Bringing tech to the next level
Esports, e-hailing service licences and a digital tax – the government is focusing on all these and more to realise its vision for a connected Malaysia.
THE technology field in Malaysia has seen a significant number of changes since the Pakatan Harapan government took over following the 14th General Election.
Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman has pledged to inculcate a professional eSports culture, and Malaysians can expect to see a national eSports team represent the country at the 2019 SEA Games in the Philippines.
Currently, the Malaysia eSports Selection 2019 is underway for gamers to compete in six games that will be featured at the event. The titles include Tekken 7, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and Dota 2.
Syed Saddiq has also said that an eSports stadium is in the works and during the tabling of Budget 2019, the government announced that RM10mil would be allocated to the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation to develop eSports.
The announcement received the support of gaming hardware manufacturer Razer.
Its chief executive officer Min-Liang Tan reached out to Syed Saddiq on Twitter, declaring that the company would also invest RM10mil to spur eSports development in the country.
While Malaysians will be cheering for the eSports team at the SEA Games, they dread the impending digital tax that is expected to be implemented on Jan 1, 2020.
During the tabling of Budget 2019, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng announced that a 6% digital tax would be imposed on foreign service providers, namely streaming services Netflix and Spotify, and digital game distributor Steam.
The move is meant to create an equal playing field between local and foreign digital service providers, but consumers fear that the cost will trickle down to them at a time of economic uncertainty and rising cost.
Though digital services may be getting a price bump, the good news is that Malaysians are enjoying faster Internet for less since Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo enforced the Mandatory Standard On Access Pricing.
Implemented in June last year, service providers were required to submit new pricing plans for fixed home broadband packages. As a result, customers saw price reductions of up to 56%.
For instance, Celcom reduced the monthly charges of its 40Mbps plan from RM180 to RM80, Time introduced a new 1Gbps plan for only RM199 a month, Maxis lowered the price of its 30Mbps plan from RM139 to RM89, and Telekom Malaysia (TM) promoted a 30Mbps plan with 60GB quota for just RM79 a month.
Existing customers were not left out – TM upgraded the speed of its subscribers by up to 10 times while Time, Maxis and Astro customers saw a reduction in price or increase in speed, and in some cases both.
However, not all customers were happy as some were unable to enjoy the higher speeds due to lack of proper infrastructure. This meant they had to continue paying higher prices for slower speeds, as they were still bound to their service contracts.
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission also had to ramp up the enforcement of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 by issuing compounds to various telcos.
In a statement, it said it had issued 63 compounds totalling RM2.32mil for offences such as not complying with the Mandatory Standard of Quality of Service in Network and Customer Services, fake registrations and removing of promotional materials belonging to rivals.
The amount accounts for compounds issued only until February this year – in comparison, the telcos were issued 77 compounds amounting to RM3mil for the entirety of last year.
The Pakatan government is also accelerating the development of 5G with the recent inaugural 5G Malaysia Showcase in Putrajaya.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was driven in a driverless car to the show, said Malaysians can expect to leverage on 5G technology within the next three years.
Meanwhile, Transport Minister Anthony Loke announced that drivers of e-hailing services like Grab, Mula and EzCab will be required to apply for a Public Service Vehicle (PSV) licence by July 12.
Drivers are also required to attend a six-hour course at designated driving institutions before getting the PSV licence, and those with cars that are more than three years old are required to get them inspected at Puspakom at least once a year.
Loke explained that the move was meant to create a level playing field between taxi and e-hailing drivers in Malaysia.
“We don’t want this whole industry to be continuously in dispute with traditional taxi drivers,” he added.
But e-hailing drivers, especially part-timers, see the move as costly in terms of time and money.
Many have said they may quit once the ruling goes into effect, though e-hailing companies are trying to lessen the impact.