Vietnam's mobile Internet speed down nine places in September: report

The Speedtest Global Index, which ranks mobile and fixed broadband speeds on a monthly basis, revealed that Vietnam's mobile Internet had a median download speed at 44.13 Mbps and an upload speed at 17.79 Mbps last month.

Compared to a median download speed at 47.08 Mbps and an upload speed at 17.79 Mbps in August, Vietnam's mobile Internet speed has fallen from rank 49 to 58.

Ookla's Speedtest Intelligence revealed that in the third quarter, among the major mobile providers in Vietnam, Vinaphone had the fastest median download speed at 54.74 Mbps, followed by Viettel at 48.92 Mbps and Mobifone at 36.45 Mbps.

An Ookla representative said the ranking decline had to do with the speed reduction of a mobile virtual network operator named Reddi. "The main driver of decline in performance was Reddi, which saw median download speeds fall from 52.27 Mbps in August, to 43.28 Mbps in September. Its competitors in the market largely maintained their performance at the same level," the representative said.

"What also contributed to the decline in Vietnam’s Speedtest Global Index ranking was the fact that other markets with similar levels of performance to Vietnam overtook it, including Kosovo, Montenegro and Albania," they added.

Reddi, which has renamed itself as Wintel, has yet to provide a comment on the matter.

Vietnam's fixed broadband Internet speed remains at rank 46 last month, with a slight increase in median download speed from 93.11 to 94.45 Mbps from August to September, and an increase in median upload speed from 93.4 to 94.03 Mbps.

In the third quarter, Viettel was Vietnam's fastest fixed broadband provider with a median download speed at 109.77 Mbps, followed by FPT Telecom at 90.32 Mbps and Vinaphone at 82.48 Mbps.

Vietnam has five undersea cables, but two of them are currently malfunctioning. In August, an Internet service provider in Vietnam said the Asia Pacific Gateway cable has encountered issues on two sections.

In September, the unit responsible for operating and managing the AAE-1 undersea cable said an issue occurred with a cable section connecting Vietnam with Singapore.