Stefan Mileschin

Soon, citizens and tourists in Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia will find eateries provide wireless internet like salt, pepper, and water. The City Hall has mandated that by April establishments serving food (restaurants, coffee shops, or street-food eateries), bigger than 120 m² floor size, should offer wireless internet as a value-added service, either for free, or for a reasonably low price. Providing wireless internet to patrons will be made a prerequisite for eatery operators applying for, or renewing their licences. "The Wi-Fi service is in demand and food outlet operators who offer it will be giving their customers value-added services," said mayor Tan Sri Ahmad Fuad.

Then there's another problem the mayor faces. KL is known for its rich street-food culture, dominated by smaller eateries and hawkers. It can be argued that wireless internet in bigger establishments could draw some patronage away from these eateries and to those bigger ones. Mr. Faud said that the feasibility of installing free public WiFi in streets with concentrations of these smaller eateries is being studied. The citizens of KL are major consumers of public wireless internet services other than 3G HSDPA, there are as many as 1,500 public WiFi hotspots installed in the city.

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