All ships that carry out the installation, maintenance and repair of submarine telecommunication cables in Malaysian waters will be exempted from the cabotage policy starting next June 1. Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the exemption was made under Section 65U of the Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1952.
According to him this is aimed at increasing investment in internet technology infrastructure in Malaysia. Malaysian and international technology companies have voiced the need for the government to use a more progressive regulatory framework to encourage more investment in the technology sector from 2020.
In 2021 we reported that Amazon, Google, Facebook and Microsoft had sent a letter to Dato' Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, the then PM to discuss the cabotage policy reintroduced by the Tan Sri Muhyiddin administration in 2020.
The re-introduction of the police caused the process of maintenance and repair of submarine cables in Malaysian waters to slow down as ships had to sail from further locations. This is also said to be the reason why the neighboring country is the choice for the landing location of the Apricot submarine cable announced by Google and Meta.