Opensignal: 5G on Celcom, Digi, U Mobile and Unifi are faster than Yes 5G

Opensignal has just released a new Mobile Network Experience Report for Malaysia which reveals some interesting findings about the state of our mobile connectivity between 1st December 2022 to 28th February 2023. During the period, Malaysia has a total of 5 telcos offering 5G services through access agreements with Digital Nasional Berhad. Despite sharing the same 5G Single Wholesale Network, the latecomers have beaten the incumbent Yes 5G which was the first to offer commercial 5G services almost a year ahead of the rest.

According to the March Report, CelcomDigi is the winner for almost all categories with Celcom crowned as the winner for overall gaming, video, download, upload and 4G coverage experience.

When it comes to 5G, Digi came up on top, by taking the #1 spot for all categories. Looking at the individual categories, it is interesting to see that Celcom, Digi, U Mobile and Unifi Mobile recorded higher 5G download and upload speeds than Yes 5G. Digi also reigns supreme for 5G video experience, 5G games experience and 5G voice app experience.

Despite being the only major telco without 5G, Maxis is crowned the winner for overall video experience beating other telcos with 5G access including Celcom, Digi, Unifi, U Mobile and Yes 5G. While DNB claims to achieve close to 50% 5G population coverage by the end of 2022, the 5G adoption rate in Malaysia remains low at just 1%.

When it comes to network availability, Yes is the winner three times in a row. As mentioned in Opensignal’s definition, “availability” is a measure of what proportion of time people have a network connection and it is subject to places where its users frequently go. It is more of how often a user has a connection rather than where. So it doesn’t necessarily reflect a network’s geographical coverage and its availability if you go to remote rural areas. As we all know, Yes 5G may have the most affordable unlimited prepaid and postpaid plans on paper, but its network coverage especially for indoors isn’t as extensive compared to the big four telcos.

Celcom continues to retain the title as the best telco with the best 4G coverage experience in Malaysia. Out of a scale of 10, Celcom leads at 9.2 points, followed by Digi and Maxis sharing the second place with 8.7 points, and U Mobile in third place at 7.9 points. As expected, Unifi and Yes are the last at 7.0 points.

Despite the merger, both Celcom and Digi are still measured separately by Opensignal as both brands have yet to integrate their networks. Axiata has mentioned recently that CelcomDigi aims to complete its network integration in 2025. You can check out the full Opensignal report including the state-level analysis here.