Isla McKetta | September 4, 2019

In-Depth Analysis of Changes in World Internet Performance Using the Speedtest Global Index

A lot has changed in the two years since 2017 when we first began ranking mobile and fixed broadband speeds of countries around the world with the Speedtest Global Index^TM. 5G is being deployed around the world and fiber continues to make gigabit speeds a reality in more and more countries. We’ve been tracking it all and are here to report on how much speeds have increased, which countries are leading internet performance and which are falling behind, and what trends we see across continents.

World mobile speed increased 21.4% with fixed broadband up 37.4%

World-Download-Speeds-2019-OG2

Looking just at the last year, the world’s mean download speed over mobile increased 21.4% from 22.81 Mbps in July 2018 to 27.69 Mbps in July 2019. Mean upload speed over mobile increased 18.1% from 9.13 Mbps to 10.78 Mbps. The world average for download speed over fixed broadband increased 37.4% from 46.48 Mbps in July 2018 to 63.85 Mbps in July 2019. Mean upload speed over fixed broadband increased 48.9% from 22.52 Mbps to 33.53 Mbps.

Shake-ups in the country rankings for internet performance

Fastest-Countries-Mobile-2018-2019

Mobile speeds in the fastest countries have skyrocketed in the past year which has dramatically shifted the rankings. South Korea, which was not even in the top ten a year ago, saw a 165.9% increase in mean download speed over mobile during the past 12 months, in large part due to 5G. Switzerland’s mean download speed increased 23.5%. Canada’s was up 22.2%, Australia 21.2%, the Netherlands 17.3%, UAE 11.1%, Malta 10.3% and Norway 5.8%. Qatar remained in the top ten, although the country’s mean download speed over mobile actually dropped 1.4% from July 2018 to July 2019.

Individual mobile operators can make a huge difference in a country’s speeds. In 2017 we were excited to see Telenor uncap their mobile speeds, which drove Norway to the top of the Speedtest Global Index. A big part of South Korea’s mobile success in the past year is the way KT, LG U+ and SK Telecom banded together to release 5G at the same time. Switzerland has also benefited from 5G and Sunrise leads the country with 262 5G deployments across the country while Swisscomm has 52.

Fastest-Countries-Fixed-2018-2019

Fixed broadband rankings on the Speedtest Global Index have not changed as dramatically during the past 12 months as those on mobile. Singapore remains the fastest country with an increase in mean download speed over fixed broadband of 5.6%. Taiwan had the largest jump in speeds among the top 10 with a 166.5% improvement in fixed download speed between July 2018 and July 2019. Mean download speed over fixed broadband increased 52.4% in South Korea, 26.4% in Macau, 21.7% in Romania, 21.0% in Switzerland, 19.3% in the United States and 3.5% in Hong Kong.

Monaco and Andorra did not have enough tests to qualify for the Speedtest Global Index one year ago, but massive fixed broadband improvements in both countries inspired us to lower our test count threshold for inclusion and also share these smaller countries’ success stories.

Technologies paving the way: 5G and gigabit

The presence of 5G is not enough to change a market

As discussed above, 5G has the potential to rocket a country to the top of the mobile rankings on the Speedtest Global Index. In practice, we’ve seen 5G speeds that were over 1000% faster than those on LTE.

Mobile-Download-Speeds-by-Country

In reality, though, unless 5G is commercially available widely across a country and from all mobile operators (as was the case in South Korea), the change in speeds at the country level is not that significant. Though commercial 5G was launched widely across Switzerland by Sunrise and Swisscom in April 2019, the country’s mean download speed only increased 2.8% in the three months since. The average mobile download speed in the U.S. has actually declined slightly since 5G was initially deployed. This is because 5G is still only available in a very limited number of markets to consumers with 5G-capable devices.

Visit the Ookla 5G Map for the latest on 5G deployments across the globe.

Gigabit is a game-changer, if you can get it

Unlike 5G, fiber connections have been rolling out since 2007, opening up the possibility of gigabit-speed fixed broadband. That said, it’s costly and time-intensive to lay miles and miles of fiber so progress has varied widely across the globe.

Gigabit-Test---Performance_Singapore-1

Geographically small countries like Singapore have the advantage when it comes to fiber, because It’s easier and cheaper to lay fiber optic cable across the country’s small footprint. Singaporean internet service providers (ISPs) have used this advantage to go beyond mere gigabit and offer connections as fast as 10 Gbps. This is reflected both in Singapore’s dominance of the fixed rankings on the Speedtest Global Index and in the fact that 2.87% of their total Speedtest results over fixed broadband are gigabit-speed (800 Mbps or higher).

Gigabit-Test---Performance_Brazil-1

Brazil offers a good contrast for how difficult it can be for gigabit to reach the masses. While the first Brazilian ISP to offer fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) initially did so in 2007, easy access to gigabit speeds was slow to follow. However, that may be starting to change. Between June and July 2019 we saw a large uptick in gigabit-speed results in Brazil, where the proportion of gigabit speed tests increased from 0.02% of total fixed broadband tests to 0.17%. This corresponded with a large increase in mean download speed at the country level.

Comparing world mobile and fixed broadband at a glance

We were curious to see just how different internet performance experiences were around the world, so we plotted average mobile download speed against average download speed on fixed broadband. All of the graphs below use a percentage difference from the global average, a number that changed between 2018 and 2019.

fade-Performance-vs-Global---Quadrant-All

Speed Leaders

There was not much change in the list of countries that showed above-average download speeds on both mobile and fixed broadband between July 2018 and July 2019, the “Speed Leaders.” What did change was that fixed broadband speeds increased significantly enough among the group to bring the whole pack closer to Singapore and Hong Kong. On the mobile axis, South Korea’s major increase in download speed made that country more of an outlier, pushing the boundaries of what great performance can look like.

Fixed-Focused countries

Between July 2018 and July 2019 we saw the number of countries considered to be “Fixed-Focused” (having faster download speeds over fixed broadband than the world average while their average mobile download speeds were slower than average) increase. Ireland was the only country that solidly fit this category in 2018. Thailand and Chile started near the midline for fixed speeds and below-average for mobile speeds in 2018. 2019 found both countries squarely in the Fixed-Focused category. Israel also edged into this category as their mobile download speed fell between July 2018 and 2019.

Mobile-Focused countries

The “Mobile-Focused” category saw the most movement between July 2018 and July 2019 as some countries (the UAE and Qatar) increased their fixed speeds sufficiently to join the Speed Leaders. Meanwhile, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s mobile download speed increased year-over-year to move them into the Mobile-Focused quadrant. Georgia’s mobile download speed decreased enough to move them from Mobile-Focused to Speed Laggers.

It will be interesting to see how many of these Mobile-Focused countries double down on their mobile investments and explore 5G alternatives to fixed broadband.

Speed Laggers

No country wants to be in the position of having slower than average mobile and fixed broadband speeds. We saw 57 countries in this “Speed Laggers” quadrant in July 2018 and 78 in July 2019. This increase is mostly due to our expansion of the number of countries we consider for the Speedtest Global Index based on test count. There were enough countries in this category that we’ve considered them separately by continent below.

Regional views of mobile and fixed broadband performance

Mobile-and-Fixed-Broadband-Improvement-by-Continent-02

We aggregated Speedtest results by continent to analyze mobile and fixed broadband performance by continent.

Mobile-and-Fixed-Performance-by-Continent-01

Asia had the highest percentage increase in mobile download speed followed by North America, Oceania, South America, Africa and Europe. Oceania had the fastest mean download speed in July 2019. North America placed second, Europe third, Asia fourth, South America fifth and Africa sixth.

On the fixed broadband side, South America saw the highest percentage increase in download speed. Asia came in second, Europe third, Africa fourth, North America fifth and Oceania sixth. North America had the fastest mean download speed in July 2019. Europe was second, Asia third, and Oceania fourth. As we saw with mobile, South America and Africa again ranked fifth and sixth, respectively.

A zoomed-in view of the speed quadrants separated by continent offers a more detailed view of each country’s role in these rankings.

Africa mostly lags in internet speeds

2019-Performance-vs-Global---Africa

In July 2019, all but two African countries in the Speedtest Global Index fell into the Speed Laggers category, having mobile and fixed broadband speeds that were below global averages. The exceptions were South Africa and Guinea, which both had fast enough mobile speeds to place them in the mobile-focused quadrant.

Asian markets show a wide breadth of internet performance

2019-Performance-vs-Global---Asia

Asia was the most diverse continent we examined in terms of internet performance. We saw a plurality of countries in each of the four quadrants in July 2019. Most of the Speed Leaders were in East Asia: China, Hong Kong (SAR), Japan, Macau (SAR), South Korea, and Taiwan. If we include Singapore, another Speed Leader, these are among the wealthiest nations in Asia (using GDP per capita). Two of Asia’s Fixed-Focused countries are in Southeast Asia (Malaysia and Thailand) and one is in the Middle East (Israel).

The Speed Laggers category contained countries from South Asia (including Afghanistan, India and Pakistan), Southeast Asia (Brunei, Cambodia, the Philippines and Vietnam) and the Middle East (Jordan). Mobile-Focused countries in Asia were mostly Middle Eastern, including Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

European mobile performance is mostly strong, fixed varies

2019-Performance-vs-Global---Europe

With the exception of Ireland, the European countries on the Speedtest Global Index fell into the Speed Leaders, Mobile-Focused, and Speed Laggers categories. All of the Speed Laggers (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia and the Ukraine) were from Eastern Europe. Countries from Southeast Europe (including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, Moldova, Serbia and Slovenia) and Central Europe (Austria and the Czech Republic) made up the bulk of the Mobile-Focused category.

Speed Leaders included countries from the Baltics (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), the Nordics (Denmark, Norway and Sweden), Central Europe (Poland and Romania), and Western Europe (including Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain).

North American internet performance is sharply divided

2019-Performance-vs-Global---North-America

Canada and the U.S. are the only two North American countries in the Speed Leaders category. Panama is the only North American country under Fixed-Focused. Mexico and all of the Central American countries fall into the Speed Laggers category. There are no North American countries that are Mobile-Focused.

Each country in Oceania has a very different internet story

2019-Performance-vs-Global---Ocean

Oceania is represented in three of the four quadrants: Speed Leaders (New Zealand), Mobile-Focused (Australia) and Speed Laggers (Papua New Guinea) with Fiji straddling the divide between Speed Laggers and Mobile-Focused.

South America mostly lags in mobile and fixed internet speeds

2019-Performance-vs-Global---South-America

Most of the South American countries represented on the Speedtest Global Index are in the Speed Laggers quadrant (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela). Chile is an exception, being part of the Fixed-Focused group, as is Uruguay which sits in Mobile-Focused.

Global internet speeds are improving on average and 5G and gigabit are compounding those advances where available. However, not all countries are benefitting equally. We’ll be interested to see how 5G continues to push mobile speeds in the next year and also whether 5G Wi-Fi becomes a game changer for fixed broadband. Remember to check the Speedtest Global Index on a monthly basis for updated country rankings. And take a Speedtest to make sure your experience is represented in your country’s averages.

Editor’s Note: This article was edited on September 10, 2019 to correct an error in the labeling on the first image. The colors in a later image were updated for consistency.

Ookla retains ownership of this article including all of the intellectual property rights, data, content graphs and analysis. This article may not be quoted, reproduced, distributed or published for any commercial purpose without prior consent. Members of the press and others using the findings in this article for non-commercial purposes are welcome to publicly share and link to report information with attribution to Ookla.

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Isla McKetta

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Ookla | March 13, 2020

Tracking COVID-19’s Impact on Global Internet Performance (Updated July 20)

We are no longer updating this article as internet speeds in most countries have stabilized to pre-pandemic levels. For ongoing information about internet speeds in specific countries, visit the Speedtest Global Index^TM or contact our press team.

Ookla^® closely monitored the impact of COVID-19 on the performance and quality of global mobile and broadband internet networks in the early days of the pandemic. We shared regular information based on Ookla data to assist in the understanding of this unprecedented situation. You can still download the July 20, 2020 CSV here which contains all the public data we tracked in this article. If you are looking for information on internet or online service outages, please check Downdetector^®.

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Ookla

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Isla McKetta | December 18, 2022

Stable and Expanding: The State of Worldwide 5G in 2022

5G is no longer a new technology, however, consumers in many countries are still waiting to see the full benefits of 5G (or even to connect to 5G at all). We examined Speedtest Intelligence® data from Q3 2022 Speedtest® results to see how 5G performance has changed since last year, where download speeds are the fastest at the country level, and how satellite technologies are offering additional options to connect. We also looked at countries that don’t yet have 5G to understand where consumers are seeing improvements in 4G LTE access.

5G speeds were stable at the global level

In 2021, we discussed how an expansion of 5G access led to a decline in overall speed at the global level. This year showed a stabilization in overall speed, even as 5G access broadened, with a median global 5G download speed of 168.27 Mbps in Q3 2022 as compared to 166.13 Mbps in Q3 2021. Median upload speed over 5G slowed slightly to 18.71 Mbps (from 21.08 Mbps) during the same period. According to the Ookla® 5G Map™, there were 127,509 5G deployments in 128 countries as of November 30, 2022, compared to 85,602 in 112 countries the year prior.

South Korea and the United Arab Emirates led countries for 5G speeds

South Korea and the U.A.E. had the fastest median download speed over 5G at 516.15 Mbps and 511.70 Mbps, respectively, during Q3 2022, leading a top 10 list that included Bulgaria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Kuwait, New Zealand, Bahrain, and Brazil. Bulgaria, Singapore, Bahrain, and Brazil were new to the top 10 in 2022, while Norway, Sweden, China, and Taiwan fell out of the top 10.

Satellite became more accessible but performance slowed

2022 saw a proliferation of fast, low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite internet from Starlink across the world. Q1 2022 saw Starlink speeds increase year over year in Canada and the U.S., with Starlink in Mexico having the fastest satellite internet in North America, Starlink in Lithuania the fastest in Europe, Starlink in Chile the fastest in South America, and Starlink in Australia the fastest in Oceania.

