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Wednesday, 2.07.2025
Transforming Government since 2001
One of Saudi Arabia's leading ICT figures arrived in Malaysia last month to lead discussions as to how the Kingdom can best improve upon the on-going accomplishments of Yesser e-government program.

Engineer Ali Al-Soma, Advisor to the Minister of ICT and Director General of the Saudi e-government program met with representatives from Malaysia's ICT industry as well as worldwide ICT executives during the 16th World Congress for Information Technology held in Kuala Lumpur to foster new means of cooperation as the Kingdom looks to become the first country in the GCC to develop a complete e-government platform.

Read more: Malaysia and Saudi Arabia to collaborate on Yesser Program

High-speed broadband infrastructure, particularly in urban and industrial centres, is a key enabler to provide a conducive environment for making Malaysia a preferred choice for private investment and knowledge-intensive activities.

The roll-out of broadband infrastructure will be accelerated through a public-private partnership initiative to achieve 50% household penetration by 2010.

Read more: Malaysia: Roll-out of broadband infrastructure to be sped up

Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) and the Government are spending a total of RM15.6bil to ensure that the country will have a top-notch, competitive high-speed broadband infrastructure in the next decade.

The benefits of having such a facility for the people and the nation are expected to be worth many times that amount.

High-speed access to the Internet will provide a boost to telehealth facilities, Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor said yesterday.

Read more: Malaysia: Billion-ringgit boost for broadband

When it comes to broadband coverage, the unfortunate fact is that Malaysia is not up to speed. Too few Malaysians have high-speed connections, and those who do, pay too much for a service that is too slow. The nation has fallen behind other countries in broadband adoption. Only 18 per cent of Malaysian households subscribe to high-speed services, compared with 93 per cent in South Korea and 80 per cent in Hong Kong.

In fact, so slow has been the uptake of broadband services that, last year, the cabinet committee chaired by the deputy prime minister had to revise downwards the penetration target for 2010 from 75 per cent to 50 per cent.

Read more: Malaysia: Speed it up

The government will sign a deal with Telekom Malaysia Bhd by next month to roll out high-speed broadband (HSBB) to selected parts of the country.

Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor said the RM15.2 billion infrastructure would spur economic growth further.

The speed of Internet access will be improved up to 1,000 megabits per second for large users.

Read more: Malaysia: RM15.2b to boost broadband service

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