I was extremely surprised to note that 70 percent of the respondents in malaysiakini's survey were willing to pay for a subscription-based service ('Almost half of 'malaysiakini' readers are over-40: survey', Nov 2). This include me.

This clearly shows that audience which malaysiakini has attracted is mature enough to know that for a service like malaysiakini to survive, it needs regular subscription in addition to advertising revenue.

If malaysiakini's estimate of 120,000 daily readership is correct - and assuming that 25 percent are primary readers - based on a monthly fee of RM10, the website would be able to obtain a monthly subscription revenue of about RM210,000. I do not think that this amount would be sufficient to cover all operating overheads in full on a sustainable basis.

Clearly, the key to malaysiakini's longevity lies in expanding its readership base - a task no doubt made difficult in the environment it operates. In addition, if the size of its audience gets to an opinion-forming level, the website will face new challenges.

Nevertheless, this is a step in the right direction and I wish malaysiakini all the best, as do most of the 120,000 daily visitors.