The volatile situation in West Asia has reinforced the national need for Malaysia to keep internet traffic local, amid growing concerns over the resilience of international connectivity and the risks of external disruptions to critical digital infrastructure.
MyIX chairman Chiew Kok Hin (centre right in pic) said that, against this backdrop, domestic peering plays an important role in ensuring that local internet traffic remains within Malaysia, reducing reliance on international routes and strengthening overall network resilience.
He added that recent developments, including potential risks to submarine cables in the Red Sea region, highlight the vulnerability of global connectivity routes and the need for countries to strengthen their domestic internet infrastructure.
“If regional cable incidents occur, having more traffic exchanged locally can help limit the extent of disruption to services within the country,” he said.
“Peering enables local traffic to remain within national borders, which improves efficiency and helps reduce unnecessary dependence on international links,” said Chiew. “As digital services continue to expand across business, government and daily life, strong domestic connectivity is becoming an increasingly important foundation for Malaysia’s digital economy.”
MyIX was established in 2006 as an initiative under the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to serve as the country’s national internet exchange, enabling networks to interconnect locally and exchange traffic more efficiently. By facilitating domestic peering, the exchange helps improve performance, reduce latency and lower dependency on international bandwidth, while strengthening Malaysia’s overall internet resilience.
Meanwhile, traffic at the Malaysia Internet Exchange (MyIX) rose 16% to 2,527 Gbps as of February 2026 from 2,184 Gbps in 2025, reflecting rising digital activity across the nation and the growing importance of secure, resilient and future-ready internet infrastructure in supporting Malaysia’s fast-growing digital economy.
“The rise in traffic reflects how central strong domestic connectivity has become to businesses, users and digital services nationwide,” he added. “As Malaysia advances its AI Nation 2030 aspirations, strong and reliable connectivity will become increasingly important to innovation, investment and the delivery of digital services.”
He was speaking at the conclusion of the exchange’s 18th AGM held recently in Kuala Lumpur (pic – MyIX committee members).
To support rising internet traffic demand, MyIX undertook a series of measures over the past year, including strengthening cyber readiness, improving geo-redundancy, facilitating major port upgrades and onboarding new peers, reinforcing the exchange’s role in Malaysia’s digital infrastructure landscape.
Major content and platform players also expanded their presence at MyIX over the past year. As internet traffic grows, they continue to expand their capacity at MyIX, reflecting stronger usage demand and the strategic value of local exchange connectivity.
In support of members, and in spite of rising costs, MyIX maintained its monthly port fees for 2025 at RM400 for 1G, RM1,600 for 10G and RM7,200 for 100G.
“MyIX’s pricing positions us as one of the most affordable – if not the most affordable – internet exchanges in the region,” said Chiew.
