He said Malaysia risked being left out in the race of the “internet economy” if net speeds remained low compared with other key players in the region.
Lim gave an example of China, which had spent a lot on improving internet speeds and had ended up being leaders in cashless payments using mobile phones.
Lim said closer to home, some Asean countries, such as Singapore, had beaten Malaysia in terms of internet speed.
“No point having high-speed rail when your internet is not that fast. Yes, you can go from Singapore to KL quickly on high-speed rail, but high-speed internet must be fast
“We believe our internet speeds should be faster. Or else, everything will go to Singapore or other countries because they have higher internet speeds.
“Internet speeds must conform with international standards so that Malaysia can tap into the larger pie of the internet economy,” Lim told reporters.
Earlier, Lim opened the Crowd Economy Conference organised by the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) at the St Giles Hotel here.
Lim, in his opening remarks, acknowledged the Federal Government was working on improving internet speeds, but hoped it could be made top priority.
On a different note, Lim said Penang was also ready to speak to telco providers who want to enable higher speed internet for the state.
He was responding to claims of telco providers having trouble obtaining approvals for laying cables and putting up other network infrastructure.
Lim said State Executive Councillor Chow Kon Yeow had been designated as the “go-to” person for telco issues and welcomed industry players to get in touch.
Internet company Akamai Technologies Inc marked Malaysia’s internet speeds at an average of 6.4 megabits per second (Mbps) in the first quarter of last year. The company also ranked Malaysia as 74th worldwide in 2016. It was 73 in 2015.
In the Asia-Pacific, Malaysia clinched ninth place among 15 countries, according to Akamai.
Akamai’s State of the Internet report for the Asia-Pacific region put South Korea on top with an average of 29Mbps, followed by Hong Kong (19.9Mbps), and Japan (18.2Mbps).
Singapore came fourth in the region at 16.5Mbps, followed by Taiwan (14.8Mbps), Thailand (10Mbps), and New Zealand at 10.5Mbps.
Australia was eighth fastest at 8.8Mbps followed by Malaysia (6.4Mbps), Sri Lanka (5.4Mbps), Vietnam (5Mbps), Indonesia (4.5Mbps), China (4.3Mbps), the Philippines (3.5Mbps) and India (3.5Mbps).