Malaysia Communications - 2024

Telephones - fixed lines

total subscriptions: 8,452,900 (2022 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 25 (2021 est.)

Telephones - mobile cellular

total subscriptions: 47,201,700 (2021 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 141 (2021 est.)

Telecommunication systems

general assessment: as part of a diverse range of initiatives designed to move the country from developing to developed status by 2025, Malaysia has enabled and encouraged open competition in its telecommunications market; the result is very high penetration levels in both the mobile (147%) and mobile broadband (127%) segments, and near-universal coverage of 4G LTE networks; steady growth is occurring as more fiber optic cable networks are being deployed around the country; consumers are the main beneficiaries of the highly competitive market; they enjoy widespread access to high-speed mobile services as well as attractive offers on bundles to keep data use up but prices low; the downside is that most of Malaysia’s MNOs and MVNOs have struggled to increase revenue in line with growth in subscriber numbers as well as demand for broadband data; while the operators have been very successful in moving a significant proportion (now over 30%) of customers from prepaid over to higher-value postpaid accounts, ARPU continues to fall year after year as a result of competitive pricing pressures; the mobile market, in particular, has become overcrowded and the government is keen to see further rationalization and consolidation with the operators; while customers will no doubt continue to enjoy high quality services at competitive rates, the new entity will be hopeful of squeezing better margins through improved economies of scale; in 2022, the government abandoned its single wholesale 5G network model and committed to deploying a dual 5G network; currently, 80 percent of Malaysia’s population is covered by 5G (2023)

domestic: fixed-line roughly 25 per 100 and mobile-cellular teledensity roughly 141 per 100 persons (2021)

international: country code - 60; landing points for BBG, FEA, SAFE, SeaMeWe-3 & 4 & 5, AAE-1, JASUKA, BDM, Dumai-Melaka Cable System, BRCS, ACE, AAG, East-West Submarine Cable System, SEAX-1, SKR1M, APCN-2, APG, BtoBe,  BaSICS, and Labuan-Brunei Submarine and MCT submarine cables providing connectivity to Asia, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Australia and Europe; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (1 Indian Ocean, 1 Pacific Ocean); launch of Kacific-1 satellite in 2019 (2019)

Broadcast media

state-owned TV broadcaster operates 2 TV networks with relays throughout the country, and the leading private commercial media group operates 4 TV stations with numerous relays throughout the country; satellite TV subscription service is available; state-owned radio broadcaster operates multiple national networks, as well as regional and local stations; many private commercial radio broadcasters and some subscription satellite radio services are available; about 55 radio stations overall (2019)

Internet country code

.my

Internet users

total: 32.98 million (2021 est.)

percent of population: 97% (2021 est.)

Broadband - fixed subscriptions

total: 3,358,800 (2020 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 10 (2020 est.)