Q2 2022 saw Starlink speeds decrease in Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand, the U.K., and the U.S. from Q1 2022 as Starlink crossed the 400,000 user threshold across the world. Starlink in Puerto Rico debuted as the fastest satellite provider in North America. Starlink outperformed fixed broadband averages in 16 European countries. Starlink in Brazil had the fastest satellite speeds in South America. And Starlink in New Zealand was the fastest satellite provider in Oceania.

During Q3 2022, Starlink performance dipped once again from Q2 2022 in Canada and the U.S., while remaining about the same in Chile. Starlink in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands had the fastest satellite speeds in North America, while Starlink in Brazil again was the fastest satellite provider in South America.

With Viasat, HughesNet, and Project Kuiper set to launch huge LEO constellations in 2023, consumers around the world are poised to have more fast satellite internet options, particularly as the European Commission makes its own play for a constellation and Eutelsat and OneWeb potentially merging.

5G Availability points to on-going challenges

5G Availability measures the proportion of Speedtest users with 5G-capable handsets, who spend a majority of time connected to 5G networks. It’s therefore a function of 5G coverage and adoption. We see wide disparity in 5G Availability among markets worldwide, with for example the U.S. recording 54.3% in Q3 2022, well ahead of markets such as Sweden and the U.A.E., with 8.6% and 8.3% respectively.

Critical levers for mobile operators to increase 5G Availability include:

Increasing 5G coverage by deploying additional base stations
Obtaining access to, or refarming, sub-GHz spectrum, to help broaden 5G coverage, as sub-GHz spectrum has superior propagation properties than that of higher frequency spectrum bands.
Encouraging 5G adoption among users with 5G-capable handsets.

Speedtest Intelligence points to 5G adoption challenges in some markets, with 5G Availability dropping in Bulgaria, South Korea, the Netherlands, and the U.A.E. As more users acquire 5G-capable devices, operators need to balance their pricing models to ensure users have sufficient incentives to purchase a 5G tariff.

Where 5G continues to fail to reach

Speedtest Intelligence showed 29 countries in the world where more than 20% of samples were from 2G and 3G connections (combined) during Q3 2022 and met our statistical threshold to be included (down from 70 in Q3 2021). These are mostly countries where 5G is still aspirational for a majority of the population, which is being left behind technologically, having to rely on decades-old technologies that are only sufficient for basic voice and texting, social media, and navigation apps. We’re glad to see so many countries fall off this list, but having so many consumers on 2G and 3G also prevents mobile operators from making 4G and 5G networks more efficient. If operators and regulators are able to work to upgrade their users to 4G and higher, everyone will benefit.

Countries That Still Rely Heavily on 2G and 3G Connections

Speedtest IntelligenceⓇ | Q3 2021

Country	2G & 3G Samples
Central African Republic	76.2%
Turkmenistan	58.5%
Kiribati	51.6%
Micronesia	47.4%
Rwanda	41.1%
Belarus	39.7%
Equatorial Guinea	37.7%
Afghanistan	36.7%
Palestine	33.5%
Madagascar	27.5%
Sudan	27.4%
Lesotho	26.5%
South Sudan	26.3%
Benin	26.0%
Guinea	25.5%
Cape Verde	24.3%
Tonga	24.3%
Syria	23.4%
The Gambia	23.4%
Ghana	23.3%
Palau	22.9%
Niger	22.8%
Tajikistan	22.7%
Mozambique	22.4%
Guyana	21.8%
Togo	21.8%
Congo	21.1%
Moldova	20.8%
Saint Kitts and Nevis	20.0%

We were pleased to see the following countries come off the list from last year, having dropped below the 20% threshold: Algeria, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Barbados, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Burundi, Caribbean Netherlands, Cook Islands, Dominica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Gabon, Grenada, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Liberia, Mauritania, Namibia, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. While countries like Belarus, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Guinea, Guyana, Madagascar, Palestine, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tajikistan, Togo, and Turkmenistan are still on this list, they have improved the percentage of their samples on these outmoded technologies when compared to last year by at least 10 points. Palestine improved by more than 50 points. 2G and 3G samples in Kiribati increased 3.2 points when comparing Q3 2022 to Q3 2021.

We’re glad to see performance levels normalize as 5G expands to more and more countries and access improves and we are optimistic that 2023 will bring further improvements. Keep track of how well your country is performing on Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index™ or track performance in thousands of cities worldwide with the Speedtest Performance Directory™.

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Isla McKetta

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Sylwia Kechiche | June 27, 2022

Dtac and True Merger Talks Point to a Need to Address Unequal Footing in Thailand's 5G

The planned merger between True Corporation (“True”) and Total Access Communication (“dtac”) in Thailand is currently awaiting regulatory approval. The announcement of the merger or “amalgamation” as the involved companies like to call it, wasn’t unexpected as rumors around dtac’s owner Telenor’s plans to exit Thailand circulated for a while. Besides, Telenor hopes to merge its Malaysian operations and it sold its operations in Myanmar in March 2022. On November 20, 2021, True and dtac entered a non-binding memorandum of understanding to pursue the “amalgamation.” In April 2022, the two companies received the approval from their shareholders for the merger and to create a new listed company — NewCo — despite not knowing what the conditions or measures of the deal will be. In June 2022, a legal subcommittee of NBTC concluded that the telecom regulator has the power to approve or dissolve the planned merger. In this article we will assess the impact of the proposed merger on the Thai telecommunications market by examining its current state.

Key takeaways

Thailand’s 5G performed well compared to its regional counterparts due to a timely 5G network roll out and dedicated 5G spectrum availability.
Based on mobile performance, Thailand is a market dominated by one player — AIS. It had a lead in terms of 4G performance and that lead has been extended further with 5G. The third operator in the market, dtac, is not competitive on 5G due to its limited spectrum holdings (dtac’s 5G performance is equivalent to AIS’ 4G).
The merged operator, NewCo, could provide more robust competition to AIS while also having the scale to invest in 5G. While this will turn Thailand into a two-player market, examples of mergers and acquisitions in other countries suggest a number of measures will be most likely put in place: spectrum divestment, more capacity allocated to MVNOs, converged and innovative offerings, all of which can potentially offset its negative impact.

Thailand’s 5G performs well compared to its regional counterparts

5G deployment in Thailand is comparable in terms of 5G speeds and 5G Availability with more developed countries in the region such as Singapore, even though the country previously lagged behind its peers in assigning 3G and LTE spectrum.

In our recent article, we concluded that the country’s regulator, The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), has been instrumental in establishing Thailand as a leading 5G market in the region. In fact, Thailand was one of the first markets to launch 5G in the Asia-Pacific region, with AIS and TrueMove H both launching commercial 5G services in Q1 2020, shortly after the conclusion of the country’s 5G auction. The Thai government plays an active role in ensuring 5G can bring societal benefits, e.g., improving government services and extending healthcare access. Some of the campaigns include establishing a telemedicine center, setting up a 5G network for smart city management, developing a pilot project on digital farming in Songkhla Lake Basin, and using 5G connectivity for pandemic related measures as tourism was reopening in Phuket.

In Q1 2022, Speedtest Intelligence® data put Thailand on par with its regional peers such as Australia and China and ahead of the Philippines, Japan, Singapore and New Zealand in terms of 5G Availability (the proportion of users on 5G-capable devices who spend a majority of their time on 5G networks).

In February 2020, NBTC assigned spectrum for 5G use across low (700 MHz), mid (2,600 MHz), and high (26 GHz) frequency bands. It also plans a further auction of mid-band spectrum in 2022 in the 3.5 GHz band, which was vacated in September 2021 by Thaicom, a satellite provider. All of the countries in the comparison above assigned spectrum in the mid-band frequency, which is the sweet spot for 5G in terms of coverage and capacity. In South Korea, which came first in terms of median 5G download speed, the government allocated a total of 2,680 MHz of spectrum including 280 MHz in the 3.5 GHz band and 2,400 MHz in the 28 GHz spectrum band. Korean provider KT is also using a standalone 5G network, a form of 5G that doesn’t rely on 4G LTE as the foundation of the 5G experience, which should provide faster speeds and lower latency than non-standalone (NSA) 5G networks. In fact, a few operators in the analyzed countries have launched 5G SA including China (all operators), Singapore (M1, Singtel, and Starhub), Australia (Telstra and Vodafone), Japan (Softbank), and Thailand (AIS).

AIS wins on 5G performance in Thailand, TrueMove H on 5G Availability

In Q1 2022, AIS came as the fastest operator in terms of 5G speeds, this was also the case in Q4 2021 as per our recent article. According to Speedtest Intelligence, AIS recorded a median 5G download speed of 261.19 Mbps and 5G upload speed of 40.57 Mbps during Q1 2022. AIS launched 5G NSA (non-standalone) in February 2020 using the 700 MHz, 2.6 GHz and 26 GHz bands, followed by 5G SA in July 2020 in cooperation with Huawei. AIS deployed 5G CA (New Radio Carrier Aggregation) by integrating its mid-band (2600 MHz) and low band (700 MHz) spectrum. This in turn gave a 1.7x boost to the operator’s data transmission capabilities. TrueMove H was second for 5G download speed, with a median of 197.79 Mbps and a 5G upload speed of 25.52 Mbps. The lack of mid-band spectrum limits dtac’s performance, which showed a median 5G download speed of 32.70 Mbps and 19.18 Mbps upload.

The ranking shifts when we compare 5G Availability – the percentage of users on 5G-capable devices that spend a majority of time with access to 5G networks. TrueMove H came first for 5G Availability at 37.9% during Q1 2022, a three percentage point improvement over Q4 2021. This was well above the rest of the Thai operators: AIS (18.7%), and dtac (7.9%). Based on our data AIS & TrueMove H had 5G Availability in all 77 provinces but TrueMove H 5G Availability was higher in most of the provinces as per Q1 2022.

This disparity we see between TrueMove H and AIS is largely down to the fact that AIS requires users to subscribe to a 5G tariff, as opposed to TrueMove H which allows greater access to 5G-enabled devices on its network. TrueMove H’s 5G Availability remains the highest via a combination of coverage and 5G handsets. The operator’s initial focus was to roll out 5G to most densely populated areas such as the Bangkok metropolitan area, in which over 90% of population is covered by 5G, followed by key locations. At the time of 5G network launch, TrueMove H offered 30 models of 5G smartphone under promotional prices, True 5G VR4K vision and True5G VR Headset, IoT equipment as well as gadgets. AIS rolled out a 5G network out to all 77 provinces, covering 78% of the population in Q1 2022, with a year end target of 85% population coverage.

At the same time, Thai operators continue to grow the number of 5G users, expanding the addressable market beyond early adopters; for example TrueMove H saw its 5G user base increase to 2.6 million in Q1 2022, AIS had 2.8 million 5G package subscribers and 3 million 5G handset on AIS network in Q1 2022.

Songkhla tops the charts for median 5G download speed

Every operator takes a unique approach to regional strategy, so we looked closely at 5G performance in select regions during Q1 2022. Songkhla came top when it comes to median 5G download speed (253.44 Mbps), but ranked last in 5G Availability (8.9%), which points to low network congestion due to a lower number of users.

We removed dtac from the operator level comparison due to the low sample size. AIS came top in almost all regions, apart from Khon Kaen. AIS’s fastest median 5G download speed (313.35 Mbps) was in Songkhla.

Bangkok has the highest 5G Availability

In Q1 2022, Bangkok had the highest 5G Availability (30.1%), Songkhla ranked last in 5G Availability (8.9%). Ookla 5G Map® shows 215 commercial 5G deployments in the Bangkok area. What’s more, because Bangkok is more affluent than the rest of the country, smartphone adoption, including 5G, is higher than in the rest of the country. Due to the pandemic, Thai operators have actually accelerated their 5G rollout, starting with hospitals in Bangkok. At the end of 2021, AIS reported that its 5G network covered more than 99% of the population in Bangkok compared to 76% across the whole country. At the end of Q1 2022, dtac’s 5G network covered 34 provinces, though we have excluded dtac from the above ranking due to low sample count. Dtac has been focusing on network expansion using the 700 MHz band, resulting in capacity and coverage uplift, yet it is still lagging behind competition in uptake. Dtac reported that it will prioritize 5G expansion by expanding coverage to all of Thailand’s 77 provinces within the Q3 2022.

4G Availability close enough, AIS in the lead for 4G speeds

The leaderboard for 4G LTE performance in Thailand looked very similar to the 5G one during Q1 2022. AIS was in the lead (31.16 Mbps for download/17.51 Mbps upload), followed by TrueMove H (23.38 Mbps for download/10.80 Mbps for upload), and dtac (13.57 Mbps for download/ 5.05 Mbps upload), there was a major difference, however, when 4G performance is considered separately to that on 5G. AIS’s median download speed on all technologies combined was almost eight times higher than dtac’s, but AIS’s median download speed on 4G was just double of dtac’s. Furthermore, there was no substantial difference in terms of 4G Availability – the percentage of users on all devices who spend the majority of their time connected to 4G technology both roaming and on-network – across Thai mobile networks.

Consolidation wave across Asia-Pacific could stifle competition

Merger and acquisitions activity is heating up across the Asia-Pacific region with deals on the table across a number of countries including Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Indonesia. Thus far, only the merger between Indosat and Tri in Indonesia has received regulatory approval and been completed. This is true in Europe as well, as we discussed in our recent article, with recent examples including the agreed joint venture between MasMovil and Orange in Spain and Iliad’s recent bid for Vodafone Italy.

A number of studies have attempted to assess the impact of mergers. For instance, in 2017 GSMA analyzed the impact of the 2012 Hutchison/Orange merger in Austria (a 4-to-3 merger) on quality using difference-in-differences (DD) and synthetic control methods. The study concluded that the merger in Austria had a positive and statistically significant effect on quality outcomes. The U.K. telecom regulator, Ofcom, in its Economic Discussion Paper on Market structure, investment and quality in the mobile industry analyzed a number of M&A activities. It concluded that the results of merger-specific analysis are mixed, as there is no evidence that mergers have generated improvements in network quality to the benefit of consumers. Instead, there is some evidence that both investment and average download speeds declined following some of these mergers. Closer to Thailand, Indosat Ooredoo and Hutchison 3 Indonesia (Tri) merged into Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison (IOH) to create a number two player in Indonesia with 26.3% market share as of Q1 2022. It was conditioned upon a number of factors, though, around improved geographic reach and network performance.

