Once, water supply and electricity were the keystones to national development and attracting foreign investments.
But now, broadband connectivity has become a basic necessity for businesses and homes alike.
Every sector of the economy, every industry and service, whether private or public, will benefit from the introduction of broadband services. The same is true of households and individuals.
“The 21st century lifestyle is one that is connected and transcends distance.
“Malaysia has always been in the forefront of implementing communication services. The programme to bring broadband to the far reaches of the nations follows a pattern which has seen this country being one of the earliest adopters of technologies such as GSM.
The move to promote a broadband culture in Malaysia is a natural next step and also critical because many other countries are in the midst of implementing similar national strategies,” said Information, Communications and Culture Ministry secretary-general Datuk Wira Kamaruddin Siaraf in an interview.
To chart the direction of broadband implementation and bring broadband to the whole nation, the National Broadband Implementation Plan was formulated in 2007 as an overall national strategy.
“The plan covers implementation strategies for broadband both from the supply and demand aspects.
“Realising the importance of broadband as the backbone of a k-Economy, the Plan has targeted a 50% household broadband penetration by end of 2010,” Kamaruddin said.
The increase in broadband penetration will become a catalyst to a more robust economy, which will contribute towards increasing the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“To achieve this aspiration, efforts need to be directed towards making broadband ubiquitous for the masses and identifying high impact areas for high speed broadband implementation,” he added.
Under the Plan, the Government is partnering with Telekom Malaysia (TM) in a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement to implement the High Speed Broadband (HSBB) project to provide broadband speed in excess of 10 Mbps.
This facility will be made available to high density economically critical areas.
To the rest of the country and where there is demand for basic broadband service, Broadband to the General Population or better known as BBGP will be made available.
“To achieve this objective and national target, the country will be classified into three zones,” he pointed out.
- Zone 1 will be covered by HSBB and BBGP. This involves high impact or major economic areas.
- Zone 2 in the sub-urban areas will be covered by BBGP.
- Zone 3 refers to the rural areas where the digital divide needs to be addressed with financing from the Universal Service Provision (USP) fund under the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).
Being an important component of the National Broadband Implementation Plan, a timely BBGP implementation will play a critical role in the wholesome development of the nation.
“There are challenges but the drive to bring broadband to the general population is well in motion and various wired and wireless technologies are being utilised to ensure that Malaysians living outside highly urbanised parts of the country have access to broadband,” he said.
While the National Broadband Plan envisions private initiatives bringing broadband to Zone 2 areas, the rollout of broadband in Zone 3 will require intervention using the Universal Service Provision (USP) fund under the MCMC.
“Provision of BBGP in less profitable and rural areas will be funded through the USP fund.
“The BBGP programme in these areas includes Basic Telephony (through fixed and mobile network), Community Broadband Library (CBL) and Community Broadband Centre (CBC). The cellular coverage in these areas will be widened by building more communication towers to facilitate the cellular operators to expand their coverage,” Kamaruddin said.
He said the vision for BBGP in 2010 was to ensure enough coverage by the multiple technologies and operating service providers.
Current licensees using fixed ADSL (asynchronous digital subscriber line), wireless HSPA (High-Speed Packet Access) and WiMAX (Wireless interoperability for Microwave Access) among other technologies will power BBGP.
Other technologies such as satellite solutions are also in the picture.
In order to achieve 50% household penetration target, an emphasis on broadband infrastructure supply alone is insufficient. There must be an effective strategy to encourage demand for broadband.
“The Government adopts a three-pronged strategy in three critical areas to create demand.
“The first is to create public awareness of the benefits and availability of broadband. The Government and private-sector initiatives will help create and communicate a brand that encapsulates the benefits of broadband and this will be planned and coordinated with relevant stakeholders including the industry.
“Awareness campaign and broadband promotion on a large scale is necessary to ensure that the Government’s objectives are achieved.
“The second strategy is to develop the attractiveness of having broadband in terms of good content and applications. Here, the Government will focus on providing electronic-government, distance education and on promoting electronic-commerce. When the right content or services are available, the demand will go up and more households will sign on for broadband.
“The third strategy is to make broadband affordable to all. Broadband is currently too expensive for certain social segments which can’t afford PCs, broadband subscriptions, modems and other access devices. Coordination will be required with other Government agencies to facilitate PC ownership and broadband take up,” he said.
In efforts to drive household broadband penetration, the Government has allocated incentives in Budget 2009 and the recent Budget 2010.
The Ministry of Finance approved tax allowances on expenditure on last-mile broadband equipment. Among them, last mile network facilities providers will be given an investment allowance of 100% on capital expenditure incurred for broadband. Import duty and sales tax exemptions will be given on broadband equipment and consumer access devices.
To further enhance broadband implementation, under Budget 2010 the Government proposes that taxpayers be given tax relief on broadband subscription fee up to RM500 a year and a netbook package with free broadband is offered to students for RM50 per month for 2 years.
“National Broadband Implementation Plan is all about the making of a dream come true for bringing information and lifestyle benefits from all walks of society and the rest of the world into one’s own living environment.
“With the private sector and Government working hand in hand, bringing broadband to the general population is entirely achievable.
“The country, the Government, industries and the people will benefit from broadband services. We can look forward to a new lifestyle with services such as e-Government, e-Education, e-Commerce, e-Health, Internet Protocol TV (IPTV), teleworking and e-Payment,” Kamaruddin said.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Lester Kong
Quelle/Source: The Malaysia Star, 26.11.2009
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