Cheap-cheap Internet – Malaysia No 4, says minister

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Malaysia is ranked fourth on the Affordable Internet Index under the emerging and developing countries category, Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak highlighted in his blog today.

He said Costa Rica, Columbia and Turkey are the countries ahead of Malaysia on the index.

Thailand ranked 13, Vietnam 22, China 23, Pakistan 25, Indonesia 27, Philippines 29 and India 30.

In addition, he said Malaysia ranks fifth in the communications sub-index category behind Columbia, Peru, Brazil and Turkey.

According to the website, the index measures the extent of a country’s internet infrastructure development and the extent of broadband penetration.

It says the index does not directly measure prices and affordability in each country, but stresses that high index scores lead to cheaper internet.

“Our regression analysis proves that there is a strong, statistically significant causal relationship between index scores and broadband prices.

“Strong scores on the Index indicate better levels of affordability and great potential for prices to fall further in the future,” it said.

Salleh was previously caught in a tiff with DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang, when the latter accused him of being more interested in being Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s chief propagandist than improving internet speeds in the country.

Salleh rebutted that higher internet speeds are already available but claimed Malaysians tend to choose cheaper but slower internet packages instead.

His comment drew brickbats including from the National ICT Association of Malaysia (Pikom) chairperson Cheah Kok Hoon who said the country needed to buck up on its Internet infrastructure.

Salleh subsequently ordered his ministry of find ways to improve internet speed while maintaining affordability.

Instant messaging a hit

In his posting today, Salleh also said Malaysians are a leading user of instant messaging services, quoting figures from the consultancy firm of Frost & Sullivan.

He said 77 percent of Malaysians use instant messaging services every day followed by Singapore (76 percent) and Thailand (74 percent).

This is because smartphone penetration amongst Malaysians which has grown significantly.

“In 2014, smartphone penetration reached 51.6 percent from 38 percent in 2013. More than 21 million people use smartphones and strong competition in the market has made affordable Internet available.

“Malaysians are quite technology-savvy and people across all age groups adapt to instant messaging applications quickly,” Salleh quoted Frost & Sullivan's Asia-Pacific industry principal for ICT Naveen Mishra as saying.



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