Fahmi: Telcos that auto-upgrade customers to 5G recorded higher adoption rate

PETALING JAYA: In a speech in Parliament yesterday (Nov 1), Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil said telcos that automatically offer 5G services to its customers saw an adoption rate of more than 50% among subscribers with compatible 5G devices.

Citing a report from connectivity intelligence company Ookla, Fahmi said telcos that don’t automatically offer 5G services recorded approximately only 50% adoption rate among its customers with 5G-capable devices.

Fahmi also said in his speech that currently Yes, U Mobile and Unifi are offering 5G automatically to users while Maxis and CelcomDigi have additional charges for selected customers who want to subscribe or upgrade to 5G.

The Ookla report published on Oct 30 revealed that despite the fact that half their subscriber base own 5G-capable devices, only 16.7% of Celcom’s and 21.6% of Digi’s customers have conducted 5G speed tests in Q3 2023.

It also reported Maxis, which has the highest percentage of customers with 5G-capable devices (62.8%), saw only 33% of its customers perform tests on 5G.

This, he said, emphasised the need for telcos to automatically include 5G services for users without imposing additional charges.

Ookla also highlighted the fact that for these operators, “approximately 30% of their customer base that own 5G-capable devices have yet to initiate a speed test on the 5G network.

“There is an opportunity to transition these customers to adopt 5G as they likely have not yet subscribed or reside in areas without 5G coverage,” Ookla said in its report, adding that the companies impose an additional surcharge of between RM10 to RM20/monthly for customers on lower-tier plans to upgrade to 5G.

The report said Yes has 53.3% of users with 5G devices who have already conducted 5G speedtest in Q3 2023, while the number stands at 40.7% for U Mobile and 38.9% for Unifi.

As of September, Fahmi said Digital Nasional Berhad, the country’s wholesale 5G network operator, has achieved 70.2% network coverage in populated areas. He also said that the country is on track to achieve 80% 5G network coverage by the end of the year.

“However, there is still room for improving the 5G adoption rate in Malaysia. As of September 30, 2023, the utilisation or adoption rate of 5G is at 9.1%, which represents a 9-fold increase compared to the adoption rate (1%) at the end of 2022,” he added.

As part of an effort to increase the 5G adoption rate, Fahmi said the government has also introduced the 5G Rahmah package where telcos offer affordable rates to low income groups and civil servants.

As of September 30, Fahmi said the total number of 5G Rahmah Package subscriptions is 50,991 units while total number of subscriptions for those in the B40 group is 42,649 or 42% of the total quota for B40 group under the package.