Since its beginnings in 1995, the Internet in Malaysia has become the main platform for free discussion in the country's otherwise tightly controlled media environment. [1] As of Q1 2017, Malaysia had broadband penetration rates of 103.6% (per 100 inhabitants) and 81.8% (per 100 households). [2]
Malaysia began its Internet services in 1987 with MIMOS (Malaysian Institutes of Microelectronics Systems) as the sole provider. MIMOS was first established in 1985 to provide critical infrastructure for the advancement of the local electronics industry. The first Internet service in Malaysia, known as the Rangkaian Komputer Malaysia (RangKoM), connects all the universities in Malaysia to MIMOS to enable researchers from the universities to communicate with each other. The main applications used at that time were e-mails and electronic forums (such as Usenet) and because the main users were mainly academicians and researchers, the information being exchanged were mostly academic related. The conception of RangKoM allowed MIMOS and the universities to create the local talent pool in computer networks which at that time was a very new subject area in Malaysia.
In 1992, the Joint Advanced Research Integrated Network (JARING) was conceived by MIMOS as part of the 6th Malaysia Plan to provide Internet services to the nation. JARING was connected to many research and academic institutions, including several government and private agencies. Its main objective is to support the education, research and commercialization activities in Malaysia. JARING also had a gateway to the international Internet. A leased line to the United States with the speed of 64 kbit/s was introduced on November 1992.
Datacraft Asia provided the Cisco Systems AGS router for the Internet connection to JARING in February 1993.
The year 1995 is considered the beginning of the Internet age in Malaysia. The growth in the number of Internet hosts in Malaysia began around 1996. The country's first search engine and web portal company, Cari Internet, was also founded that year. [3] According to the first Malaysian Internet survey conducted from October to November 1995 by MIMOS and Beta Interactive Services, one out of every thousand Malaysians had access to the Internet (20,000 Internet users out of a population of 20 million). [4] [ better source needed ] In 1998, this number grew to 2.6% of the population. The total number of computer units sold, which was 467,000 in 1998 and 701,000 in 2000 indicated an increasing growth. [5] [ better source needed ] [6]
In 2005 the National Public Policy Workshop (NPPW) proposed a strategy to increase the uptake of Information and communications technology (ICT) and the Internet. Among the outcomes of the NPPW was the High Speed Broadband initiative launched in 2010. As of July 2012 Internet users in Malaysia reached 25.3 million. Out of that number, there are 5 million broadband users, 2.5 million wireless broadband users and 10 million 3G subscribers. [7]
In January 2013, Maxis launch their 4G FDD-LTE network, and this is the first ISP in Malaysia launch 4G FDD-LTE network. After a few months, Celcom in April launch their 4G FDD-LTE network. Following ISP is DiGi in July, U Mobile in December. After 3 years in 2016 April, Unifi Mobile launch their 4G TDD-LTE network, and this is the first ISP in Malaysia launch 4G TDD-LTE network. After a few months, Yes 4G in June launch their 4G TDD-LTE network.
