During Celcom‘s business performance update, they have also shared the status of its mobile network expansion in Malaysia. The telco claims to be the strongest and largest network in Malaysia with a 4G population coverage of 93% while 4G LTE-A coverage has increased to 81%. In Q2 2018, Celcom has an LTE coverage of 89% while LTE-A coverage was at 76%.
At the moment, Celcom has over 11,000 sites across the country which includes 9,000 LTE sites. The telco also claims to have over 96% LTE population coverage in ten states, which include Penang, Selangor, Johor and Perak.
In Q2 2019, an average user consumes 13.3GB/month and it is a 38.5% increase versus the same quarter in 2018. At the moment, 81.5% of their users are using smartphones and data is mostly used for video content.
Apart from expanding their network, Celcom has also invested heavily into the latest technologies such as 4T4R MIMO, Carrier Aggregation and 256 QAM to deliver the best experience. Celcom has spent over RM3.5 billion into their network between 2016 to 2018 and these investments will also ensure that the telco is ready for 5G.
As shared in the chart above, their LTE Advanced network with Carrier Aggregation covers 81% of the population. Meanwhile, their LTE Advanced network with Carrier Aggregation, 4×4 MIMO and 256 QAM has a population coverage of 64%.
