2023 has been an interesting year for the telecommunications sector at SoyaCincau.com. There are more 5G plans and services in the market and there are finally price cuts for fibre broadband following the implementation of the latest Mandatory Standard on Access Pricing (MSAP).
As demand for data continues to grow, there are now more competitive options across mobile prepaid, postpaid, and fixed broadband in Malaysia. To recognise the top achievers among the telcos, the SoyaCincau team have gone through the top telco announcements this year to pick the best for each category. The panel members for the SoyaCincau Awards 2023 consist of Alexander Wong, Najib Hamid, Raymond Saw, Jonathan Lee, Hanif Azrai, Putra Aziz, Sharil Abdul Rahman, Chief Chapree, and Sudarshan Duke, with our social media manager Amalin Aisyah also contributing.
Here are the award winners for our SoyaCincau Awards 2023: Best Telco of the Year.
Read the rest of our Awards
- SoyaCincau Awards 2023: The best smartphones of the year
- SoyaCincau Awards 2023: The best tablets of the year
- SoyaCincau Awards 2023: The best laptops and gadgets of the year
- SoyaCincau Awards 2023: The best electric vehicles this year
Prepaid Plan of the Year
Gold: Yes Prepaid FT5G
The gold award for best prepaid goes to Yes Prepaid FT5G. For only RM30/month, there’s no challenge if you’re looking to try out 5G with unlimited quota, no speed cap and none of that FUP nonsense. The plan also offers unlimited calls and 12GB of hotspot per month.
The Yes FT5G plan is a clear winner if you’re residing or spending most of your time in areas covered with 5G coverage. If you’re out of 5G coverage, the connection switches to 4G which isn’t as extensive as other established telcos. You can check out previous coverage of Yes 5G prepaid.
Silver: Hotlink Prepaid Pantas 60 100GB
Maxis’ Youth-oriented brand, Hotlink, has gotten quite a revamp after the green telco signed up with DNB for 5G access. The new Hotlink Prepaid Pantas 60 at RM60/month offers a whopping 100GB of data and it comes bundled with unlimited calls. The 100GB data not only can be used for hotspot but you can also use it for roaming in Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand, which is a nice perk.
As an established mobile network operator, Maxis is known for having wide 4G coverage especially for indoors and with this plan, they are offering much more data for your money. Therefore, Hotlink Prepaid Pantas 60 is our silver winner for our best prepaid plan of the year.
Bronze: Yoodo 65GB 5G for RM41
Yoodo remains one of our favourite MVNO as it lets you customise your plan the way you want it. Besides the value for money RM20 for 20GB plan, Yoodo has recently introduced its new 65GB data offering with 5G which costs RM41 per month.
Besides offering flexibility to add on extra data, calls, SMS and roaming, as well as the option to sign up immediately with an eSIM, Yoodo rides on Celcom’s network which provides extensive coverage nationwide. For that, it is our bronze winner for the best prepaid plan of the year.
As part of the undertaking for the CelcomDigi merger, Celcom must divest Yoodo soon. CelcomDigi has indicated that several parties are interested in acquiring Yoodo and hopefully, they will continue the MVNO’s fantastic value-for-money proposition.
Postpaid Plan of the Year
Gold: U Mobile U Postpaid 68
The gold award for the best postpaid plan goes to U Mobile for its U Postpaid 68. Just before our internal nomination, they upgraded the U Postpaid 68 with a whopping 200GB of data which can be used for 4G, 5G and hotspot.
Besides unlimited calls, the data can also be used for roaming in Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia. If you travel a lot within the region and you need loads of data, this is the plan we would highly recommend. The U Postpaid 68 is also part of the Pakej 5G Rahmah offering where you can bundle a 5G phone on contract and the monthly subscription fee is reduced to RM58/month.
Silver: Yes Power 35
Yes continues to be a 5G disruptor with its value-for-money plans. If you don’t want to spend more than RM50/month, Yes Power 35 offers a generous serving of 100GB of 5G/4G data which you can fully utilise for hotspot with no speed cap or FUP for only RM35/month. For that, it deserves our Silver award for the best postpaid plans in 2023.
If you need a phone, Yes is also bundling 5G phones on contract with the RM35 Yes Power 35 postpaid plan under the Pakej 5G Rahmah initiative. Getting a phone bundle at this price segment is something you hardly find in this day and age.
Bronze: Hotlink Postpaid 70
Besides prepaid, Maxis has also revamped its postpaid offering with more data and the ability to roam overseas. Our Bronze winner for the best postpaid category goes to Hotlink Postpaid 70.
