YTL Comms Penang Terragraph trial hits 170Mbps peak download speed

• First update of trials in Unicef Heritage City of Georgetown, show peak upload of 160Mbps
• 40 locations with 350 Terragraph nodes on 160 city lamp posts in 6 weeks since going live

In the first update since its Terragraph pilot in Penang, Malaysia, YTL Communications (YES), says peak speeds of well over 170Mbps download and 160Mbps uploads have been achieved in the first seven weeks of the trial starting March 1. The telco did not disclose average speeds experienced on the 5Ghz capable wifi. Average consumption for the trial was at 230MB per session with peak consumption for a single user reaching 5GB.

The trial, running in the World Heritage city of Georgetown, has YES successfully deploying Gigabit wireless experiences in 40 locations with 350 Terragraph nodes on 160 city lamp posts in six weeks since going live. The trial is slated to run for six months. YES is aiming to fulfil its full rollout of targeted zones in Georgetown by end May. Current spots covered are top tourist destinations namely, Chulia Street, Restaurant Kapitan, Campbell Street, Goddess of Mercy Temple and Chulia Street Night Market.

Over 4,000 unique users have experienced the service with YES claiming 60% return unique users. The trial offers a public wifi service and a corporate service to local businesses to experience fiber level speeds up to 20 times the current subscription levels available.

Jagdeep Singh Deo, Penang EXCO for Local Government, Housing and Town & Country Planning is happy with the early results, “I am glad to announce that YTL Terragraph Public WiFi network in the Georgetown heritage area can deliver a peak download speeds of up to 170Mbps.” Jagdeep claims this to 10 times faster than the fastest public WiFi network in the world, “including Singapore”.

It was last reported in Nov 2016 in a global ranking that Singapore had average download speeds of 15Mbps with average upload speeds of 12Mbps. Singapore was then rated the country with the second fastest public wifi network.

[Ed note: The comparison with Singapore or any other country in this instance is not a like for like as countries normally share average speeds while in this case, YES is only sharing peak speeds.]

Yeoh Soo Keng, executive director, YTL Corp Bhd, emphasised that "YTL is an international company with our products built of the highest global standards at reasonable prices in line with our Minister Gobind Singh Deo’s vision to provide high quality and cost-effective mobile connectivity for all in Malaysia.”

Yeoh further thanked Gobind Singh and Al-Ishsal Ishak, chairman of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia for kickstarting the initiative and for the trust placed in YES to drive this innovation for the benefit of the rakyat.

YTL Communications is the first telco in Asia and second in the world to partner Facebook to launch Terragraph trials.

Wing Lee, CEO, YTL Communications, added, "We believe that the achievement of Gigabit wireless experience as the last mile solution is not only viable but also will inspire the nation and drive positive change."

The technology utilises existing street infrastructure and advanced technologies that enable quick deployment without the need to trench roads or to build new telecommunication infrastructure.

For the latest updates and information on the Terragraph trial and rollout including coverage locations, kindly refer here.