Telecommunications infrastructure and landscape
As is the case in an increasingly digital world, the telecommunications industry mainly revolves around internet connection. Malaysia is no exception; the internet penetration rate in the country reached nearly 94 percent in 2022, the second highest in Southeast Asia. The country also boasts a fairly decent download speed for fixed broadband and mobile internet at a relatively affordable price.With more than 43 million mobile subscriptions in Malaysia, it is currently the most important and largest sector in the telecommunications industry. Nevertheless, as of 2022, there were still over eight million registered telephone subscriptions. This means that although it is comparably a much smaller market, many Malaysians still own a number for a fixed landline at their homes, but more people will likely opt to connect solely from their smartphones in the future.
Merger between two major providers
Malaysia has a few major players in the telecommunications industry, with state-owned company Telekom Malaysia (TM) holding the largest market share. TM, under its brand Unifi, dominates the fixed broadband sector. In the mobile subscriptions market, up until 2022, Maxis was in the lead with the largest number of mobile subscribers in Malaysia.Nevertheless, in November 2022, Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor and Malaysian Axiata Group Berhad concluded a successful merger between Digi and Celcom. The second and third largest mobile broadband service providers joined forces and became CelcomDigi Berhad. In October 2023, the newly merged company launched a new corporate logo. With this merger, CelcomDigi is expected to overtake Maxis’s market share in the mobile broadband sector.
