Last week, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) announced that the total broadband subscription in the country was at 43.38 million in 2019.
MCMC made the statement in conjunction with World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD), which is celebrated annually on 17 May since 1969. WTISD targets to increase awareness among the general public regarding the possibilities that could be achieved through the use of the Internet and information and communications technology (ICT).
In 2019, out of the total broadband subscription at 43.38 million, MCMC said there are 2.95 million fixed broadband subscription which is an increase of 10.9% compared to 2.66 million in 2018. Meanwhile, mobile broadband subscription increased 9.9% to 40.43 million compared to 36.79 million in 2018.
At the end of 2019, Celcom reported that 77.1% of its 8.37 million subscribers are mobile Internet users. Similarly, Maxis said it had 8.7 million mobile Internet users at the end of December 2019 (dropped to 8.3 million as of this year) while Digi reported the highest mobile Internet subscriptions at 9.4 million (9.19 million as of March 2020).
Telekom Malaysia (TM) said it has 2.18 million broadband customers at the of 2019.
For mobile coverage in “populated areas”, MCMC said 3G coverage was at 95.5% in 2019 compared to 94.7% in 2018.
MCMC claims that 4G LTE coverage in Malaysia was at 82.2% in 2019 as compared to 79.7% in 2018.
At the same time, an increasing trend can also be seen in the number of mobile cellular subscriptions. In 2019, the total number of mobile cellular subscriptions was at 44.6 million, an increase of 5.2% compared to 42.41 million in 2018.
The total market capitalisation value reached RM144.01 billion or 8.4% of the total Bursa Malaysia market capitalisation. From that amount, the telecommunications sector contributed about RM134.01 billion, while RM7.29 billion came from the broadcasting sector; and RM2.71 billion from the postal and courier sector. According to statistics from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), the value is an increase of RM6.28 billion or 4.56% as compared to the previous year, which recorded RM137.73 billion in 2018.
The communications and multimedia industry (C&M) industry generated a revenue of RM43.37 billion in 2019, where the communications sector contributed the biggest share at 80.2% or RM34.8 billion. The broadcasting sector was the second highest contributor at 13.6% (equal to RM5.88 billion), while the revenue generated by the postal and courier sector is RM2.69 billion or 6.2%.
For the telecommunications sector CAPEX, or Capital Expenditure, in 2019, the recorded expenditure value was RM4.6 billion. From that amount, RM2.97 billion was used for mobile services CAPEX, while the balance of RM1.63 billion was for fixed services CAPEX. In this case, most of the CAPEX was used to upgrade the mobile and fibre optic networks to increase network capacity and quality to enable the telecommunications sector to give the best service to customers, according to MCMC.
[PDF]– MCMC Media Statement
