‘Broadband download still not up to speed’
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s broadband speed is still lower than the median of developing countries although mobile usage in the country is among the highest compared to Asean and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
According to the World Bank report entitled “Malaysian Digital Economy: The New Development Drive”, at 18.6 megabytes per second (Mbps), the average local mobile broadband download speed was slightly lower than the median of the developing world.
The report said Chile was the only OECD country with lower mobile speed rate than Malaysia, and particularly among countries with almost similar income per capita, including Hungary, Turkey, Mexico and Poland.
“Among Asean countries, Singapore, Myanmar and Vietnam have faster mobile download rates, while other countries are close (with Malaysia),” it said.
For fixed bandwidth, the average download speed rate is at 26.9 Mbps, slightly higher than the intermediate.
The World Bank said only three OECD countries, namely Greece, Mexico and Turkey, had broadband speeds that were lower than Malaysia.
The World Bank said to remain competitive in the digital economy, Malaysia should focus on the shift towards fibre to further enhance high-speed broadband and 5G networks.
As of 2016, Malaysia recorded 141 mobile cellular subscriptions and 92 active mobile Internet subscriptions per 100 population, making it one with the highest connectivity among Asean and OECD countries.