This article appeared in The Mole on 03 December 2021.

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 3, 2021: Rural areas are found to be severely underserved in terms of 4G-LTE mobile connectivity compared to urban localities, according to statistics by global mobile analytics provider OpenSignal.

The revelation of suboptimal quality and coverage by the independent analytics company came as the country’s telecommunications industry had spent some RM26 billion in capital expenditure on 4G technology.

For example, in 2019, those living in urban areas could reach 4G speeds up to 83.7% of the time connected, while sparsely populated rural areas could only connect to the speeds 44% of the time in 2019.

These statistics applied to areas where the rural population stands below 10 people per sq km, while chances for 4G connectivity nearly doubled when populations exceeded 300 people per sq km in urban areas.

The data also suggests that deployment of 4G services based on demand leads to the increased chances of areas being underserved.

As for download speeds, OpenSignal found in 2020 that bandwidth decreased from 1% to 24% depending on location in Malaysia.

The country’s central region saw an average of 23Mbps in 2019, which dipped to 22Mbps in 2020. The southern corridor of Malaysia had a stagnant 20Mbps in both years, while the east coast states experienced a sizable dip in speed from 24Mbps in 2019 to 21Mbps in 2020.

The northern states had 19Mbps in 2019, which dipped to 17Mbps the following year.

Sabah was worst struck by dwindling speeds as it saw its bandwidth plummet from 21Mbps in 2019 to only 16Mbps in 2020.

This indicates that improved technologies are required to accommodate the growing requirements for data.

However, the latest assessment by OpenSignal published on November 25 observed a growth in the proportion of time 4G users spent connected to 4G and a decline in that spent connected to 3G across all of Malaysia’s 13 states and three Federal Territories to varying degrees.

"We also found that not only were our 4G users able to spend more time connected to 4G networks, but they were also able to connect to 4G services in many new locations, where before, they either connected via legacy technologies or had no signal at all."

OpenSignal said this suggests that the government’s Jendela initiative, which was launched last year, is enabling mobile operators in the country to expand 4G connectivity to new locations.

Yet, while there is some reason to be optimistic, the figures for states such as Sabah and Sarawak showed little improvement in 4G speeds.

In the latest findings, OpenSignal said users in the sparsely populated regions of East Malaysia saw small improvements of 2.2 and 2.8 percentage points.

However, overall, OpenSignal said its data showed that smartphone users in two of Malaysia’s least densely populated regions, Sabah and Sarawak, have seen the greatest increases of 15.4% and 12.5% in the number of 4G-covered locations, respectively – 6.7% and 3.9 percentage points higher than that seen nationally (8.7%).

"Meanwhile, the most densely populated regions – Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Penang – have seen almost no or very few new 4G-covered locations, as the vast majority of the areas have already been reached by 4G services."

Cumulatively, the telco sector has spent RM26 billion over the past eight years since it started 4G investment in 2013. In the first year, the industry spent RM2.4 billion, and last year, the figure hit RM3.1 billion.

The data also suggested that demand-based deployment accentuated the country’s digital divide, while profit-oriented services kept prices higher and thus less accessible for lower-income groups.

The digital divide reached a flashpoint last year when 18-year-old Veveonah Mosibin, from Kg Sabanalang Pitas in Sabah, went viral in March 2020 after she posted a video of herself studying on top of a tree in order to sit for her exams.

Similarly, in June this year, residents of Taman Sri Seladang and Taman Kulim Square in Kedah expressed their dismay over connectivity issues that affected their daily lives, as reported by Free Malaysia Today.

Last week, The Vibes reported that Malaysia’s mobile internet connection experience remains at the bottom tier at the global and regional levels, according to several global research papers.