KKMM to make broadband internet affordable and with higher speed - Salleh
Bernama
Oktober 17, 2015 04:05 MYT
Oktober 17, 2015 04:05 MYT
The government wanted to ensure that by 2020 at least 95 per cent of Malaysians would have access to the Internet and that at least 50 per cent of the urban areas and 20 per cent of the rural areas had broadband speeds of 100 Mbps.
The Communications and Multimedia Ministry (KKMM) is looking into making broadband Internet affordable with a higher speed, said its minister Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak.
He said the entry-level package for fixed broadband offered by Telekom Malaysia (TM) starting at 386 kilobit per second (kbps) had been 71 per cent subscribed by Malaysians.
"Although higher speed packages are available, such as that offered by High Speed Broadband (HSBB), 87 percent of the subcribers opt for 5Mps (megabits per second) package, with hardly any takers for the higher speed packages of 30 and 50Mps," he said .
Salleh said once the infrastructure had been developed to cope with it, "we may consider changing the entry-level package to a higher speed without any substantial increase in cost to maintain affordability and at the same time offer a higher speed.
"My ministry is now looking into the details," he said in his blog sskeruak.blogspot.my here today. Salleh said the government was also working to upgrade Internet access for more people in the rural areas, including the interior regions and the islands of Sabah and Sarawak, and not just enjoyed by people in the urban areas.
"I have asked my ministry to put special emphasis and to focus on infrastructure development to expand the Internet penetration and coverage to all parts of Malaysia," he added.
Salleh said the government wanted to ensure that by 2020 at least 95 per cent of Malaysians would have access to the Internet and that at least 50 per cent of the urban areas and 20 per cent of the rural areas had broadband speeds of 100 Megabits per second (Mbps).