Expanding internet access commendable move

Malaysian Internet Exchange (MyIX) or also known as Persatuan Pengendali Internet Malaysia’, Chairman, Chiew Kok Hin comments on Budget 2014.

Second phase of HSBB

MyIX feels that the amount the Government has decided to invest corresponds with what is required at this point of time. Expanding coverage is not an easy task and proper planning is required to maximise the benefits.

Increase in broadband speed

The speed announced for the suburban and rural areas are sufficient especially where the exposure to the Internet is new and will take time to see increase in usage. However, 10mbps for the urban areas is rather low as the internet consumption of our urban population is closer to a developed country whereby the minimum offering of 50mbps is common and 10mbps is no longer sufficient to meet the demands of the urbanites.

Underwater cables for Sabah and Sarawak

The plan for underwater cables for Sabah and Sarawak are seen as strategic direction for Malaysia and is commendable as this will help position Malaysia as a regional gateway to the world. In layman terms, it is like building a highway across the South China Sea to facilitate the increasing demand from East Malaysia

Additional 1,000 telecommunication transmission towers

We anticipate that with more towers being setup, the implementation of wireless broadband I.e. LTE, 3G can be rolled out even faster and this is a welcome move for both consumers and enterprises.

Chiew Kok Hin
Chairman, Malaysian Internet Exchange

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Astro AWANI.