However, there are rare examples of a market moving towards duopoly. In 2011, Philippines mobile market became a duopoly after PLDT acquired Digitel. The deal was studied by regulators for seven months, the main issue being the large amount of the country’s 3G spectrum that the merged operator would control. It eventually passed on condition that PLDT gave up the 10 MHz 3G license held by one of its subsidiaries. Almost a decade later, a third player entered the Philippines, which we will discuss in an upcoming article.

The shape of the Thai mobile market

If approved, M&A would bring more MVNOs to the market

With close to 100 million mobile connections, Thailand’s SIM penetration of the population is 140%, meaning that on average a mobile subscriber has 1.58 SIMs. The market is served by four operators: AIS, DTAC, TrueMove H and the government owned National Telecom (NT). NT was formed in January 2021 via a merger of Communications Authority of Thailand (CAT) Telecom and TOT (Telephone Organization of Thailand).

AIS, whose backers include Singtel Group, led the market with 44.5% of all mobile subscriptions, equivalent to 44.6 million subscribers, at the end of March 2022. By contrast, TrueMove H held 33.4% of the market share (32.5 million subscribers), with dtac claiming a 19.8% market share with 19.9 million subscribers. According to industry estimates, NT had less than 3.5 million subscribers in Q1 2022, equating to 3.3% market share. Currently, MVNOs hold a miniscule market share of the Thai market, under 1% combined. NT is the sole operator hosting MVNOs in Thailand since MVNOs were introduced in 2009, despite the fact that all of operators licenses’ terms and conditions have a clause that a minimum 10% of their spectrum capacity should be allocated to MVNOs. Opening up the market to MVNOs is often one of the conditions for M&A to go ahead.

The topic of mergers is widely discussed in Thailand; there have been a number of concerns raised. Thai consumer advocates and academics voice their disapproval of the M&A, saying consumers will be at a disadvantage due to less competition in the market. For instance, the People’s Network Protecting Public Interest claimed that the market would become a de facto duopoly with foreseen price increases of 20-30% in the long term. NT Telecom, which is both a competitor and a minority stakeholder in dtac, disapproved of the True-dtac merger.

The discussion as to who should approve the merger was put to rest when a legal subcommittee of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) concluded the telecom regulator has the power to approve or prohibit the planned merger. NBTC is still conducting studies on the impact of the merger, both short-term and long-term, as well setting up a number of independent committees to advise on the best course of action. Most recently, a panel that was tasked with determining whether the merger would have economic impact, M&A could reduce Thailand’s GDP growth by between 0.05% and 1.99%, and increase mobile prices by 2.03%-19.5% depending on the degree of collusion. Against this backdrop, it is hard to imagine that the merger would get a green light.

If the merger goes ahead, the newly combined entity will become the number one player in Thailand with a 52.2% market share, ahead of the current market leader, AIS. However, it takes time for the companies to merge their operations and it is most likely that in the short term both companies will use their separate brands while working out the go to market proposition. Also the companies’ execs at a recent seminar were at pains to assure that there will be no price hikes if the merger goes ahead, instead because of the economies of scale there will be more investment into the market resulting in more innovation and better customer experience.

If approved, M&A would change the spectrum landscape

As it stands right now, AIS has the largest amount of 5G spectrum — a total of 1,330 MHz — across low-, mid-, and high-frequency bands. In May 2022, AIS added a further 10 MHz of bandwidth on the 700 MHz spectrum from NT due to the deal with NT Telecom. With this deal, AIS will increase its bandwidth to 40 MHz from August 2022 onward, which should improve its 5G coverage.

AIS and TrueMove H deployed their initial 5G networks on the 2600 MHz spectrum, while dtac used frequencies in the 26 GHz band. All operators, except for NT, also deployed 5G in the 700 MHz spectrum band when it became available for use in early 2021, following the completion of broadcasting service migration. NT is yet to deploy 5G.

Thanks to the merger, dtac would have access to True’s mid-band spectrum, which should substantially improve its performance. Furthermore, there is another C-band spectrum auction planned in 2022 (3.4-3.7 GHz band). This should have a positive effect on the 5G download speeds as we have seen in the USA when since deployment in the C-band, Verizon’s 5G speeds have set it apart from AT&T.

However, it is common practice that operators that undergo mergers have to divest part of their spectrum as an M&A condition. For example, this was the case when Hutchison 3G acquired Orange in Austria, Hutchison 3G bought Telefonica in Ireland and Telefonica merged with E-Plus in Germany.

The benefits of scale are obvious

Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) bundling is offered by most operators in Thailand due to competitive pressures coming from TrueMove H and AIS. The merger could enable convergent offerings from dtac too, which is solely a mobile player, and would allow it to offer better service in terms of coverage and further expand its market share. According to Analysys Mason, FMC penetration will continue to increase in Thailand, and if the merger is blocked, dtac’s competitive standing will be further disadvantaged.

On the other hand, True Corporation has a portfolio of services:

TrueMove H — mobile operator, which also offers NB-IoT (Narrowband IoT).
TrueOnline — broadband internet and fixed-line. It is the largest fixed broadband provider with a 46.7% market share.
TrueVision — Pay TV, digital TV and content provider and an online game and influencer network; 3.5M subscribers.
True Digital Group — Digital media, data analytics, cybersecurity, IoT, integrated digital health, digital solutions and True Digital Academy.

The merged operator NewCo would remain at its core a telecommunication player but would extend its reach to support the digital transformation of Thailand, in line with Thailand 4.0 vision. The quoted benefits of the “amalgamation” include:

Improved 5G coverage with better network quality, reliability and speed.
More value-driven convergence or products and services thanks to access to a wider ecosystem of partners.
Utilization of consolidated infrastructure such as outlets to expand its outreach to deliver on Thailand 4.0 policy.
Greater opex and capex cost efficiencies when deploying 5G networks thanks to the benefit of scale. As a result improving the quality of telecom infrastructure and customer satisfaction.
Streamlined efficiencies will deliver better consumer experience and will enable NewCo to invest in future technologies and networks.
Positioning Thailand as a regional technology hub.

The NewCo will operate:

Telecom services and the sale and distribution of mobile devices via subsidiaries dtac, TriNet, and TrueMove H — using the 700 MHz, 850 MHz (under agreement with NT), 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, and 2300 MHz (under agreement with NT) spectrum.
Broadband internet provider via TrueOnline.
Pay TV, digital TV, and content provider via TrueVisions.
Portfolio of digital services via True Digital Group, and new businesses through artificial intelligence, cloud technology, smart devices, smart cities, amongst others.
Venture capital investments, with the intention to raise VC funding of USD 100-200 million with partners to invest in promising digital startups.

The merged operator could provide more competition to AIS across all market segments, not only mobile. AIS Fiber, for instance, holds a 14% market share and differentiated its services with value added and bundling packages. NewCo would build on existing TrueOnline offering and could take a convergent offering to a new level, e.g. quadplay.

While we await the final decision on the merger, it is clear that dtac is falling behind its competitors when it comes to 5G performance. The recently announced National 5G Alliance aims to further promote the role of 5G in enabling digital transformation. We will monitor Thai operators’ performance and wait for the results for the upcoming mid-band spectrum auction to see whether this will close the performance gap. In the meantime, you can compare mobile performance across operators and countries using Speedtest Intelligence.

About the Author

Sylwia Kechiche

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Erdem Koc | February 22, 2021

Revisiting iPhone 12 5G Performance Across the Globe

As we previously covered, the iPhone 12 is finally allowing Apple enthusiasts to connect to 5G. We’re back with fresh data to see how user adoption and new 5G rollouts have affected performance worldwide.

Unique 5G-capable device counts have leveled off

After the launch of various iPhone 12 models, the daily count of unique devices worldwide that are capable of connecting to 5G spiked significantly compared to the year as a whole. The daily trend of unique 5G-capable devices as a percentage of the whole year is dramatically higher than before the iPhone 12 models launched, but has remained relatively steady since December.
Daily-Trend_5G-Capable-Devices_Year_0221

Pro 5G and Pro Max 5G are the most popular iPhone 12 models

We looked again at Speedtest® results from the launch date of each model, this time including data through the end of January, to see which iPhone 12 models are the most popular. This time we added five additional cities for a total of 20 major cities across the globe. We still found that most Speedtest users have opted for the “Pro” models.

The iPhone 12 Pro Max 5G showed the highest number of samples among iPhone models in Bangkok, Kuwait City, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Riyadh, Hong Kong, New York, London, Madrid and Sydney. This was a change for both London and Madrid, which had previously had more samples from the iPhone 12 Pro 5G.

The iPhone 12 Pro 5G showed the most samples in Seoul, Zürich, Berlin, Amsterdam, Warsaw, Helsinki, Rome, Barcelona and Tokyo. While the more affordable models were less popular than the Pro models across all the cities on our list, the iPhone 12 Mini saw the most adoption in Tokyo and the iPhone 12 5G saw the most adoption in Rome and Madrid.
iPhone-12-Model-Popularity_0221

Seoul tops list of iPhone 12 5G speeds

As before, we analyzed Speedtest Intelligence® data for iPhone 12 devices in these 20 cities and found that Seoul had the fastest median speed over 5G, followed by several of the major cities of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), namely Kuwait City, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Riyadh.

It is also interesting to observe that, in the highly dynamic European market where many different network rollout approaches are possible, 5G download speeds in seven of nine European cities fell between 135-160 Mbps range on the iPhone 12. Helsinki and Warsaw were the exceptions in Europe, with 241.98 and 61.14 Mbps median download speeds, respectively.
iPhone-12-5G-Median-Speeds_0221

Operator breakdown: iPhone 12 performance in select cities

We also expanded our operator analysis to 10 cities. The following charts include median 5G speeds over iPhone 12 models of top operators with sufficient samples.

Operator rankings did not change in the four cities we previously analyzed. LG U+ in Seoul, China Mobile Hong Kong in Hong Kong and KPN Mobile in Amsterdam still had the fastest median 5G download speeds over the iPhone 12 in their local markets.
iPhone-12-5G-Median-Speeds_Seoul_0221-1

iPhone-12-5G-Median-Speeds_Hong-Kong_0221

iPhone-12-5G-Median-Speeds_Amsterdam_0221

iPhone-12-5G-Median-Speeds_Madrid_0221

Barcelona showed similar speeds by operator to those in Madrid. We could not yet determine whether Vodafone or Orange’s 5G networks were fastest for iPhone 12, but both providers had a solid lead over Movistar in both Madrid and Barcelona.
iPhone-12-5G-Median-Speeds_Barcelona_0221

United Arab Emirates was the fastest country for mobile according to the January 2021 Speedtest Global Index^™. As the capital and the second most populous city in the country, Abu Dhabi contributed to this average with median 5G download speeds of 396.06 Mbps on the iPhone 12 for Etisalat and 211.83 Mbps for du.
iPhone-12-5G-Median-Speeds_Abu-Dhabi_0221

In Bangkok, AIS showed the highest median 5G download speed over the iPhone 12 at 362.68 Mbps. TrueMove H followed at 242.22 Mbps. These two operators also had the highest number of Speedtest results over iPhone 12 among all operators analyzed for this article. Another popular operator in the region, DTAC, is not included in the chart due to limited iPhone 12 5G samples.
iPhone-12-5G-Median-Speeds_Bangkok_0221

Data from Speedtest Intelligence reveals that Sunrise had the fastest median 5G download speed over iPhone 12 by a considerable margin at 328.32 Mbps.
iPhone-12-5G-Median-Speeds_Zurich_0221

Telekom in Berlin comfortably had the fastest median 5G download speed over iPhone 12 at 249.16 Mbps.
iPhone-12-5G-Median-Speeds_Berlin_0221

As mentioned above, median 5G speeds over iPhone 12 lagged in Warsaw when compared with other European cities analyzed. This is likely due to the fact that the auction of 3.4-3.8 GHz bands did not take place as planned in Poland because of the pandemic. As of this analysis, Orange and T-Mobile’s 5G speeds for iPhone 12 devices were faster than Play, which trailed with 42.53 Mbps. We also saw 5G tests from Plus in Speedtest Intelligence, but the operator is not included in the above chart due to lack of iPhone 12 samples compared to other operators.
iPhone-12-5G-Median-Speeds_Warsaw_0221

We will continue to monitor how Apple’s 5G-capable devices impact the global market. Contact us to learn more about how Speedtest Intelligence can help you understand the latest developments in your market.

About the Author

Erdem Koc

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Mark Giles | June 2, 2022

Fixed Broadband Network Performance in Indonesia Falling Further Behind Regional Peers

Bahasa Indonesia

Key messages:

Fixed performance in Indonesia continues to lag behind regional peers. While Indonesian fixed broadband network performance continues to improve quarter over quarter, Ookla® Speedtest Intelligence® shows that Indonesia lags behind many of its regional peers on key metrics such as median download speed and the penetration of more advanced routers supporting 5 GHz Wi-Fi, and this disparity is growing.
East and Central Java among the slowest performing Indonesian regions. Most regions of Indonesia achieve similar median download speeds. However there remain outliers: Bali was the top-performing region, and the more populous regions of East and Central Java continued to record some of the slowest performance in the market.
Faster speeds equal happier customers. Consumer sentiment towards fixed broadband providers in Indonesia, as measured by Ookla’s 5-Star Rating, tracks closely with network performance over the past year.
Competition ramps up in the Indonesian fixed broadband market. Speedtest Intelligence® sample data for Q3-Q4 2021 shows 306 ISPs active in the market. Of these, four major national network operators meet our threshold to be considered top providers (with a minimum of 3% of samples) — Telkom, First Media, MyRepublic, and Biznet. At a regional level, this list of top providers expands to ten, including CBN, MNC Play, StarNet, PT Global Media Data Prima, MTM Bali, and GlobalXtreme.
Biznet leads the market in fixed broadband network performance according to Speedtest Intelligence. Biznet is the leading operator both nationally and in many of Indonesia’s regions, achieving almost symmetrical download and upload speeds.

