Internet
Basic Statistics - Number of Internet Hosts and other Internet Companies
With the advent of the Internet Malaysia has made a concerted
effort to get connected. The GoM (Government of Malaysia)
established Jaring (Joint Advanced Research Integrated
Networking) 
as the
gateway to Malaysia's information highway and until recently, it
was the only access provider to the Internet. Jaring is owned and
operated by the Malaysian Institute of Microelectronics Systems 
and
uses Telekom's infrastructure to operate. The number of Jaring
subscribers is growing at about 20 per cent per month with about
100,000 subscribers currently with users in more than 3,500
organizations. There are about a dozen firms that are advertising
web designing and hosting services throughout Malaysia. 2
Type of international Internet connections
Presently there are a 512k and an E1(2Mbps) line to the US and an 128k line to Japan. But in order to deal with the exponential growth rate of the Internet, MIMOS plans to increase the number of JARING access nodes nationwide from the present 22 to 140 by the end of 1997 and has increased the backbone to multi-megabit bandwidth (T-3 speed - 3.584Mbps). Presently the only international Internet connection is through this T-3 fiber trunk.
Number of Internet Service Providers and costs for consumers and business
There are presently two full service ISP’s, Jaring and Telekom. As part of its move to liberalize Internet services in the country, MIMOS recently appointed four companies as Jaring Access Service Providers (JASPs), who will take over the role of providing customer services from MIMOS. The four companies are Time Multimedia Sdn Bhd (TMM), a JV between Sapura holdings Sdn Bhd and Time Telecommunications Sdn Bhd; the New Straits Times Technology Sdn Bhd (NSTT); Silicon Communications Sdn Bhd, a consortium of two state governments and local and international companies; and Utusan Melayu (M) Berhad. With the appointment of these JASPs, MIMOS will be able to concentrate on future development of Jaring and research and development.
More recently Telekom Malaysia 
was approved as the country's second Internet
Service Provider. Telekom Malaysia will invest up to US$30
million to develop more nodes throughout the country for Internet
users. Telekom has targeted to have at least 250,000 Internet
users by the end of 1998. At present Telekom has about 35,000
Internet subscribers.
The presence of two Internet Service Providers is expected to improve and expand the country's Internet service. Service fees vary among students, educational institutions and business. Basic Jaring Internet Services Fees range from $20.00 to $40.00.
Internet hosting companies are appearing on the market and are beginning to make an impression in the corporate and entertainment industries as a cost effective way to disseminate information.
This site 
is a
good example of the type of information being hosted for many
private companies in Malaysia. KLO also provides pointers to a
plethora of useful information.1
