2017 Malaysia - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Malaysia Moves Towards 5G

Malaysia has a competitive telecom sector that has thrived on the progressive opening up and reform of the local market. The changing commercial landscape has seen the significant restructuring of all the main players over time. Supported by the efforts of the government, there has been a general rationalisation of what was seen as an ‘overcrowded’ mobile operator market.

With its widespread application of modern technologies such as fibre optics, wireless transmission, digitalisation and satellite services, Malaysia has built one of the more advanced telecom networks in the developing world. The country has a national objective to see Malaysia ranked as a developed country by the year 2020.

The penetration of fixed lines in Malaysia continues to fall as the mobile segment continues to expand and dominate the market, especially the mobile broadband segment. The fixed line market is predicted to gradually decline over the next five years to 2022 as mobile and mobile broadband penetration continue to increase.

Progress has been reported on closing the urban/rural divide, with expanding mobile infrastructure in rural areas.

Malaysia’s mobile market is relatively developed compared to other Asian markets but has experienced a slight decline in market penetration over the last five years due to an increasingly saturated market. Flat to very slow growth is predicted over the next five years to 2022. The market will be constrained from higher growth due to a saturated mobile subscriber market and strong local competition.

There three major mobile operators are – Maxis, Celcom Axiata and DiGi. In May 2017 Celcom Axiata carried out what is claimed to be Malaysia’s first 5G trial.

Malaysia has seen a rapid increase in mobile broadband penetration over the past five years driven by strong growth of 4G mobile subscribers and high data caps. Slowing growth is predicted over the next five years to 2022 as the market reaches a heightened state of maturity.

The Malaysian fixed broadband market remains highly underdeveloped. Telekom Malaysia’s fibre-based services on High Speed Broadband (HSBB) network has seen progression in the fixed broadband market, however progression has been slow. Growth in the fixed broadband subscriber market has been low over the past five years due to a stagnant number of fixed lines and the growing dominance of mobile broadband. Over the next five years to 2022 slow growth is expected to continue.

Telekom Malaysia is rolling roll out a last mile access network to homes and businesses utilising fibre-to-the-home (FTTH), Ethernet-to-the-home (ETTH) and VDSL2 technologies. The ten-year HSBB 2 project encompasses the deployment of additional access and core capacity covering state capitals and selected major towns throughout the country.

The government in Malaysia has a strong commitment to developing a technological society. As part of this strategy, it has encouraged a large number of high tech companies from around the world to set up a presence in Malaysia, especially through its MSC project. Malaysia is continuing to promote itself as an Information Technology hub in the Asia region.

Key developments:

• Telekom Malaysia signed partnership agreements for the High Speed Broadband Project Phase 2 (HSBB 2)
• The penetration of fixed lines continues to fall as the mobile segment continues to expand and dominate the market.
• The Malaysian government released a National Internet of Things (IoT) Strategic Roadmap.
• Celcom Axiata carried out what is claimed to be Malaysia’s first 5G trial.
• Malaysia has seen a rapid increase in mobile broadband penetration over the past five years.
• Slowing mobile broadband growth is predicted over the next five years to 2022.

Key companies mentioned in this report:

Telekom Malaysia; Maxis Communications; DiGi.com; Time dotcom; Axiata; Alcatel-Lucent; U Mobile; Fibrecomm, TMNet; Celcom Axiata; Green REDtone; Asiaspace; YTL; Maxis Communications, ZTE.