KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 11): Malaysian internet users have increasingly moved towards online video and voice calls compared to traditional voice calls, according to a survey by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).

In its latest Internet users survey 2018 (IUS 2018), the MCMC said Malaysia internet users had increased their video and voice calls via social messaging apps by almost 30 percent last year compared with 2016.

It said with data becoming increasingly more affordable, this trend is set to become the norm for Malaysian.

“A total of 87.4 percent of Malaysia’s population now use the internet compared with 76.9 percent in 2016. Currently, the world average is 51.2 percent as reported by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in its report.

“However, communication via text messages using social messaging apps remains the most popular online activity among internet users in Malaysia (93.3 percent in 2016 to 96.5 percent in 2018),” the MCMC said.

In November 2018, Speedtest Global Index by Ookla reported that fixed broadband download speeds in Malaysia had increased by almost threefold to 58Mbps compared with 23Mbps in January 2018.

“This development will allow Malaysians, particularly businesses to maximize their potential income derived from online activities,” it said.

The annual survey, which was carried out between April 26 to Aug 10, 2018, through telephone interviews, reached a sample of 4,160 Internet users nationwide.

Respondents were selected at random.