Universal Service Provision in MalaysiaBridging the Digital Divide

Prepared by Farid Heder

Malaysia in Brief• Total Area: 330,803 km2

• Total Population: 30.68 mil• Population Density: 92/km2

• Urban Population: 62%• Total Households: 7.483 mil

Malaysia Current Achievement

Broadband Mobile Cellular

Penetration Rates 77.3% 143.8%

Subscriptions 30.8 mil 44.111 mil

Source: MCMC’s Communications & Multimedia Pocket Book of Statistics Q4 2015

Overview of Universal Service Provision (USP)in Malaysia

• to provide communication access to target underserved areas, localities, and groups within a community

OBJECTIVE

• collective access to basic telephony service and internet access services followed by individual access for both services

PRIORITIES

• by designated service providers based on USP Regulations• in underserved areas & underserved groups within

communities

IMPLEMENTATION

• USP Regulations 2002 (Amendment in 2003, 2005, 2008)

LEGISLATION

by USP FundFUNDING

USP Framework

CONSUMER

• Manage USP Fund• Designate Service Provider• Briefing State Agencies• Monitor Implementation• Verify & Pay claims

• Pay to USP Fund• Submit USP Plan• Implement projects• Claim from USP Fund

• Point of Information• Liaisons:

State Secretariats District Office Community leaders

Malaysian Communications & Multimedia Commission

SERVICE PROVIDER

STATE AGENCIES

• First USP project was in 2003 which is the provision of basic telephony service in underserved areas throughout the country.

• The most well known and successful USP initiatives are:-• 1Malaysia Internet Centre (community telecentre in underserved areas)• Community WiFi (free WiFi hotspots in underserved areas)• Time 3 Telecommunication Tower (providing 2G & 3G in underserved areas)

• Beginning 2013, focus of implementation of USP has been expanded to include the underserved groups in urban areas such as to people residing in low-cost housing areas.

• The implementation of the USP programme covers right from the provision of fixed and mobile broadband to provision of high-capacity core network infrastructure as illustrated in the next slide.

20032007

20092010

2014

TELEPHONY

COMMUNITY BROADBAND

CENTRE

CELLULAR COVERAGE EXPANSION

BROADBAND

MOBILEBROADBAND EXPANSAION

2015

FIXED BROADBANDEXPANSION

• Public Payphone

• 1Malaysia Internet Centre (PI1M)

• Community Broadband Centre (CBL)

• TIME 3 Tower

• Community WiFi (WK) • 1Malaysia Netbook• Mini Community

Broadband Centre (Mini CBC)

• TIME 3 Ext. Tower• Fiber Optic Network

Expansion• 3G & LTE Coverage

Expansion• Smart Device with

Internet Package

• Rural Broadband (RBB)

• Suburban Broadand (SUBB)

• Submarine Fiber Optic Cable known as SKR1M

USP Evolution

USP Achievements as of Q4 2015All projects are funded by Universal Service Fund

• 2,635 Public Payphones• 513 1Malaysia Internet Centre (6 in urban areas)• 99 Community Broadband Library• 949 Telecommunication Towers• 1,324,885 1Malaysia Netbook• 4,874 Community WiFi• 130km fiber optics network• 853 sites of 3G coverage expansion• 263 sites of LTE coverage expansion• 572,177 units of smart devices activated

These figures are undeniably has contributed to the increasing of broadband and cellular penetration rate in Malaysia.

New Initiatives in 2016• Rural Broadband

(expansion of fixed broadband with speed up to 5mbps in rural)

• Suburban Broadband (expansion of fixed broadband with speed up to 20mbps in rural and suburban)

• Submarine Fiber Optics Cable known as SKR1M

Thank you