Singapore leads in fixed broadband network speeds in Southeast Asia

Indonesia ranks 114th on the Speedtest® Global Index^TM for median fixed download speeds, based on data for May 2022. According to Speedtest Intelligence, fixed broadband speeds in the country have increased over the past year, from a median download speed of 17.37 Mbps in March 2021 to 21.23 Mbps in March 2022. Fixed broadband upload speeds in the market have improved by a greater margin, from 4.95 Mbps in March 2021, to 9.73 Mbps in March 2022. However, as with its mobile market, and despite its improving trajectory, Indonesia’s fixed broadband performance continues to lag behind many of its regional peers.

Looking at performance across 2021 in Southeast Asian markets, Singapore and Thailand continue to maintain a sizable performance gap compared to their regional peers, with both achieving median fixed broadband download speeds in excess of 150 Mbps during Q4 2021. There was also clear separation in performance between Malaysia (75.91 Mbps), Vietnam (67.91 Mbps), and the Philippines (47.50 Mbps). Of the remaining four markets, Brunei and Laos achieved speeds of close to 30 Mbps, while Indonesia and Cambodia were the slowest fixed-line markets, recording median download speeds of 20.08 Mbps and 18.89 Mbps respectively.

median fixed broadband download speeds in ASEAN markets

We used data from Speedtest Intelligence to evaluate fixed broadband performance in Indonesia during Q3-Q4 2021. Our analysis examines fixed broadband speeds at the country and provider-level. We also examine Wi-Fi performance as a subset of total fixed broadband samples in order to assess the speed delivered to end-user devices and look at the share of samples that utilize routers that support 5 GHz over Wi-Fi.

Operators worldwide are increasingly offering home networking solutions in order to help improve Wi-Fi speeds and coverage within the home. In Indonesia, First Media, Biznet, and MyRepublic offer mesh networking solutions, while some ISPs also offer the option to upgrade to routers that support the 5 GHz band. This offers greater channel bandwidth and typically lower interference than Wi-Fi over the 2.4 GHz band, allowing for improved performance for high bandwidth activities such as gaming and streaming high definition video content.

Looking at the distribution of fixed Wi-Fi Speedtest samples run over 2.4 GHz versus 5 GHz Wi-Fi connections, regional leaders Singapore and Thailand are joined by Malaysia as the only markets on this list with a majority of samples recorded using 5 GHz. Indonesia again came last with 5 GHz connections accounting for only 22% of samples.

wi-fi band distribution in ASEAN markets

Biznet leading in Indonesia nationwide fixed broadband download speed

Our statistical methodology sets a minimum threshold of 3% of samples for an operator to be considered a top provider and part of our analysis. Using this methodology, Biznet was the fastest fixed broadband operator for both median download and upload speeds in Q3-Q4 2021, followed by My Republic. Biznet attained almost symmetrical results of 40.85 Mbps download and 39.29 Mbps upload, with My Republic achieving 34.27 Mbps download 21.93 Mbps upload. As of May 2022, Biznet’s fiber optic network extends to a total of more than 64,000 km, with its access network currently passing over 1.46 million households. In a bid to compete more aggressively with Telkom’s IndiHome service, Biznet launched an IPTV service in February 2020. The remaining two national ISPs, Telkom and First Media, lagged behind, achieving median download speeds of 18.91 Mbps and 16.54 Mbps respectively.

indonesian median fixed broadband speeds

Looking at the split of samples from 2.4 GHz versus 5 GHz Wi-Fi connections shows some divergence between the market leaders, Biznet and MyRepublic and First Media and Telkom. However, all four fixed broadband operators recorded in excess of 70% of tests using 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi connections. If we look at Wi-Fi performance in Indonesia as a subset of total fixed broadband samples, then a similar picture emerges, with Biznet and My Republic outperforming both Telkom and First Media.

indonesian median wi-fi broadband speeds

wi-fi band distribution in indonesia

Consumer sentiment tracks network performance

There is a clear positive correlation between fixed network performance and consumer sentiment within the Indonesian fixed broadband market. Based on the mean of Speedtest 5-Star Ratings in the market, Biznet was the top-rated fixed operator in Q3-Q4 2021 with a score of 3.9, while First Media placed last with a score of 2.8.

consumer sentiment (ranking) for top isps in indonesia

Regional disparities in fixed broadband download speeds over Wi-Fi persist

Despite the Indonesian Broadband Plan’s goal to improve speeds across Indonesia, some regional disparities in median download and upload speeds persist. For a broad section of Indonesia’s regions, download speeds show little variation, ranging between 16 Mbps and 20 Mbps. There are however outliers. Tourist hotspot Bali, which has also emerged as a popular destination for digital nomad workers, and the Indonesian capital Jakarta occupied the top two positions nationally during Q3-Q4 2021, with download speeds of 22.77 Mbps and 21.92 Mbps respectively.

At the other end of the scale, two of the country’s most populous regions, East and Central Java, scored some of the lowest median download speeds at 15.34 Mbps and 15.17 Mbps, respectively. Upload speeds across the market show much more variation, ranging from a high of 17.47 Mbps in Bali, to a low of 3.97 Mbps in Bengkulu.

median wi-fi broadband speeds by region in indonesia

Biznet leading in Jakarta Region for Wi-Fi download speeds

Biznet was the fastest fixed provider in the Indonesian capital Jakarta during Q3-Q4 2021, recording near symmetrical speeds for median download (42.59 Mbps) and upload (41.22 Mbps). It was followed by MyRepublic, with a download speed of 32.47 Mbps and upload of 25.46 Mbps, and CBN which also achieved symmetrical speeds at about 28 Mbps. Wi-Fi performance for the remaining three providers, First Media, Telkom, and MNC Play lagged behind, with First Media and Telkom recording upload speeds well below the competition, both below 10 Mbps.

median wi-fi broadband speeds in jakarta

One in three Speedtest samples for provider CBN utilized 5 GHz Wi-Fi, the largest share of any operator in Jakarta. Biznet, MyRepublic and First Media followed, while Telkom and MNC Play showed the lowest share of samples using 5 GHz Wi-Fi.

wi-fi band distribution in jakarta

MyRepublic leading in Banten Region fixed broadband download speed over Wi-Fi

In Banten, the westernmost province of the island of Java, Biznet was the fastest provider over Wi-Fi. Biznet has extended its reach in this region, and obtained sufficient samples (in excess of 3% of the market) to be included as a top provider in our analysis of Banten. Biznet recorded a median download speed of 42.73 Mbps and upload of 41.32 Mbps.

median wi-fi broadband speeds in banten

Biznet also led the region for use of 5 GHz Wi-Fi, at 29% of samples. MyRepublic followed with a download speed of 37.60 Mbps and upload of 23.84 Mbps, setting it apart from both Telkom and First Media.

wi-fi band distribution in banten

Biznet leading in West Java Region fixed broadband download speed over Wi-Fi

As the most populous region in Indonesia, West Java saw more providers meet the minimum statistical threshold to be included in our analysis. Biznet was once again the fastest provider over Wi-Fi, albeit with slower speeds than in its other coverage regions, at 36.18 Mbps for median download and 35.76 Mbps for upload speed. MyRepublic was the second placed operator for download speeds, recording 29.57 Mbps, followed by Telkom, StarNet, and First Media.

median wi-fi broadband speeds in west java

Providers in West Java generally recorded slower speeds than in other regions, and the distribution of Wi-Fi samples between 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz also skewed further towards 2.4 GHz than elsewhere, with First Media, Telkom, and StarNet all recording approximately 85% of samples over 2.4 GHz.

wi-fi band distribution in west java

MyRepublic leading in Central Java Region Wi-Fi fixed broadband download speed

In Central Java, in contrast to most other Indonesian regions, MyRepublic outperformed Biznet on median Wi-Fi download speeds, recording 29.11 Mbps during Q3-Q4 2021. Biznet followed with 25.85 Mbps, but also recorded the fastest upload speed of 18.95 Mbps. Telkom followed with a download speed of 16.39 Mbps, while PT Global Media Data Prima lagged behind the rest of the region with a median download speed of 3.81 Mbps. It also recorded the lowest proportion of Wi-Fi samples using 5 GHz, at only 5%.

median wi-fi broadband speeds in central java

Biznet leading in East Java Region for Wi-Fi fixed broadband download speed

East Java saw a return to form for Biznet as the fastest performing provider over Wi-Fi, with a median download speed of 33.11 Mbps and upload speed 29.34 Mbps. It was closely followed in terms of download speeds by MyRepublic with 27.75 Mbps. Telkom and First Media came next with download speeds of 15.68 Mbps and 14.39 Mbps respectively, while their upload speeds lagged far behind their rivals.

median wi-fi broadband speeds in east java

Wi-Fi distribution showed a similar story, with Telkom and First Media scoring the lowest share of samples over 5 GHz, at 16% and 14%, respectively.

MTM Bali leading in Bali Region fixed broadband download speed over Wi-Fi

Bali was the most competitive region in this analysis in terms of top speeds among providers, with three providers all recording similar median download and upload speeds of close to 40 Mbps. We could not declare a statistical winner based on median Wi-Fi download speeds, with both MTM Bali and GlobalXtreme’s download speeds in the same range, although GlobalXtreme’s upload speeds were demonstrably faster.

median wi-fi broadband speeds in bali

GlobalXtreme also recorded the highest share of 5 GHz Wi-Fi samples, at 35% of total, far outpacing the competition, with the remaining operators achieving 20% or less.

wi-fi band distribution in Bali

Indonesian fixed broadband outlook

Fixed broadband penetration among Indonesian households remains low, at below 20% according to most estimates. Mobile internet remains the dominant access technology in the market, but the move to working and studying at home as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic has driven more households to subscribe to fixed broadband services. Competition is ramping up in the market, with smaller players such as Biznet and MyRepublic actively rolling out networks and targeting gains from Telkom, which still maintains a majority market share of broadband connections. The recent news that Axiata Group and its Indonesian subsidiary XL Axiata have signed a non-binding agreement to acquire a majority share of Indonesian broadband provider LinkNet is further evidence that providers see strong opportunity for growth. We expect this will help accelerate network rollout and the provision of more sophisticated bundled broadband services in the market, which in turn will help drive up Indonesian fixed broadband speeds, particularly in the densely populated regions covered in this report.

Performa Jaringan Fixed Broadband di Indonesia Semakin Tertinggal dari Rekan-rekannya di Satu Kawasan

Pesan utama:

Performa jaringan fixed di Indonesia terus tertinggal dari rekan-rekannya di satu kawasan. Meskipun performa jaringan fixed broadband di Indonesia terus meningkat dari kuartal ke kuartal, Ookla® Speedtest Intelligence® menunjukkan bahwa Indonesia tertinggal dari banyak rekannya di satu kawasan pada metrik utama seperti median kecepatan unduh dan penetrasi router yang lebih canggih yang mendukung Wi-Fi 5 GHz, dan perbedaan ini semakin besar.
Jawa Timur dan Jawa Tengah termasuk wilayah di Indonesia yang paling lambat performanya. Sebagian besar wilayah di Indonesia mencapai median kecepatan unduh yang sama. Namun masih ada beberapa pencilan (outlier): Bali adalah wilayah dengan performa terbaik, dan wilayah-wilayah di Jawa Timur dan Jawa Tengah yang penduduknya lebih padat terus mengalami performa yang paling lambat di pasar.
Dengan kecepatan yang lebih tinggi, pelanggan pun lebih bahagia. Sentimen konsumen terhadap penyedia jaringan fixed broadband di Indonesia, yang diukur dengan Peringkat Bintang 5 Ookla, berkaitan erat dengan performa jaringan selama setahun terakhir.
Persaingan kian sengit di pasar jaringan fixed broadband Indonesia. Data sampel Speedtest Intelligence® untuk K3-K4 2021 menunjukkan 306 ISP aktif di pasar. Dari jumlah tersebut, empat operator jaringan nasional utama memenuhi ambang batas kami untuk dianggap sebagai penyedia teratas (dengan minimal 3% sampel) – Telkom, First Media, MyRepublic, dan Biznet. Di tingkat regional, daftar penyedia teratas ini berkembang menjadi sepuluh, termasuk CBN, MNC Play, StarNet, PT Global Media Data Prima, MTM Bali, dan GlobalXtreme.
Biznet memimpin pasar dalam performa jaringan fixed broadband menurut Speedtest Intelligence. Biznet merupakan operator terkemuka, baik secara nasional maupun di banyak wilayah di Indonesia, dengan kecepatan unduh dan unggahnya yang hampir simetris.

Singapura memimpin dalam kecepatan jaringan fixed broadband di Asia Tenggara

Indonesia menempati peringkat ke-114 pada Speedtest® Global Index^TM untuk median kecepatan unduh tetap (fixed download), berdasarkan data Mei 2022. Menurut Speedtest Intelligence, kecepatan fixed broadband di negara ini telah meningkat selama setahun terakhir, dari median kecepatan unduh 17,37 Mbps pada Maret 2021 menjadi 21,23 Mbps pada Maret 2022. Kecepatan unggah fixed broadband di pasar telah meningkat dengan margin yang lebih besar, dari 4,95 Mbps pada Maret 2021, menjadi 9,73 Mbps pada Maret 2022. Namun, sebagaimana pasar selulernya, dan meskipun lintasannya membaik, performa fixed broadband Indonesia terus tertinggal dari banyak rekannya di satu kawasan

Mengamati performa selama tahun 2021 di pasar Asia Tenggara, kesenjangan performa yang cukup besar terus terjadi antara Singapura dan Thailand dibandingkan dengan rekan-rekan keduanya di satu kawasan, di mana keduanya mencapai median kecepatan unduh tetap (fixed download) lebih dari 150 Mbps selama K4 2021. Juga terjadi perbedaan performa antara Malaysia (75,91 Mbps), Vietnam (67,91 Mbps), dan Filipina (47,50 Mbps). Dari keempat pasar yang tersisa, Brunei dan Laos kecepatannya nyaris 30 Mbps, sementara Indonesia dan Kamboja menjadi pasar fixed-line yang paling lambat, dengan median kecepatan unduh masing-masing 20,08 Mbps dan 18,89 Mbps.

