Each year, nPerf publishes its independent Mobile Internet Barometer for Laos, offering a data-driven view of how the country’s mobile networks are performing. The latest edition, covering April 2024 to March 2025, is now available — and it offers valuable insights for consumers, telecom professionals, and policymakers alike.
Lao Telecom Leads the Market
With an overall score of 54,809 nPoints, Lao Telecom ranks as the top-performing mobile operator in Laos in 2025. Its performance is particularly strong in areas that directly impact user experience:
- Latency: 40.32 milliseconds, the lowest among all operators
- Web browsing success rate: 54.27 percent
- YouTube streaming performance: 71.29 percent
While Lao Telecom does not offer the fastest download or upload speeds, its network delivers the most consistent and fluid experience for real-world use cases — including web navigation, video streaming, and online communications.
Unitel: Strong Speeds, Higher Latency
With a score of 49,777 nPoints, Unitel takes second place. It outperforms competitors in terms of raw speed:
- Download speed: 28.81 Mbps (best)
- Upload speed: 10.97 Mbps (best)
These speeds make Unitel well-suited for data-heavy activities such as downloading large files, remote work, and cloud-based collaboration. However, its latency of 83.22 ms is significantly higher than its peers, which can impact video calls, gaming, and other latency-sensitive tasks.
Tplus: Consistent Progress
Tplus, in third place with 48,743 nPoints, shows the most significant year-over-year progress, improving its score by 21.9 percent. It performs especially well in upload speeds (10.39 Mbps) and offers a balanced experience across all metrics. While still trailing Lao Telecom and Unitel, Tplus is clearly gaining ground, indicating increased investment and growing competitiveness.
Understanding the nPerf Score
nPerf’s methodology is designed to reflect real-world user experience. The score aggregates multiple indicators:
- Download speed
- Upload speed
- Latency
- Browsing experience
- Streaming quality
These metrics are weighted and calculated on a logarithmic scale to better match how users perceive service quality. The result is a comprehensive view of how each operator performs in daily usage scenarios.
What It Means for Users
This year’s report shows a healthy and increasingly competitive mobile market in Laos:
- Lao Telecom remains the go-to choice for overall quality and responsiveness.
- Unitel is the preferred option for those who prioritize speed.
- Tplus is a rising player worth watching, especially for users seeking alternatives.
As mobile internet continues to evolve and 5G slowly enters the picture, these benchmarks will become even more important in shaping consumer choice and national digital strategies.
Final Thoughts
The gap between operators is narrowing, and performance continues to improve across the board. For users in Laos, this competition is translating into better service, more options, and faster, more reliable mobile connectivity.
For those tracking the evolution of Laos’ digital landscape, the nPerf barometer remains one of the most useful tools available to assess how far we’ve come — and where we’re heading next.