The number of cases declined to 444 due to improved service and complaint management

by SULHI KHALID/ pic by MUHD AMIN NAHARUL

COMPLAINTS on the quality of high-speed broadband service have declined by 47% quarter-on-quarter to 444 cases in the first quarter of 2019 (1Q19) from 836 cases in 4Q18 due to improved service and complaint management among Internet service providers.

The Communications and Multimedia Consumer Forum of Malaysia (CFM) chairman Mohamad Yusrizal Yusoff said currently there are 41.5 million broadband customers in the market and complaints on high-speed broadband services were among the highest in 2018.

“CFM, a telco and media consumer watchdog, received over 6,330 com- plaints in 2018 on various communications and media issues,” he said at the CFM Dialogue 2019 in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, yesterday.

The CFM Dialogue 2019, themed “The Changing Landscape of Malaysia’s Broadband”, aims to provide consumers with the opportunity in getting more information through a constructive discussion with service providers and regulatory bodies on broadband issues.

Celcom Axiata Bhd head of home business Khazalin Ghuzal said the average speed of mobile Internet connections has improved by 25% year-on-year to 19.92Mbps.

“Internet usage in Malaysia currently stands at around 87%, with 40% of Malaysians spending about four hours a day in Internet usage,” she said.

High-speed Internet has been a boon to e-commerce, which has been gaining traction with Malaysian consumers’ spending behaviour. This trend continues to grow, with statistics showing almost 85% of Malaysians have an online account with financial institutions and 11% have a mobile money account.

Some 39% of Malaysians make purchases and pay their bills online, while the growth of e-commerce is providing a catalyst for the telecommunication

(telco) industry to ramp up its capabilities in delivering high-quality Internet speed and connectivity solutions, the forum was told.

Commenting on the implementation of 5G technology in the country, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commisson (MCMC) head of division policy Muhammad Razali Anuar said the national 5G implementation taskforce is currently in the middle of finalising its midterm review for the ministers.

“The taskforce is looking into various issues such as regulatory, consumer protection and infrastructure requirements, including spectrum.

“MCMC is looking at 2020 for the general implementation and introduction of 5G worldwide,” he said.

In April, the government announced Putrajaya and Cyberjaya as the first smart cities to receive 5G technology facilities. The test will be conducted by telco service and industry players with assistance from telco regulator MCMC.

5G is a new technology which is a hundred times faster than 4G, that was introduced in 2009.

Meanwhile, YTL Communications Sdn Bhd network design manager Rahul Shrivastav said the company’s initiatives on Terragraph — a project developed in Georgetown, Penang, to improve the speed and connectivity within the vicinity — have been successful.

“We selected Georgetown due to its unique challenges — one of them is due to its status as a Unesco World Heritage Site, so it means infrastructure changes are prohibited in the area,” he said.

Supported by Facebook, Terragraph allows people to enjoy fibre-like broadband speed without laying fibre cables.

The project makes Malaysia the second country in the world to roll out Terragraph trials after Hungary.