IT is not an exaggeration to say that many Malaysians of all ages and walks of life depend a lot on communicating via the Internet. I, for one, am an active user for business and leisure.

My nightmare is that every time I have to get out of the office, especially away from the big city, I face difficulty in getting good Internet broadband connections.

This happens a lot whenever I go to smaller towns where the service is slow or non-existent.

What is the use of having hi-tech, state-of-the-art laptops if they are not fully usable?

It’s not my intention to blame anyone, but in this case I don’t think the finger should be pointed at the government.

We should consider ourselves fortunate as we are better-off than some of our neighbours.

In fact, I applaud the government for its various efforts, such as the High Speed Broadband (HSBB) project and the push for greater accessibility through the WiMAX rollout. It was reported that RM30 million would be allocated for the promotion of the HSBB project alone!

The ones that should be more assertive and take greater responsibility are the service providers, like the telco players and WiMAX operators.

For months we have been reading a lot in the media of greater things to come for the country’s broadband solutions and applications and we wait in great anticipation but, alas, to no avail.

Those concerned should buck up and come up with more than promises to show at the end of the day. It is time to show your worth and walk the talk as we consumers are willing to part with good money to get good services.

N.D.S.K. , Kuala Lumpur

Source: NST – July 31, 2008