The communications and multimedia minister said this will improve Malaysia’s position when it comes to world comparison of internet speeds.

“The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) is in the process of rearranging the spectrum.

“This is expected to be completed by the middle of this year.

“As soon as this is over, internet broadband speeds will also likely increase through more 4G and LTE services throughout the country,” he told FMT.

Previously, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng had said the country would lose out if internet speeds were not up to par with other countries in the region.

He said Malaysia would be left out in the “internet economy” if speeds remain low compared to the main players in the region.

Salleh said that based on Prime Minister Najib Razak’s Budget 2016 announcement, Telekom Malaysia has started implementing fixed networks.

He said this would enable internet speeds to be doubled at the same price.

“Speeds from 5Mbps will be increased to 10Mbps, 10Mbps to 30Mbps and 20Mbps to 50Mbps at the same price.”

He reminded the people that calculating the average for Malaysia includes the whole country, including rural areas. This compares with the speed in Singapore, which is a “city state”.

Akamai Technologies Inc had reported that the average internet speed in Malaysia was at 6.4 megabits per second (Mbps) in the first quarter of last year.

Malaysia was also ranked 74th in the world in 2016 when it came to internet speeds, having fallen one step compared to 2015. In the Asia Pacific, Malaysia is 9th among 15 countries.

Go for high-speed internet before high-speed rail, says Guan Eng