Find Telecommunication expertise in Malaysia

Due to sustained private investment, Malaysia possesses one of the most advanced telecoms and internet sectors in the entire Asia-Pacific region. It has been estimated that the value of ICT provides about 8.3% of the country’s GDP (AHK, 2010), while telecoms (fixed and mobile) provides about 5% according to the most recent figure available (Trading Economics, 2004). In the 2000s there was remarkable growth in the mobile subsector, while broadband services began to gather momentum in the first few years of the next decade, with household penetration at 67% as of 2013 (Budde).  In comparison, the fixed line telecom market has slowed down since data packages and mobile broadband have grown. AHK suggests this is due to the increase of Malaysia’s young population, making mobile and internet usage much more attractive, along with the market explosion of smart phone and hi-tech telecommunication technologies.

There are approximately 209,200 employees in the industry according to a 2012 Labour Force Survey Report conducted by the government. This makes up about 15.9% of the overall labour force (13.12 million people).

Main mobile providers include Maxis, Celcom and DiGi while the main fixed line operator is Telekom Malaysia. A major restructuring process saw Telekom Malaysia merge its mobile sector with Celcom, creating Axiata. This reduced the amount of mobile providers in what is generally deemed an “overcrowded market” by the government (Budde, 2013). There are numerous ISPs in the country, with TM, Maxis and Celcom possessing of 35%, 19% and 18% of the market respectively (Malaysian Investment Development Authority, 2013).

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission acts as the primary regulator for the sector. Although the industry is privatised and saturated with competition, the government has put through many initiatives to capitalise on growth and plans for the future, especially with ICT. Through the Multimedia Development Coordination, the Malaysian government is focused on promoting the Multimedia Super Corridor, an initiative designed to entice companies to invest in the Malaysian telecoms and internet market. This is part of the overall Communications Content and Infrastructure Project outlined in the 10th Malaysia Plan. The aim is to improve services and infrastructure at the same time as providing enriching content through those services. Government policy on the telecoms industry has been driven by its Vision 2020 policy. The plan is to achieve this by attracting advanced IT and multimedia companies to the country, which will in turn filter through to the telecoms sector and expand the related infrastructure.

Strong infrastructure places Malaysia among the most developed nations in the world for the telecoms and internet sector. There are 146 landlines, 1,488 mobile subscriptions, 675 internet users per 1,000 people (2014). This places Malaysia 27 out of 148 countries for mobile subscriptions, but 79 out 148  for fixed telephone lines. 65.8% of the population use the internet with an average of 16.4 kbps of international bandwidth per user (Source: World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report, 2013-14).

Malaysia is putting great focus on developing its infrastructural technology, including the implementation of optic fibres, wireless transmission, satellites and digitalisation. This builds upon next generation networks, 3G content, WIMAX digital TV, VOIP and sensor technology (AHK, 2010). In 2008, the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications and Telekom Malaysia Berhad signed a public–private partnership agreement to officially launch Phase 1 of an initiative to provide high-speed broadband throughout Malaysia.