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Telkomsel won both our Download and Upload Speed Experience awards. The operator took a good lead in the download speed category with an average score 2.4 Mbps faster than its closest rival, and dominated this category also in our regional analysis. In fact, Telkomsel won every one of our Download Speed Experience awards in 16 of Indonesia's biggest cities. Although XL challenged Telkomsel in the upload speed category, the latter won our Upload Speed Experience award with a score of 3.7 Mbps.
The winner in our Video Experience category was Telkomsel. The operator scored 54.3 points and earned a Fair rating (40-55 points out of 100), meaning stops and stutters mid-stream were common to varying degrees and connections often have trouble coping with higher-resolution formats. While XL and 3 also garnered Fair Video Experience ratings, Smartfren and Indosat both received our lowest rating of Poor (0-40).
In our last report, we noticed a significant increase in our 4G Availability scores from all five operators in Indonesia. But in this report, we found this growth beginning to stall, a strong indication that the Indonesian market is approaching maturity. Smartfren managed to keep its 4G Availability crown, improving its score by more than a percentage point to pass the 95% mark, which none of Indonesia's operators have done before in our analysis. But this is an outlier, as Smartfren slipped in our other metrics compared with the previous Opensignal Mobile Network Experience report.
Our users in Indonesia experienced the lowest latency on Telkomsel’s network, with an average response time of 52.1 milliseconds. All other operators scored a ping time at least 10ms slower, according to our measurements. Telkomsel had a clear win in this category across all cities in our regional analysis with the sole exception of Bandar Lampung, where it shared our award with 3.
In our latest look at Indonesia, Telkomsel has maintained its dominance by winning four out of five metrics in our national analysis, and more than 75% of our awards in Indonesia’s 16 largest cities. We also saw Smartfren shine in 4G Availability as it continuously expands its 4G reach, but the operator has slipped in our other metrics compared with our last two reports in December, 2018 , and June, 2018.
Indonesia's remaining operators, 3, Indosat, and XL, may not have taken any awards at the national level, but we saw growth from several of them in our speed metrics, allowing them to close the gap with Telkomsel. In this year’s first Mobile Network Experience report for Indonesia, we've analyzed the mobile experience over 90 days, starting February. 1, 2019, on both a national and regional level, to see how the country's five main operators measure up.
| Mobile Experience Awards Indonesia | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
July 2019,
Indonesia Report
|
I
Indosat
|
X
XL
|
S
Smartfren
|
T
Telkomsel
|
3
3
|
4G Availability
| |||||
Video Experience
| |||||
Download Speed Experience
| |||||
Upload Speed Experience
| |||||
Latency Experience
| |||||
|
Mobile Experience Awards Winners
|
July 2019,
Indonesia
|
|---|---|
|
4G Availability
|
S
Smartfren
|
|
Video Experience
|
T
Telkomsel
|
|
Download Speed Experience
|
T
Telkomsel
|
|
Upload Speed Experience
|
T
Telkomsel
|
|
Latency Experience
|
T
Telkomsel
|
Our users on 3's network saw the biggest improvement in 4G Availability since our last report — an increase of at least 4 percentage points to reach a score of 88.6%. We recorded the second biggest improvement on Telkomsel’s network: an increase of more than 3 percentage points to score 80.9%. But even though Telkomsel was able to rise above the 80% mark in 4G Availability, it still finished in last place in our results. Overall, Smartfren became the first Indonesian operator to move past the 95% mark in our 4G Availability metric.
It's no surprise that Smartfren has ruled over this metric since our last two reports, as it shut down its 3G network to forge an 4G-only strategy in late 2017. As it has no 3G network to fall back on, it must serve its mobile broadband customers entirely with 4G. This time the operator’s score of 95.4% was at least 7% percentage points ahead of its rivals, but it saw a relatively smaller increase compared to the other operators.
Our 4G Availability metric shows the proportion of time our users with a 4G device and subscription have a 4G connection. In this report, all five operators in Indonesia have crossed the 80% milestone, meaning our 4G users in Indonesia are, on average, connected to 4G services more than 80% of the time. We tracked the same trend in our recent global State of Mobile Experience report , where Indonesia rose into the top 30 countries in terms of 4G Availability with a country-level score of 83.5%. As all Indonesia's operators exceed the 80% availability mark, though, their 4G Availability growth appears to be petering off. This is a sign that Indonesia's 4G networks are reaching maturity.
