High speed fluctuations in Asia Pacific stress the need for 5G

• 5G will not only provide the speed needed, but it will also help even out inconsistencies
• Will provide a solid bedrock of capacity that will relieve congestion at the busiest hours

OPENSIGNAL, the independent global standard for measuring real-world mobile network experience, has released new analysis highlighting how 5G will help relieve congestion and capacity pressures on the world’s 4G mobile networks. 

The report,  The 5G Opportunity: How 5G will solve the congestion problems of today’s 4G networks, analysed 77 countries (including Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and India) and found that 4G networks suffered from large fluctuations in speed throughout the day.

According to the report, users in APAC experience average speeds above 40 Mbps in Singapore and South Korea, while in countries like India, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia and Philippines they struggle to even reach double digits. 

The Opensignal report found that congestion load is also a contributing factor to network consistency.

Both Singapore and South Korea fared better than Australia when it came to consistency at peak hours. During off-peak hours, South Korea, Singapore and Australia have networks capable of delivering more than 50 Mbps in 4G download speed.

While Singapore and South Korea consistently delivered speeds faster than 40 Mbps throughout the day, Australia only managed to deliver 31.5 Mbps at its peak hours.

So, while all three countries clearly have very powerful networks, South Korea and Singapore have an edge on Australia in consistency.

With Asia Pacific expected to add 424 million new mobile subscribers by 2025, fluctuations in speed will become untenable. Future mobile apps and services won’t just demand faster speeds – they will need consistent connections.

5G will not only provide the speed needed, but it will also help even out inconsistencies and provide a solid bedrock of capacity that will relieve congestion at the busiest hours.

With governments in the region ramping up smart city initiatives and working on digitizing their infrastructure and services, the need for robust networks is more important than ever before.

Key APAC highlights from the report:

Asia Pacific showed the greatest differences in Download Experience, with most countries either positioned at the top or bottom of Opensignal’s speed consistency measures (chart below):

• Users in the region experience average speeds above 40 Mbps in South Korea (47.1 Mbps) and Singapore (45.4 Mbps), while users struggle to even reach double digits in India (6.5 Mbps), Thailand (8.2 Mbps), Indonesia (8.6 Mbps), Cambodia (8.6 Mbps) and Philippines (9.4 Mbps).

Users in APAC experience slowest speeds at peak hours (chart below):

• When the network is most congested, users in Malaysia experience 9 Mbps in 4G Download Speed, ahead of Philippines (6.9 Mbps), Thailand (6 Mbps), Indonesia (5.7 Mbps), Cambodia (3.7 Mbps) and India (3.7 Mbps). On the other hand, users in Taiwan experience the largest decrease in Download Speed at peak hours (9.3 Mbps lower than the average speed), among the 77 countries analysed.
• The region hosts some of the countries with the highest speed fluctuations throughout the day like Taiwan (19.5 Mbps) and Cambodia (19.4 Mbps). However, users in Taiwan experience average 4G download speed almost 20 Mbps faster than their peers in Cambodia, where at the quietest hour download speed rises more than six times compared to the busiest hour.
• India and Thailand struggled to rise from the bottom of most of Opensignal’s speed consistency measures. Although average speed in Thailand (8.2 Mbps) is faster than in India (6.5 Mbps) and users in the former country experience 2.2 Mbps better speed at the busiest time, at non-peak hours users in Indian experience a comeback, with 2.8 Mbps faster speed than their peers in Thailand. India’s networks prove that they are capable of supporting much faster connections, but they could only do so when fewer users are online.