As of September 2023, Malaysia's average internet speed for fixed broadband is 100.57 Mbit/s, ranking it 41st in the world. Average speed for mobile connection speed has also gone up to 61.50 Mbit/s, ranking 41st overall. [8]
For this market analysis in Q3 2023, TIME dot com was the fastest fixed broadband provider among top providers in Malaysia, with a speed up to 110.23 Mbit/s. U Mobile is the fastest mobile operator among Malaysia's top providers, with speeds of up to 39.40 Mbit/s in 4G network. [9]
In 2019, the government of Malaysia started trials of 5G network, [10] which is officially rolled out by the end of 2021 on Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Cyberjaya. [11]
All ISP are closedown the 3G network nationwide on 31 December 2021. But Digi extended the 3G network shutdown in Northern (Perak , Penang , Kedah , Perlis) and Central (WP.KL / Putrajaya / Selangor) to Jan 3 / Jan 6 2022 respectively because of flood. [12]
5G services in Malaysia was launched on 15 December 2021, and the first run ISP was Yes. But the Malaysia 5G network was provided by Digital Nasional Berhad as a Single Wholesale Network (SWN) companies. Customers of unifi Mobile should be able to enjoy the 5G services in Malaysia at the same time with Yes 4G , but unfortunately Telekom Malaysia didn't provide any further details after they announced signing up for 5G trials with DNB. [13]
Internet Service Provider | Cellular Service Technology | Voice Over LTE (VoLTE) | Voice Over WiFi (VoWiFi) | CA | MIMO | QAM | Frequency (MHz) | Internet Download Speed / Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Celcom Digi | EDGE | Yes | Yes | 2CA (1A-3A, 3A-8A) 900(B8), 1800(B3), 2100(B1) | up to 32T32R | download up to 256; upload up to 64 | 2G: 900, 1800 4G: 900(B8), 1800(B3), 2100(B1), 2600(B7) 5G: 700(n28), 3500(n78) | - Celcom up to 780 Mbit/s, average to 30 Mbit/s. - DiGi up to 780 Mbit/s, average to 35 Mbit/s. - Telco using same network with Celcom by MVNO are Hello SIM, redONE, Tune Talk, XOX & yoodo. - Telco using same network with DiGi by MVNO are Mcalls, speakOUT & Tone Wow. - Total subscribers in Q4 2022 is 20.3 million excluding MVNO. |
2CA (1A-3A, 3A-8A) 900(B8), 1800(B3), 2100(B1) | 2G: 900, 1800 4G: 900(B8), 1800(B3), 2100(B1), 2600(B7) 5G: 700(n28), 3500(n78) | |||||||
Maxis | EDGE | 3CA (1A-3A-7A) 1800(B3), 2100(B1), 2600(B7) | 4T4R | 2G: 900, 1800 4G: 900(B8), 1800(B3), 2100(B1), 2600(B7) 5G: 700(n28), 3500(n78) | - Up to 1 Gbit/s, average to 40 Mbit/s. - Telco using same network by MVNO are Ansar Mobile. - Total subscribers in Q3 2021 is 11.65million | |||
U Mobile | 4G LTE, 4G LTE-A | 2CA (3A-7A, 3A-8A) 900(B8), 1800(B3), 2600(B7) | 2G: by Celcom 4G: 900(B8), 1800(B3), 2100(B1), 2600(B7) 5G: 700(n28), 3500(n78) | - Up to 480 Mbit/s, average to 40 Mbit/s. - 2G services are provided by Celcom through roaming agreements. - Total subscribers in Q2 2021 is 8.02 million | ||||
Unifi Mobile | EDGE | 2CA (40C) 2300(B40) | up to 4T4R | 64 | 2G: by Celcom 4G: 850(B5), 2300(B40), 2600(B38) 5G: 700(n28), 3500(n78) | - Up to 100 Mbit/s, average to 35 Mbit/s. - 2G services are provided by Celcom through roaming agreements. - Total subscribers in Q2 2021 is 2.01 million | ||
Yes | 4G LTE, 4G LTE-A | 2CA (20A-38A, 38A-40A) 800(B20), 2300(B40), 2600(B38) | 4G: 800(B20), 2300(B40), 2600(B38) 5G: 700(n28), 3500(n78) | - Up to 125 Mbit/s, average to 30 Mbit/s. - Total subscribers in Q4 2020 is 1.30 million |
*: Note that the bolded parts of the "CA" and "Frequency" section is the most used frequency by the mobile operator.
As of June 2012 there were 1,705,000 DSL connections. TM Net (Unifi), a subsidiary of Telekom Malaysia (TM), is Malaysia's largest Internet service provider. While there are many ISPs in Malaysia, TM's ownership of the nation's last mile connections restricts competition to densely populated areas in major cities. Since there is no local loop unbundling, TM Net enjoys a virtual monopoly of the broadband market.