Kami menggunakan data dari Speedtest Intelligence untuk mengevaluasi performa fixed broadband di Indonesia selama K3-K4 2021. Analisis kami memeriksa kecepatan fixed broadband di tingkat negara dan penyedia. Kami juga memeriksa performa Wi-Fi sebagai subset dari total sampel fixed broadband untuk menilai kecepatan yang dikirimkan ke perangkat pengguna akhir dan melihat pangsa sampel yang menggunakan router yang mendukung 5 GHz melalui Wi-Fi.

Semakin banyak operator di seluruh dunia yang menawarkan solusi jaringan rumah untuk membantu meningkatkan kecepatan dan jangkauan Wi-Fi di dalam rumah. Di Indonesia, First Media, Biznet, dan MyRepublic menawarkan solusi jaringan mesh, sedangkan beberapa ISP juga menawarkan opsi untuk melakukan upgrade ke router yang mendukung jalur (band) 5 GHz. Dengan jalur ini, bandwidth saluran yang dihasilkan menjadi lebih besar dan gangguan yang ditimbulkan pun biasanya lebih rendah daripada Wi-Fi di jalur (band) 2,4 GHz, yang memungkinkan peningkatan performa untuk aktivitas bandwidth tinggi seperti bermain game dan streaming konten video definisi tinggi.

Mencermati distribusi sampel Speedtest untuk fixed Wi-Fi yang berjalan pada koneksi Wi-Fi 2,4 GHz versus koneksi Wi-Fi 5 GHz, pemimpin di kawasan ini, Singapura dan Thailand, berikut Malaysia, menjadi satu-satunya pasar di daftar ini yang mayoritas sampelnya tercatat menggunakan 5 GHz. Indonesia kembali berada di urutan terakhir dengan koneksi 5 GHz yang hanya menyumbang 22% sampel.

Biznet memimpin di Indonesia secara nasional pada kecepatan unduh fixed broadband

Metodologi statistik kami menetapkan ambang batas minimal 3% sampel bagi operator agar dapat dipertimbangkan sebagai penyedia teratas dan bagian dari analisis kami. Dengan menggunakan metodologi ini, Biznet menjadi operator fixed broadband tercepat untuk median kecepatan unduh dan unggah selama K3-K4 2021, disusul oleh My Republic. Biznet meraih hasil yang hampir simetris dari kecepatan unduh 40,85 Mbps dan kecepatan unggah 39,29 Mbps, sedangkan My Republic mencapai kecepatan unduh 34,27 Mbps dan kecepatan unggah 21,93 Mbps. Hingga Mei 2022, jaringan fiber optik Biznet meluas hingga mencapai total lebih dari 64.000 km, dengan jaringan aksesnya saat ini yang mencakup lebih dari 1,46 juta rumah tangga. Untuk bersaing lebih agresif dengan layanan IndiHome Telkom, Biznet meluncurkan layanan IPTV pada Februari 2020. Dua ISP nasional lainnya, Telkom dan First Media, tertinggal, yang masing-masing mencapai median kecepatan unduh 18,91 Mbps dan 16,54 Mbps.

Mencermati pemisahan sampel dari koneksi Wi-Fi 2,4 GHz versus koneksi Wi-Fi 5 GHz, terlihat adanya perbedaan antarpemimpin pasar, antara Biznet dan MyRepublic serta First Media dan Telkom. Namun, keempat operator fixed broadband tersebut mencatat lebih dari 70% tes menggunakan koneksi Wi-Fi 2,4 GHz. Jika kita mengamati performa Wi-Fi di Indonesia sebagai bagian dari total sampel fixed broadband, maka muncul gambar serupa, di mana Biznet dan My Republic mengungguli Telkom dan First Media.

Sentimen konsumen mengikuti jejak performa jaringan

Ada korelasi positif yang jelas antara performa jaringan tetap (fixed) dan sentimen konsumen di pasar fixed broadband Indonesia. Berdasarkan rata-rata (mean) Peringkat Bintang 5 Speedtest di pasar, Biznet menjadi operator tetap (fixed) dengan peringkat teratas di K3-K4 2021 dan skor 3,9, sedangkan First Media menempati posisi terakhir dengan skor 2,8.

Kesenjangan di tingkat regional dalam hal kecepatan unduh fixed broadband melalui Wi-Fi tetap terjadi

Terlepas dari tujuan Rencana Broadband Indonesia untuk meningkatkan kecepatan di seluruh Indonesia, tetap terjadi sejumlah kesenjangan di tingkat regional dalam hal median kecepatan unduh dan unggah. Bagi sebagian besar wilayah di Indonesia, kecepatan unduh menunjukkan adanya sedikit variasi, berkisar antara 16 Mbps dan 20 Mbps. Namun terdapat beberapa pencilan (outlier). Bali, sebagai hotspot wisata dan berkembang menjadi tujuan populer bagi pekerja nomaden digital, dan Jakarta, sebagai ibukota Indonesia, menempati dua posisi teratas secara nasional selama K3-K4 2021, dengan kecepatan unduh masing-masing 22,77 Mbps dan 21,92 Mbps.

Sementara itu, dua wilayah terpadat di negeri ini, Jawa Timur dan Tengah, menghasilkan median kecepatan unduh terendah, masing-masing 15,34 Mbps dan 15,17 Mbps. Kecepatan unggah di seluruh pasar menunjukkan variasi yang lebih banyak, mulai dari tertinggi 17,47 Mbps di Bali, hingga terendah 3,97 Mbps di Bengkulu.

Biznet memimpin di wilayah Jakarta dalam kecepatan unduh Wi-Fi

Biznet adalah penyedia broadband fixed tercepat di Jakarta, ibukota Indonesia, selama K3-K4 2021, dengan kecepatan yang hampir simetris untuk median unduh (42,59 Mbps) dan unggah (41,22 Mbps). Disusul oleh MyRepublic, dengan kecepatan unduh 32,47 Mbps dan unggah 25,46 Mbps, serta CBN yang juga mencapai kecepatan simetris sekitar 28 Mbps. Performa Wi-Fi untuk tiga provider lainnya, First Media, Telkom, dan MNC Play justru tertinggal, di mana First Media dan Telkom mencapai kecepatan unggah jauh di bawah pesaing, keduanya kurang dari 10 Mbps.

Satu dari tiga sampel Speedtest untuk penyedia CBN menggunakan Wi-Fi 5 GHz, yang terbesar di antara seluruh operator di Jakarta. Biznet, MyRepublic, dan First Media menyusul, sementara Telkom dan MNC Play menunjukkan sampel terendah dengan menggunakan Wi-Fi 5 GHz.

MyRepublic memimpin di wilayah Banten dalam kecepatan unduh fixed broadband melalui Wi-Fi

Di Banten, provinsi paling barat di Pulau Jawa, Biznet menjadi penyedia tercepat melalui Wi-Fi. Biznet telah memperluas jangkauannya di wilayah ini, dan memperoleh sampel yang cukup (lebih dari 3% dari pasar) untuk dimasukkan sebagai penyedia teratas dalam analisis kami di Banten. Biznet mencatat median kecepatan unduh 42,73 Mbps dan unggah 41,32 Mbps.

Biznet juga memimpin di wilayah tersebut dalam penggunaan Wi-Fi 5 GHz, pada 29% sampel. MyRepublic mengekor dengan kecepatan unduh 37,60 Mbps dan unggah 23,84 Mbps, sehingga tampak berbeda dari Telkom dan First Media.

Biznet memimpin di wilayah Jawa Barat dalam kecepatan unduh fixed broadband melalui Wi-Fi

Sebagai wilayah terpadat di Indonesia, Jawa Barat memiliki lebih banyak penyedia yang memenuhi ambang batas statistik minimal untuk dimasukkan dalam analisis kami. Biznet sekali lagi menjadi penyedia tercepat yang menggunakan Wi-Fi, meskipun dengan kecepatan yang lebih lambat daripada di wilayah cakupan lainnya, pada 36,18 Mbps untuk median unduh dan 35,76 Mbps untuk kecepatan unggah. MyRepublic menjadi operator di urutan kedua untuk kecepatan unduh, mencatat 29,57 Mbps, diikuti oleh Telkom, StarNet, dan First Media.

Para penyedia jaringan di Jawa Barat umumnya meraih kecepatan yang lebih lambat daripada di daerah lain, dan distribusi sampel Wi-Fi antara 2,4 GHz dan 5 GHz juga condong lebih jauh ke arah 2,4 GHz daripada di tempat lain, di mana First Media, Telkom, dan StarNet semuanya merekam sekitar 85% sampel pada 2,4 GHz.

MyRepublic memimpin di wilayah Jawa Tengah dalam kecepatan unduh fixed broadband melalui Wi-Fi

Di Jawa Tengah, berbedar dari sebagian besar wilayah Indonesia lainnya, MyRepublic mengungguli Biznet pada median kecepatan unduh Wi-Fi, mencapai 29,11 Mbps selama K3-K4 2021. Biznet menyusul dengan kecepatan unggah 25,85 Mbps, namun sekaligus mencatat kecepatan unggah tercepat 18,95 Mbps. Telkom menyusul dengan kecepatan unduh 16,39 Mbps, sedangkan PT Global Media Data Prima jauh tertinggal dari wilayah lainnya dengan median kecepatan unduh 3,81 Mbps. Penyedia ini juga mencatat proporsi terendah sampel Wi-Fi menggunakan 5 GHz, hanya 5%.

Biznet memimpin di wilayah Jawa Timur dalam kecepatan unduh fixed broadband melalui Wi-Fi

Jawa Timur kembali hadir untuk Biznet sebagai penyedia dengan performa tercepat melalui Wi-Fi, dengan median kecepatan unduh 33,11 Mbps dan kecepatan unggah 29,34 Mbps. Selanjutnya diikuti oleh MyRepublic dalam hal kecepatan unduh dengan 27,75 Mbps. Telkom dan First Media berada di urutan berikutnya dengan kecepatan unduh masing-masing 15,68 Mbps dan 14,39 Mbps, sementara kecepatan unggah mereka tertinggal jauh di belakang saingan-saingan mereka.

Distribusi Wi-Fi menunjukkan hal yang senada, di mana Telkom dan First Media mencetak persentase sampel terendah pada 5 GHz, masing-masing sebesar 16% dan 14%.

MTM Bali memimpin di wilayah Bali dalam kecepatan unduh fixed broadband melalui Wi-Fi

Bali merupakan wilayah yang paling kompetitif pada analisis ini dalam hal kecepatan tertinggi di antara para penyedia, dengan tiga penyedia semuanya merekam median kecepatan unduh dan unggah serupa yang mendekati 40 Mbps. Kami tidak dapat menyatakan pemenang statistik berdasarkan median kecepatan unduh Wi-Fi, dengan kecepatan unduh MTM Bali dan GlobalXtreme dalam kisaran yang sama, meskipun kecepatan unggah GlobalXtreme terbukti lebih cepat.

GlobalXtreme juga mencatat persentase tertinggi dari sampel Wi-Fi 5 GHz, pada 35% dari total, jauh melampaui persaingan, dengan para operator yang lain mencapai 20% atau kurang.

Prospek fixed broadband di Indonesia

Penetrasi fixed broadband dalam lingkup rumah tangga di Indonesia tetap rendah, di bawah 20% menurut sebagian besar perkiraan. Internet seluler tetap menjadi teknologi akses yang dominan di pasar, tetapi peralihan ke opsi bekerja dan belajar di rumah sebagai akibat dari pandemi COVID-19 telah mendorong lebih banyak rumah tangga untuk berlangganan layanan fixed broadband. Persaingan semakin meningkat di pasar, di mana para pemain yang lebih kecil seperti Biznet dan MyRepublic aktif meluncurkan jaringan dan menargetkan keuntungan dari Telkom, yang masih mempertahankan pangsa pasar mayoritas koneksi broadband. Berita yang muncul baru-baru ini yang menyatakan bahwa Axiata Group dan anak perusahaannya di Indonesia, XL Axiata, telah menandatangani perjanjian yang tidak mengikat untuk mengakuisisi mayoritas saham penyedia broadband Indonesia, LinkNet, menjadi bukti lebih lanjut bahwa para penyedia melihat adanya peluang besar untuk pertumbuhan. Kami berharap hal ini akan membantu mempercepat peluncuran jaringan dan penyediaan layanan broadband bundel yang lebih canggih di pasar, yang pada gilirannya akan membantu meningkatkan kecepatan fixed broadband Indonesia, terutama di wilayah-wilayah padat penduduk yang diulas pada laporan ini.

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Mark Giles

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Sylwia Kechiche | June 30, 2022

The Philippines is a Duopoly No More: Assessing DITO’s Impact on 4G and 5G Performance

The Philippines is a country with the highest number of social media users globally. Filipinos also spend a lot of time online —according to the Digital 2022 report, internet users aged 16 to 64 spent an average of 10 hours and 27 minutes using the internet each day. Yet, the Philippines suffer in terms of having relatively low mobile internet speeds due to challenging geography and affordability. Recently, the Filipino mobile market witnessed the arrival of a third mobile player, DITO whose ambitions are to disrupt a duopoly of Globe and Smart, owned by PLDT (Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company). In this article we will review the current state of the Filipino mobile market, one year after it became a three-player market.

