CompareHero: Breaking Broadband

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This is Part 1 of a Question and Answer session on broadband in Malaysia with Floyd Sijmons, chief executive officer of CompareHero, giving you unbiased views on credit cards, loans, even on insurance and home services (like broadband and telcos), along with other financial products in the Malaysian market.

If you have any finance-related questions to ask Floyd, please email them to [email protected].

 

Q: How many Internet users are there in Malaysia?

A: 2012 data from the NITC shows that broadband penetration in Malaysia is at 65.8 per cent. That translates to around 19.74 million Internet users in the country given that the population of the country is at 30 million.

 

Q:  What types of broadband technology are available in Malaysia?

A: The wide variety of broadband technologies in the country include fixed lines broadband such as the different types of DSL (ADSL and SDSL) as well as the superfast fiber optic Internet connection. Malaysians also have the choice to go wireless with plans that connect through 3G or the much faster LTE connection.

 

Q: Who are the different broadband providers in Malaysia?

One of the reasons for the high broadband penetration rate in Malaysia is the high number of broadband providers in the country. These include Telekom Malaysia (TM), P1, Maxis, U Mobile, Celcom, Jaring, and DiGi.

 

Quota and data capacity of broadband providers in Malaysia

Internet subscribers have a choice between capped and unlimited broadband plans. Capped plans can have a quota of as low as 6GB (Gigabytes) to as high as 60GB. Unlimited broadband plans are very popular with subscribers since they don’t have to worry about going above their cap.

 

Broadband coverage areas in Malaysia

Based on Opensignal.com’s coverage maps, Internet connection is widely available in peninsular Malaysia and Internet coverage is available in many of the coastal towns and cities in East Malaysia through My Celcom.

DiGi’s coverage map on the site shows the same pattern but is less available in many areas.

NITC’s 2012 report on the broadband penetration rate also provides insight into the availability of broadbands by state. The report shows that Kelantan has the lowest penetration rate at 43.8 followed by Sabah (47.3) and Sarawak (48.2). Not surprisingly, Kuala Lumpur has the highest penetration rate at 119.4 followed by Pulau Pinang (83.8) and Perlis (81.9).

 

Comparing the broadband providers in Malaysia

When comparing broadband providers in Malaysia, you should first start with a benchmark. For this comparison, we’ll look at broadband plans that provide connection speeds of up to 1Mbps.

CompareHero’s comparison tool shows us several providers that offer broadband plans that meet this criteria. TM’s OKU Streamyx plan has the most affordable monthly cost of just RM66 but this plan is only open to disabled citizens duly registered. Jaring’s Flite Wired Basic has a 1Mbps plan with a monthly fee of just RM69 and this plan has an upfront cost of RM149.

TM is offering a Streamyx unlimited 1Mbps plan for RM88 monthly while P1 is offering a ForBiz 1Mbps plan for RM99 a month and subscribers pay RM100 upfront to subscribe for the plan. At the higher end of the price spectrum, we find TM’s 1Mbps plan for RM432 and this comes with five fixed IP addresses.

 

Comparing broadband connection speeds and consumer satisfaction

Ookla’s Netindex.com provides insights on which Malaysian broadband provider provides a fast connection. Net Index’s results as of February 17, 2014 shows that Symphonet tops the list of fastest download speeds with an average of 23.6Mbps. Clear-Comm is next with 19 Mbps while Jalan Broga takes third spot with 18.8 Mbps. Jaring (17.3Mbps) Bizsurf (12.3 Mbps), Time (11.4Mbps), and TMNet Telekom Malaysia (10.2Mbps) are the only ones that have higher than 10 Mbps average download speeds.

Net Index users also gave their feedback on their ISPs and this can serve as an indicator of customer satisfaction. Looking at the data, we find that Symphonet and YTL Communications are the only Malaysian ISPs that were able to get four out of five stars. Jaring was able to get three stars while TMNet, TM got two stars.

 

This content is created by Floyd Sijmons for the readers of Borneo Post. Sijmons is the CEO of CompareHero, the most extensive Malaysian financial comparison platform today. He believes in the value of saving Malaysians time and money by giving them information they need to compare financial products in the market. For more, visit CompareHero at www.comparehero.my.