For RM70/month, you’re getting 105GB of data that you can use for 5G, unlimited calls and also free roam like home in Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia.
On top of that, the Postpaid 70 plan is also part of Pakej 5G Rahmah where you can get a free phone and a rebate if you sign up for a 24-month contract.
Broadband Plan of the Year
Gold: Yes 5G Wireless Broadband
This year’s Gold winner might come as a surprise because it isn’t fibre broadband. Our Gold winner for this year is Yes 5G’s wireless broadband (formerly known as Yes 5G wireless fibre).
For only RM99/month, you’ll get unlimited 5G data with no speed cap and no FUP quota, and it comes bundled with a WiFi 6 5G router on a 24-month contract. If you already have a 5G router, they also offer a SIM-only plan which also offers unlimited 5G with no FUP for RM58/month.
If you can get 300Mbps or higher at your location, this is a steal and who else can offer such speeds for less than RM100 per month without any other bundle?
With 5G coverage approaching close to 80% population coverage, this wireless broadband offering is now more accessible than ever. Yes 5G Wireless broadband is a very viable alternative if you can’t get fibre broadband at home.
Silver: Maxis Home Fibre 2Gbps
Taking silver is Maxis with its new 2Gbps Home Fibre Plan. Priced at RM319/month, it is the same price as Unifi’s 2Gbps plan but Maxis offers true 2Gbps download. On top of that, Maxis is also the first provider in Malaysia to bundle a WiFi 6E router. Take note that the bundled router offers 2Gbps on LAN and up to 1.8Gbps over WiFi. Of course, you’ll need a WiFi 6E device to enjoy the faster speed.
Bronze: Time Fibre Home 2Gbps
The bronze award goes to Time’s 2Gbps plan which is the first in Malaysia to offer ultra-high fibre speeds for home users. This is made possible by Time’s 10G PON deployment, a first of its kind commercially in the country. As you would expect, it’s quite a premium at RM379/month and it comes bundled with a WiFi 6 router with two Mesh nodes. Unlike TM’s 2Gbps Unifi Plan which is aggregated, Time’s 2Gbps plan offers true 2Gbps downloads.
If you want Gigabit speeds in every corner of your home, they even offer Fibre To The Room.
Telco of the Year
Naming a telco as the telco of the year is a huge deal and it takes into consideration all aspects (including the range of products and services, devices and coverage) beyond the typical consumer plans. Without ado, here are the winners for the best telco of the year.
Gold: Maxis
The Gold winner for best telco goes to Maxis. Although they are the last to offer 5G to consumers in Malaysia, they have bounced back with a complete revamp of its entire product lineup. This includes new postpaid, prepaid, 5G broadband and also new 2Gbps fibre. The moment they flipped the 5G switch, they replaced their postpaid plans with more data for less. On prepaid, they have also made some significant changes with 5G-enabled options and free roam-like-home data roam packages which makes international travel hassle-free.
Following the implementation of the MSAP, they have revised its fibre broadband pricing to be slightly cheaper than TM. The green telco also launched its 2Gbps fibre plan and they are also the first to offer WiFi 6E router on contract.
Maxis has grown its fibre business and they also offer a wide variety of device bundles on Zerolution instalments. This covers TVs, smart home appliances, and even Dyson products and PS5. In terms of network, so far, they have been quite solid this year which is to be expected from an established telco.
Silver: Yes 5G
Taking Silver is Yes 5G. Being the first to offer 5G in the country, the telco is a value disruptor with its affordable prepaid, postpaid and broadband plans. The telco has also taken a bold step with its no FUP proposition which gives users more freedom and confidence to download as much as they want.
Yes also offers the easiest eSIM activation and this year, it finally supports the iPhone. Yes also offers the lowest cost of ownership for an iPhone contract bundle as you can get it with a plan for as RM58 per month.
The FT5G prepaid remains the best affordable unlimited 5G plan in town as long as you’re within 5G coverage. The only shortfall is the lack of an extensive 4G coverage which can be an issue if you’re going to spend most of your time indoors.
Bronze: Unifi
TM’s Unifi takes Bronze this year and the SoyaCincau.com team finds that they have truly expanded its content offering with more streaming content platforms including Netflix and HBO Go. Suddenly Unifi TV seems to offer better value than Astro making them a rather attractive convergence option if you want fibre and video content.
Without a doubt, TM is still the largest broadband provider in Malaysia. Although they are still trying to grow its mobile business as part of its convergence offering, Unifi Mobile still leaves a lot to be desired.
