Malaysia’s global ranking for mobile network experience has slipped two places from #36 in Q4 2024 to #38 in Q1 2025 according to Opensignal. The analysis was based on Opensignal’s data metrics which covers not just download speeds but also consistency of network quality, as well as 4G and 5G availability.
When it comes to excellent consistent quality, Malaysia dropped four places from #58 to #62 globally between the two quarters. However, Malaysia remains within the top 10 Asia Pacific markets, ahead of Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.
Looking at the raw values, Malaysia’s 4G/5G network availability had increased slightly from 97.7% in Q4 2024 to 97.9% in Q1 2025. However, the value for excellent consistent quality has shown slight signs of decline from 68.4% in Q4 2024 to 66.9% in Q1 2025.
With wider adoption of 5G with more consumers switching to 5G enabled plans and 5G enabled devices, the overall 5G download speed in Malaysia has declined slightly from 239.9Mbps to 237.5Mbps. However, 4G speeds have improved slightly from 29.9Mbps to 32.7Mbps.
This trend of declining 5G and improving 4G is also observed in developed markets such as Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Luxemburg, as operators are rebalancing its spectrum resource between 4G and 5G networks. As coverage remains a priority, some of these matured networks have migrated lower bands such as 700MHz and 1800MHz to 5G for wider footprint. However, these bands offer lower bandwidth. and resulted a dip in average 5G download speeds.
You can check out the full table and comparison versus other countries globally on Opensignal’s Global Network Excellence Index.
At the moment, all telcos in Malaysia are currently offering 5G services via Digital Nasional Berhad. After hitting 80.2% 5G population coverage in 31st December 2023, there isn’t much major progress for 5G coverage expansion. Last year, DNB’s 5G footprint only expanded slightly to 82.4% as of December 2024.
However, the Single Wholesale Network provider had focused on boosting indoor 5G reception by rolling out 5G in-building coverage solutions at airports, medical facilities and convention centers.
As part of Malaysia’s transition from a Single Wholesale Network to a dual 5G network model, U Mobile was named the winner for the second 5G network bid. After securing its letter of award from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), U Mobile appointed Huawei and ZTE as their 5G vendors, and announced plans to achieve 80% 5G population coverage by the second half of 2026.
