Malaysia - Govt advised to accelerate rollout of broadband to achieve economic growth

[bernama] The National Economic Advisory Council (NEAC) has recommended that the government accelerate the rollout of broadband.

Its second and concluding report on the New Economic Model (NEM) said expediting the implementation of broadband was a national priority.

This was not only to put Malaysia back on track to robust growth but also as an important tool for the eight Strategic Reform Initiatives (SRIs), including the creation of new growth and income for the SMEs and the rural areas, it added.

Broadband was a key in the provision of innovative services nationally, globally and a critical platform for SMEs, it said, adding that a World Bank study suggested that if a country were to increase its broadband penetration by 10 per cent, it could support more than a one per cent increase in GDP growth.

"Broadband is more supportive of growth than older technologies such as Fixed Line, due to the higher speed and bandwidth that facilities video-conferencing, content creation, and value propositions," it said.

The report said that the recommended broadband expansion policies could leverage Malaysia's advanced infrastructure by:

* Attracting large data and processing centres (such as Google and Yahoo) to one of the five focus areas with good High Speed Broadband (HSBB) in order to generate content and spin-off services.

* Using the Universal Service Provision Fund (USP) to speed up implementation of HSBB in Zone 1 as a matter of priority to generate revenue and growth by the incumbent telecommunication companies (telcos).

* Focusing on content development. The National Key Economic Areas (NKEA) Lab has suggested using eGovernment, eLearning and eHealth as drivers for content provision, software, and process skills that could be adopted or replicated for the other emerging markets.

The NEAC suggested that there should be a concerted public-private initiative to focus on content development in the media and cultural area that could assist the SME and tourism sectors.


NEAC Recommends Speedier Rollout Of Broadband