HSBB deployment a boost to country’s competitiveness, say industry players

Friday March 26, 2010

PETALING JAYA: Industry players applaud the Government’s National Broadband Initiative (NBI) and the deployment of high speed broadband (HSBB) by Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM).
In a statement yesterday, Intel Malaysia country manager Ryaz Patel said the launch of HSBB boded well for Malaysia’s global competitiveness. “With this new infrastructure and all the incentives announced, we are more bullish on Malaysia achieving and even exceeding the 50% household penetration target.

“The ecosystem has all the necessary building blocks to deliver. We now have to put them in motion and execute to plan,” Patel said.

Nokia Siemens Networks Malaysia chairman Tan Sri Rainer Althoff said the initiatives looked set to drive the nation’s social and economic growth and competitiveness, increasing investor confidence and promoting innovative thinking, helping to place Malaysia firmly on the global map.

“With broadband penetration at only 32.2%, there is still much to be done to bring the country in line with the likes of South Korea, Singapore and Japan. It’s therefore reassuring to see that the Government has introduced specific measures to address this,” he said.
Althoff said the latest initiatives would surely help improve livelihood, create jobs and drive innovation towards national transformation.

“Making broadband a national priority will definitely help us become more competitive globally and help us see firsthand how new jobs, businesses and even new business models can be enabled by better access to web connectivity and technology,” Cisco Malaysia managing director Anne Abraham said.

She said connectivity alone was not sufficient. “A holistic initiative should integrate measures, resources and tools to help these rural communities adopt, use and leverage next generation technologies and HSBB to improve their lifestyles.”
Meanwhile, Red Hat Asia Pacific Malaysia country sales manager Basheer Ali Majeed said the initiative allowed more Malaysians and small and medium enterprises to connect and participate in an increasingly borderless world and opened up an incredible new array of information opportunities.

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/3/26/business/5938883&sec=business