There are currently less than 300,000 broadband subscribers in Malaysia and a penetration rate of 0.85 % for the service. Malaysia has a population of 25 million.

Is the target achievable?

Jaring, which launched its wireless broadband service last month, is quite positive about it.

The company expects to sign up 10,000 broadband subscribers by the end of the first quarter of this year and 100,000 subscribers by the end of the year, according to its Chief executive officer Dr Mohamed Awang Lah.

He said global trends show that more subscribers are ready to convert from dialup to high-speed broadband access.

Jaring has about 600,000 dial-up consumer users and 70,000 corporate users.

The launch of Jaring's broadband service creates the first threat to TM Net Sdn Bhd's stronghold on the nation's fatpipes.

The increased competition however could help spur the switch from dial-up to broadband.

Chief executive officer of TM Net Datuk Baharum Salleh said Jaring's introduction of a new broadband service would benefit consumers in the long run.

TMNet itself is working at boosting the popularity of its broadband service.

It will be installing 122,000 new ports for its broadband service this month in addition to the over 500,000 ports it has made available, Baharum said.

The company would add on 97,000 ports by March and another 130,000 by September as it aims at having one million ports by the end of the year, he added.

The waiting period for new customers has also been shortened, with service made available within an average of 30 working days when unsubscribed ports are not available, and seven working days when they are.

However, despite improvements in services and the increase in supply, only 251,000 of 557,000 streamyx ports have been taken up.

TM Net said it has also not seen much increase in streamyx subscription since it gave a free bandwidth upgrade to customers in November last year.

Baharum cites several possible reasons for the slow take-up rate of broadband including the low household PC penetration rate, affordability issues and perceived necessity of broadband access.

He added that efforts in improving service quality, coverage, customer service and the introduction of more value-added services could help boost demand.