Broadband rate now at 57.1pc

Roy See Wei Zhi
New Straits Times
03-03-2011
Broadband rate now at 57.1pc
Byline: Roy See Wei Zhi
Edition: Main/Lifestyle
Section: Main Section

PUTRAJAYA: The country's broadband penetration rate currently stood at 57.1 per cent, surpassing the 50 per cent target set for last year, Information, Communication and Culture minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said here yesterday.

He said the country aimed to achieve 60 per cent by the end of this year.
"The government is making concerted efforts to introduce more information and communication technologies to achieve our target," he said in a speech read by his deputy, Datuk Joseph Salang.

"ICT programmes such as the Broadband General Population and High Speed Broadband under the National Broadband Initiative have been aiding the increase of the country's broadband penetration."

He said "The Internet of Things" (IOT) concept, under the current Digital Lifestyle Malaysia Initiative, would spur further growth.

Jointly organised by his ministry, Economic Planning Unit, National Centre of Excellence for Sensor Technology and Casagras, the IOT began with a seminar to raise awareness and expose the concept to decision makers.

(Casagras stands for Coordination and Support Action for Global RFID-related Activities and Standardisation).

IOT is an ongoing movement, which strives to merge physical objects with the Internet, increasing communication, synergy and effectiveness between machines and their operators.

Examples of successful IOT applications were intelligent appliances such as refrigerators, which could tell the user what foods were going to expire.

Other examples included radio frequency identification tagged objects, such as cargo containers that could track valuable items to prevent it from being smuggled or lost in transit.

Salang said these technologies were achievable.

"Yesterday's fiction can be tomorrow's reality.

"The possible applications for IOT are limitless.

"If the country is not at the forefront of the technological revolution, we should not be too far behind either."

Economic planning unit director-general Datuk Noriyah Ahmad said demand-driven technological evolutions like the IOT could provide the nation with economic opportunities.

"The careful study of potential demands for such technologies can create economic growth in the country."

She said pilot projects, which investigates the feasibility of IOT technologies, headed by local institutions, were already underway.

Casagras co-ordinator Dr Ian Smith said the initial costs in setting up infrastructure for IOT might be expensive.

"However, since the application of IOT technologies increases efficiency in many areas, the initial investment can be recovered quickly.

"Also, once the technology is developed, it can be sold because there is a current global demand for knowledge-based commodities."

(Copyright 2011)