Malaysian government to allocate RM 3.4 billion for HSBB Phase 2

The Malaysian government has allocated RM 3.4 billion for the next phase of the high speed broadband (HSBB) project – HSBB2. Of this amount, RM 1.8 billion will be used to expand coverage in urban areas and increase internet speeds to up to 10 Mbps, while the remainder will be spent on extending the network to suburban areas and augmenting Internet speeds to up to 4 to 10 Mbps. The budget also provides for the installation of 1,000 telecommunications transmission towers over three years to increase internet coverage in rural areas. The HSBB network is managed by Telekom Malaysia that initiated the construction of the network in 2008 under a public–private partnership arrangement with the government.