In an analysis of 4G and 5G coverage quality across almost 80 countries, these two correlations were the most obvious

As countries transition from 4G to 5G implementation, the significance of exceptional mobile coverage is now apparent.

According to Opensignal, an illustration of this can be seen in the case of Malaysia, where there are intentions to establish a secondary 5G network starting in 2024. In the case of Singapore, with 100% of her population dwelling in urban areas, the country’s 5G coverage has been found to equal that of the USA.  

The firm has released a ‘coverage experience report’ measuring the geographic coverage of populated areas on a 10-point scale to represent the experience users receive as they travel around areas where they would reasonably expect to find coverage.

The report on the new ‘coverage experience metric’ shows how expansive a market’s coverage is, along with the coverage experienced by our users on each national operator within the market.

Highlights reported include:

    • Most markets in the report had close to perfect scores for 4G implementation, with Singapore at a perfect score of 10 points.
    • For 5G coverage experience has been found to correlate to both the degree of urbanization and the market’s Gross National Income (GNI) per capita. Markets with larger proportions of their population living in urban areas tended to score higher. Likewise, markets with more Gross National Income (GNI) per capita tended to have higher 5G Coverage Experience scores.
    • The top two markets for 5G coverage experience in the report were the USA and Singapore, both having statistically-tied scores of 8–8.2 points on a 10-point scale.
    • 15 markets in the Asia Pacific region were covered: Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. The region’s best overall coverage experience was recorded in Australia (Telstra: 9.4 points), followed by South Korea and Taiwan (SK Telecom and Chunghwa, 9.3 points) and Indonesia (Telkomsel, 8.9 points).