MyIX: Demand for internet connectivity continues to touch unprecedented levels
By Digital News Asia April 8, 2020
- Stay home Malaysians find work and play salvation over broadband
- MyIX & telco operators progressively upgrading infrastructure to serve users
The Malaysia Internet Exchange (MyIX) has announced that demand for internet connectivity throughout Malaysia continues to touch unprecedented levels during the Movement Control Order (MCO).
Its chairman Chiew Kok Hin (pic) said in a statement that MyIX recorded a highest internet traffic peak of 588Gbps in the first week of April, even higher than the 532Gbps posted during the first fortnight of the MCO, which started 17th March, and towering over 2019’s highest traffic peak point record of 500Gbps.
Chiew attributes the higher demand due to households consuming a greater amount of audio-visual content coupled with e-learning initiatives and video conferencing calls.
MyIX is an initiative under the Malaysian Communications Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and the country’s only non-profit national internet exchange body operated by industry with 108 members. It is the largest internet exchange in Malaysia which comprises leading telcos, mobile operators, web hosters, data centres and top international content providers and regional networks. As more networks join MyIX due to the value proposition, the exchange is able to offer cheaper port prices.
“The MyIX infrastructure is classified as being critical national infrastructure and, as such, security has also been strengthened in line with guidance from the National Security Council,” he said.
“Most internet service providers (ISPs) and content distribution networks (CDNs) are directly peered with MyIX with sufficient capacity,” he added.
Chiew also shared that some of its telecommunications operators have been progressively upgrading their infrastructure to households due to rising demands for faster internet connectivity to households.
“We are working closely with some telecommunications operators who have added more ports at MyIX to alleviate traffic congestion,” he said.
He added that MyIX is waiving charges for these new ports for a period of three months.
To further help members through this challenging period, MyIX is also waiving charges for existing ports throughout the month of April 2020.
As for port usage, MyIX has also revised charges of existing ports downwards for all MyIX members this month. The discounted charges are between 20% to 23% depending on port capacity. It’s last revision was on 1st April 2019. It offers a range of ports from 1G, 10G and 100G.
Chiew concluded by saying that MyIX and the telecommunications operators will continue doing their best to ensure uninterrupted connectivity during the remainder of the MCO.