The consumer mobile Video Experience in Indonesia is in need of improvement as none of the five operators managed to earn higher than a Fair rating (40-55 on our 100 point Video Experience scale). Telkomsel leads the pack with a score of 54.3, followed by XL and 3 with 46.5 and 42 points respectively. Meanwhile, Indosat and Smartfren garnered Poor ratings (0-40) with scores of 34.7 and 34.4 points respectively, which generally indicates very long load times and a high rate of stalling at both low and high resolutions.
|
Video Experience
Additional Metrics |
I
Indosat
|
X
XL
|
S
Smartfren
|
T
Telkomsel
|
3
3
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | |||||
|
4G Video Experience
| 40.1 (± 0.24) | 53.0 (± 0.18) | 34.4 (± 0.26) | 62.9 (± 0.11) | 45.9 (± 0.23) |
|
3G Video Experience
| 22.2 (± 0.34) | 31.5 (± 0.35) | — | 40.6 (± 0.20) | 32.0 (± 0.33) |
| 4G Video Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
I
Indosat
|
40 (± 0.24) |
|
X
XL
|
53 (± 0.18) |
|
S
Smartfren
|
34 (± 0.26) |
|
T
Telkomsel
|
63 (± 0.11) |
|
3
3
|
46 (± 0.23) |
| 3G Video Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
I
Indosat
|
22 (± 0.34) |
|
X
XL
|
31 (± 0.35) |
|
S
Smartfren
|
— |
|
T
Telkomsel
|
41 (± 0.20) |
|
3
3
|
32 (± 0.33) |
In our recent State of Mobile Video report, where we ranked 69 countries on their Video Experience scores, Indonesia was positioned in the bottom 10 countries, and we saw similarly low scores in the individual operators' results.
When we narrow down Video Experience by connection type and look at 4G connections only, we see Video Experience was definitely better for all Indonesian operators. In fact, Telkomsel's 4G score elevated it to Very Good rating, while XL garnered a Good rating when we looked at 4G video sessions alone.
Telkomsel was the undisputed winner of our Download Speed Experience award in Indonesia, even though we recorded very little change in average download speed compared to our previous report in December 2018. Its rivals’ speeds, on the other hand, all increased by at least 1 Mbps. XL was nearest to the leader, with users experiencing speeds just 2.4 Mbps slower than Telkomsel’s, while 3’s Download Speed Experience score of 5.2 Mbps trailed the leader by more than 4 Mbps. Smartfren and Indosat's users experienced speeds less than half of Telkomsel's in our results.
|
Download Speed Experience
Additional Metrics |
I
Indosat
|
X
XL
|
S
Smartfren
|
T
Telkomsel
|
3
3
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| in Mbps | |||||
|
4G Download Speed
| 5.9 (± 0.03) | 9.2 (± 0.04) | 4.5 (± 0.03) | 12.8 (± 0.04) | 6.0 (± 0.03) |
|
3G Download Speed
| 2.2 (± 0.02) | 3.3 (± 0.02) | — | 5.1 (± 0.03) | 3.1 (± 0.02) |
| 4G Download Speed | in Mbps |
|
I
Indosat
|
6 (± 0.03) |
|
X
XL
|
9 (± 0.04) |
|
S
Smartfren
|
4 (± 0.03) |
|
T
Telkomsel
|
13 (± 0.04) |
|
3
3
|
6 (± 0.03) |
| 3G Download Speed | in Mbps |
|
I
Indosat
|
2 (± 0.02) |
|
X
XL
|
3 (± 0.02) |
|
S
Smartfren
|
— |
|
T
Telkomsel
|
5 (± 0.03) |
|
3
3
|
3 (± 0.02) |
While 3, Smartfren and Indosat may be far behind Telkomsel in Download Speed Experience, XL may stand the best chance of catching the leader in this metric. XL's Download Speed Experience score rose by 18% in six months, while Telkomsel's score stayed even. XL still has a lot of ground to cover if it wants to challenge Telkomsel for the download speed crown, but it is closing the gap quickly. We also continued to see Smartfren’s download speeds fall: its Download Speed Experience dipped to 4.5 Mbps, a decrease of 1.8 Mbps in last six months — a notable decline as it won our Download Speed Experience category in our June 2018 report.
Looking at the 4G Download Speed breakdown, Indonesia’s operators almost replicated their Download Speed Experience rankings, with Smartfren as a 4G-only network operator being an exception. When compared to our previous Indonesia report published six months ago, Telkomsel’s 4G Download Speed actually decreased by 1.6 Mbps to 12.8 Mbps. The Indonesian giant, however, didn't suffer in our Download Speed Experience category, though as its increased 4G Availability made up the difference, meaning more users connected to faster 4G networks more often.
