TM has introduced three new broadband plans for students age 18-25 with valid student ID, announced not too long ago, the packages were launched to encourage more uptake of landed high speed connectivity among the younger audience.

Options available include Unifi Edu Lite starting with 10 Mb, Unifi Edu Advance 30 Mb and Unifi Edu Pro with 100Mb, they all include free wifi usage on the 5800 hotspots across the country and Hypp TV pack. Starting from RM99, students who are eligible and depending on coverage can now subscribe to the plans from November this year till end December 2018 when the promotion expires.

Before applying however, TM requires students to download the iFoundit app and go to TM Point to fill up the forms for the plans. Upon successful application, it also worth to take note the plans are only valid for 24 month upon which students have the option to terminate or upgrade to regular Unifi plans. While the plan are now reduced in pricing to about RM30, it will be interesting to see if there will be an increase of subscriber base for Unifi or a mere migration from other plans to the Edu plan. Parents can enjoy the reduced pricing for two years if they have college going children in the household.

Another contentions among the youth is the limitation of 24 months, as most courses extend from three to four years, the student plan is limited to just two after which they will have to resort to paying higher. And this is when they are in their finals years and require intensive research or projects on the PC’s. TM could just allow the plan to continue until the end of their studies to reduce the burden both on the students and their sponsors especially for those in the lower income bracket.

We do agree the plan is useful and timely, but more tuning should be done to encourage adoption for the fixed broadband option, wireless coverage from telco are offering more viable solutions for now. But if TM is on a path to compete with them it should re-look at pricing and coverage.