NEWS: Rural folks need a reason to go broadband

KUALA LUMPUR: Rural folk need to see value in using the Internet before they will actively sign up for broadband access, said industry research group Frost & Sullivan.

Once they start deriving benefits from the Web, it will be a necessity for them and broadband ­penetration in the country will start to increase, said the researcher.

Currently, only 25% of Malaysian households have broadband access and rural households make up about 35% of the total number of homes in the country.

Broadband uptake is not just about affordability but also ­desirability, said Nitin Bhat, senior vice-president of information and communications technology (ICT) practice at Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific.

“Lowering prices is not enough,” he said. “It is about why someone in a kampung would want to get on the Internet in the first place.”

“The rural folk have to feel a desire to get connected. There needs to be applications (and websites) that are relevant to their needs, interests and lifestyles.”

Bhat was at a business and ­technology forum organised by Malaysia Debt Ventures Bhd.

The event is in its third year. Currently, there are some ­applications on the Internet that rural folk could take advantage of, but there needs to be more.

“Kampung folk would benefit from (the various) e-Government services; they could go online instead of ­travelling to the city to hand in their tax returns or apply for a business permit. Online banking would be another convenience,” Bhat said.

He also suggested that an application or site that helped users compare prices of items online would nudge more rural folk to start using the Internet.

Frost & Sullivan expects the cost of broadband access in the country to come down by about 10% next year due to a more competitive landscape.

“There are more players (in the segment) now and they are offering broadband services at attractive rates. The current slow economic conditions will also see service providers competing more heavily and this will drive prices down," Bhat said.

Incidentally, said the research group, video traffic is what’s driving broadband growth in the world.

“Sixty per cent of the world’s Internet traffic is video,” said Bhat. “We expect this to increase this by 13 times in the next five years.”