Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil said internet prices are expected to be reduced this coming September when the Mandatory Standard on Access Pricing (MSAP) is adopted. As quoted by Bernama, he said “Insya-Allah by this September internet prices will be cheaper … If it is already cheap, it will be even cheaper now.”
The latest MSAP was released by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) on 16th February this year and it took effect from 1st March 2023. In late March, Fahmi tweeted that the MSAP that was announced in February will help to reduce overall Internet prices in 2 to 3 months’ time. However, four months after the new MSAP took effect, there were no major changes for retail broadband plans in Malaysia.
Mandatory Standards on Access Pricing (MSAP) yg diumum 16 Feb lalu bakal mengurangkan harga internet secara keseluruhan dalam masa 2-3 bulan ini inshaAllah.
— Fahmi Fadzil
Kerana SKMM arah harga borong broadband dikurangkan.(@fahmi_fadzil) March 30, 2023
Several weeks ago, the MCMC clarified that most access seekers have or are in the process of publishing their respective reference access offer (RAO) and negotiations will commence based on the published RAO. The MCMC said the negotiations for the access agreements are expected to be concluded by the end of September 2023. Therefore, any reduction in internet prices is only expected to take place after the agreements are completed.
The revised MSAP has been long overdue as the last major change was 5 years ago when Gobind Singh took office. The MSAP sets the wholesale pricing for HSBB and the reduction in wholesale prices is expected to enable more affordable internet options with faster speeds. In 2018, there was a major change in broadband prices with cheaper 30Mbps fibre broadband plans introduced under RM100 and existing Unifi customers were given a turbo upgrade of up to 10x.
TM published their RAO last Friday which comes with a tiered pricing structure. While the new MSAP 2023 pricing appears to be applicable only for the highest tier with 9Tbps per month, TM says all access seekers will enjoy lower HSBB wholesale prices as the latest RAO for 2023 is cheaper across the board when compared to the RAO issued in 2018.
[ SOURCE, IMAGE SOURCE ]
Related reading
- Four months have passed but where’s the promised price reduction for broadband in Malaysia?
- Despite tiered pricing, TM says all fibre broadband players will enjoy lower HSBB wholesale price with latest RAO
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- Here are the best Fibre Broadband plans in Malaysia – April 2023 Edition
Fahmi says broadband prices will be cheaper this September
News Reports PH
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