September 7, 2021

Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Amazon are seeking to meet with Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to ask that foreign vessels be allowed to fix submarine cables in their waters again, a Google spokesperson said on Saturday.

The technology companies sent official correspondence to the new Prime Minister to review Malaysia’s cabotage policy, requesting reimbursement of an exemption lifted last year under the previous government.

Last November, the Malaysian government revoked the 2019 exemption, which allows non-Malaysian vessels to carry out repairs to submarine cables.

Malaysia’s national Internet exchange body, Malaysia Internet Exchange (MyIX) is currently leading the engagement with the government by representing the four tech giants.

MyIX Chairman Chiew Kok Hin explained that the situation would have been different if the domestic industry were more developed and most companies had the necessary cable repair capacity.

For more information, you may view the original story from Reuters.

For more information, view the original story from Reuters.