The Malaysian Insight

THE Communications and Multimedia Ministry seeks to define quality internet connection to establish a minimum standard requirement for telco companies.

Minister Gobind Singh Deo said the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has been instructed to draw up the criteria, which would subsequently be announced

“I have told MCMC to look into it. I can now tell telcos clearly that we are coming up with the minimum standards, and we expect them to comply.

“We will announce it when a report on the criteria is obtained. We will make it public and inform all the telcos accordingly.

“We are serious. We want to (make sure we have) infrastructure that is of world-class standards,” he said this morning at the launch of the Terragraph high-speed broadband pilot project in George Town.

Gobind said the government wishes to address the many complaints about telco services it has received in the seven months following the implementation of the National Fiberisation and Connectivity Plan (NFCP).

“We recognise there is a need to start looking at minimum standards for different aspects of services provided. 

“One of them is the minimum internet speed. What is Malaysia’s standards when it comes to reasonable (internet) speed?

“In the past, I have said that we should be looking at at least 30 megabits. I think that is reasonable, but we have not officially stated it.

“At the end of the day, if we are going to have a whole nation depend on the infrastructure for the economy, these are standards we must establish and make sure we keep.”

The Terragraph wireless technology introduced by Facebook delivers fibre-like connectivity at a fraction of the cost of fibre. The Unesco city of George Town will trial the high-speed broadband service for six months.

If the outcome is positive, YTL Communications, which is undertaking the pilot project with Facebook’s support, will seek to commercialise the service with the government’s approval

YTL managing director Yeoh Seok Hong said MCMC will assist in the judging of the quality of the service.

“The world is watching this trial too. Whatever is done, this case study will be published for all communities to learn from it,” he said.

“We expect the results will be good. After that, we will of course seek to commercialise it but with the understanding and approval of the ministry, and with the right packages and right pricing.

“That is the next stage. For now, the world is watching and waiting for the trial results report.

Yeoh said he expected a big demand for Terragraph.

MCMC chairman Al-Ishsal Ishak said if the new technology was capable of delivering gigabit speeds to high-density areas at a fraction of the cost of fibre, it could be adopted as part of the NFCP. – February 18, 2019.