The state of 4G in Southeast Asia

GSMA predicts that by the end of 2017, there will be close to 500 live LTE networks across 128 countries worldwide. Right now, territories in Asia such as Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong are among the places with the fastest 4G speed in the world.

While South Korea is talking about 5G, Huawei is prepping for 5G devices, and China Mobile just flipped the switched to the country’s first 4G network, some countries still only have 2G available.

That’s certainly true of Southeast Asia, a region consisting of 11 countries with a combined population of 610 million. Here’s a quick rundown of the state of 4G in each country, alphabetically.

Brunei

The country with a total population of less than half a million does have 4G available in the country. The service is being offered by one of the two leading telcos, DST. There’s no word yet on when the other competitor B-Mobile will offer 4G to its subscribers.

Since 4G is available in Brunei for about a month only, there’s no data available on how many people have ported from 3G to 4G yet, but it’s known that 4G has been long anticipated and welcomed in the country.

Available since: 11 November 2013

Cambodia

Telcos Emaxx and Xinwei Technologies received their licenses from Cambodia’s Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPTC) back in August 2011. Purewave, a company that Emaxx selected to work on the 4G infrastructure has claimed that there would be a total of 25 cities with 4G by the end of 2012. However, there’s no confirmation on that number yet. But according to Emaxx’s page, it does offer 4G service.

Available since: N/A

East Timor

No data available.

Indonesia

Two Indonesian telcos Telkomsel and XL Axiata have made a successful trial run of its 4G connection during APEC Summit in October in Bali. The trial was held in specific APEC Summit-related places like Ngurah Rai airport, Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center, Bali International Convention Center, Hotel Sofitel, some toll roads in Bali, and other surrounding areas.

For people in Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi areas, there is an alternative to getting 4G connection. It comes in the form of a device called Bolt. Built by Internux, an internet service provider (ISP), Bolt works similar to a wifi hotspot/power bank. It’s a portable 4G device that allows users to make the phones connect to the 4G service.

Indosat also received an approval from Indonesia’s minister of communications and information technology to introduce a 4G network to its subscribers back in September of last year. The company is working on the infrastructure right now, so it’s safe to assume that 4G will be widely available in the country soon.

Available since: 15 November 2013

Laos

Malaysia

Myanmar

Philippines

Singapore

Thailand

Vietnam