DSL connections are provided by:
Internet service provider | DSL service technology | Internet download speed | Internet upload speed | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Maxis | VDSL2 (for high-rise buildings only) | Maximum 50 Mbit/s | Maximum 50 Mbit/s | Low availability, will be use fiber FTTH. |
Unifi | ||||
Unifi Lite (Streamyx) | ADSL, ADSL2/ADSL2+ | Maximum 10 Mbit/s | Maximum 5 Mbit/s | Closed for registration. Current unifi Lite users are suggested to migrate to unifi Air. [14] |
Telekom Malaysia Bhd has spent about RM1.9 billion, with the inclusion government funds amounting to RM990 million in the installation of high-speed broadband services throughout Malaysia. [15] The four initial areas that will be covered by high speed broadband services, that is being launched in March 2010 are Shah Alam, Subang Jaya, Taman Tun Dr Ismail and Bangsar. [16]
The benefits announced with the implementation of high speed broadband include smoother e-commerce activities, Internet-based health services, voice over IP (VoIP) communications, web surfing that contains detailed pictures and graphics, as well as faster data downloads. It has been promised that video-streaming will be smoother and Internet Protocol television (IPTV) could take off in Malaysia.
Fiber to the x connections are provided by:
Internet Service Provider | Fiber service coverage | Internet download speed | Internet upload speed |
---|---|---|---|
Unifi | East and West Malaysia | From 100 Mbit/s to 2 Gbit/s | From 50 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s |
Maxis | East and West Malaysia | From 100 Mbit/s to 2 Gbit/s | From 50 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s |
TIME | West Malaysia (for high-rise or business building only) [17] | From 100 Mbit/s to 2 Gbit/s | From 100 Mbit/s to 500 Mbit/s |
Celcom Digi | East and West Malaysia | From 50 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s | From 20 Mbit/s to 200 Mbit/s [18] |
PR1MA Communications | 1Malaysia People's Housing Programme | From 30 Mbit/s and 60 Mbit/s | From 30 Mbit/s and 60 Mbit/s |
Allo City Broadband | Selected areas in West Malaysia (Melaka, Perak, Cyberjaya, Kedah, Penang) [19] | From 100 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s | From 100 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s |
Symphonet | Selected areas in West Malaysia | From 30 Mbit/s to 100 Mbit/s | From 30 Mbit/s to 100 Mbit/s |
ViewQwest | Selected areas in West Malaysia | From 100 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s | From 100 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s |
Hotspot connections are provided by:
Internet service provider | Hotspot quantity count | Internet service registration | Other |
---|---|---|---|
DiGi | Over 7,000 | Required | Payment required for connecting to the hotspot. [20] |
Unifi (branded as wifi@unifi) | Over 8,000 | Not required | Can be used with the i-foundit! app. [21] |
Y5ZONE | Over 5,500 | Required | For F&B merchants, Y5ZONE Wi-Fi mostly requires a code printed on the receipt. |
YES Public Wi-Fi (YES Terragraph) | Over 400 [22] | Required | Registration requires linking of social network accounts |
WiFi Smart Selangor | Almost 800 [23] | Required | Provided by Selangor Government through SMARTSEL Shd Bhd |
Internet service provider | Hotspot quantity count | Internet service registration | Other |
---|---|---|---|
Penang Free Wi-Fi (REDtone [24] ) | Over 1,550 [25] | Required | Suspended from February 13, 2019 due to its poor network speeds. [26] Most of the hotspots replaced with YES Public Wi-Fi. |
On 30 May 2011, the Malaysian government started to ban some websites, mostly file sharing websites; [27] [28] this is despite a promise not to censor the Internet made by the sixth prime minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak. [29]
During the Movement Control Order (MCO) that was imposed to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, Malaysia's internet traffic has increased by 30% to 70%, while the internet speed has dropped by 30% to 40%. [30] Therefore, the Government of Malaysia launched the JENDELA Program (Jalinan Digital Negara).
The program will be the national digital communication enhancement platform under the 12th Malaysia Plan (2021–2025) that will be implemented in two phases:
Phase 1 (2020 – 2022):
Phase 1, which started from 2020 to 2022, will involve optimising existing resources and infrastructure for both mobile and fixed connectivity by:
This will also involve the gradual switch-off/sunset of 3G networks until the end of 2021, allowing further upgrades to 4G networks as well as strengthening the foundation for 5G networks.
