KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 16 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has been asked to work with local telecommunication companies (telcos) and Internet Services Providers (ISPs) to form a Malaysian Internet Exchange.
Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik said such an exchange would need to be formed to reduce the outflow of internet traffic that had caused the country to lose in terms of foreign exchange.
"If you want to develop Malaysia into an international ICT hub, we have to build up (our own internet exchange) and keep our local (internet) traffic local," he told reporters after chairing Parti Gerakan's monthly meeting here Saturday.
He said as of now, a point-to-point Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone call made within Malaysia would have to be re-routed to either Singapore or even the United States due to the absence of our own internet exchange.
"Even if I want to call Tsu Koon (Gerakan Deputy President and Penang Chief Minister Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon) in Penang using VoIP, my call had to go (re-routed) to Singapore and even United States. This is ridiculous," he said.
He added that at any given time, internet traffic in Malaysia would always be more than in Singapore but the reality that made the island state to enjoy higher traffic was due to the absence of Malaysia's own internet exchange.
He said in his initial consultations, local telcos and ISPs had expressed their agreement in principle on the idea but insisted that there should be an "industrial neutrality" once the internet exchange was put into place.
"I don't care who (would eventually) owns it (the internet exchange) but what is most important, the exchange must be neutral to all ISPs. (If) you charge so much for one ISP, you are going to charge the same for other ISPs," he added.
He said through industrial neutrality, the eventual internet exchange owners would also encourage international ISPs to utilise the exchange.
Meanwhile, Keng Yaik said the Ministry was in no hurry to roll out the Mobile Wimax Broadband service, the next level of broadband development planned in the country.
He said MCMC has been asked to look further into the Wimax usage especially to improve VoIP, Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), broadcasting and other data services in the country, while ensuring that the licence to operate it would eventually be given to the right company.