Key takeaways

The third operator, DITO, entered the market in March 2021 and is working to expand its market share. The operator has met all of its coverage and performance obligations, and it plans further investment and expansion of its 4G and 5G networks.
Overall 4G performance improved in the country thanks to a mix of more operator investments and regulatory reforms. Smart led on median 4G download speed in Q1 2022 at 18.57 Mbps. DITO, a 4G/5G player, had the best 4G Availability in Q1 2022 at 91.2%.
5G Availability improved partially thanks to easing of the Right of Way (RoW) rules but also operators’ investment into 5G networks. Smart won both in terms of 5G speeds and 5G Availability in Q1 2022, it recorded 200.43 Mbps median download speed and 25.5% 5G Availability, ahead of Globe with 121.29 Mbps download speed and 15.3% 5G Availability. DITO has just started rolling out a 5G network.
Consumer attitudes shifted in a positive direction in the past year, both in terms of NPS score and rating of mobile operators.

Reintroducing a third player into the Filipino market

In 2011, PLDT acquired Digitel, which meant that the Philippines turned into a two-operator mobile market. This didn’t fare well for the Filipino consumers. A 2014 study by the think tank LIRNEasia found that internet users in the Philippines have paid more for worse connectivity compared to other Asian countries with investment into the telecom sector held back. A third player was introduced to the market to add competition, to improve network performance, and to reduce prices in the market. In November 2018, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) declared Mislatel (now DITO Telecommunity Corporation), a new major telco player. DITO’s launched commercial operations in March 2021 in Visayas and Mindanao.

DITO market share after a year of commercial availability

Entering an already saturated telecom market wasn’t an easy task. According to GSMA Intelligence, Filipino market penetration stood at 137.5% with an average of 2.1 SIMs per user in Q1 2021. In addition, the new operator’s license came with coverage and performance obligations, which are tracked by technical audits performed on behalf of the NTC. Repetitive failure to deliver on its commitments would result in the loss of its franchise and the forfeiture of a multi-billion-Peso bond. DITO committed to a five-year network rollout plan as follows:

First Year: commitment to reach more than 37.01% country population with a minimum average broadband speed of 27 Mbps — DITO achieved 37.48% population coverage as per February 2021 Audit
Second Year: DITO exceeded its 51.01% population coverage target (achieved 52.57% population coverage) as per September 2021 Audit.
Third Year: 70% population coverage audited in July 2022, DITO’s current coverage is around 64%-65%.
Fifth Year: 84% population coverage obligation, which the operator itself has increased to over 90% by the end of its five-year network rollout program and average mobile internet speed of 55 Mbps speed.

As a result, the newcomer’s strategy wasn’t to start a price war with the incumbent operators. Rather, the goal is to win consumers’ mindshare by delivering faster speeds, differentiated customer experience and simpler products. The operator tapped into its parent company’s distribution network — retail stores of Udenna Group and gasoline stations of Phoenix Petroleum to distribute its services. It also leveraged China Telecom’s know-how and funding.

One year on, in Q1 2022, Globe was the market leader by subscriber numbers, with 87.4 million, Smart followed with 70.3 million. The newcomer, DITO, held a 1% market share — on March 15, 2022 it announced it had 7 million subscribers, which is lower than we would expect from a new market entrant. DITO targets 12 million subscribers by year end, which seems within its reach, as it has recently announced reaching 9 million customers as of June 2022. Its gains are aided by its promotional packages such as unlimited data for 30 days promotion with 25 GB of data, unlimited text and 300 minutes of calls. One of DITO’s challenges is that it doesn’t operate 2G and 3G networks so its customers have to have 4G-capable phones.

Furthermore, the introduction of Mobile Number Portability (MNP) in September 2021 could shift the landscape. MNP allows subscribers to keep their existing mobile number when changing mobile providers, helping to remove the hassle of losing an existing number when switching operators. This hasn’t been as successful as expected — with only 5,000 requests being made in a space of three months (September to December 2021). In time, and with more customer education, we foresee MNP to have more of an impact on the market.

Philippines catching up on 4G

Using Speedtest Intelligence® data, we compared 4G performance in the Philippines against that of its regional peers in Q1 2022. Singapore came first with a 44.11 Mbps median 4G download speed ahead of Vietnam (34.89 Mbps), followed by Thailand (24.86 Mbps) and Malaysia (22.41 Mbps). Across Indonesia, the Philippines, and Cambodia, the 4G median speeds were well under 20 Mbps, with the Philippines coming with a 15.53 Mbps median download speed and a 5.14 Mbps median upload speed.

Smart leads on median 4G download speed; DITO on 4G Availability

Using Speedtest Intelligence® data, we analyzed LTE Performance in the Philippines comparing Q1 2021 (when DITO commercially launched), and Q1 2022 (almost one year of DITO being in operation). The overall LTE performance has improved — increasing from 11.15 Mbps in Q1 2021 to 15.53 Mbps in Q1 2022. Smart came first in terms of median LTE download speed in Q1 2022, at 18.51 Mbps followed by DITO (15.77 Mbps) and Globe (12.59 Mbps). However, Dito’s median 4G speeds have decreased over a space of a year, which is quite common as a network gets more congested. Latency, on the other hand, has improved across all operators, especially DITO which recorded latency of 26 ms in Q1 2022 versus 35 ms in Q1 2021.

Analysis based on data from Speedtest Intelligence shows that 4G Availability — the proportion of users on all devices who spend the majority of their time connected to 4G technology — has also improved to 84.8% in Q1 2022 from 80.6% in Q1 2021. One important distinction to bear in mind is that while 4G/5G Availability measures the time users spend on a 4G or 5G technology, coverage is a measurement of space and geo-spatial availability. Therefore, operator’s network coverage is just one part of the story. Compatible handsets, SIMs, and tariffs are important factors that influence it.

Since DITO is a 4G-only operator, it is not surprising that it also had the best 4G Availability in Q1 2022 (91.2%), ahead of Globe (84.9%) and Smart (83.8%) that provide access to all network technologies 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G. Additionally, DITO, despite facing challenges raising funding, plans to invest PHP 50 billion ($915 million) during 2022 in the network roll out in order to adhere to its license obligations, which we outlined here, that specify its population coverage and network speeds.

Other operators also continue to commit capital expenditures for network investment. For instance, Globe Telecom earmarked PHP 89 billion ($1.6 billion) for CAPEX this year, and in Q1 2022 already spent PHP 21 billion ($384 million) — 10% higher than a year before, of which 82% was dedicated to data network builds “to help boost mobile and internet experiences for a greater number of Filipinos.” The operator has set a goal of building more than 1,700 new cell sites across the country in 2022 to extend its geographic reach and to expand beyond the 1,407 sites it deployed in FY21. In the first three months of this year it built out 234 cell sites nationwide, upgraded 2,344 mobile sites to 4G, and installed 380 5G sites.

Our analysis suggests that DITO’s entry combined with regulatory changes, resulted in more network investment and an overall improvement in 4G coverage and performance across all operators. As such, Smart reported that on December 31, 2021, Smart had a total of 38,600 4G/LTE base stations, which has further increased to 39,500 in Q1 2022. This corresponds to population coverage across Smart’s 3G, 4G and 5G networks of 97% in Q1 2022. The majority of devices (81%) are “latched” onto the operator’s 4G network.

Caloocan led on 4G speeds and 4G Availability

In the Philippines, up to one third of its population resides within Metro Manila, which comprises 16 cities, including the three most populous cities: Quezon (2.9 million), Manila (1.8 million), and Caloocan (1.6 million). Manila, the capital city, is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. Caloocan, Quezon, and Manila came closely together in terms of 4G performance. Smart came first in those three cities: Caloocan (28.66 Mbps), Quezon City (28.24 Mbps), and Manila (30.88 Mbps). DITO was fastest in Cebu, it recorded a 16.60 Mbps median download speed in Q1 2022 but its median upload speed was on par with Smart. While in Davao City, the biggest city outside of Metro Manila, DITO and Smart went head to head with 7.17 Mbps and 6.86 Mbps median download speed, respectively.

Based on Speedest Intelligence data, Caloocan performed best in terms of 4G Availability but 4G Availability improved across all five cities. Quezon and Manila showed the best year-on-year improvement, increasing its 4G Availability from 81.8% in Q1 2021 to 86.7% in Q1 2022 (Quezon) and 83.5% to 88.2% (Manila). Despite being a challenger, DITO managed to come first in terms of 4G Availability in a number of locations: Caloocan (98.3%), Cebu (80.0%), and Davao City (88.9%). Globe won 4G Availability in Quezon (88.3%) while there was not a sufficient statistically significant difference in Manila to declare a winner.

The Philippines fared well in 5G performance and 5G Availability

According to Speedtest Intelligence data, Singapore led Southeast Asian on median 5G upload speeds in Q1 2022, Thailand and the Philippines followed with 207.27 Mbps and 163.51 Mbps median download speed, respectively. We commented on the Singaporean roll out strategy in our recent article.

In terms of 5G Availability, (the proportion of users on 5G-capable devices who spend a majority of their time on 5G networks), Thailand came first among its regional peers. Thailand was one of the first markets to launch 5G in the Asia Pacific region, with AIS and TrueMove H both launching commercial 5G services in Q1 2020, shortly after the conclusion of the country’s 5G auction. In the Philippines, 5G Availability was 18.1% in Q1 2022, ahead of Singapore (8.9%) and Indonesia, where operators launched 5G in select cities in June 2021, which explains the very low 5G Availability in Q1 2022 at 0.4%.

The Philippines looks to 5G to achieve imperative digital transformation

The importance of 5G technology and its role in enabling digital transformation is one of the pillars of the National Broadband Plan (NBP) approved in 2017. It outlines strategies and initiatives that should be taken to increase accessibility, affordability, and network quality. NBP also addresses policy and regulatory issues, such as spectrum, infrastructure policy, and modernizing regulations. Apart from the release of 5G spectrum in 3.3 GHz and 3.5 GHz bands, the Filipino government also supports 5G via a technology neutral policy, where all existing frequency bands can be used for 5G deployment.

Spectrum is one part of the puzzle

Various blocks of spectrum in and around 3.5 GHz have been awarded on a technology-neutral basis and are suitable for 5G usage. For instance, Smart, in its Q1 2022 results, reported that its 1800 MHz frequencies, previously used for 2G service, were being reallocated to provide 4G LTE service to handle the increased volume of data traffic. In addition, the newcomer, DITO, was awarded various blocks of frequencies, including spectrum at 700 MHz, 900 MHz, 2000 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2600 MHz, 3300 MHz, and 3500 MHz.

Sharing passive infrastructure

The terrain of the country poses substantial challenges related to network deployments — the Philippines comprises around 7,640 islands — about 2,000 of which are inhabited. To expedite the construction of telecom towers, especially in the unserved and underserved areas, the DICT issued guidelines on Shared Passive Telecommunications Tower Infrastructure (PTTI). The Philippines government has been pushing since September 2018 to attract investment from international tower companies by promising to streamline the cumbersome procedures required to build and connect towers. Operators are also looking to rationalize their tower portfolio: in April 2022, PLDT sold its towers for PHP 77 billion ($1.4 billion) to Axiata’s Edotco unit and EdgePoint Infrastructure. This is to support DICT’s goal of improving tower density via tower sharing. PLDT/Smart retained ownership of the active infrastructure such as antennas, radios and fiber backhaul, TowerCos own the passive infrastructure. Globe isn’t averse to selling its passive infrastructure either, as it works with various tower companies for its network rollout. The newcomer, DITO, had to catch up pretty fast in terms of network buildout — since 2019 it built close to 5,000 cellular towers, over 100 data centers, and laid out more than 30,000 kilometers of fiber cable.

Fortifying infrastructure to ensure network resiliency

Another challenge is the country’s propensity to natural disasters. Ookla’s data showed that the country’s internet speed saw a slight decline in January 2022, due to infrastructure damages brought in 22 provinces by Typhoon Odette. To future-proof the network for that, PLDT launched a project to deploy additional submarine fiber links to upgrade connectivity in Luzon. The project will replace old domestic fiber optic network (DFON) links and enhance the resiliency of PLDT’s network, and fortify existing aerial cables with underground inland cables to ensure network resiliency.

Furthermore in March 2022, DICT unveiled a plan to spend PHP 50 billion ($915 million) over the next three years, to improve the country’s digital infrastructure, as within two years only 2,000 towers out of 50,000 needed have been built.

Smart wins the 5G game in the Philippines

5G continues to advance in the Philippines. The operators have launched 5G mobile networks in 2020, not long after the Thai operators. Globe initially launched 5G technology for Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) in selected towns in June 2019, followed by 5G enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) in February 2020 in Metro Manila, at the start available to premium “Globe Platinum” customers. Smart launched 5G network in July 2020, originally targeting postpaid subscribers in Metro Manila that had Smart-certified handsets — including devices from Huawei, Samsung, RealMe and Vivo — and 5G-activated SIM. Both operators utilized spectrum in the 3,500 MHz band, which is considered the sweet spot in terms of 5G network capacity and coverage. Our data shows that Smart recorded 200.43 Mbps median download/19.67 Mbps median upload speed in Q1 2022 ahead of Globe’s 121.29 Mbps download/ 9.93 Mbps upload.

Country-level 5G Availability almost doubled within a space of a year — from 9.4% in Q1 2021 to 18.1% in Q1 2022. Part of this is related to easing of the Right of Way (RoW) rules, which were adapted and rewritten in March 2021, when the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) issued an order lifting the ban on the construction of critical infrastructure, particularly cell sites, along national roads. The Philippines are not the only country that benefits from RoW reform. In October 2021, India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) revised the Indian Telegraph Act Right of Way (RoW) rules which makes it easier to install aerial optical fiber cable in the country. To circumvent digging into the streets to lay fiber, the idea of deploying overhead fiber on street furniture such as light poles and traffic lights has been put forward.

Smart led in terms of 5G Availability, it reached 25.5% in Q1 2022, ahead of Globe (15.3%), due to different spectrum deployment strategies these operators take. Smart had 1.6 million connected 5G unique devices on its network in Q1 2022, more than triple the level than a year prior (376,000 in Q1 2021) while at end-March 2022, Globe logged over 2.0 million devices in its 5G network.

