The government is prioritising internet coverage and not increasing the speed of local connections. This statement was made by Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak as a written response to a question in Parliament.
Pengkalan Chepa representative Dr Izani Husin had asked why Malaysia’s internet speeds were lagging behind some Asean countries, which lead to Salleh’s response on the government’s strategy for internet deployment. He also pointed out that Malaysia has the second fastest average internet speed in the Asean region – only coming in behind Singapore.
This strategy stands in contrast to other Asean nations which have put increasing highspeed broadband connections at the expense of expanding internet coverage. Despite this, Malaysian broadband speeds are not entirely horrible. The country is ranked at 73rd by Akamai’s State of the Internet report.
Highspeed broadband projects are, however, not being completely ignored. Salleh explained that priority for these projects is given to areas of high economic impact due to the substantial cost involved in deploying the infrastructure.
[Source: The Star Online]
