Telekoms interest in Jaring draws flak
K KabilanPublished: Jan 11, 2001 11:25 AM | Updated: Jan 29, 2008 6:21 PM
Telekom Malaysia Bhd should not take over Internet Service Provider (ISP) Jaring as consumers, both individuals and businesses, will be disadvantaged by the move, information technology industry leaders said today.
[#1]USJ.com.my[/#] founder and administrator Jeff Ooi said that consumers will feel cheated if an ISP with a good record and reputation is taken over by one which reputedly already suffers from an image problem among consumers.
"It looks like a forced marriage to me and I can't find any valid reasons for the take-over," he told malaysiakini when contacted.
Ooi was referring to a statement by Telekom Malaysia yesterday that the company had launched a preliminary assessment on the possibility of acquiring Jaring.
The statement to the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange read that the company would make an announcement as soon as a firm decision had been made on the matter
Competition needed
Ooi said that in a free market, competitors like Jaring and Telekom's own ISP, TMNet should be allowed to compete with one another.
"There will there be an incentive to achieve excellence and this will benefit consumers," he added.
He also said that in the event Jaring needed to be tied up with another Internet service provider, it should be with a world-class strategic partner.
Networking company Comets Technology vice-president K Kathiravan said that the take-over was not a good move as it would enable Telekom to "conquer everything".
"TMNet's services are not up to par as that provided by Jaring. This could be due to bad management and if this is allowed to creep into the merger, Jaring's service and quality will drop," he said.
Management expertise lacking
A similar view was also expressed by ISL Services senior business recovery manager Sri Shanker, who noted that although Telekom had a good infrastructure in place, it lacked management expertise to provide a good service.
"They don't have enough technical people and they work in a typical bureaucratic manner," he said.
He added that it was well known in the industry that Telekom's services were bad and of poor quality.
"I know of a few big multinationals that have changed their entire phone and Internet systems from Telekom to other providers," he said.
Bad for penetration
Meanwhile, DAP chairman Lim Kit Siang said Telekom should not be allowed to take over Jaring as the move would not help increase the rate of Internet penetration in the country.
He said that based on the track record of TMNet, the acquisition of Jaring should be opposed as it would hinder any prospect of Malaysia being in the front rank of the world's connected societies.
"What the country needs is to have more ISPs so that Internet users have more choice and better and cheaper service," he said.
Lim said that Malaysia was reported in the Asia Pacific Telecommunications Indicators 2000 to have a low Internet penetration rate of just 6.9 percent.
He said that the average penetration registered by Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan was 23.7 percent and for Australia, Japan and New Zealand, it was 22.9 percent.
Unrealistic target
"The government recently said that the number of Internet users in the country is expected to increase from the current six percent of the population to 25 percent over the next five years," said Lim.
He, however, added that this projected target by the government was unrealistic as it was too ambitious.
He said Malaysia should follow the example of Ireland which achieved a penetration rate of more than 40 percent last year, up from 33 percent in 1999 and just five percent four years ago.
[#1]USJ.com.my[/#] founder and administrator Jeff Ooi said that consumers will feel cheated if an ISP with a good record and reputation is taken over by one which reputedly already suffers from an image problem among consumers.
"It looks like a forced marriage to me and I can't find any valid reasons for the take-over," he told malaysiakini when contacted.
Ooi was referring to a statement by Telekom Malaysia yesterday that the company had launched a preliminary assessment on the possibility of acquiring Jaring.
The statement to the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange read that the company would make an announcement as soon as a firm decision had been made on the matter
Competition needed
Ooi said that in a free market, competitors like Jaring and Telekom's own ISP, TMNet should be allowed to compete with one another.
"There will there be an incentive to achieve excellence and this will benefit consumers," he added.
He also said that in the event Jaring needed to be tied up with another Internet service provider, it should be with a world-class strategic partner.
Networking company Comets Technology vice-president K Kathiravan said that the take-over was not a good move as it would enable Telekom to "conquer everything".
"TMNet's services are not up to par as that provided by Jaring. This could be due to bad management and if this is allowed to creep into the merger, Jaring's service and quality will drop," he said.
Management expertise lacking
A similar view was also expressed by ISL Services senior business recovery manager Sri Shanker, who noted that although Telekom had a good infrastructure in place, it lacked management expertise to provide a good service.
"They don't have enough technical people and they work in a typical bureaucratic manner," he said.
He added that it was well known in the industry that Telekom's services were bad and of poor quality.
"I know of a few big multinationals that have changed their entire phone and Internet systems from Telekom to other providers," he said.
Bad for penetration
Meanwhile, DAP chairman Lim Kit Siang said Telekom should not be allowed to take over Jaring as the move would not help increase the rate of Internet penetration in the country.
He said that based on the track record of TMNet, the acquisition of Jaring should be opposed as it would hinder any prospect of Malaysia being in the front rank of the world's connected societies.
"What the country needs is to have more ISPs so that Internet users have more choice and better and cheaper service," he said.
Lim said that Malaysia was reported in the Asia Pacific Telecommunications Indicators 2000 to have a low Internet penetration rate of just 6.9 percent.
He said that the average penetration registered by Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan was 23.7 percent and for Australia, Japan and New Zealand, it was 22.9 percent.
Unrealistic target
"The government recently said that the number of Internet users in the country is expected to increase from the current six percent of the population to 25 percent over the next five years," said Lim.
He, however, added that this projected target by the government was unrealistic as it was too ambitious.
He said Malaysia should follow the example of Ireland which achieved a penetration rate of more than 40 percent last year, up from 33 percent in 1999 and just five percent four years ago.
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