Malaysian Industry Players Play Primary Role In National Broadband Initiatives

KUALA LUMPUR, March 15 (Bernama) -- Malaysian industry players play a primary role in helping the government's National Broadband Initiatives in achieving the 65 per cent household penetration by the end of this year. Deputy Information Communication and Culture Minister Joseph Salang Gandum (centre) said the government also targeted 75 per cent household penetration by 2015. To date, the national penetration rate stands at 62.5 per cent. "Malaysia has to remain competitive with other countries in the region...the higher, Malaysia's broadband penetration rate, then it will make our country more competitive as a nation. "Therefore, in order to achieve this, the government has embarked on a commitment towards an Information Technology and Knowledge Economy (K-Economy), and the High Speed Broadband (HSBB) is an enabler in this direction," he told reporters after witnessing the signing of an agreement between Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) and REDTone International Bhd (REDtone) here Wednesday. Also present were TM Group chief executive officer Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa (second from right), REDTone International Bhd managing director and group chief executive officer Wei Chuan Beng (second from left), REDTone International Bhd deputy chairman Syed Ali Alhabshee (left), REDTone International chairman Ibrahim Che Mat (third from left) and TM chairman Dr Halim Shafie (right). The agreement will enable TM to provide the HSBB (Access) and HSBB (Transmission) services to REDtone whereby, REDtone will have access to all 1.3 million premises covered by the HSBB services nationwide. Salang said REDTone, an office broadband service provider, was among local industry players helping the goverment's National Broadband Initiatives, adding that the agreement signed between TM and REDtone would bring many benefits to consumers. "The agreement inked Wednesday will allow other licensed players to use the network provided by TM and REDtone based on commercial terms, and it will also drive competition and keep broadband rates affordable to consumers," he said. Wei said REDTone's data and broadband services were targeted at small and medium enterprises (SME) and small and medium industries (SMI) as one of its core market segments. The HSSB collaboration will allow REDTone to extend its service offerings to them (SME and SMI) to include value-added services such as enterprise services and data centre services, and bring enormous benefits to local businesses, he added. (photoBERNAMA) MALAYSIA