Surf’s up, price down

Fixed broadband rates in Malaysia among cheapest in region: E-commerce firm

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia is moving in the right direction in offering affordable fixedbroadband connectivity. Its average fixedbroadband speed has tripled while the service is now 40% cheaper than a year ago.

A broadband user in Malaysia needs to spend around RM84 monthly to surf the net at 30Mbps while it costs RM120 a month to use the service at 100Mbps, which is the speed offered most frequently in most countries.

This places Malaysia as one of the cheapest countries to surf the internet. This competitive pricing ranks it at 34th, ahead of Asian countries such as the Philippines and Indonesia, according to Picodi.com.

This e-commerce company, that owns a chain of internet products, has compiled data on unlimited residential broadband plans among 233 of the biggest fibre internet providers in 62 countries.

Computer programmer Mak Kwan Wuey said internet connectivity in the country has improved a lot and we are getting good speed and connectivity.

“Since I am a programmer by trade, I rely on stable connections to get my work done, especially to deploy applications to the internet,” he said.

“The current plans are affordable, (for) the speeds offered.”

Mak added that higher speed is needed due to the rise in streaming media. Full highdefinition movies can be streamed at 30Mbps while 1Gbps is good enough for 4K streams, he said.

The study by Picodi.com found that Thailand has the most affordable 100Mbps fixed-broadband rate among Asean countries, at RM83.80. Providers in the Philippines charge

RM233 while those in Indonesia price their 100Mbps plans at RM185.

However, broadband users in Malaysia pay a heftier price for 1Gbps, which averages around RM198 a month. Comparatively, it costs only RM37.28 in Romania for the 1Gbps plan.

The 1Gbps internet is a high-cost luxury, as in 24 out of 44 countries where providers offer such speed, the monthly price exceeds RM207.

Super-fast internet is the most expensive in Austria and Australia, at RM911 and RM957 respectively.

Countries such as Singapore,

France, Poland and Romania do not offer such low-speed internet.

In Singapore, the lowest plan available is at 500Mbps and it comes at a very competitive price

of RM91 per month.

Meanwhile, World Bank lead economist for Malaysia

Dr Richard Record has been reported as saying a study by the international financial institution found that broadband prices in Malaysia have fallen by 44% in a year.

He said major providers are becoming more pro-competition after a regulatory reform took place under the Mandatory Standard on Access Pricing.

Record lauded the move by Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) to enter the broadband market.

“It is exciting because TNB has started laying fibre cables across all their power cables to monitor their system. But the reality is, it is a huge resource for the country and the economy.”