Communications and multimedia minister Annuar Musa said it was a government initiative to help teenagers and students to get access to the internet and for the less fortunate people to own affordable smart devices.
“It is also proof of the government’s commitment to ensure that everyone will get internet access at a reasonable price,” he told a press conference after the launch of the two packages here today.
The telcos offering the packages are Celcom, Digi, Maxis, U Mobile, Telekom Malaysia and YTL.
Annuar said his ministry anticipated these packages would benefit over 200,000 people within the six-month period.
The Teen Package is a special prepaid package for teenagers and students, aged between 12 and 21, to enjoy 20GB data for 90 days at a price of RM30.
Annuar said the package would enable users to do simple activities such as sending messages and surfing the internet.
“Online learning or work-from-home activities can also be done without data constraints.
“With 20GB data, users can download videos or play games which will help them relax,” he said.
Annuar said the Device Package, on the other hand, will enable people to own and upgrade to smart devices with voice over long-term evolution (VoLTE) technology for free.
The VoLTE technology enables the users to enjoy high-quality voice calls on the 4G network and the device can be owned with a subscription fee as low as RM40 per month through a contract of 12 to 24 months, depending on the device and services.
The package also includes 1GB of free data.
To support the telcos in carrying out their corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme, Annuar said he would personally sponsor 1,000 Teen and Device packages for hardcore poor orphans to ensure that they will not be left behind in enjoying better connectivity and improving their productivity.
Annuar said 4G coverage in the country was currently at 94% and would reach 96.9% by the end of the year. Premises gaining access to gigabit-speed fixed line broadband have surpassed 6.4 million.
He said that the construction of 1,661 new communication towers would begin this month under the first phase of Jendela and these were expected to be completed before the end of next year.
On connectivity in schools, Annuar said his ministry understood the challenges faced by the education ministry in the home-based teaching and learning (PdPR) programme, which requires the cooperation of several ministries.
He said a discussion with the Malaysian administrative modernisation and management planning unit (Mampu) of the prime minister’s department and related parties would be held to find ways to complete the ecosystem in schools so that every school would have a conducive ecosystem to utilise broadband services.
Annuar hoped that the problem could be resolved by the end of the year.