StarHub best for mobile data speed, while Singtel has superior 4G reach: Report

Singapore — Telco StarHub has come up tops in terms of download and upload speeds in an inaugural report on mobile broadband experience in Singapore, which was conducted by United Kingdom-based wireless technology company OpenSignal.

The firm, which in February ranked Singapore as top in 4G speed in its global analysis of 88 countries, reiterated that overall, the speeds recorded in the Republic were “quite impressive”.

In the OpenSignal’s latest report on the State of Mobile Networks in Singapore published online this month, the company noted that StarHub’s 4G speed score is “three times the global average”, while Singtel and M1's scores are “well beyond double”.

Responding to queries from TODAY, OpenSignal’s lead analyst and author of the report, Mr Kevin Fitchard, said the Republic was among the first adopters of 4G. From M1’s commercial 4G launch in June 2011, the three telco operators have “taken every opportunity to build powerful mobile broadband networks” in the intervening seven years.

“Very few countries can come close to matching Singapore in mobile broadband speed,” Mr Fitchard said, adding that with the 4G bar set so high: “It will be fascinating to watch how much higher they can raise it.”

Starhub took a clean sweep in OpenSignal’s tests for 3G and 4G download, 4G upload, and overall download speeds. For instance, StarHub’s 4G download speed was 51 Mbps (Megabytes per second).

Though Singtel and M1 did not score as well, they were not far behind with their 4G download speed of 45.4Mbps and 41.9 Mbps respectively. In comparison, global 4G download speeds are only 16.9 Mbps.

Singtel, however, took the prize for 4G availability, with users able to connect to a 4G network nearly 90 per cent of the time, while M1 was first for 4G latency, which is the responsiveness of the data network which could result in clearer online calls and a less laggy online gaming experience.

OpenSignal said one of the reasons for Singapore’s high overall speed ratings is due to the prevalence of 4G signals across all three operators’ networks, with users able to get a 4G connection at least eight out of every 10 attempts.

Asked by TODAY about its ranking in OpenSignal’s report, StarHub’s chief marketing officer Howie Lau said the telco is “honoured” by the recognition, which is “in line with our continued investments in the performance of our mobile network for customers”.

He added: “Customer satisfaction is key, and we will continue to enhance mobile speeds and coverage.”

M1's spokesman similarly said it is happy to recognised for having a "world class 4G network" and would “continue to focus on providing our customer with the best network experience".

For the report on Singapore telcos, OpenSignal analysed more than 185 million data points collected between Feb 1 and May 1 this year, from more than 11,000 smartphones crowdsourced from users in Singapore through a smartphone application run by the company.