The operators plan further investment in 5G. In its Q1 2022 results, Smart’s parent company — PLDT — revised its 2022 CAPEX guidance to PHP 85 billion from PHP 76-80 ($1.39 – $1.46 billion) due to increased investment in the 5G rollout in different parts of the country. In December 2021, the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) awarded a grant to Smart to expand 5G to 96% of population and to support Smart’s investment in equipment and services from Cisco Systems. In Q1 2022, Smart reported its mobile data traffic grew 30% year-on-year to 1,010 petabytes. The number of its 5G base stations increased from 5,000 in 2020 to 7,300 in February 2022, corresponding to 66% 5G population coverage in Q1 2022. Aside from boosting its 5G network rollout, Smart introduced new 5G services to attract and migrate more data users to 5G, Signature Plans+, the first postpaid line-up in the country featuring Unlimited 5G, and also introduced the country’s first Unli 5G data offers for prepaid subscribers in April 2021.

Globe added 390 new sites in the first three months of 2022, extending its 5G network reach to 95% of NCR (National Capital Region) and 84% of key cities in Visayas and Mindanao. In 2021, Globe spent PHP 92.8 billion to achieve 2,000 5G outdoor sites and in-building solutions, build 1,407 new cell sites, and install 1.4 million fiber-to-the-home lines. Globe’s 5G services utilize a virtual 5G core network to deliver both FWA and mobile broadband service in areas where fiber deployment is challenged by various permit and RoW issues.

DITO selected Nokia to deploy 5G services in the island of Mindanao in May 2021 to augment an existing partnership on 4G roll out. In March 2022, Dito started the rollout of its 5G home Wi-Fi service pilot in 146 villages in the Metro Manila area. Villages in the City of Manila, Caloocan City, and Quezon City will be the first to access up to 500 Mbps of download speed through the Dito 5G Home WiFi Starter Kit. DITO 5G network isn’t available widely, we have however seen some 5G tests in Caloocan, where the operator reached a 5G median download speed of 512.66 Mbps in Q1 2022.

Consumer attitudes improve

To assess whether there has been a shift in the consumer’s attitude towards mobile operators over the past year, we utilized Speedtest® Consumer Sentiment^™ data, which is gathered from single-question surveys presented to users at the end of a Speedtest. This dataset provides rich insights into customer satisfaction over time, as well as competitive benchmarking, by providing data on both Net Promoter Score (NPS) and customers’ rating of their providers. Upon its entry into the market, DITO was rated most highly, which reflected its approach to winning customers’ mindshare. This, however, has changed — as of Q1 2022, Smart came first in ratings. Noteworthy though, is the overall improvement across operators, which is also linked with the mobile speeds increase.

Comparing NPS score to providers’ performance it is clear that better speeds impacted customer perception of operators. In Q1 2021, NPS for all cellular technologies was -34.53 with an average download speed of 6.47 Mbps, which improved to -25.32 in Q1 2022 (8.75 median download speed).

We’ll continue using data from Speedtest Intelligence to see how 4G and 5G in the Philippines improves with additional operator investment and how consumers benefit.

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Sylwia Kechiche

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Ankur Tripathi | May 10, 2021

Prevalent and Fast Wi-Fi in Thailand Drives Improvements in Internet Speeds

Thailand has witnessed significant improvement in fixed broadband internet speeds over the past couple of years, as fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) continues to grow strongly in major metropolitan areas. And then the pandemic hit. With COVID-19, companies across the globe adapted to working from home, and people began spending more time online with the implementation of lockdowns. This led to a surge in overall internet traffic for internet service providers (ISPs), especially on fixed networks. We used data from Speedtest Intelligence® to analyze the effect of this in Thailand during Q1-Q4 2020 to determine if the increase in traffic slowed internet speeds and degraded end-user experience. We also looked closely at Wi-Fi in Thailand to see how increased usage affected speeds.

Thailand jumps in international rankings

Data from the Speedtest Global Index^™ during 2020 shows Thailand managed the challenges of increased traffic comparatively well, climbing from a ninth-place position for mean fixed broadband speed in January 2020 to third place in December 2020. Singapore and Hong Kong held on to the first- and second-place, respectively, throughout the year.
ookla_speedtest_global_index_rank_change_2020-2

Thailand second fastest ASEAN country for fixed broadband

ASEAN is one of the fastest growing internet markets in the world, and data from Speedtest Intelligence shows the number of fixed broadband users in ASEAN countries grew by 40.7% year-over-year, from 22.97 million unique users in 2019 to 32.31 million users in 2020. Impressively, speed has kept up with demand in Thailand where the mean download speed over fixed broadband during 2020 was 166.81 Mbps, ranking the country second-fastest among ASEAN member states. Singapore was first with a mean download speed of 214.39 Mbps over fixed broadband during the same period. Other ASEAN countries lag far behind Singapore and Thailand for fixed broadband internet speeds, with Indonesia ranking last on the list with an average download speed of 22.07 Mbps during 2020. We have omitted Myanmar from this analysis due to the current political situation.
ookla_mean_fixed_broadband_speeds_asean_2020-2

Wi-Fi usage increased during the pandemic

The percentage of time people spend on Wi-Fi is one indicator of the amount of time people spend at home and Speedtest Intelligence shows an increase in Wi-Fi usage during the pandemic. In Thailand, Android mobile phone users spent 7.4% more time on Wi-Fi in December 2020 when compared with January 2020. This effect was not limited to Thailand, all ASEAN countries showed an increase in Wi-Fi usage since the onset of COVID restrictions in March 2020.
ookla_time_spent_wi-fi_asean_2020

Wi-Fi speeds are improving throughout Thailand’s provinces

A comparison of Speedtest Intelligence data from Q1 2020 to that from Q4 2020 showed mean Wi-Fi speeds on modern Android devices have improved throughout the country.
ookla_wi-fi_speeds_android_thailand_2020

Speedtest Intelligence data from Q4 2020 showed Phrae province was the fastest of Thailand’s 77 provinces, boasting an average download speed of 462.14 Mbps in Q4 2020. Sing Buri and Sa Kaeo provinces were second and third fastest at 367.14 Mbps and 304.33 Mbps, respectively. Mean download speeds in the other provinces vary widely in the range of 180-300 Mbps. Satun and Uthai Thani provinces displayed some of the slowest speeds in the country with mean download speeds of 180.77 Mbps and 180.37 Mbps, respectively.

Mean Wi-Fi Speeds on 5 GHz Using Modern Android Devices in 10 Fastest Thai Provinces and Bangkok

Speedtest Intelligence® | 2020

Province	Q4 Download Speed (Mbps)	Q1 Download Speed (Mbps)	% Change
Phrae	462.14	228.55	102.2%
Sing Buri	367.14	295.35	24.3%
Sa Kaeo	304.33	174.07	74.8%
Kanchanaburi	291.09	202.98	43.4%
Ranong	286.76	287.68	-0.3%
Phang-nga	286.01	210.43	35.9%
Nan	282.32	189.17	49.2%
Uttaradit	281.16	234.41	19.9%
Phuket	280.77	220.44	27.4%
Lopburi	275.66	197.27	39.7%
Bangkok	260.15	225.33	15.5%

Regulatory changes should increase investment in Thailand’s fixed broadband

The Thai government has recently made some changes to improve its regulatory framework which should attract more investment in fixed broadband, which in turn will facilitate the transition from DSL and cable to fiber.

In addition, fixed-line operators in Thailand have been focusing on developing FTTH networks in urban areas. ISPs now offer gigabit broadband plans (capable of speeds greater than or equal to 1 Gbps) as part of their primary packages. Gigabit broadband connections are now available in major cities like Bangkok, Phuket, and Chiang Mai.

The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) also announced 10 GB free mobile broadband data for all the subscribers to facilitate work from home measures urged by the government during the COVID-19 pandemic. NBTC issued a guideline to all fixed broadband ISPs to upgrade the speed of home internet to at least 100 Mbps for all clients completely free of charge.

Is your provider measuring up? Take a Speedtest to find out. This data is used by ISPs and regulators worldwide to identify how to improve networks.

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article showed data that did not reflect the entire picture of the network providers performance. To avoid confusion, we have have removed this section.

About the Author

Ankur Tripathi

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Isla McKetta | December 20, 2021

Growing and Slowing: The State of 5G Worldwide in 2021

5G continues to offer new and exciting ways of rethinking everything from streaming video to performing remote surgery. However, not everyone shares equally in these possibilities as many countries do not have access to 5G and even those that do, do not experience the same level of performance from their 5G connections. We examined Speedtest Intelligence® data from Q3 2021 Speedtest® results to see how 5G speeds have changed, where download speeds are the fastest at the country and capital level, where 5G deployments have increased and what worldwide 5G Availability looked like in Q3 2021. We also looked at countries that don’t yet have 5G to understand where consumers are seeing improvements in 4G access.

5G slowed down at the global level

Median-Speeds-Worldwide_1221-01

It’s common to see new mobile access technologies slow down as adoption scales, particularly early on in the tech cycle. Over the past year from Q3 2020 to Q3 2021, the median global 5G download speed fell to 166.13 Mbps, down from 206.22 Mbps in Q3 2020. Median upload speed over 5G also slowed to 21.08 Mbps (from 29.52 Mbps) during the same period.

More users are logging on to existing 5G networks, and we’re also at the stage in the evolution of 5G where countries that have historically had slower speeds are starting to offer 5G. In addition, the widespread use of dynamic spectrum sharing that has been used to boost early 5G coverage weighs on 5G download speeds. While the dip in speeds looks like a letdown, it’s more of a compromise to enable broader access. With additional spectrum and further deployments slated for 2022, we anticipate speeds will begin to pick up again.

South Korea had the fastest 5G in the world

ookla_5g-download_performance_countries_1221-01-1

South Korea had the fastest median download speed over 5G during Q3 2021, leading a top 10 list that included Norway, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Sweden, China, Taiwan and New Zealand. Sweden, China, Taiwan and New Zealand were new to the top 10 in 2021 while South Africa (whose 5G was brand new last year), Spain and Hungary fell out of the top 10.

5G expanded to 13 additional countries

According to the Ookla® 5G Map^™, there were 5G deployments in 112 countries as of November 30, 2021. That’s up from 99 countries on the same date a year ago. The total number of deployments increased dramatically during the same time period with 85,602 deployments on November 30, 2021 compared to 17,428 on November 30, 2020, highlighting the degree to which 5G networks scaled during the year. Note that there are often multiple deployments in a given city.

Seoul and Oslo lead world capitals for 5G

ookla_5g-download_performance_capitals_1221-01

Speedtest Intelligence data from Q3 2021 shows a wide range of median 5G speeds among global capitals. Seoul, South Korea and Oslo, Norway were in the lead with 530.83 Mbps and 513.08 Mbps, respectively; Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Doha Qatar followed. Brasilia, Brazil had the slowest median download speed over 5G on our list, followed by Warsaw, Poland; Cape Town, South Africa and Rome, Italy. Stockholm, Sweden and Oslo, Norway had some of the the fastest median upload speeds over 5G at 56.26 Mbps and 49.95 Mbps, respectively, while Cape Town had the slowest at 14.53 Mbps.

The U.S. had the highest 5G Availability

The presence of 5G is only one indicator in a market, because even in markets where 5G has launched, coverage and adoption can be pretty low. We analyzed 5G Availability to see what percent of users on 5G-capable devices spent the majority of their time on 5G, both roaming and on-network during Q3 2021.

ookla_5g-availability_countries_1221-01

The United States had the highest 5G Availability at 49.2%, followed by the Netherlands (45.1%), South Korea (43.8%), Kuwait (35.5%) and Qatar (34.8%). Brazil had the lowest 5G Availability on our list at 0.8%, followed by Sweden (1.5%), South Africa (2.7%), New Zealand (2.9%) and Hungary (3.6%).

Not all 5G networks are created equal

Ookla Speedtest Intelligence data shows a growing disparity in the performance of 5G networks worldwide, even among the pioneer markets who were among the first to launch the new technology. We see leading markets such as South Korea, Norway, the UAE and China pulling well ahead of key European markets, the U.S. and Japan on 5G download speeds, creating what increasingly looks like two tiers of 5G markets.

ookla_5g-download_performance_1221-01

Part of the reason for this divergence is access to key 5G spectrum bands, with Verizon and AT&T in the U.S. for example, soon to deploy their C-band spectrum holdings for 5G use. However, what really seems to separate these markets is the level of 5G network densification. The number of people per 5G base station ranges from 319 in South Korea and 1,531 in China, to 4,224 in the EU and 6,590 in the US, according to the European 5G Observatory’s International Scoreboard during October 2021.

Despite the noise around 6G, 5G still has a long way to run

Median 5G mobile download speeds across these markets are respectable relative to the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) IMT-2020 target of 100 Mbps for user experienced download data rates. However, 5G Speedtest® results in each market demonstrate significant variability, with the bottom 10th percentile only recording speeds in excess of the IMT-2020 target in South Korea and Norway, and falling significantly short in many other markets, with Spain, Italy and the U.S. below 20 Mbps.

The story gets worse for upload speeds, where no market’s median speed broke the IMT-2020 recommended 50 Mbps, and where the bottom 10th percentile lay in single digits across the board. Operators are clearly prioritizing download speeds over upload, which makes sense given the asymmetric nature of demand, with most consumer applications requiring higher download speeds. However, as operators increasingly look to target the enterprise market with 5G connectivity and consumer demand for services such as video calling and mobile gaming continues to rise, operators will need to boost upload speeds.

ookla_5g-upload_performance_1221-01-1

Demand for mobile internet bandwidth continues to grow, up 43% year-on-year in Q3 2021 according to Ericsson’s latest mobility report. Looking ahead to 2022, operators will need to increase the capacity of their 5G networks to tackle this growing demand while driving network speeds to new heights. We’ve seen the impact the deployment of new spectrum can have on congested networks during 2021, with Reliance Jio witnessing a bump in 4G LTE performance and consumer sentiment following its acquisition of additional spectrum in India.

