A total of 147,286 ports were installed nationwide as at end-August in a bid to increase the coverage and speed of broadband capacity in suburban areas.

According to the Economic Report 2016/17 issued by the Finance Ministry, the devices were installed under the Suburban Broadband (SUBB) project capable of delivering broadband capacity of up to 20 megabits per second (Mbps).

Another initiative to improve broadband quality is the Fibre Optic Network Expansion and as at end-August, a total of 432km of fibre optic backhaul network was upgraded nationwide.

A total of 13,402 ports were installed under the Rural Broadband (RBB) scheme to provide fixed coverage with speed of up to 4 Mbps at selected locations.

In addition, the 1Malaysia People's Cable System (SKR1M) initiative involving the installation of submarine fibre optic cables, construction of Submarine Cable Landing Centres (SCLC) and another related works to connect Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak began in 2014 and is expected to be completed by 2017. -- BERNAMA