KUALA LUMPUR: An independent report on mobile network experience found that Maxis came out tops for both consistent quality and reliability experience while second 5G network award winner, U Mobile, led in 5G availability.
Opensignal Malaysia examined the mobile network experience of the six main mobile network operators in Malaysia — Celcom, Digi, Maxis, U Mobile, Unifi and Yes — over a period of 90 days from Aug 01, 2024 to Oct 29, 2024.
Opensignal claims to be the independent global standard for analysing consumers' connectivity experiences.
The report found that Maxis emerged as a standout performer, winning the consistent quality category, which measures the percentage of tests that meet thresholds for core activities like web browsing and high-definition (HD) video streaming, with a 67.3 per centum.
Maxis also led in the realiability experience category which assesses the consistency and dependability of an operator's network to connect and complete basic tasks, with a total score of 869 points on a 100-1000 point scale.
U Mobile was second last in the consistent quality category with a 55.8 per centum and ranked last for the reliability experience category, with714 points.
U Mobile, which came out tops for four categories in the report did however lead in terms of steadily increasing its performance, particularly claiming the top spot in 5G games experience with 88.1 points and 5G availability with 37.7 per cent.
The 5G availability category measures proportion of time people have a network connection, in the places they most commonly frequent — something often missed by traditional coverage metrics.
The report comes after the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) awarded U Mobile with the rollout of the second 5G network, bypassing market favourites and two of the largest mobile network operators in the country Maxis and CelcomDigi.
Maxis has since said it will engage with the MCMC to understand the rationale for its decision in the award of the second 5G network.
MCMC explained that U Mobile's selection was based on various considerations, including the business and technical proposals submitted.
On the findings of its report, Opensignal said no single operator dominated its mobile experience awards that looked at overall experience, 5G experience, coverage and consistency.
"Once again Digi and Unifi come closest, each winning five awards in total — either outright or jointly. U Mobile wins four. Maxis wins three including consistent quality and reliability experience. Celcom wins three and Yes wins two," it said in its report.
Unifi won the 5G video experience and 5G download speed awards; while Digi won three out of five overall experience awards, including both down and upload speed awards.