Malaysia's Internet usage jumped in 2013: MyIX

By Digital News Asia April 8, 2014

Internet traffic consumption increased by 51% in the last 12 months
Chiew Kok Hin re-elected as MyIX chairman for two more terms

Malaysia's Internet usage jumped in 2013: MyIX MALAYSIA'S Internet traffic consumption has increased by 51% in the last 12 months, according to the latest statistics released by the Malaysian Internet Exchange (MyIX).

MyIX is a non-profit organisation set up in 2006 under the purview of the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to oversee the operations of the national Internet traffic exchange, and to facilitate the mutual peering between local Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to enable a more efficient and cost-effective transmission of inter-ISP content.

“In 2013, our statistics showed that Internet traffic in Malaysia increased by a whopping 51% to a total amount of 349,277 Mbps, as compared to 230,631 Mbps in 2012,” said MyIX chairman, Chiew Kok Hin (pic) in a statement.

The statistics showed that the biggest differences for 2013, were in the months of January, February, March and November – each recording an average between 75 to 80% increase, as compared to the same months in 2012.

In January, the nation’s Internet traffic stood at 22,511 Mbps – which is a 75% increase as compared to 12,880 Mbps in January 2012. By November 2013, the highest usage for 2013 was recorded at 41,319 Mbps.

Chiew noted that 2013 has been “a great year” for the Internet, here in Malaysia. While the Internet exchange has been seeing a steady annual increase in Internet usage among Malaysians in the last few years, the usage growth has multiplied beyond expectations.

“We believe that the reasons for this, co-relates back with several synergistic trends amongst Malaysian Internet users, such as the spike in the number of smart phones users; with the sudden boom of user access to social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram; as well as the jump in data messaging applications such as Whatsapp, WeChat, Viber, Line and more,” he added.

On the increase in smartphone users, IDC Research attributes this to the Malaysian government's Youth Communication Package (YCP) that offers a RM200 (US$61) rebate for the purchase of a smartphone for young adults aged 21-30 with a monthly income of RM3000 (US$916) or less.

This further encouraged mobile phone vendors to take advantage of the government incentive to introduce 25 new smartphones priced around RM600 into the market – and eventually contributing to the market share of sub-RM600 smartphones increasing from 24% in the second half of 2012, to 39% in the first half of 2013.

“Cheaper smartphones contribute in driving Internet accessibility worldwide, and we also see its impact here in Malaysia as Internet usage explodes. Together with MyIX’s recent Internet network infrastructure upgrade being completed, we can better support the Internet traffic increase by end-consumers in Malaysia,” said Chiew.

The latest statistics release follows the non-profit organisation’s third annual general meeting in March, which saw the election of the committee and the re-election of Chiew as chairman for another two terms.

Chiew Kok Hin, who is also the CEO for the AIMS Group, was re-elected as the Chairman of MyIX for another two terms. He will be assisted by a new committee that comprises of the new deputy chairman, Lim Chee Meng, the head of Core Network Engineering at Maxis Communications Bhd; Secretary, Wan Mohd Nizam, the general manager of Celcom Axiata; Treasurer, Chew Choo Soon, CEO of MyKRIS Asia Sdn Bhd.

In addition, the new elected committee compromises representatives from Jaring Communications Sdn Bhd, Telekom Malaysia Berhad, TIME dotCom Berhad (TIME), Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd, and Redtone-CNX Broadband Sdn Bhd.

“It is an honour to be re-elected by my peers and I look forward to work with the committee to take MyIX into the next level, especially to attract more peering members both local and international of various categories; towards the end of achieving a world-class level of Internet connectivity and ecosystem for Malaysia,” said Chiew.