YouTube recently launched its free Video Checkup web tool to give users a clear and reliable measure of the quality of their internet connection. According to Google, two thirds of Malaysia’s YouTube watchtime comes from mobile devices. This isn’t much of a surprise, is it?
But who has the best network quality? Who delivers the most consistent performance amongst Malaysian telcos?
With YouTube’s web tool, you’ll be able to see how telcos fare in a specific location, based on YouTube playback quality.
YouTube says the rating of 4.0 stars is the highest possible rating at this time. 4.5+ stars are reserved for future technology that supports higher bandwidth video, such as VR and 360-degree videos.
Maxis came up as undisputed YouTube champ, with top ratings across 14 states. It scored 4.0 in all but one state (Pahang). In the Klang Valley, Celcom and Maxis fare the best, with Digi and U Mobile scoring 3.5 and 3.0 stars respectively. Over in East Malaysia, Maxis again comes out tops.
Unfortunately, newer telcos like webe and Yes are not in the list.
So, how does Google measure YouTube playback performance, you may ask? Well, it analyses billions of anonymized watch-viewing results every month. YouTube looks at how quickly video data is loaded over the last 35 days. It then maps areas of higher (HD) and lower quality (SD). The results are then segmented based on mobile provider and geographic location. For a more technical drill down, visit the Video Checkup methodology page.
The consumption of data has seen a huge increase, thanks in part to mobile video consumption. Maxis says demand for average mobile data has doubled from 1.5GB last year to 4GB per month in 2016.
Penetration of 4G-enabled devices has also seen a boom – a 43% increase of total Maxis subscribers in 2016. In the same year, Maxis’ traffic grew 7x.
The green telco continues to expand and upgrade its LTE network. A bulk of its 2016 capex is spent on building its network infrastructure.
If you’re curious how well your telco does in YouTube streaming, check out the Video Checkup tool.
