According to Malaysian editorial, The New Straits Times Press, restaurants in Kuala Lumpur (the largest city in Malaysia) are now required to have Wi-Fi. Enforcement of the new law will begin in April of this year, and is now a “mandatory prerequisite for food operators when they apply for their licence to open a new restaurant or when existing operators renew their licence.”
Back in 2008, a total of 1,500 free Wi-Fi hotspots were enabled via the WirelessKL service. With these new changes, the existing free hotspots are to be discontinued. According to The New Straits Times:
When asked why City Hall did not continue the free WirelessKL service with its service provider, Ahmad Fuad said the council wanted to give other service providers a chance to offer better connectivity and value-added service to city folk.
The law also applies to cafes, pubs, bars and club lounges, so long as they are larger than 120 sq m. While mandating the change sounds extreme, it is likely the quickest way to get every eatery up and running with Wi-Fi. As someone who works on their computer all the time, I find it remarkable that so many coffee shops in NYC still don’t provide free Wi-Fi.
No matter what though, I’d hate to see business owners forced into paying for internet services, especially for fine dining. Do you think a law the best way to increase connectivity in Malaysia?
Estonian city of TARTU did install first 10 WiFi cafes on the year 2004.(it was one time investment to share the existing Broadband in Cafes .) http://news.discovery.com/tech/estonias-johnny-appleseed-of-free-wi-fi.html
Now 8 years later, we will add Captive portal of the City. City will publish the news and share smart tools for IOS/ Android users.On these days, its important: WiFi works, with minimum expenses and private business/ City are the team!ISP WiFi projects in Estonian citys have been failed.
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Likegee, I thought everyone would be happy to know they'd have internet for free everywhere, it's not like it's that expensive to provide with free internet for people. If anything wifi can attract more customers.
A society with more access to information can be far more productive.
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LikeMuch as the widest possible spread of free WiFi has to be desirable extending the civic mandate of any business owner beyond the requirements of tax and health and safety is a step too far. Will the KL authorities stop at WiFi? Will they stop at restaurants?
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LikePlease check your facts: Kuala Lumpur is the capital and largest city in Malaysia by a significant margin, see the CIA World Factbook. Just because Wikipedia says something doesn't mean it's true.
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Likekl_malaysian Thanks. Fixed
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I think that sometimes laws like this is needed as a first step to progress. And maybe, this practice usefull not just for Malaysia and countries like Malaysia.
Singapore is small. Might be to attract tourists to malaysia
Wouldn't a government subsidy be better than a law?
That's dumb. What if I want to eat my noodles in peace?
Singapore has had free wifi island wide for years
Filippo Gervasini those were the days ;)
Hi Ronald!i and you were the pioneers of the wireless in kl,back to 2002 with the pcmcia external cards!remember?
Wow. Filippo Gervasini is this true?
That's a law I could get behind!
That's the future!