The Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Malaysia at 34 for e-readiness in 2008.
The EIU's E-Readiness Rankings are a measure of the quality of a country’s information and communications technology infrastructure and the ability of its consumers, businesses and governments to use ICT to their benefit
Telekom Malaysia is the dominant provider of fixed-line services, with more than 95 percent of the market. Newcomers to the telecoms market have tended to concentrate on mobile telephony. The ensuing competition has brought lower tariffs and improved service quality.
The mobile phone penetration rate is 84.3 percent - the second-highest in Southeast Asia and compares with 79.5 percent in Thailand, 58.5 percent in the Philippines and just 35.8 percent in Indonesia.
By December 2007 there were about 22.9 million mobile-phone accounts in Malaysia. Although telecoms services are excellent and readily available in urban centres, they are only fair in many rural locations.
The mobile network is primarily based on global system for mobile communications (GSM) technology, although a code division multiple access (CDMA) system is being used by Telekom Malaysia. Currently, the 3G High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) technology developed by US research and development company Qualcomm, is being rolled out by Maxis to meet demand in rural areas in eastern Malaysia. HSDPA is employing third-generation mobile-telephony communications protocol (which allows mobile phones to connect to the internet, to send and receive video clips, and to send and receive email).
Internet usage has been limited by the low level of computer ownership. Computer ownership is much higher in urban than rural areas, and a number of government schemes have tried to boost demand.
According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Malaysia had approximately 15.9 million internet users at the end of 2008, up from 14.9 million a year earlier. The number of broadband subscribers stood at 1.7 million subscriptions by year-end, compared to 1.4 million a year earlier. The number of dial-up connections rose by about 0.4 million in 2008, to 4.3 million by year-end.
The March 2009 stimulus package allocated M$3bn to Khazanah Nasional, the government's main investment vehicle, to establish a subsidiary to faciliate and improve broadband infrastructure. The stimulus also provided the MCMC with M$2.4bn to establish broadband links for community centres and provide basic telephony services in rural areas.
The Economist Intelligence Unit records that there were 23.1 computers to every 100 people at the end of 2007. Computer use is much lower among the country's ethnic Malays than among ethnic Chinese, and overcoming this problem may require special government incentives.
(Additional source for Operating in Market – Economist Intelligence Unit)
