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Telecommunications in Malaysia

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At the state level, Sarawak's telecommunications sector is co-regulated by the Sarawak Multimedia Authority (SMA), established under Section 3 of the Sarawak Multimedia Authority Ordinance 2017. Since its establishment, the SMA and MCMC have cooperated on developing and implementing digital economy initiatives and overseeing the rollout of telecommunications infrastructure in Sarawak. In 2022, Sarawak's Ministry of Public Utilities (later renamed the Ministry of Utility and Telecommunication) created a dedicated Telecommunication Division to manage sector reporting directly to the Sarawak Legislative Assembly.

History

For more than a century, Malaysia's telecommunications system has developed from colonial-era telegraph lines into a modern IP-based network. The British colonial administration, present in the region from the 18th century, established the earliest telecommunications facilities. Telegraph services were consolidated under the Posts and Telegraphs Department in the 1800s, with manual magneto-operated telephones introduced in Perak in the 1880s, followed by the establishment of the first public telephone exchange in Ipoh in 1902.

Kuala Lumpur received telephone service in 1891, and at the turn of the century a major telephone line was constructed linking Province Wellesley (Seberang Prai) in Penang to Johor Bahru. In 1915, the first underground cable was laid, connecting the central Perak towns of Taiping, Kampar, and Teluk Anson.

As trade expanded and townships developed, the number of telephone subscribers in Peninsular Malaysia increased substantially. By 1930, an automated magneto exchange was commissioned in Kuala Lumpur on Jalan Weld to accommodate rising call volumes. During the 1930s, all telephone exchanges in the Malayan Trunk System were capable of communicating with exchanges in Java, the Philippines, the United States, Canada, and Mexico through shortwave radio-telephone transmitters. Towards the end of the decade, a Marconi radio terminal was installed at the Kuala Lumpur Telephone Exchange to manage overseas calls.

Much of the telecommunications infrastructure was damaged during World War II and the Japanese occupation. In 1946, after re-establishing their administration in Malaya, the British repaired trunk routes, restored fallen telephone poles, and replaced damaged or stolen copper wires. During the occupation, the Posts and Telegraphs Department had been divided into two separate units. The British initially reunified these entities, but the arrangement was short-lived. With the formation of the Malayan Union on 1 April 1946, the Malaysian Telecommunications Department and Postal Services Department were established; the former managed telegraph, telephone, and wireless services, while the latter handled mail, money orders, and savings accounts.

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