The government is developing a plan to invest and further improve the country’s digital infrastructure to ensure greater availability of broadband services by promoting competition.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), in a statement issued tonight, said it focused on digital infrastructure improvement and right-of-way issues that would continue to be discussed with the state governments and local authorities.

“Addressing these issues effectively will help in reducing the cost of infrastructure implementation and enabling wider coverage for high-speed broadband.

“The availability of digital infrastructure is a key factor in bringing about economic benefits and equitable growth that can be enjoyed by all states and not just a few selected areas within the country,” said MCMC.

Other measures to consider would include liberalising activities in the key strategic areas that lack competition, as well as using all existing regulatory tools within its purview to ensure the availability of world-class infrastructure in Malaysia, it said.

“Studies are underway to ensure optimum spectrum usage and 5G planning in 2019," it said.

It also said that government policy was critical in ensuring that Malaysians to enjoy the benefits of the efforts implemented, whether to improve the digital infrastructure or to reduce the cost of implementation and prices to consumers.

Citing the report of the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI), it said the government’s active policies, as well as a transparent regulator had resulted in Malaysia being placed first out of 61 countries.

“The ranking takes into account of government policies that support the expansion of public access, digital infrastructure and the use of smartphones,” said MCMC.

The statement also clarified on the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA) 1998, effective April 1999, has four key areas of regulatory frameworks, namely economic, technical, social and consumer protection aimed at developing the communications and multimedia industry.

When the public-private partnership agreement was signed between the government and Telekom Malaysia (TM) to develop high-speed broadband networks in 2008, the implementation of three wholesale services in the Access List, namely, Full Access service, Line Sharing service and Sub-Loop service had been postponed for seven years.

- Bernama