Investigating the Gaming Experience in Indonesia

Gaming is a fast-growing industry in Indonesia with millions of daily players. However, latency, a key metric for a high-quality gaming experience, is not equal across the country. And while most games are played on mobile devices, the fixed broadband networks that support console and PC games often show a much lower latency in many areas. Today we’re examining latency on both fixed broadband and mobile at the country, province and city level in Indonesia to see where players are most likely to have smooth gameplay with less lag.

Latency (or ping) is the reaction time of a connection and it is measured in milliseconds. For the best gaming experience, users should expect their latency to be 59 ms or less. Latency when gaming can vary, depending on the servers connected to, and connecting to a server within a gamer’s own region is preferred. Speedtest tests to the closest, lowest-latency server — often within the same population center as the user.

Telkom and Smartfren offered lowest latency in Q1 2020

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During Q1 2020, Indonesia’s mean latency on fixed broadband was 20 ms. On mobile, mean latency was 42 ms. At the country level, fixed broadband providers in Indonesia showed a range of latency between 16 ms and 35 ms during Q1 2020. Telkom had the lowest latency on fixed broadband at 16 ms. MyRepublic followed closely with 17 ms. Biznet and First Media had the highest latency at 24 ms and 35 ms, respectively.
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Only one mobile provider in Indonesia showed a latency less than 30 ms during Q1 2020 — Smartfren with a latency of 16 ms. Mean latency on Telkomsel, 3, IM3 Ooredoo and XL ranged between 36 ms and 46 ms during this period.
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Internet performance stayed consistent during the pandemic

Internet speed also matters when gaming. We’ve been using data from Speedtest Intelligence® to track internet speeds at a global level during the pandemic, and Indonesia’s mobile and fixed broadband speeds have largely been consistent with pre-pandemic performance.
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The volume of users taking a Speedtest increased dramatically on both fixed and mobile between the weeks of March 9 and April 13, 2020 as people adjusted to new internet usage patterns during the pandemic. Test volume started decreasing after the week of April 13.
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Bandung had lowest latency on fixed broadband, Bekasi on mobile

Looking at fixed and mobile latency in the five largest cities in Indonesia during Q1 2020, we found slight variation in fixed broadband latency and a wider spread on mobile.
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Bandung, a city in West Java, showed the lowest fixed broadband latency of the group at 15 ms during Q1 2020. Surabaya and Bekasi had the highest latency at 22 ms. The biggest improvement on fixed broadband latency was seen in Medan, which showed a decrease in fixed broadband latency from 32 ms in Q1 2019 to 20 ms in Q1 2020.

The city of Bekasi, located west of Jakarta, had the lowest mobile latency at 32 ms during Q1 2020, followed closely by Bandung.

We saw significant improvements on mobile latency in all five cities when comparing Q1 2019 to Q1 2020. Most notably, mobile latency in Medan improved from 72 ms in Q1 2019 to 51 ms in Q1 2020.

East and Central Kalimantan had lowest fixed broadband latency

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An analysis of latency on fixed broadband in Indonesia’s 34 provinces during Q1 2020 revealed that all provinces had mean latencies within the acceptable range for online gaming. Latency on fixed broadband ranged from 16 ms in East Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan to 38 ms in Gorontalo.

Banten had lowest mobile latency during Q1 2020

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Mean latency on mobile showed a much wider range among Indonesia’s provinces in Q1 2020 than we saw on fixed broadband. Mobile latency during this period ranged from a low of 33 ms in Banten to a high of 116 ms in North Maluku.

Internet performance looks to be strong and improving in many parts of Indonesia, which is essential to a good gaming experience. We look forward to seeing if the lagging provinces catch up in the near future. To learn more about how other Asian countries’ internet performance compares to Indonesia, visit the Speedtest Global IndexTM.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article/press release are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the approved policy or position of the GSMA or its subsidiaries.

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