Phase 2 (Beyond 2022):
This also means that Malaysia's 3G network will gradually be closed. If only 2G/3G network coverage is available in some areas, only 2G networks will be available after the 3G network is closed, which will affect consumers’ experience.
Therefore, the current priority of the Malaysian government is to increase 4G network coverage, from 91.8% of Malaysia's 4G coverage to 96.9%.
In addition, they plan to increase the mobile network speed of mobile phones from 25 Mbit/s to 35 Mbit/s.
They will also ensure that 83% premises nationwide will have access to gigabit speed of fixed broadband
In order to ensure that users using 4G to make calls will not fall back to 2G without 3G network coverage, Malaysian telecom operators have launched VoLTE, and some also provide VoWiFi services.
For a long time, there has been criticism[ by whom? ] surrounding the international routing of Malaysian telecommunications companies. One example is Telekom Malaysia (TM), which faces a cumbersome connection process when linking to a server located in mainland China. To reach China Telecom, for instance, Telekom Malaysia's data packets have to travel through Europe and connect to Points of Presence (PoPs) for Chinese telecommunications companies before finally reaching the China backbone network. This routing method significantly degrades latency and connection quality for TM users attempting to connect to Chinese servers. [32] [ original research? ]
Additionally, Telekom Malaysia's routing to certain Cloudflare IP addresses leaves much to be desired. Despite the implementation of Anycast IP, most TM users are redirected to Osaka, Japan, or Hong Kong, China before being connected to the Cloudflare PoP in either of those locations. This routing practice leads to a subpar user experience. [33]
Furthermore, there is a persistent issue of internet congestion between Malaysia and Singapore data centers, particularly during the afternoon to midnight period. This congestion directly affects users accessing platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, Instagram, gaming servers, and voice servers that have their servers hosted in Singapore. The severity of the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia, which has prompted the government to encourage citizens to work from home, has exacerbated the problem of congested networks for Telekom Malaysia's international connections. To compound matters, TM users have voiced complaints about the degradation of the quality of service, which have been consistently ignored by the company. Reports submitted by users to the Malaysia Communication and Multimedia Commissioner have also failed to yield any response from the authorities. [34]
Celcom Axiata Berhad is the oldest mobile telecommunications provider in Malaysia. Celcom is a member of the Axiata group of companies. Celcom was merged with Digi to form CelcomDigi on 1 December 2022.
3G is the third generation of wireless mobile telecommunications technology. It is the upgrade to 2G, 2.5G, GPRS and 2.75G Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution networks, offering faster data transfer, and better voice quality. This network was superseded by 4G, and later by 5G. This network is based on a set of standards used for mobile devices and mobile telecommunications services and networks that comply with the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 (IMT-2000) specifications set by the International Telecommunication Union. 3G is used in wireless voice telephony, mobile Internet access, fixed wireless Internet access, video calls and mobile TV.
4G is the fourth generation of broadband cellular network technology, succeeding 3G and preceding 5G. A 4G system must provide capabilities defined by ITU in IMT Advanced. Potential and current applications include amended mobile web access, IP telephony, gaming services, high-definition mobile TV, video conferencing, and 3D television.
Telekom Malaysia Berhad or simply TM is a Malaysian telecommunications company founded in 1984. Beginning as the national telecommunications company for fixed line, radio, and television broadcasting services, it has evolved to become the country's largest provider of broadband services, data, fixed line, pay television, and network services. TM ventured into the LTE space with the launch of TMgo, its 4G offering. TM's 850 MHz service was rebranded as unifi Mobile in January 2018.
M1 Limited is a Singaporean telecommunications company and one of the major telcos operating in the country. M1 was founded in 1994 and traded on the Singapore Exchange from 2002 to 2019. M1 is a subsidiary of the Keppel Ltd.
