Yes showcases advantages of 5G Advanced Network Slicing in a congested situation in KL

Following the launch of Yes 5G Advanced a couple of weeks back, YTL Communications had organised a road test last Friday to demonstrate the advantages of 5G SA (Standalone) and network slicing. The location? Bukit Bintang and KLCC which are the most congestion locations on Digital Nasional Berhad’s 5G network.

On Friday evening, it is tough to get anything beyond 100Mbps downloads from various telcos on the DNB network due to the sheer number of users at the popular tourist spots.

However, with 5G Advanced and Network Slicing enabled, Yes 5G was able to deliver higher speeds, lower latency and most importantly, uninterrupted streaming experience despite sharing the same 5G network with other 5 providers.

Yes 5G Advanced provides a special priority lane

According to Yes, Network Slicing essentially creates a VIP priority lane powered by advanced on-network AI capability to ensure Quality-of-Service-based prioritisation even when the 5G network is highly congested.

Starting from Starhill in Bukit Bintang, they demonstrated a live video stream via Microsoft Teams with two devices recording the traffic situation in front of Pavilion Kuala Lumpur with a Metronome on the foreground. One is connected to Yes 5G Advanced with network slicing enabled and another is connected on another 5G provider on 5G NSA (Non Standalone).

The result is pretty obvious with the Yes 5G Advanced device having the smoothest feed and having the the least delay. Meanwhile, the other device does show occasional stuttering in the feed and there’s also a noticeable delay by a couple of seconds.

When we hit the road, we did several speedtests and the Yes 5G Advanced device was able to deliver more than 100Mbps in downloads and lower latency of 20-21ms.

As a comparison, other telcos on 5G NSA were struggling to exceed 50Mbps along the busy stretch of Bukit Bintang to KLCC. Latency was also worse with ping hovering around 60-80ms.

The results show that Network Slicing makes it possible for users to get higher priority for download, upload and latency, despite being connected to the same congested 5G network. However, do note that Network Slicing isn’t available to Yes 5G consumers yet.

We were told that on-demand Network Slicing options for consumers is still in the works and it will be introduced soon. Imagine if there are on-demand Network Slicing add-on that provides a priority lane for gaming, downloads and live streaming.

Speedtest aside, what matters more is the actual user experience. To find out if 5G Advanced can truly deliver a smooth and uninterrupted user experience, we participated in a multi-way video call over Microsoft Teams from KLCC towards Bukit Bintang. Throughout the trip, all participants were able to stay on the video call with no disconnection or major drops in quality.

Mind you that this test was conducted on the same live DNB network which is shared with multiple telcos.

When we returned to Starhill, we even compared Yes 5G Advanced vs the standard Yes 5G NSA indoors. As shown above, there’s a huge gap in download and latency despite both SIMs coming from the same telco.

Again, this demonstrates the advantage of Yes 5G Advanced over the standard 5G offering.

5G SA uses 700MHz for wider coverage

With 5G SA, users can expect wider and deeper coverage compared to 5G NSA. In Malaysia, the 5G network uses both 700MHz and 3500MHz spectrum but 700MHz is typically used only for signalling on 5G NSA.

With 5G SA enabled, Yes is using 700MHz to carry data traffic which expands the 5G coverage beyond what 3500MHz can deliver. This would be a gamechanger especially for 5G wireless broadband in rural areas. The lower frequency band also offers better penetration which should result in better indoor coverage.

Since 5G SA runs purely on a 5G core, users can also expect longer battery life as the devices only connect to 5G for both voice and data. As a comparison, 5G NSA requires devices to connect to 5G for data and 4G for voice. That’s the reason the connectivity drops from 5G to 4G when there’s an incoming call for 5G NSA.

It is said that the battery life of smartphones while connected to 5G SA could be as close to staying connected to a 4G network.

Meanwhile, 5G Advanced makes the network more intelligent by integrating AI and Machine Learning to enhance network operations and improving efficiency. It also enables network slicing and enabling massive IoT with Reduced Capability (RedCap) devices. Ultimately, it enables more possibilities for critical use cases for enterprises and industries.

Things you need to know about Yes 5G Advanced

At the moment, Yes 5G Advanced is available in select areas in Kuala Lumpur and it aims to cover the entire Klang Valley by the end of October 2025. Eventually, it aims to enable it nationwide including East Malaysia by the end of 2025.

As announced during the launch earlier this month, Yes 5G is now 5G SA enabled nationwide on the DNB network. With 5G SA, users can experience “true” 5G as voice calls are carried over the 5G network and it doesn’t rely on 4G as an anchor.

You’ll know if you’re connected to Yes 5G Advanced on 5G SA if the network name is displayed as “Yes 5G Advanced”. If you’re still seeing Yes 5G or Yes, you are still connected to 5G NSA.

Yes 5G Advanced on 5G SA is currently offered to customers on Yes 5G Postpaid and Yes 5G Broadband plans. On top of that, you also need a compatible device and at the time of writing, there are only 17 devices that supports 5G Advanced on Yes 5G. This includes the Samsung Galaxy S25 series, and the Nothing Phone (3), (3a) and CMF Phone 2 Pro. More details will be supported via an OTA software update.

For now, the supported devices for Yes 5G Advanced is still very limited. We hope that the compatibility list will expand further and Yes 5G will enable the service for more customers including those on Yes Prepaid.

YTL Communications CEO Wing K Lee said, “Today’s real-world test is not about pure speed, else we wouldn’t have picked the most congested sites at the most congested time of the day for the drive test.”

He added, “The whole design purpose of Yes 5G Advanced Network Slicing is to ensure higher quality of service – even when the service is faltering on other conventional 5G SIMs. With this exciting new capability, consumers can certainly enjoy better mobile Internet experiences. But crucially, this enables 5G to be used as a dependable backbone for mission critical use — smart cities, IR 4.0, and the integration of AI and robotics across industrial sectors. Beyond raw speed, 5G Advanced is a critical foundation for an uncapped, inclusive and AIready society that Malaysians deserve.”

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