High-speed broadband in Klang Valley

High-speed broadband in Klang Valley beginning this month

KUALA LUMPUR, March 15 (Bernama) -- Malaysians, currently among the biggest users of Yahoo!, Friendster, Facebook and blogs in Asia, can look forward to more high definition applications with the roll-out of high-speed broadband (HSBB) in the Klang Valley beginning this month.

Twenty-seven areas in the Klang Valley will be equipped with the HSBB within two years, with initial roll-out in Bangsar, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Shah Alam and Subang Jaya which are considered as the areas with highest Internet usage in the country.

Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) chairman Tan Sri Khalid Ramli said the HSBB, to be rolled out by Telekom Malaysia, is expected to have a speed more than 10 megabits per second (Mbps).

While the existing 2Mbps allowed users to surf the Internet and use facilities like e-mail and YouTube, the bigger bandwidth would enable them to watch IPTV and HDTV, and gain access to advanced education online, multimedia post production and e-health, Khalid said.

By 2011, the whole Klang Valley would be covered by HSBB, including Bandar Tun Razak, Sungai Besi, Gombak and Kajang, he said at a media briefing on the National Broadband Implementation (NBI) policy.

Khalid said that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was scheduled to launch the NBI on March 24.

He said the HSBB would be expanded to Kepong, Batu, Wangsa Maju, Segambut, Damansara, Titiwangsa, Cheras and Seputih in Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, Serdang, Puchong, Putrajaya, Cyberjaya, the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Klang, Selayang and Ampang by end of 2010.

Khalid said under the NBI, the government hoped to have a 50 per cent household broadband penetration by end of 2010 which could result in tangible contribution of one per cent to the country's GDP and 135,000 new jobs this year.

As of March this year, household broadband subscriptions are at 33.2 per cent.

Khalid said there was big potential for broadband penetration in Malaysia, citing the 7.4 million 3G cellular subscriptions in the country while total broadband subscriptions stood at 2.78 million.

According to various surveys, Malaysians are the number one user of Yahoo! in Asia, number three in social network Friendster, fourth largest in terms of bloggers and 19th in Facebook, another social network.

Source: MySinChew