Malaysia Poor Broadband a Nuisance to Investors

A country manager for Intel Malaysia has come forward telling that poor broadband infrastructure is putting off investors and prevent more businesses to come from abroad. Worse, consumers in the country have to pay some of the highest prices to get broadband services, only to get one of the worst services in the region.

Ryaz Patel, Intel Electronics country manager for Malaysia told Business Times Singapore pinpointed monopoly to be one of the main culprits, referring to Telekom Malaysia (TM) which holds the sole landing right for submarine cable. According to him, the government should take initiative to deregulate and liberalize gateways to open up for more competitions that would eventually push everyone to improve their services. By allowing more than one landing rights, the consumers would also be able to enjoy faster internet services at lower cost.

Similar sentiment was echoed by Michael Halpin, the vice chairman of Malaysia-Australia Business Council, who stressed that Australian businessmen are getting agitated with the persistent errors arising from sending large documents from abroad and into the country. Many of them consider this a nuisance and a barrier for them to set up their businesses here.

In terms of price, it was discovered that Malaysia broadband service is “frighteningly more expensive” compared to the neighboring countries, but in return of the high cost, consumers have to make do with receiving one of the poorest broadband services around. For example, Singaporeans pay US$85 to get a 100 megabit per second (mbs) broadband speed, while Malaysians who want a 4mbs speed need to pay US$76. On average comparison, Singaporeans pay US$0.85 for every 1mbs, and Malaysians pay over 20 times more – a whopping US$19 for the same speed rate.

Other posts you may want to read:

1. Malaysia Broadband Below Par – Study
2. INTEL Charged by Antitrust Laws
3. Intel Fined for Immoral Tactics
4. Malaysia’s First WiMax Lands In KL
5. Penang To Get Free Wireless Internet
6. Home Managers to Replace Maids
7. Malaysians in Singapore May Lose Jobs
8. Al Rajhi Bank Malaysia

Author's bio: Zul is the founder and principal contributor for the SKOR Career blog. He is the author of two books, The Malaysian Job Seeker's Dilemma and Buat Duit Tanpa Kerja Makan Gaji (How to Make Money Without a Job), available in major book stores nationwide. You can reach him at zulkiflimusa[at]gmail.com.