MCMC constantly improving broadband usage rate — Jailani

THE government through the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission ( MCMC) is constantly improving the communication infrastructure in efforts to increase the rate of broadband usage in the country.

Deputy Communication and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Jailani Johari said MCMC had succeeded in propelling household broadband penetration rate to 67.3 per cent from 55.6 per cent in 2010. He said among the initiatives that were implemented was expanding the high speed internet facility through the High Speed Broadband project (HSBB).

“Several extension efforts are being implemented to continue increasing the country’s broadband penetration rate, included phase two of HSBB, Suburban Broadband (SUBB) and setting up of telecommunication towers in the rural areas.

“All these are to ensure more people will get access to broadband services,” he said when replying to a question from Che Mohamad Zulkifly Jusoh ( BN- Setiu) on the country’s current broadband penetration.

Replying to another question from Che Mohamad Zulkifly on the MEASAT-3b satellite initiative, he said the satellite transmitters were expected to be launched by mid-May this year.

“This MEASAT-3b functions to provide capacity improvement, especially to broadcasting services in the Ku-band frequency band, to meet such needs for the market in Malaysia, Indonesia, India and Australia,” he said.

To meet the broadband service requirements, he said, MEASAT- 5, which was launched on Aug 10, 2005, was designed to provide highpowered satellite capacity for the information and commuication technology industry and to support the government’s strategic initiatives.

“MEASAT- 5, which can give 3GBps (Gigabytes per second) satellite broadband capacity across Malaysia, is used by local telecommunication operators to support the National Broadband Initiative ( NBI) and Universal Service Provider programme to enhance the wifi access in the remote areas,” he said.

He said among the projects under NBI are the contruction of telecommunication towers, IMalaysia Internet Centre, Small Community Broadband Centre, Broadband Library and Wireless Village. — Bernama