Telkomsel took home Opensignal’s Upload Speed Experience award with its users experiencing an average overall upload speed of 3.7 Mbps, although it faced close competition from its rival XL with a marginally lower score of 3.4 Mbps, followed by 3’s score of 3.1 Mbps.
|
Upload Speed Experience
Additional Metrics |
I
Indosat
|
X
XL
|
S
Smartfren
|
T
Telkomsel
|
3
3
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| in Mbps | |||||
|
4G Upload Speed
| 3.3 (± 0.02) | 4.5 (± 0.02) | 1.2 (± 0.01) | 5.4 (± 0.02) | 4.0 (± 0.02) |
|
3G Upload Speed
| 0.6 (± 0.01) | 0.7 (± 0.01) | — | 1.0 (± 0.01) | 0.6 (± 0.01) |
| 4G Upload Speed | in Mbps |
|
I
Indosat
|
3 (± 0.02) |
|
X
XL
|
5 (± 0.02) |
|
S
Smartfren
|
1 (± 0.01) |
|
T
Telkomsel
|
5 (± 0.02) |
|
3
3
|
4 (± 0.02) |
| 3G Upload Speed | in Mbps |
|
I
Indosat
|
1 (± 0.01) |
|
X
XL
|
1 (± 0.01) |
|
S
Smartfren
|
— |
|
T
Telkomsel
|
1 (± 0.01) |
|
3
3
|
1 (± 0.01) |
Looking at 4G Upload Speed individually, Telkomsel’s score of 5.4 Mbps was a decrease of over 1 Mbps in the last six months. On the other hand, Indostat, Smartfren and XL increased their 4G Upload Speeds by at least 0.5 Mbps over the same time period, and we now see XL and 3 closing the gap with Telkomsel not only in 4G Upload Speed but also Overall Upload Experience. If the current trends continue, we could very well see a new winner in this category in our next report.
Our Latency Experience award also went to Telkomsel. Its overall network response time of 52.1 milliseconds was the best our users experienced in Indonesia. We saw a sizeable gap between our winning score and those of other operators. While 3 finished second in this category with a score of 63.1ms, our users experienced the highest latencies (81.6ms) on Indosat’s network — a difference of 29.5ms from our award holder.
|
Latency Experience
Additional Metrics |
I
Indosat
|
X
XL
|
S
Smartfren
|
T
Telkomsel
|
3
3
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| in ms | |||||
|
4G Latency
| 74.0 (± 0.21) | 59.7 (± 0.12) | 73.3 (± 0.26) | 42.0 (± 0.07) | 56.3 (± 0.16) |
|
3G Latency
| 99.3 (± 0.57) | 91.3 (± 0.48) | — | 68.2 (± 0.19) | 80.7 (± 0.40) |
| 4G Latency | in ms |
|
I
Indosat
|
74 (± 0.21) |
|
X
XL
|
60 (± 0.12) |
|
S
Smartfren
|
73 (± 0.26) |
|
T
Telkomsel
|
42 (± 0.07) |
|
3
3
|
56 (± 0.16) |
| 3G Latency | in ms |
|
I
Indosat
|
99 (± 0.57) |
|
X
XL
|
91 (± 0.48) |
|
S
Smartfren
|
— |
|
T
Telkomsel
|
68 (± 0.19) |
|
3
3
|
81 (± 0.40) |
Latency is an often overlooked metric as the benefits of a low latency connection aren't as obvious as fast speeds or wide-ranging availability. But latency affects the consumer mobile experience in many subtle ways. Lower latency means less lag in online call or chat sessions; thus, a better Latency Experience score would produce an improved mobile consumer experience on many of the most popular services on smartphones today.
In our regional breakdown, we compared 16 of Indonesia’s largest cities in our five primary metrics. There were not many surprises as the award holders in local results largely mirrored national results, though we did spot some interesting trends. Telkomsel commanded our regional Download Speed Experience category by winning each award in every city in our analysis. Our users on Telkomsel's network in Pekanbaru recorded the highest individual Download Speed Experience score of this report: 14.9 Mbps.
In our Upload Speed Experience category, the majority of the regional awards also went to Telkomsel. We noticed XL improved its position in this metric by winning or drawing in four out of 16 Indonesian cities: it came top in Batam and Makassar, and it tied with Telkomsel in Bandar Lampung and with Indosat in Surabaya. The highest individual scores we recorded in the Upload Speed Experience were in Medan and Penkanbaru, both on Telkomsel’s network.
Our regional Latency and Video Experience award categories were also dominated by Telkomsel. It won our Latency Experience prize in every city. In our Video Experience category, it won in 15 out of Indonesia’s 16 largest cities, in every case earning a Good Rating (55-65 points on a scale of 100). Batam was the only exception, where XL won with a Fair Rating (40-55). That means the Video Experience was noticeably better for our urban users on Telkomsel's network.
In 4G Availability, Smartfren dominated our charts in each of the cities. Our users on Smartfren’s network connected to 4G services at least 96% of the time in almost every city, with the only exception being Bandar Lampung, where it tied with 3 for first place.
Select any region or city below to display individual breakdown
Collecting billions of individual measurements daily from over 100 million devices globally, Opensignal independently analyzes mobile user experience on every major network operator around the globe.
Opensignal is the mobile analytics company committed to improving mobile connectivity across the globe. We are the independent authority for understanding the true experience consumers receive on wireless networks.
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