Malaysia Internet Exchange (MyIX), an initiative under the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), has released its internet traffic statistics exchanged over the national Internet exchange, MyIX – covering the first six months of 2015.
MyIX Chairman, Chiew Kok Hin explains: “We continue to see an increase in Internet traffic. As at the end of the second quarter of 2015, internet traffic was recorded 98,589 Mbps, as compared with 61,771 Mbps in the same period in 2014; showing a 60 percent increase.”
He continues: “Over the past few years, the main focus of the government has been to increase the internet penetration rate in Malaysia.
“The global target for a developing nation was to achieve 40 percent household broadband penetration rate in 2015; and according to MCMC’s 2015 first quarter report, Malaysia has achieved the household broadband penetration rate of 70.2 percent.”
In 2009, the household broadband penetration rate was only at 31.7 percent, and today this figure has doubled.
“The drastic increase in internet traffic over the last few years is in-synch with the growth rate of broadband users in Malaysia. As of 2014, there is a total of 20.7 million broadband subscribers, with 85 percent consisting of mobile broadband subscribers,” says Chiew.
This directly corresponds with the Malaysia’s mobile penetration rate. In 2011, a survey by MCMC showed there were 36 million phone subscribers in Malaysia; this figure rose to 45 million by the end of 2014, increasing the mobile penetration rate to 148.5.
In fact, the introduction of MCMC’s Youth Communication Package (YCP) in 2012, has helped to increase nationwide phone subscribers by 25 percent. Further to this, the government introduced the universal service provision (USP), namely a smart device with an internet package, to accelerate mobile broadband uptake.
Chiew says that Malaysia has many geographical challenges when it comes to infrastructure upgrades: “With Sabah and Sarawak being across the South China Sea, the cost of connecting these two states increases tremendously. That’s why it is important that investments to connect rural areas are done.”
The government announced heavy investments in underwater cables for Sabah and Sarawak in the 2014 budget; as well as the allocation of RM1.2billion in the recent 2016 budget to increase rural broadband speed from 5 Mbps to 20 Mbps; to serve as a catalyst for rural SMEs to venture into e-commerce adoption.
For further information, and to peer with MyIX, please visit www.myix.my
