NEWS: Mosti task force to tackle ICT issues

KUALA LUMPUR: The Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry (Mosti) has formed a task force to look into pressing ICT issues such as the slow national rollout of broadband.

“The task force had its first meeting this month to identify the various (information and communications technology) issues; among these is the slow rollout of broadband,” said Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili on Monday.

According to the National Broadband Plan, 50% of the population must have access to superfast Internet connections by next year but penetration is lingering at the 26% mark now.

Known officially as The Task Force on the ICT industry, it will identify problems, formulate solutions and present these to Mosti, which will then decide whether or not to implement the suggestions.

Broadband rollout is too slow, especially in Sabah and Sarawak, Ongkili said.

He said the Universal Service Provision (USP) fund should be used if the slowdown in those states is due to lack of financing.

Totalling RM3bil now, the USP fund was set up about a decade ago to finance the introduction of telephony and broadband services to underserved areas and groups in the country.

Due to their isolated locations, these underserved areas were largely being bypassed by telecommunications companies that preferred the more profitable urban areas.

In view of that, the Government made it mandatory for all telcos to contribute 6% of revenue generated from their services to the fund every year.

Make heads roll

The Association of the Computer and Multimedia Industry of Malaysia (Pikom) chimed in with its ideas to boost the flagging broadband rollout.

Its chairman, David Wong, said the Government should revoke the licences of WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) broadband licensees that have failed to meet their targets.

“There are four licensees and not all have delivered (on the conditions set by the Government in the licences),” Wong said. He declined to be more specific.

Industry researcher IDC believes some WiMAX licensees are taking a wait-and-see attitude over the rollout of their infrastructure and services because of the huge capital involved.

According to IDC, it takes anywhere from RM100,000 to RM1mil to set up a base-station and the WiMAX licensees will need hundreds of base-stations.

The four licensees are Packet One Network Sdn Bhd, Y-Max Networks Sdn Bhd, Asiaspace Sdn Bhd, and Redtone International Bhd.

Wong said the issue should be brought up at the next task force meeting.

“We need to have a review; find out why some of the WiMAX players are slow to roll out,” he said. “We must know if it’s a question of finance or something else. Only then can the (appropriate) action be taken.”

The task force meets every two months. It comprises representatives from Pikom, the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), the International Trade and Industry Ministry, the Information, Communications, Culture and Arts Ministry, applied research body Mimos, CyberSecurity Malaysia, and several others.

Another pressing ICT issue that the task force will be looking into is the country’s human resource pool.

It believes that there needs to be programmes that better match retrenched workers to new jobs.

“There should also be (more) government programmes to find alternative employment for these affected workers,” said Wong.

National ICT month

Earlier, Ongkili officiated at the launch of the inaugural National ICT Month (NIM) 2009, to be held from July 20 to Aug 20 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

Pikom hopes the event will help replicate some of the buzz that the industry experienced during last year’s World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) which was hosted by Malaysia.

WCIT is a forum that brings together global leaders in business, government and academia for the exchange of ideas on ICT and industry policies. It is hosted by different countries every two years.

NIM 2009, the brainchild of Pikom, will include a three-day leadership summit and exhibition, an eWaste recycling campaign, and a month-long buy-online campaign.

Pikom will be launching an ICT mall in cyberspace as part of the buy-online campaign. The campaign is to encourage consumers to shop on the Web.

The association will collaborate with several online merchants to provide discounts and incentives for consumers for the duration of the campaign.

“We intend to spend a few hundred thousand ringgit to promote the event and we hope (many) e-commerce retailers will participate,” said Wong.

“We are used to seeing online campaigns by AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines but where are the other e-commerce merchants?”

Wong added that by participating in the buy-online campaign, these merchants would also be raising their profiles.

NIM 2009 will cost Pikom RM1.6mil to hold and a national ICT strategic review report will be released during the leadership summit at the event.

“The objective of the inaugural publication is to provide details on the Malaysian ICT sectoral outlook,” added Wong.

Pikom hopes to make NIM an annual event. It is being supported by Mosti and MDeC, the caretaker of the country’s MSC Malaysia initiative.