KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 20): A survey of 14 million consumers in Malaysia found that five million users already own a 5G-ready device but have yet to sign up for 5G, while nearly 16% of participants plan to upgrade over the next six months, driven by 5G's 11% higher satisfaction rating compared to 4G.

The report also shows that 5G consumers in Malaysia would like differentiated connectivity offers like more data allowances, and want app bundles with more innovative services, plans with guaranteed speeds and elevated performance.

Head of Ericsson Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh David Hägerbro said: “Malaysia already has a world-class 5G network and top-ranked consumer experience.

“The study shows that app experience is emerging as a key factor in driving satisfaction with 5G. This is now the time for collaboration and innovation to drive both adoption and boost overall satisfaction with 5G.”

According to the survey, 5G is elevating overall consumer satisfaction by 11% compared to 4G in Malaysia driven primarily by higher network speeds.

As 5G uptake in many parts of the world bridges the milestone from early adopters to mass adoption, a new report from Ericsson — called 5G Value: Turning Performance into Value — highlights the business case potential for operators as a growing number of subscribers around the world express increased satisfaction with 5G.

The research also shows that the factors influencing consumer satisfaction are themselves changing — moving primarily from 5G geographical coverage considerations to more application experience-based metrics such as video streaming quality, mobile gaming/video calling experience, and 5G speed consistency — especially among early 5G adopters.

More than 49,000 consumers in 37 countries were interviewed in the research — the industry's most comprehensive series of global 5G-related consumer surveys to date.

The survey scope is representative of the opinions of about 1.7 billion consumers worldwide, including 430 million 5G subscribers.