Malaysia has managed to place itself at the fourth spot on the Affordable Internet Index 2015, said Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak.
In his latest blog post today, Salleh said the spot, which was categorised under the emerging and developing countries section, had put Malaysia ahead of countries like Thailand (13th position), Vietnam (22nd), China (23rd), Pakistan (25th), Indonesia (27th), the Philippines (29th) and India (30th). Costa Rica, Columbia and Turkey are the three countries ahead of Malaysia.
Salleh also highlighted that Malaysia was ranked fifth under the communications infrastructure sub-index category with Colombia, Peru, Brazil, and Turkey ahead of Malaysia.
The index was an in-depth annual research released by the international-based Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI), aimed at understanding the efforts made by the governments in making Internet access more affordable, accessible and universal.
According to A4AI's official website, the index covered 51 developing and emerging countries, and there were also 30 detailed policy recommendations for the stakeholders, including the governments and business-players to improve their rank under the index.
Meanwhile, Salleh said, Malaysia was noted as the global leader in instant messaging use, where 77 per cent of Malaysians has been using it daily, followed closely by Singaporeans (76 per cent) and Thais (74 per cent).
In his blog, Salleh had quoted Frost & Sullivan Asia-Pacific (Apac) industry principal for Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Naveen Mishra, as saying that Malaysia led the world in the use of instant messaging because the smart-phone penetration had grown significantly over the past few years.
"In 2014, smart-phone penetration reached 51.6 per cent from 38 per cent in 2013. More than 21 million people use smart-phones and strong competition in the market has made affordable Internet available.
"Malaysians are quite technology-savvy and people across all age-groups adapt to instant messaging applications quickly," Naveen was quoted as saying.
In his latest blog post today, Salleh said the spot, which was categorised under the emerging and developing countries section, had put Malaysia ahead of countries like Thailand (13th position), Vietnam (22nd), China (23rd), Pakistan (25th), Indonesia (27th), the Philippines (29th) and India (30th). Costa Rica, Columbia and Turkey are the three countries ahead of Malaysia.
Salleh also highlighted that Malaysia was ranked fifth under the communications infrastructure sub-index category with Colombia, Peru, Brazil, and Turkey ahead of Malaysia.
The index was an in-depth annual research released by the international-based Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI), aimed at understanding the efforts made by the governments in making Internet access more affordable, accessible and universal.
According to A4AI's official website, the index covered 51 developing and emerging countries, and there were also 30 detailed policy recommendations for the stakeholders, including the governments and business-players to improve their rank under the index.
Meanwhile, Salleh said, Malaysia was noted as the global leader in instant messaging use, where 77 per cent of Malaysians has been using it daily, followed closely by Singaporeans (76 per cent) and Thais (74 per cent).
In his blog, Salleh had quoted Frost & Sullivan Asia-Pacific (Apac) industry principal for Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Naveen Mishra, as saying that Malaysia led the world in the use of instant messaging because the smart-phone penetration had grown significantly over the past few years.
"In 2014, smart-phone penetration reached 51.6 per cent from 38 per cent in 2013. More than 21 million people use smart-phones and strong competition in the market has made affordable Internet available.
"Malaysians are quite technology-savvy and people across all age-groups adapt to instant messaging applications quickly," Naveen was quoted as saying.
