Tracing the Diffusion of Internet in Malaysia: Then and Now

Abstract

The Internet has brought about a huge change in the way we do things and on many aspects of our society. The advent of the Internet in Malaysia dates back to 1995, which was considered the beginning of the Internet age in Malaysia. The aim of this paper is to trace the diffusion of Internet in Malaysia until present. The growth in the number of Internet hosts in Malaysia began around 1996. The country's first search engine and web portal company was also founded that year. From the first Malaysian Internet survey conducted from October to November 1995 by MIMOS and Beta Interactive Services, one out of every thousand Malaysians had access to the Internet then (20,000 Internet users out of a population of 20 million). The National Public Policy Workshop (NPPW) in 2005 proposed tremendous changes towards a strategy to move forward the uptake of ICT and internet in Malaysia. Among the outcomes of the NPPW is the High Speed Broadband initiative which was launched in 2010. As of July 2012 internet users in Malaysia reached 25.3 million. Out of that number, there are 5 million broadband users, 2.5 million wireless broadband users and 10 million 3G subscribers. With access to the Internet been largely achieved, the next step would be to maximise the use of the Internet in achieving digital inclusion and gaining cultural capital.

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