mbps
15. Perlis: 10.6Mbps
16. Kedah: 10.5Mbps

As part of the ambitious national Jalinan Digital Negara Plan (JENDELA) multi-billion plan, mobile operators in Malaysia including Maxis, Celcom Axiata, Digi, U Mobile, unifi Mobile and Yes must offer an average mobile Internet speeds of 35Mbps by the end of 2022 and 100Mbps 5G speeds by end of 2025.

Data from Opensignal also reveals that Sabah has one of the worst 4G experience with the highest UDP Latency of 205.5ms, which means that Sabahans don’t get a good experience when it comes to gaming and streaming video, among others.

Some of the latest insights from Opensignal:

• Opensignal found that national 4G Availability stands at 86%, which means that on average our 4G users in Malaysia are able to access a 4G network 86% of the time.
• In contrast, users in Sabah, Sarawak and Kelantan experienced significantly lower 4G Availability, reporting 80% or less.
• Regionally, the average 4G Download Speed ranged between 16.5 Mbps (Putrajaya) to 10.5 Mbps (Kedah). Users in seven regions saw 4G Download Speeds averaging above the national score, while those in the remaining nine regions, including Kelantan, Sabah and Perlis, saw comparatively similar or lower 4G Download Speeds.
• Opensignal looked at the 4G Video Experience in Malaysia across a range of video resolutions and found that users enjoy a “Good” 4G Video Experience at a national level. This result was consistent with the experience in most regions, except Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur, where users enjoyed a “Very Good” 4G Video Experience.
• Opensignal also looked at one of the supporting metrics — 4G Video Load Time — which measures the average amount of time in seconds, a consumer waits for a video to load and begin streaming while on a 4G connection. Our Malaysian users experienced a noticeable delay before mobile video began playing. In Putrajaya users enjoyed the fastest video load time of 3 seconds, followed by Kuala Lumpur (3.2 seconds), Selangor and Pahang (3.4 seconds), while their peers in the rest of the regions reported video-load time between 3.5-3.9 seconds. Sabah was the only region that lagged with a video load time of 4.3 seconds.
• It also found that playing multiplayer mobile games or Esports over cellular networks in Malaysia can be challenging. Our users in most regions perceived a “Poor” mobile multiplayer Games Experience, except for Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur, Pahang and Selangor, where users reported a “Fair” Experience.

[Download PDF]– Opensignal report for Malaysia, August-October 2020