5G availability high amongst APAC markets
South Korea leads in speed categories with ‘significantly high’ download and upload speeds
The availability of 5G network is high amongst most markets in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region which has been at the forefront of 5G adoption worldwide, network analytics company Opensignal reported.
The firm’s latest report on 5G benchmarks across APAC revealed that users in the region remain connected to at least a 3G or better mobile signal for over 99% of the time in eight of the 20 tracked markets.
These tracked markets include Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, Australia, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, New Zealand, India, Malaysia, Cambodia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Laos, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Pakistan.
Amongst these markets, report showed that South Korean users experience the fastest download and upload speeds, averaging 133.3 Mbps and 21.4 Mbps, respectively. The country boasts the highest percentage of 5G connections in APAC, with over half of all connections being 5G.
South Korea continues to lead the 5G development in the region since it was the first country to roll out the network in 2019. This early adoption has allowed the country to evolve the technology, resulting in a significantly higher average 5G download and upload speeds compared to other APAC countries.
According to Opensignal, the widespread adoption of 5G helps alleviate congestion on legacy 4G networks, improving speeds for users who have not yet upgraded—a trend also observed in Brazil's 5G development.
Following South Korea were Singapore and Taiwan ranking second and third for download speeds, while Vietnam is the runner-up for Upload Speed Experience, ahead of Singapore.
Malaysia also ranks second in 5G Download Speed Experience and third in 5G Upload Speed Experience, which was attributed to the country’s 5G wholesale network.
As Opensignal has previously reported, India’s 5G Download speeds have fallen as data consumption has increased, with 5G download score down from 304Mbps in Q1 2023 to 243Mbps in the latest report. Indonesia also lags behind other APAC markets primarily due to its lack of mobile spectrum, as the 3.5GHz band is still used by satellite services.
Meanwhile, of those that are in the earlier stages of deploying their 5G networks, India, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia have seen the largest speed uplift between 4G and 5G. While Sri Lanka’s 4G to 5G uplift for download speeds is significantly higher than Malaysia’s, less than 2% of Sri Lanka’s base is on 5G capable devices while over 37% of Malaysia’s total connections are 5G connections.
