The Government should consider appointing more Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in view of the inability of TMnet to resolve the congestion complaints of its customers.
On January 29, Harold Read, the chief executive officer of NewCo, the division of Telekom Malaysia set up to explore new businesses, gave the assurance that TMnet had commissioned another computer server to overcome congestion on its Internet access service.
More than two weeks have passed, and TMnet subscribers complain that there had been no appreciable improvement in the service.
The TMnet customers complained of having been "taken for an expensive ride", having to pay exorbitant and erroneous bills (all to the favour of TMnet) for almost non-existent services "most" of the time!
They complain that although they connect to TMnet in the hope of getting their services like e-mails, uunet, www, ftp, irc and a host of others, they have problem with connection, while "the meter ticks along happily while we tried frantically to gain connection to those services." They are also often disconnected and deprived of valid connections and yet billed for the connection time for nothing!
Their biggest grouse is that TMnet had been most customer-unfriendly, in not attending to their complaints and grievances.
Both to get TMnet to provide better internet service, as well as to promote a higher rate of Internet hook-up among Malaysians, the Government should consider approving more licences for Internet Service Providers in Malaysia.
In the Philippines, the number of Internet service providers will rise steeply from around 80 last year to about 100 to 120 this year, with Internet subscribers in the Philippines expected to increase four-fold to around 200,000 at the end of the year.
Malaysia should also seriously consider introducing satellite-based Internet services as another solution to overcome the congestion faced by Malaysians in trying to access the Internet.
The big advantage the satellite offers over telephone lines is speed as a maximum speed of three megabits-per-second (Mbps), equivalent to two T-1 lines, or about 100 times faster than conventional telephone lines, is possible.
In Japan this year, two satellite-based Internet services would be introduced and there is no reason why Malaysia should lag behind in this field.
(14/2/97)