Catching up with technology

Malaysia is not falling behind in the 5G technology race. Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo announced back in April that the nation has initiated its 5G pioneer tests in Cyberjaya and Putrajaya.

 

Undoubtedly, to test the 5G technology, one must have ICT devices like computers or mobile phones to connect to the Internet.

 

Malaysia, 5G, Internet, technology

 

Based on 2017 data from Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), Putrajaya was the area with the highest household percentage to have access to computers (96.3%) and mobile phones (100%). It is because Putrajaya is the country’s capital, plus it has a small population size, even smaller than the smallest state in Malaysia; Perlis.

 

Besides Putrajaya, most of the households in Klang Valley have access to computers, with Selangor at 89% and Kuala Lumpur at 84.6%. Following is Penang, 81.4% of its household have access to computers, while the state with the lowest percentage is Kelantan at 60%.

 

Nevertheless, the state had improved by 10.3% when compared to 2015. On the other hand, its neighbouring state, Terengganu, witnessed a drastic improvement from 62.6% in 2015 to 83% in 2017.

 

Almost every household in Malaysia have access to mobile phones. The state with the lowest household percentage was Perak, at 95.3%.

 

On the downside, the household percentage to have access to fix telephone line remains below 50% throughout Malaysia. In fact, the was a drastic decline in Klang Valley, between 2015 to 2017. Users in the city might find it unnecessary to have a fix telephone line due to the convenience of a mobile phone.

 

While for the Internet connectivity, the percentage of household access to the Internet boosted from 70.1% in 2015 to 85.7% in 2017.

 

Overall, growth can be seen on the number of Internets users in Malaysia. But a significant technology gap can be witnessed between the people in developed areas (like Klang Valley and Penang) and the less developed areas (Kelantan, Kedah and Pahang).

 

The majority of Malaysians have access to mobile phones if they want to connect to the Internet. Yet, the capability of connecting to the 5G technology is up to the mobile phones’ specification.