| Azlan Othman |
BRUNEI Darussalam has the eighth fastest 4G network in the Asia-Pacific with 17.48Mbps speed, according to a report by Open Signal, a UK-based wireless technology company.
The report compares 4G performance across 88 countries worldwide.
Singapore has the fastest 4G network followed by South Korea, Australia and New Zealand in the Asia-Pacific. Singapore is also the fastest 4G country in the world.
In Australia, Vodafone has jumped ahead of Telstra in the 4G speed metric, averaging LTE downloads of 40Mbps.
Taiwan’s operators are quickly joining the global elite in 4G availability with the fifth fastest network speed in Asia.
It is followed by Japan and Vietnam at 25.39 and 21.49Mbps respectively.
As per the report, Japan’s 4G network speed is by no means slow, but it is still well away from matching the LTE speeds of the elite countries.
It is followed by Myanmar and Malaysia. Other countries below 15Mbps are Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Pakistan.
According to the report, through improved smartphone technology and new spectrum, mobile operators have elevated average 4G speeds first beyond 20Mbps, then beyond 30 Mbps, and in the last two years, beyond 40Mbps.
“However, now the industry seems to have reached a limit to what current technology, spectral bandwidth and mobile economics can support on a nationwide level. The LTE average download speeds have stalled at just over 45Mbps, as per the report.
“Speeds, though, remained stagnant, could soon change as the wave of consolidation clears the way for new high-capacity networks,” the report noted.
In last year’s Akamai State of the Internet Report, Brunei’s overall average speed stood at 7.4Mbps, with Telekom Brunei Berhad’s (TelBru) own average speed gauging significantly higher than this due to its Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) infrastructure that can comparatively carry higher load.