Household internet access up at 85.7% … but what about speed and telecommunication charges?

Pix for representational purpose only. — Reuters

Malaysia ranks 63rd in global internet speed, Singapore has world’s fastest

Posted on 13 August 2017 - 08:55am

Last updated on 13 August 2017 - 01:23pm

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia ranks 63rd in the latest survey on global internet speed among 189 countries surveyed. Singapore has the world's fastest download speed of 55.13Mbps while Malaysia pales in comparison with 6.69Mbps. It will take two hours, 33 minutes and three seconds to download a 7.5GB HD movie in Malaysia while a download of similar takes only 18 minutes and 34 seconds in Singapore. The findings are based on data collected over 12 months up to 10 May this year by M-Lab, a partnership between New America's Open Technology Institute, Google Open Source Research, Princeton University's PlanetLab, and other supporting partners, and compiled by Cable.co.uk.

Malaysia's internet speed lags two Southeast Asia countries — Singapore (No. 1) and Thailand (No. 29 at 16.85Mbps). The mean download speed in Thailand is 16.85Mbps and the time to download a 7.5GB HD movie there is one hour and 46 seconds.

However, Malaysia's internet speed is faster than in Indonesia (No. 75 at 5.19Mbps), Brunei (No. 86 at 3.83 Mbps), the Philippines (No. 87 at 3.69Mbps), Cambodia (No. 98 at 3.1Mbps), and Myanmar (No. 118 at 2.09Mbps) … for more, go to http://www.thesundaily.my/news/2017/08/13/malaysia-ranks-63rd-global-internet-speed-singapore-has-world%E2%80%99s-fastest

Household internet access up at 85.7% … but what about speed and telecommunication charges?

Internet access by households has increased by 15.6 percentage points to 85.7% in 2017 compared with 70.1% in 2015, according to the Statistics Department.

That’s a credible wide coverage. Well and good!

“But what about the internet speed and telecommunication charges?” Gerakan Deputy Speaker Syed Abdul Razak Alsagoff asked.

“According to the latest internet speed survey by M-Lab, Malaysia ranks 63rd among 189 countries. Is that acceptable or anything to be proud with?” he asked.

Syed Razak urged the federal government to push the telecommunication companies in Malaysia to “speed up internet access” and “bring down the internet access charges”.

“As we push to realise Malaysia as a developed nation, our country’s internet speed must be among the Top 20,” he added.
 

Analysis of major players in malaysian telecommunication industry
Published: 23rd March, 2015
… Price
All telecommunication players provide same services with slight differences in prices that does not exceed ceiling price determined by Ministry Of Communication Malaysia. Maxis, Digi and Celcom, the 3 major players in Malaysia, creatively market the same services with different packaging. Pricing becomes the critical buying decision factor for industry that provides identical products. Fixed line phone services are relatively cheaper comparing to mobile services but mobile services subscribers increase faster than fixed lines because of flexibility and mobility that mobile services can offer and fixed line could not. However telecommunication charges in Malaysia is still expensive comparing to other ASEAN countries. Malaysian telecommunication industry is in healthy stage and providers have relatively higher margin to survive despite the saturation of market penetration … for more, go to https://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/analysis-of-major-players-in-malaysian-telecommunication-industry-marketing-essay.php

Syed Razak, who is Gerakan’s nominee to contest N.37 Bukit Lanjan in the coming 14th General Election (GE14), said telecommunication charges were still expensive compared with other ASEAN countries.

“Testimony of this fact are the ‘insane’ multi-million-ringgit annual profits reported by the companies.

“According to a UKessays report, the Malaysian telecommunication industry is in a healthy stage with providers having a relatively higher margin to survive …

“Now, that’s the catch words … ‘a relatively higher margin to survive’. This means the charges can be lowered and the federal government must look into it immediately,” he added.

Here’s what was reported by national news agency Bernama as posted by The Star Online:

"Households with internet access increase to 85.7% in 2017

ECONOMY
Monday, 19 Mar 2018
4:09 PM MYT
 

KUALA LUMPUR: Households having access to the Internet have increased by 15.6 percentage points to 85.7% in 2017 as compared to 70.1% in 2015.

In a statement here today, the Statistics Department said, households with computer and mobile phone access rose to 74.1% and 98.1% respectively compared to 67.6% and 97.9% in 2015.

Chief Statistician Malaysia, Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin, said individuals using Internet aged 15 years and above in Malaysia rose by nine percentage points to 80.1% in 2017 from 71.1% in 2015.

“Among the popular Internet activities carried out by the Internet users were participating in social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and others (86.3%); downloading images, films, video or music; playing or downloading games (81.2%); getting information about goods and services (80.4%); and, downloading software or applications (74.5%).

“Other activities carried out by Internet users were Internet banking (37.6%), and purchasing or ordering goods or services (23.2%),” he said.

The percentage of individuals using computer also increased to 69.8% in 2017 from 68.7% in 2015, while the percentage of individuals using mobile phone rose by 0.2 percentage point in 2017 to 97.7% from 97.5% in 2015. - Bernama"

N.37 LET BUKIT LANJAN SOAR WITH SYED ABDUL RAZAK ALSAGOFF