Kuala Lumpur Mandates WiFi for All Restaurants

Your next dining experience in Kuala Lumpur may remind you more of the last time you were at a Starbucks in suburbia than in the southeast Asia city– that’s because lawmakers in Malaysia’s largest city are making WiFi access mandatory at establishments that serve food.

Kuala Lumpur officials are pushing a citywide wireless Internet mandate and part of the initiative includes requiring all food and beverage outlets to provide WiFi to customers by April.

Restaurants smaller than 3900 square feet (1200 meters) are excluded and existing vendors must provide the service before they can renew their business licence.

One restaurant owner sums the push up succinctly:

“For most of these smallish eateries, we depend on a faster turnover of customers. If the customers refuse to leave because they want to take advantage of the wireless Internet services but at the same time not order more food or drinks, we, the vendors, may end up making losses in our businesses.”