DOSM: Nearly All Malaysians Are Now Online In 2025

Christina Chandra

28th April 2026 - 3 min read

Almost every household in Malaysia now has access to the internet, according to the ICT Use and Access by Individuals and Households Survey Report 2025 published by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM). The figures show steady year-on-year growth across most categories, though the way Malaysians are connecting has shifted in ways the headline numbers alone do not fully capture.

Household internet access reached 97.1%, with computer access at 92.6%. Mobile phones, television, and radio all held at 99.5%, unchanged from the year before. The most notable shift was in pay TV, which fell to 62.0% from 67.1%, while fixed-line telephone access continued its slow decline to 27.6%.

Mobile, Internet, And Computer Usage All Rose In 2025

At the individual level, mobile phone usage reached 99.6%, internet usage rose to 98.3%, and computer usage recorded the largest year-on-year gain at 0.8 percentage points, reaching 81.5%.

Among internet users, social networking remained the most common activity at 99.7%, consistent with the previous year. Searching for information on goods and services rose to 94.6% from 93.0%, and internet calling and VoIP usage climbed to 89.5% from 86.3%. Downloading or streaming media also increased to 94.8% from 94.3%. Downloading software or apps was the only activity that declined slightly, from 90.0% to 88.0%.

ICT skills data shows a clear drop-off as tasks become more complex. Copying or moving files came in at 98.2%, and sending content in messages at 90.8%. Spreadsheet use stood at 68.5%, while programming or coding came in at just 24.8%, up marginally from 24.3% in 2024.

Where The Urban-Rural And Gender Gaps Still Show Up

The urban-rural divide in internet access narrowed slightly but remains wide. Urban households recorded 99.0% internet access, while rural households came in at 90.7%, a gap of 8.3 percentage points. Both improved compared to 2024.

Among the top five states, W.P. Putrajaya and W.P. Kuala Lumpur both recorded 100% internet access, followed by W.P. Labuan at 99.8%, Pulau Pinang at 99.7%, and Selangor at 99.6%.

On internet usage by sex, males recorded 98.7% compared to 97.8% for females. The gap between the two widened slightly to 0.9 percentage points from 0.8 percentage points in 2024. The difference is small, but it moved in the wrong direction.

The type of connection households rely on is also worth noting. Mobile broadband access reached 96.0%, while fixed or wired broadband stood at 48.0%. Smartphones accounted for 98.2% of mobile phone access, with feature phones at 15.5%.

Most Households Are Online Via Mobile, Not Fixed Broadband

The gap between mobile broadband at 96.0% and fixed broadband at 48.0% means that for roughly half of all households, mobile data is the primary or only way to get online.

Mobile broadband connections are more susceptible to congestion, speed variation, and data cap limits than fixed connections. If you rely on mobile data to file taxes, access banking services, or submit government forms, the experience can vary considerably depending on your location, network load, and how much data you have left in the month.

Rural households that have gained internet access in recent years are likely doing so through mobile broadband, which puts them in the same position as urban mobile-only users but with potentially weaker signal coverage and fewer alternatives. As more services default to online delivery, the consistency of that connection will matter as much as whether one exists at all.

Christina Chandra

Christina writes about personal finance with an eye for making the complicated feel straightforward. She is drawn to the everyday money decisions people face and genuinely enjoys finding the clearest way to explain them. Between articles, she is probably napping, on a hiking trail, or terrorising her sister’s cats.

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