Malaysia Mobile Quality Report

Introduction

The Malaysian mobile market comprises several operators, of which three have their own networks with nation-wide coverage: CelcomDigi, Maxis and U Mobile. Thus, the network situation for these MNOs acts as a trustworthy barometer of the network situation in the country. A deep knowledge of the real performance and QoE of the network helps MNOs and end users make informed decisions, for the first ones for a better network deployment and optimization and for the seconds to choose the MNO that better fulfill their needs.

The objective of this report is to provide a summary of the network situation in Malaysia for these three MNOs.

This report provides a quick overview of the network situation based on the following KPIs:

• Disconnection time: daily average minutes that the users from a MNO have had only emergency coverage or no coverage.
• 4G and 5G time: percentage of time that the users from a MNO have had 4G and, if available, 5G coverage (including 5G NSA and 5G SA).
• 5G penetration and usage: percentage of users that have 5G connectivity, percentage of time in 5G and percentage of active usage of 5G.
• Network status in the Common Coverage Area: an analysis of the network status, based on the signal strength and the signal quality, for the areas where all MNOs provide coverage.
• Call type: percentage of use of each call type by operator. This shows which technologies each of their customers primarily use.
• Mobile network latency: percentage of customers on different latency ranks. The ranks are selected according to several performance thresholds.

Summary

The Malaysian telecommunications market is controlled by three operators with their own networks that together hold almost 92% of the market: CelcomDigi, Maxis and U Mobile.

In this competition to increase its customer base, CelcomDigi is the number 1 operator in Malaysia with 44% of the market. Further away is Maxis with 28% of the market and U Mobile with 20%.

The network performance of each operator differs from the another. We will analyze the performance of each of them:

If we take into account the disconnection time, U Mobile is the operator that remains without coverage for the least amount of time.

U Mobile is the operator that offers 4G coverage to its users the longest, with 98% of the time, while Maxis is the one that offers the best quality of 4G coverage, both in area and in measurements.

If we look at the types of calls, U Mobile is the operator in which users use VoLTE the most in their calls (95%).

Finally, regarding latency, in general terms, the three operators are tied with 93% of its measurements being rated as at least good latency (lower than 100ms), but if we only take into account excellent latency (lower than 50 ms), Maxis would be the winner with 74% of the measurements.

The main key figures are the following:

• The three main operators (CelcomDigi, Maxis, U Mobile) in Malaysia provide 4G coverage to their customers at least 96% of the time.
• 5G is considerably extended in the country, with the number of 5G users increasing steadily. The MNO with the most 5G customers is currently Maxis with 33%.
• Maxis is the operator that offers the best quality of 4G coverage, both in area and measurements.
• Malaysia is one of the countries with the highest adoption of VoLTE, with at least 87% of the country's calls made using this technology.
• The three operators has a good latency for a decent experience in all possible types of use, tied with 93% of measurements rated at least good (lower than 100 ms).

Methodology

In the following pages an in-depth description of each analyzed KPI can be found, including the methodology and rationale behind them.

At a more general level, the following paragraph describes the data collection methodology.

Weplan Analytics collects crowdsourced data from more than 200 million devices in 31 countries. For this analysis, 1.900 million measurements collected between August and October 2024 were used.

The following map shows the density of measurements taken throughout Malaysia by Weplan Analytics.

As the three aforementioned MNOs serve their networks to other parties (such as VMNOs, due to roaming agreements or as part of emergency coverage) they have been filtered by the network provider reported in the SIM card.

More details about the methodology can be found here.

Connectivity

Connectivity: Daily disconnection time

The following chart shows the disconnection average time in minutes each customer experiences from each MNO in a day.

Disconnection time includes moments when a customer has no coverage at all (such as underground parkings, inside elevators, so far away from an antenna that connection is not possible...) or moments when a customer has only the possibility to make emergency calls.

This disconnected time may (and, in most cases, will) be discontinuous, and is the average of the daily disconnection time for all users.

U Mobile is the operator that has the shortest daily disconnection time with only 9 minutes per day.

Connectivity: 4G and 5G time

As a result of the development of 5G technology, legacy technologies such as the 2G and 3G networks are being turned off with the aim of freeing up electromagnetic spectrum to make room for more modern technologies such as 4G and 5G. This is because the frequencies are limited, so it is necessary to turn off the old ones so that the new technologies can reuse them. Thus, one of the main objectives of operators is to guarantee at least adequate 4G coverage, and for those that already meet this objective, the focus turns to 5G.

U Mobile has the best 4G or higher coverage time for its customers, maintaining this coverage 98% of the time.

5G penetration and usage

The 5G deploy in Malaysia is experiencing a very particular situation.

With the help of DNB (Digital Nasional Berhad), a company created by the government in March 2021, a single wholesale network (SWN) was created as a model for the deployment of 5G.

That is, the 5G network would be built, owned and operated by the DNB, and any MCMC licensee can request access to it.

The idea of ​​this initiative was to reduce the costs of implementing 5G infrastructure, distribute coverage efficiently and offer consumers high average speeds.

Malaysia's largest operators opposed this system as it did not encourage competition. The only operators that said yes were TM and YTl communications with their operator Yes Mobile.

