Connecting rural communities with TM affordable broadband

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KUCHING: Telekom Malaysia (TM) will introduce another broadband service.

The Universal Service Provisional (USP), tailored for customers in the state’s rural areas, is expected to be operational next month.

TM Sarawak general manager Omar Mustafa said the effort is in line with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s aspiration in increasing the broadband penetration especially in rural areas.

“At the moment, the broadband penetration supplied by TM is only 18 per cent, which is weak compared to other developed countries.

“In line with PM’’s aspiration to see around 50 per cent broadband usage, TM will introduce interesting broadband package which is affordable,” he said during the launch of TM Broadband package here yesterday.

He said the company’s effort to introduce USP is to help rural folks gain more knowledge and to increase productivity.

“USP is tailored for the rural communities with household income of below RM3,000 per month,” he added.

“It is expected that the percentage of rural internet users will see an increase with the affordable package offered to the low income group,” he said.

Omar said that there are 18 rural areas in the state which had been identified with USP package under the administration of Malaysian Commission of Multimedia and Communication (MCMC).

TM will introduce three broadband packages namely the Uni-kool, low-income package and USP, with two of them launched yesterday.

“Until now, we have registered more than 1,000 for the low-income package, while we are targeting around 5,000 users by end of the year.

“For Uni-Kool, we are targeting 2,000 users among university students and we are close to achieving the target,” he said.

The event was graced by Pantai Damai assemblyman Dr Abdul Rahman Junaidi who urged those who  do not use broadband to take up the service by TM.

“At only RM38 per month, it can enable you to surf the internet from home, gain latest information and connect to the whole world,” he said.

source from The Borneo Post