A computer expert has questioned whether internet companies would be willing to reduce their profit margins in order to turn into reality a government promise of doubling the existing internet speed for half the price.
CF Fong, a cybersecurity expert, questioned if the government would be willing to subsidise the cost of meeting its promise.
Fong told FMT that internet service providers would need to make compromises in some areas.
“If a subscriber now gets 50Mbps speeds, for RM25 per month, a new offering of 100Mbps for the same price would be like doubling the bandwidth for him.”
But such doubling of internet speeds could not happen overnight. Hardware, software and infrastructure must be upgraded. He hoped that service providers would become more competitive, and offer better packages.
Fong said Malaysians were “paying a premium price” for internet speed that was still one of the slowest in the region. Internet speeds were better in Thailand and Vietnam and at lower rates.
Malaysia’s main internet service provider is Telekom Malaysia, which offers Streamyx ADSL services at RM110-RM160 a month for speeds of 1Mbps-8Mbps and Unifi fibre-optic broadband services at RM129 a month for 10Mbps and RM179 for 30Mbps.
Fong questioned the lack of an open market and said competition would be good for customers. “The number of ISPs we have are limited, compared to them. This also goes back to how many licences were issued by the authorities previously. If more ISPs come in, consumers will have better options and better value,” he said.
Fong said ISPs would still make good money even by slashing their profits, but pushing them to lower their prices might not be easy.
“It’s really about ‘forcing’ them to offer a discount; the key is to encourage more ISPs to come into the market. MCMC (Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission)needs to take this initiative and make the existing ISPs come out from their comfort zone,” he said.