Malaysia's subscribers still appear to prefer lower speed broadband packages despite many high speed broadband packages available currently, said Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).

It said based on the subscriber demographics as at August this year for the main fixed broadband service provider, 71 percent of Streamyx customers subscribed to broadband packages at speeds of 1Mbps or less.

"There could be many reasons for this, and it is not necessarily an indication that Malaysians prefer slow broadband.

"The lack of compelling content and online applications may be a contributing factor," MCMC said in a statement Thursday.

MCMC said it was therefore equally important to ensure the widespread availability of digital services in various areas such as education, health and online payment platforms to drive demand for high speed broadband.

It said with more demand, service providers would have commercial reasons to improve their infrastructure and lower their prices.

MCMC said service offerings in the fixed broadband market are diverse and consumers have a wide range of services to choose from.

"Packages range from 384 kbps up to 100 Mbps with prices starting from RM38. With more demand for data services, prices for broadband are expected to reduce over time," it said.

MCMC said it also undertaking measures with the cooperation of industry to make high speed broadband more affordable.

According to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), it said broadband could be considered affordable when the price was at or below five percent of the average monthly income.

MCMC said Malaysia's fixed broadband price as a percentage of Gross National Income is at 2.42 percent as at 2014 (3.1 percent in 2013) as indicated in ITU's report.

It said focus would be placed on ensuring that Malaysians have access to broadband at the right speed and price points.

In line with targets set out in the 11th Malaysia Plan for ICT infrastructure, MCMC expects to achieve 95 percent broadband coverage in populated areas and improved speeds (100 Mbps in urban areas and 50 percent of suburban areas having 20 Mbps) by 2020.

"Approximately RM20 billion is expected to be invested by both industry and MCMC in the next few years to achieve these goals," it said.

It said as at quarter one this year, 3G coverage for the country was at 86 percent of populated areas, while for 4G was at 38.3 percent.

Streamyx is available to 78 percent of households in Malaysia while broadband over fibre covers 35 percent of households.