CFM Dialogue 2019 talks more about the future of broadband in Malaysia
The Consumer Forum of Malaysia hosted a dialogue in conjunction with World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2019 dubbed “The Changing Landscape of Malaysia’s Broadband” that saw a host of representatives from the telecommunications industry and other key stakeholders discussing at length the state of broadband connectivity and other issues affecting it in Malaysia
The dialogue saw Khazalin Ghuzal, Head of Home Business from Celcom Axiata Berhad giving more insight on consumer usage behaviour for broadband and how the industry is identifying and attempting to form strategies to meet those needs. Some key takeaways is that e-commerce is gaining traction with more than half of users in Malaysia using mobile devices for purchases.
Another interesting factoid is an increase in video streaming and online gaming with an overall increase in average connection speeds. In terms of usage, 98% of users watch videos online while 47% stream TV content via the internet. Mobile broadband speeds are now on average 19.2Mbps which is a 25% year-on-year improvement while home fixed internet connections now average 63.48Mbps which is a 187% year-on-year improvement.
Also invited to the lectern was Rahul Shrivastav, Network Design Manager for YTL Communications Sdn Bhd who gave insights into the challenges faced by the telecommunications industry today that include rapidly changing consumer patterns as well as financial and technological challenges faced by both the industry and regulators to provide customers with world-class infrastructure. He shared more about Gigawire which is able to modernise legacy copper wire connections with minimal service disruptions and has seen successful deployments in countries like Hong Kong, the Philippines and Vietnam. He also shared more about Terragraph technology that is efficient to deploy in dense urban areas while offering gigabit speeds without having to perform extensive trenching or other works. To date, over 300 nodes have been deployed in George Town as the first market trial in Asia.
Last but not least, Muhammad Razali Anuar, Head of Division Policy from the Malaysia Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) gave the lay of the land in regards on the government’s National Fiberisation and Connectivity Plan (NFCP) and what consumers can expect in the near future.
The NFCP sets specific goals and strategies in order to act as a catalyst for future economic growth. To wit, the NFCP has four broad objectives that seeks to address issues that hinder the widespread availability of high quality and affordable digital connectivity, support the needs of the country moving forward and harness opportunities offered by new services and technologies, provide clarity in terms of strategic directions for initiatives to support he digital economy and adoption of future technology and last but not least the implementation plan of five years (2019 – 2022).
“As an industry forum that receives and facilitates the resolution of consumer complaints, ti has become CFM’s concern when complaints on high-speed broadband services were among the highest reported complaints when talking about the types of service and it recorded a significant increase. Thus, CFM decided to organise this dialogue session, which is a platform for consumers to know about the development of the country’s broadband landscape, challenges faced by the industry and what drives the future of broadband in Malaysia,” said CFM Chairman, Mohamad Yusrizal Dato’ Yusoff. For more about the Consumer Forum of Malaysia, swing by their official website at www.cfm.my