Where 5G still fails to reach

Speedtest Intelligence showed 70 countries in the world where more than 20% of samples were from 2G and 3G connections (combined) during Q3 2021 and met our statistical threshold to be included. These are mostly countries where 5G is still aspirational for a majority of the population. As excited as we are about the expansion of 5G, we do not want to see these countries left behind. Not only are 2G and 3G decades old, they are only sufficient for basic voice and texting, social media and navigation apps. To deliver rich media experiences or video calling, users need access to 4G or higher. Having so many consumers on 2G and 3G also prevents mobile operators from refarming that spectrum to make 4G and 5G networks more efficient.

Countries That Still Rely Heavily on 2G and 3G Connections

Speedtest IntelligenceⓇ | Q3 2021

Country	2G & 3G Samples
Central African Republic	89.9%
Palestine	84.7%
Yemen	72.4%
Turkmenistan	71.8%
Micronesia	56.3%
Madagascar	55.0%
Belarus	53.2%
Rwanda	51.7%
Kiribati	48.4%
Equatorial Guinea	47.6%
Afghanistan	44.4%
South Sudan	43.4%
Guyana	42.3%
Guinea	37.0%
Angola	36.8%
Cape Verde	35.9%
Tajikistan	35.6%
Zimbabwe	34.7%
Benin	34.4%
Togo	33.8%
Ghana	33.0%
Sierra Leone	31.7%
Antigua and Barbuda	30.2%
Vanuatu	30.1%
Lesotho	30.0%
Syria	29.6%
Moldova	29.4%
Saint Kitts and Nevis	28.9%
Mozambique	28.8%
Sudan	28.4%
Palau	28.3%
Grenada	28.1%
Tanzania	27.6%
Uganda	27.5%
Niger	27.5%
Gabon	27.5%
Haiti	27.4%
Suriname	27.4%
Tonga	27.3%
Liberia	27.0%
Namibia	26.7%
Swaziland	26.5%
The Gambia	26.3%
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	26.3%
Dominica	26.3%
Somalia	26.1%
Cook Islands	26.0%
Zambia	25.9%
Barbados	25.7%
Armenia	25.5%
Algeria	25.4%
Papua New Guinea	25.2%
Jamaica	24.5%
Venezuela	24.2%
Ethiopia	24.1%
Uzbekistan	24.0%
El Salvador	23.5%
Honduras	23.1%
Nigeria	23.0%
Solomon Islands	22.8%
Caribbean Netherlands	22.7%
Botswana	22.3%
Anguilla	21.7%
Mauritania	20.6%
Saint Lucia	20.5%
Bosnia and Herzegovina	20.3%
Burundi	20.3%
Ecuador	20.2%
Ukraine	20.1%
Trinidad and Tobago	20.0%

We were pleased to see the following countries come off the list from last year, having dropped below the 20% threshold: Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belize, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, DR Congo, Iraq, Kenya, Laos, Libya, Maldives, Mali, Mauritius, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Tunisia. While countries like Palestine, Suriname, Ethiopia, Haiti and Antigua and Barbuda are still on this list, they have improved the percentage of their samples on these outmoded technologies when compared to last year (dropping 10-15 points, respectively), 2G and 3G samples in Belarus increased 6.7 points when comparing Q3 2021 to Q3 2020.

We’re excited to see how performance levels will normalize as 5G expands to more and more countries and access improves. Keep track of how well your country is performing on Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index^™.

About the Author

Isla McKetta

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Isla McKetta | December 12, 2017

The World’s Internet Speeds Increased More than 30% in 2017. Are You Keeping Up?

In a world where business and life are increasingly fast and global, you want to know if your country’s internet is up to speed. In August, we launched Speedtest Global Index^TM to provide you that objective look at internet performance around the world. Knowing what your speeds are and how they compare to your neighbors’ makes for a good story, but what was missing was a benchmark. To provide you that worldwide context, we’re introducing Global Speed, the average internet speed of the world, to the top of the Speedtest Global Index.

You can still use the Speedtest Global Index to see download and upload speeds by country and rank who’s fastest and slowest. Here we’ve paired data about those individual country speeds over the past year with the new global averages call out which countries have improved most over the past year, who’s shown the least improvement and what speeds are like in the world’s most populous countries. Read on to see who’s winning the internet speed race and who has a lot of catching up to do.

The comparisons here are based on Speedtest data from November 2016-November 2017. We used the same monthly threshold for this article that we do for inclusion in the Speedtest Global Index: to be ranked in each category, countries must have at least 670 Speedtest results from unique users on mobile and at least 3,333 for fixed broadband. Although we use the word “country” throughout, you will notice some regions like Hong Kong and Puerto Rico that are large or autonomous enough to call out as separate entities, even though they are not separate countries. Global speeds are a weighted average of all samples from around the world.

Global download speeds are up more than 30% across the board

With a mean global speed of 20.28 Mbps, mobile downloads increased 30.1% over the last 12 months and mobile uploads increased 38.9%. A global average of 40.11 Mbps makes fixed broadband downloads 97.8% faster than mobile and this speed increased 31.6% during the same period. Uploads over fixed broadband showed the smallest increase of 25.9%.

**Global Internet Speeds**
November 2016 – November 2017
	Download: November 2017 Average (Mbps)	Download: Year Over Year Increase	Upload: November 2017 Average (Mbps)	Upload: Year Over Year Increase
Mobile	20.28	30.1%	8.65	38.9%
Fixed	40.11	31.6%	19.96	25.9%

In November 2017, 119 countries boasted a faster mobile download speed than the global average while 134 were slower. On the fixed broadband side, 71 countries and regions beat the global average download speed and 185 were slower. As we reported last week, gigabit Speedtest results are rolling in from across the planet, but their distribution across continents is wildly uneven.

Most improved countries

It was a good year for Laotian mobile speeds. With a 249.5% jump in mobile download speeds, Laos showed the largest improvement in the world. Vietnam came in second with an increase of 188.7% and Trinidad and Tobago was third at 133.1%. All of the countries listed on the table below are to be commended for making mobile internet faster.

Countries with the Largest Improvement
Mobile Download Speed
November 2016 – November 2017
	Year Over Year Increase	November 2017 Speed (Mbps)
Laos	249.5%	13.77
Vietnam	188.7%	19.54
Trinidad and Tobago	133.1%	11.68
Hong Kong (SAR)	102.6%	35.64
Lebanon	92.3%	24.50
Cyprus	90.2%	26.14
Republic of the Union of Myanmar	81.0%	11.72
Costa Rica	80.9%	7.89
Cambodia	70.5%	14.97
Sudan	68.9%	9.85

The tiny island of Reunion, a region of France off the coast of Africa, saw the largest improvement in download speed over fixed broadband in the world with a gain of 141.5%. Guatemala was second at 116.7% and Ghana third at 82.1%.

Countries with the Largest Improvement
Fixed Broadband Download Speed
November 2016 – November 2017
	Year Over Year Increase	November 2017 Speed (Mbps)
Reunion	141.5%	62.64
Guatemala	116.7%	12.04
Ghana	82.1%	18.96
Peru	80.1%	16.48
India	76.9%	18.82
Panama	76.6%	28.62
Italy	72.1%	31.58
Libya	67.6%	3.84
Argentina	62.2%	15.49
Kenya	60.9%	15.59

In some countries, notably Libya, a small gain in megabits per second (Mbps) can result in a large percentage increase. Although the actual performance improvement is small, we’re glad to see speeds moving in the right direction.

Speeds in some countries declined

On the flip side, there were far too many countries and regions where internet speeds decreased. The devastation of Puerto Rico’s mobile infrastructure by Hurricane Maria surely contributed to the island’s 39.8% drop in mobile download speed during the past twelve months. Uzbekistan saw a decline of 31.8% and Côte d’Ivoire 26.1%.

Countries with the Smallest Improvement
Mobile Download Speed
November 2016 – November 2017
	Year Over Year Change	November 2017 Speed (Mbps)
Puerto Rico	-39.8%	8.53
Uzbekistan	-31.8%	6.47
Côte d’Ivoire	-26.1%	10.95
Brunei	-23.4%	9.83
Thailand	-19.7%	13.38
Iraq	-16.8%	3.12
Algeria	-10.8%	7.19
Nigeria	-8.4%	9.90
Bangladesh	-7.4%	4.97
Morocco	-6.3%	15.03

Algeria saw the largest decrease in download speed over fixed broadband speed in the world at 23.9%. Dips of 9.1% in Ecuador and 6.5% in Latvia were less troubling but still moving in the wrong direction.

Countries with the Smallest Improvement
Fixed Broadband Download Speed
November 2016 – November 2017
	Year Over Year Change	November 2017 Speed (Mbps)
Algeria	-23.9%	3.76
Ecuador	-9.1%	10.40
Latvia	-6.5%	47.25
Tunisia	-3.2%	6.90
Iraq	-1.1%	7.87
Syria	-0.3%	7.12
Taiwan	0.5%	42.32
Maldives	1.0%	12.04
Namibia	1.2%	9.74
Jamaica	1.5%	19.11

Performance in the world’s most populous countries

With 57% of the world’s population, any internet performance improvements seen in the world’s ten most populous countries have a wide reach. Pakistan came out on top of the world’s largest countries with a 56.2% jump in mobile download speed during the past 12 months. India came in second in this category at 42.4% and Brazil third at 27.6% .

World’s Most Populous Countries
Improvement in Mobile Downloads
November 2016 – November 2017
	Year Over Year Change	November 2017 Speed (Mbps)
Pakistan	56.2%	13.08
India	42.4%	8.80
Brazil	27.6%	16.25
Japan	23.5%	21.67
United States	22.0%	26.32
Russia	19.2%	15.80
Indonesia	18.1%	9.73
China	3.3%	31.22
Bangladesh	-7.4%	4.97
Nigeria	-8.4%	9.90

At the other end of the spectrum, Nigeria’s mobile download speed actually dropped 8.4% and Bangladesh’s dipped 7.4%. China showed only a modest 3.3% increase in mobile download speed in 2017.

On the fixed broadband side, India came out on top of the world’s most populous countries for improvements to download speed during the past 12 months with an increase of 76.9%, beating China’s second place 42.3% increase and a 37.3% gain in the U.S.

World’s Most Populous Countries
Improvement in Fixed Broadband Downloads
November 2016 – November 2017
	Year Over Year Change	November 2017 Speed (Mbps)
India	76.9%	18.82
China	42.3%	61.24
United States	37.3%	75.94
Japan	20.7%	73.51
Indonesia	18.9%	13.38
Brazil	18.5%	17.80
Pakistan	15.5%	6.13
Russia	14.6%	36.90
Bangladesh	13.7%	16.14
Nigeria	3.8%	9.53

Nigeria again came out at the bottom of the world’s largest countries, this time with a 3.8% increase in download speed over fixed broadband.

We’ll revisit global internet speeds periodically here on our blog, but you can keep up to date on the latest trends in worldwide internet speeds by visiting the Speedtest Global Index. It’s updated every month with individual country data and, now, global averages. Keep track of your country’s performance and see how you rank against the world.

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Isla McKetta

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How Boingo Leverages Ookla's Comprehensive Network Intelligence

Ookla Joins Ericsson's Leading Telecommunications Open RApp System

In-Depth Analysis of Changes in World Internet Performance Using the Speedtest Global Index

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World mobile speed increased 21.4% with fixed broadband up 37.4%

Shake-ups in the country rankings for internet performance

Technologies paving the way: 5G and gigabit

The presence of 5G is not enough to change a market

Gigabit is a game-changer, if you can get it

Comparing world mobile and fixed broadband at a glance

Speed Leaders

Fixed-Focused countries

Mobile-Focused countries

Speed Laggers

Regional views of mobile and fixed broadband performance

Africa mostly lags in internet speeds

Asian markets show a wide breadth of internet performance

European mobile performance is mostly strong, fixed varies

North American internet performance is sharply divided

Each country in Oceania has a very different internet story

South America mostly lags in mobile and fixed internet speeds

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Isla McKetta

Tracking COVID-19’s Impact on Global Internet Performance (Updated July 20)

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Ookla

Stable and Expanding: The State of Worldwide 5G in 2022

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5G speeds were stable at the global level

South Korea and the United Arab Emirates led countries for 5G speeds

Satellite became more accessible but performance slowed

5G Availability points to on-going challenges

Where 5G continues to fail to reach

Countries That Still Rely Heavily on 2G and 3G Connections

Speedtest IntelligenceⓇ | Q3 2021

About the Author

Isla McKetta

Dtac and True Merger Talks Point to a Need to Address Unequal Footing in Thailand's 5G

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Key takeaways

Thailand’s 5G performs well compared to its regional counterparts

AIS wins on 5G performance in Thailand, TrueMove H on 5G Availability

Songkhla tops the charts for median 5G download speed

Bangkok has the highest 5G Availability

4G Availability close enough, AIS in the lead for 4G speeds

Consolidation wave across Asia-Pacific could stifle competition

The shape of the Thai mobile market

If approved, M&A would bring more MVNOs to the market

If approved, M&A would change the spectrum landscape

The benefits of scale are obvious

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Sylwia Kechiche

Revisiting iPhone 12 5G Performance Across the Globe

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Unique 5G-capable device counts have leveled off

Pro 5G and Pro Max 5G are the most popular iPhone 12 models

Seoul tops list of iPhone 12 5G speeds

Operator breakdown: iPhone 12 performance in select cities

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Erdem Koc

Fixed Broadband Network Performance in Indonesia Falling Further Behind Regional Peers

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Bahasa Indonesia

Key messages:

Singapore leads in fixed broadband network speeds in Southeast Asia

Biznet leading in Indonesia nationwide fixed broadband download speed

Consumer sentiment tracks network performance

Regional disparities in fixed broadband download speeds over Wi-Fi persist

Biznet leading in Jakarta Region for Wi-Fi download speeds

MyRepublic leading in Banten Region fixed broadband download speed over Wi-Fi

Biznet leading in West Java Region fixed broadband download speed over Wi-Fi

MyRepublic leading in Central Java Region Wi-Fi fixed broadband download speed

Biznet leading in East Java Region for Wi-Fi fixed broadband download speed