Telekom Malaysia (TM) will review broadband rates from time to time to keep the Internet service cheap to enable more people to subscribe to the service, says chairman Dr Halim Shafie.

He said TM was giving this commitment in tandem with the government’s goal to ensure Internet penetration in the country, especially in rural areas, is increased to 75 percent by the end of 2015.

TM however has no plans to reduce the broadband subscription rate in the near future owing to service cost and the service provided by other companies in the market place was still at competitive level, he said.

NONE “Actually, Telekom Malaysia’s Streamyx broadband service is cheap. There is a package for only RM38 a month. The people can subscribe to this affordable rate with a speed of 384 kilobits per second,” he told reporters after the launch of TM’s smart school adoption programme by Kedah Education Director Shahidan Abdul Rahman at Sekolah Kebangsaan Tembak in Kuala Ketil in Kedah.

Halim said the people can subscribe to a faster broadband service by paying a bit more or sign up for the High Speed Broadband (HSBB) at RM149 a month.

“RM149 a month is still reasonable. People always compare our rate with that of Singapore. Our cost is different because we have to put in place various infrastructures, this incurs high cost, particularly in rural and interior areas,” he said.

Halim said Telekom Malaysia was stepping up efforts to increase the Internet penetration rate among households in interior areas by providing attractive packages like TM Broadband Package with the 1Malaysia computer.

TM will also upgrade the HSBB service by linking UniFi service to 22 telecommunication exchange by year-end, he said.

He also said HSBB service will be expanded to industrial and housing estates in Penang, Johor, Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Selangor.

The industrial areas include Kulim Hi-Tech Park in Kedah, Bayan Baru in Penang and Johor Baharu while the residential areas are Wangsa Maju, Sungai Buloh, Melawati, Kepong, Cyberjaya, Putrajaya and Damansara.

HSBB to provide 10Mbps service

HSBB promises faster service at 10Mbps (megabits per second) as compared to 4Mbps for Streamyx, he said.

Halim said TM was preparing to facilitate more people to enjoy HSBB service by expanding coverage areas to outside Klang Valley.

TM proposes to have 750,000 HSBB lines nationwide by year-end, he said.

NONE “The target is achievable as TM has provided over 450,000 HSBB lines nationwide so far. Under the HSBB project, TM will fork out RM11.3 billion, while the government will come up with RM8.9 billion,” he said.

On the smart school adoption programme, Halim said the programme was to boost awareness on academic achievements and acquire information technology skills among rural students in the country.

This year, apart from SK Tembak, TM has picked three other schools - SK Teriang (Negeri Sembilan), Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Pakan in Sarikei (Sarawak) and SMK Agama Repah (Negeri Sembilan) - for the programme.

The schools will receive computers, broadband service and training worth RM200,000 spread out over three years.

Present were TM CEO Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa and TM Kedah/Perlis general manager Pauziah Taib.

- Bernama