Dialog Axiata PLC, is one of Sri Lanka's largest telecommunications service providers, and the country's largest mobile network operator with over 17 million subscribers which amounts to 57% of the Sri Lankan mobile market. Dialog is a subsidiary of Axiata Group Berhad which owns 73.75% controlling stake of the company, while Bharti Airtel owns 10.36%, and the rest is held by the public.
This article is intended to give an overview of the history of telecommunications in Malaysia.
Sri Lanka Telecom PLC, doing business as SLT-MOBITEL, is the national telecommunications services provider in Sri Lanka and one of the country's largest companies with an annual turnover in excess of Rs 40 billion. The company provides domestic and corporate services which include fixed and wireless telephony, Internet access and IT services to domestic, public and business sector customers. As of 2018 SLT-MOBITEL was Sri Lanka's second largest mobile network operator with over 7.9 million subscribers.
The Internet in South Africa, one of the most technologically resourced countries on the African continent, is expanding. The internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) .za is managed and regulated by the .za Domain Name Authority (.ZADNA) and was granted to South Africa by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in 1990. Over 60% of Internet traffic generated on the African continent originates from South Africa. As of 2020, 41.5 million people were Internet users.
Before the era of internet business in Indonesia, internet connections could only be found at a few leading universities. By using UUCP, university servers in Indonesia exchange information with other university servers in the world through their respective gateways. In 1994, the internet business in Indonesia was started, marked by the granting of an internet service provider (ISP) company license issued by the Indonesian government to PT. Rahajasa Media Internet or RADNET.
Internet in Moldova is one of the fastest and least expensive in the world. The country ranks 3rd in the world by gigabit coverage with around 90% of the population having the option to subscribe to a gigabit plan. The overall infrastructure is well developed which allows many users to experience good quality services throughout the country. However, despite high speeds and cheap prices, the penetration level is quite low when compared with many EU or CIS countries. In 2018, 49% of Moldovan households had broadband access. In 2015, there were 80 registered Internet Service Provider's (ISP's) in the country, with the majority being local or regional with only a few offering their services throughout the country. Moldtelecom and StarNet are the country's leading providers sharing around 88% of the market. The remaining 12% are shared between other ISPS, like SunCommunications, Arax Communications and others. Almost all ISPs that offer their services across the country have their headquarters located in the capital-city of Chişinău.
See also: Maxis, CelcomDigi, Yes, Unifi
In Romania, there are 18.8 million connections to the Internet. Romania's country code is .ro. The .eu domain is also used, as it is shared with other European Union member states. There were over 600 000 domains registered under .ro at the end of 2012.
Unifi Mobile is a Malaysian internet service provider and the country's sixth mobile network operator. Originally known as Packet One Networks (P1), the company was founded on 11 February 2002 and is currently a subsidiary of the national telephone company, Telekom Malaysia.
International Mobile Telecommunications-Advanced are the requirements issued by the ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in 2008 for what is marketed as 4G mobile phone and Internet access service.
A mobile broadband modem, also known as wireless modem or cellular modem, is a type of modem that allows a personal computer or a router to receive wireless Internet access via a mobile broadband connection instead of using telephone or cable television lines. A mobile Internet user can connect using a wireless modem to a wireless Internet Service Provider (ISP) to get Internet access.
YTL Communications or YTL Communications Sdn. Bhd.dbaYes is a mobile network operator in Malaysia, the fifth in the country overall. Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, YTL Communications is a subsidiary of the utilities company YTL Power International Berhad and serves as the communications arm of Jio Platforms, a leading infrastructure conglomerate in Malaysia. Yes uses the native dialling prefix identifier of 018 and 011-1.
Airtel India commonly known as Airtel, is the second largest provider of mobile telephony and third largest provider of fixed telephony in India, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services. The brand is operated by several subsidiaries of Bharti Airtel, with Bharti Hexacom and Bharti Telemedia providing broadband fixed line services and Bharti Infratel providing telecom passive infrastructure service such as telecom equipment and telecom towers. Currently, Airtel provides 5G, 4G and 4G+ services all over India. Currently offered services include fixed-line broadband, and voice services depending upon the country of operation. Airtel had also rolled out its VoLTE technology across all Indian telecom circles.
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