Malaysia’s Mobile Internet Landscape

A survey commissioned by Google and conducted by IPSOS MediaCT that provides mobile internet landscape insights into the habits of Malaysian smartphone users. The study showed that 41% of Malaysian smartphone users would rather use their mobile phones than their TVs. Five hundred Malaysians aged between 15 and 64 years participated in the survey and it was found that 88% of the respondents use their smartphones to access the internet every day.

Malaysians have opted for mobile internet rather than TVs

Malaysia in the ITU’s 2013 MIS Report

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has come out with the latest Measuring Information Society (MIS) Report for this year. The UN agency, whose mission it is to expand internet connectivity around the world, has come out with the report every year since 2009.

Like the report from Google and IPSOS, ITU’s report provides insights into how Malaysians connect to the internet. The report cites Malaysia as having one of the highest proportions of digital natives. The country ranks fourth globally due to “the high estimated proportion of young people who have at least five years of experience in using the internet.”

Malaysia’s program to reduce broadband access costs through the National Broadband Initiative was also pointed out as being one of several programs around the world that are aimed at increasing broadband penetration. The initiative lets young people aged 21 to 30 to apply for a RM200 (about $65) rebate off selected smartphones that cost up to a RM500.

This rebate program is aimed at reducing the price barrier for smartphone ownership in the country especially for young Malaysians. Another program under the National Broadband Initiative that was cited in the ITU report is the 1 Million Netbooks programme. The programme distributes netbooks to low-income households as a way to increase access to broadband services.

ITU’s report ranked fixed broadband prices in the Asian Pacific region for 2013 and it ranked Malaysia at number 11 in the region (global rank 72) because fixed broadband prices in Malaysia was only at 3.1% of Gross National Income per capita (GNI pc). Malaysia ranks ahead of Iran and India but behind Macao, China, Japan, and Hong Kong which ranked 1, 2, and 3 respectively.