Finally, in October 2022, the operators relented and agreed to subscribe to DNB's 5G network. A percentage of DNB shares were distributed up to 65%, and 35% remained in the hands of the government.

A year ago, after strong pressure from telecommunications companies, which were unhappy with the limitations of the single network structure as well as interconnection costs, the Malaysian government committed to building a second 5G wholesale network. This second network would be launched under tender.

Recently, it was announced that the winner of this tender was U Mobile.

Percentage of 5G users by carrier

The percentage of 5G customers in Malaysia is growing, being Maxis number one with the most 5G customers (33%), followed by U Mobile with 28% and CelcomDigi with 22%.

Percentage of time spent under 5G coverage for 5G customers by carrier

If we look at the time in which each user has 5G coverage available, U Mobile is the winner with 61% of the time with 5G coverage available. It is followed by Maxis with 59% and CelcomDigi with 51%.

Percentage of 5G usage time for 5G users

When a user connects to the 5G network, they can do so under a Stand Alone (5G SA, pure 5G) or Non Stand Alone (5G NSA, 5G supported by the LTE network) connection.

When a user connects to the 5G NSA network, they can use only the LTE part (although they still see on their terminal that it is connected to 5G) or also the 5G part. Connecting in one way or another is mainly due to the use and capacity of the network, with the 5G network being prioritized for intensive data uses (e.g. streaming, video calls, video games, etc.) and leaving the 4G network for less intensive uses (e.g. messaging, low consumption web browsing, etc.).

The following chart shows the percentage of time that users are connected to a 5G network and are also using 5G technology.

If we emphasize the time that each user uses the available 5G, U Mobile users use the 5G network 32% of the time, followed by CelcomDigi with 28% and Maxis with 27%.

4G and 5G network status

Currently, as it is a single 5G network, the differences in measurements will come from variations that do not depend on the operators, so in this section we will only take into account 4G networks.

There are two main network performance indicators used to address the network status: signal strength and signal quality. Each technology has its own measurements, but two great categories can be established:

• Very Good: the network performance for all usages should be excellent.
• Good: the network performance for all usages may present occasional difficulties but is good overall.
• Fair: most network network-dependent usages (such as calls or data usage) will have at least a decent performance.
• Degraded: network usage may be unstable and unreliable but allows for basic usage such as calls with acceptable quality and very slow data transfer rate.
• Very Degraded: apart from emergency calls network usage is nearly impossible.

There are two ways to analyze these categories: by percentage of covered area or by percentage of measurements.

Most measurements take place in urban areas, where coverage is better.

However, it is important to note that in most countries the majority of the territory is not urban, so the percentage of area with a problematic network situation may be different from the percentage of measurements with a problematic network situation.

In general, all operators offer decent coverage in the common coverage area in Malaysia.

Maxis is the operator with the best results with 67% of the area rated as at least fair. Following are CelcomDigi with 66% and U Mobile with 60%.

If you look at measurements instead of area, the general situation is very similar.

Maxis is the operator with the best results with 69% of the measurements are classified as, at least, fair. It is followed by CelcomDigi with 66% and U Mobile with 64%.

Call type percentage

Although 2G and 3G technologies allow the use of data, the development of 4G and 5G has left these technologies largely relegated to use in phone calls.

However, not all customers can benefit from VoLTE calls, since in order for them to be used, the following conditions must be met:

1. Your MNO must provide 4G and VoLTE.
2. They must have a phone capable of making VoLTE calls and a mobile plan that includes VoLTE.
3. Your phone must be approved by the MNO and the manufacturer to make VoLTE calls.

The last condition means that a customer, without changing their phone, can have VoLTE with one operator, but not have it with another. When a 4G connected customer without VoLTE capability (for any reason) attempts to make a call, a handover process to the 2G or 3G network occurs.

This process, depending on the method applied, is called CSFB (the most common) or SRVCC. In addition, there is also VoWiFi (Voice over Wi-Fi) technology, which is used when a Wi-Fi network is available.

VoLTE technology is the most used by U Mobile customers, with 95% of total calls using this technology. It is followed by CelcomDigi and Maxis tied with 87%.

Latency status

Latency is the measurement of how much time it takes for the information to be transmitted between the user and the network. A lower latency means a faster, and smoother network experience, whereas a higher latency means that the network experience will not be as good, or even unusable. This makes latency a good indicator for user experience. We have divided latency in four main groups:

• Excellent latency: very smooth user experience, even with the most data-intensive usage, such as gaming or 4K streaming.
• Good latency: good user experience, although gaming may not be as fluid and 4K may present occasional problems.
• Degraded latency: mediocre user experience. Gaming and 4K are either uncomfortable or impossible, videochat may present noticeable lag, messaging with multimedia may take a long time to load and loading a web may be slow.
• Bad latency: essentially unusable network. Only the lightest usage, such as sending messages without multimedia works decently.

There are hardly any differences in latency between operators.

The three operators are tied with 90% of their measurements rated as good or excellent. If we only look at the excellent quality measurements, then Maxis would be the winner with 74% of its measurements, followed by U Mobile with 73% and CelcomDigi with 69%.