Dinesh Nair, chief executive officer of QubeConnect Sdn Bhd, said the Government should focus on improving the coverage of broadband in the country instead of speedier Internet connections, at least in the beginning.
“It’s good that the Government wants faster broadband speeds but what most consumers really want is to connect to broadband in the first place, regardless of speed,” he said. QubeConnect is a provider of IP (Internet Protocol) telephony solutions.
Dinesh was commenting on the Government’s RM15.2bil High Speed Broadband project, which it awarded to Telekom Malaysia Bhd last week.
The Government wants to provide faster Internet connectivity at more competitive rates to encourage more Malaysians to subscribe to broadband.
At the end of the project, which is expected to take 10 years, Malaysians will access the Internet at speeds of between 10 megabits per second (Mbps) and the higher 1 gigabit per second (1Gbps). Currently, the access speed is about 2Mbps.
Dinesh hopes TM will only take about four to five years to hit the 1Gbps target. “This is achievable,” he said, “The technology to do so is already available.”
He said the Government should also look into growing more WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) hotspots (providing wireless Internet access) in the country, or at least, in the urban areas.
“There are only a few WiFi pockets now and these are mostly centred on premium cafes,” said Dinesh.
“There should be hotspots everywhere, providing free and reliable access. This will also help encourage more Malaysians to get on the Internet.”
Looking forward
Association of Computer and Multimedia Industry of Malaysia (Pikom) hopes the project will also spawn more affordable broadband charges.
“The current cost of broadband access is high and beyond the means of the average Malaysian,” said chairman David Wong, adding that quality of service is inconsistent and availability limited to certain locations.
Pikom hopes to see a flat broadband rate that is as low as RM10 a month, which Wong said is equivalent to the price of a T-shirt at a roadside stall now.
This, he said, would be acceptable to all Malaysians and would definitely lead to a growing mass of broadband subscribers. He also hoped for better consistency of service, and better coverage nationwide.
The association also sees many spillover effects from an increase in bandwidth. These include better IT infrastructure, growth in ICT (information and communications technology) and services spending, a boost in PC ownership, as well as an increase in homegrown software and content.
Most of these, Wong said, rely on the speed of broadband and are choked because of the prevailing service quality.
e-Benefits
MSC Malaysia Flagship applications, such as e-Government, MyKad and Telehealth, will gain from high-speed broadband, said the Multimedia Development Corporation (MdeC), caretaker of the MSC Malaysia initiative.
“More people will start using these electronic facilities when access to the Internet becomes that fast,” said an MDeC spokesman.
“With faster broadband, consumers will also be encouraged to download content such as online games and streaming movies. And when there’s an increase in demand, it will be a boon for the content developers.”
Market analyst Frost and Sullivan said small- and medium-size businesses (SMBs) will likely benefit from high-speed broadband. “SMBs that utilise broadband connections as their primary external connectivity, would be able to leverage on the faster access,” said analyst Sin Siew Teyew.
He said the improved broadband quality would also encourage more foreign direct investors to set up businesses here or to use the country as an Asia-Pacific hub.
Several countries, such as South Korea and Japan, now have broadband speeds of about 10Mbps to 12Mbps on average, and are already moving towards 1Gbps.
Autor(en)/Author(s): Jo Timbuong
Quelle/Source: The Star TechCentral, 03.10.2007
