Malaysia: MyIX Commends Government For Strengthening Malaysia’s Position As Regional Tech Hub
By NST Business
Demand for internet bandwidth in Malaysia continues to soar, with the Malaysia Internet Exchange (MyIX) reporting a peak of 1.9 Tbps in December 2022, surging more than threefold from the 588 Gbps posted in May 2020.
MyIX chairman Chiew Kok Hin said this record peak shows that today’s internet and the digital economy are deeply entrenched in Malaysian lifestyle and work cultures, especially hybrid.
He commended the government for making the country’s digital economy a strategic engine of growth.
Chiew foresees demand continuing to rise, given the Malaysian digital strategy to continue driving adoption and opportunities in the digital economy to support the national recovery plan.
Strengthening Malaysia’s construction sector
“In addition, due to the rapid growth of video conferencing and traffic together with large-scale display technologies, which bring about video traffic requiring very high bandwidth, we foresee demand for internet bandwidth increasing in the months and years ahead,” said Chiew in a statement today.
“Digitisation is indeed accelerating in Malaysia, which is a good sign considering that studies have shown that a country’s ability to compete and evolve in the 21st century increasingly depends on its efficient use of information and communication technologies,” he said.
According to Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), the digital economy contributes 22.6 per cent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and is set to rise to 25.5 per cent by 2025.
MyIX is looking forward to more investor-friendly policies to strengthen Malaysia’s position as a regional tech hub.
Suggestions include reinstatement of the cabotage exemption policy for foreign vessels to conduct undersea cable repairs.
This is because various foreign multinationals have invested substantially in submarine cables connecting Malaysia to other parts of the world.
“As it stands, a growing number of data centre operators have moved and are moving to Malaysia to enhance data speeds to cater for densely populated cities within the Southeast Asian region.
“This includes hyperscale data centres, which offer robust, scalable applications and a storage portfolio of services to individuals or businesses.
“Hence, a reinstatement of this policy would enable Malaysia to attract more submarine cable investments leading into Malaysia,” Chiew said.
Other suggestions include an exemption for telecommunications companies and data centres on potential increases in electricity tariffs to attract more foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country.
At its end, MyIX consciously lowered the exchange’s port pricing by 33 per cent last year to further benefit the country, including members and end-users, and to further support the growth of Malaysia’s digital economy.
“MyIX is already one of the cheapest exchanges in the region today,” said Chiew.
“We will continue championing its cause of ‘keeping internet traffic local’ without having to take indirect international routes,” said Chiew.
Established as an initiative under the Malaysian Communications Multimedia Commission (MCMC), MyIX has 132 autonomous systems (ASNs) with 210 ports.
The exchange also welcomed two new members recently – Symbio Networks (M) Sdn Bhd and IP World Technologies Sdn Bhd.
Its members will convene for the next annual general meeting in March 2023.
