(Eastern Times; July 25, 2009)

KUCHING: Based on the current pace, Sarawak is still far from achieving the target of 50% broadband Internet among households by next year.

Speaking at the opening of the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) Broadband Fair 2009 at The Spring here yesterday, Deputy Chief Minister, Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr. George Chan said broadband Internet penetration in Sarawak in the first quarter of this year was only 17%.

"In 2007, the household broadband penetration rate in Sarawak was 9.7%. In the fourth quarter of 2008, the figure was 13.6% and rose to 17% by the end of first quarter of this year.

"By comparison, the national household broadband penetration rate is 25% in the first quarter of this year. It looks like we still have a long way to go to achieve the target set by the Chief Minister, Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud", he said.

Chan earlier disclosed that the Chief Minister set a target for the State to achieve 50% household broadband penetration by 2010 but in view of the rather slow pace, there was a need for more of broadband fairs.

"I hope that the MCMC and the telecommunication companies will continue to organise this event throughout the State", he said, adding that the State government, on its part had set up the State Broadband Committee to look into the issue.

According to Chan, one of the strategies to increase the State's broadband penetration rate was to promote it in the public service and get the civil servants to use the broadband services.

"The State Secretary, Datuk Amar Wilson Baya Dandot, had proposed to telecommunication companies to introduce attractive broadband packages to encourage the 30,000 State civil servants and more that 50,000 others in the Federal departments in the state to subscribe to broadband services.

"I hope the packages will be announced soon, and affordable and attractive enough for all levels of the civil service, not just to the officers", said Chan.

However, in the promotion of broadband facilities in the State, his major concerns was the rural areas and the poorer segments of the community, who might be left behind.

"This happens with all development, not just in ICT. There will always be uneven and unequal adoption and usage of any development initiative, but ICT has the biggest impact on the people because it is used in all areas of human activities.

"In the globalised and inter-connected world, the Internet assumes a very important role in almost everything", he said.

He stressed that many services in both public and private sectors were now offered online and at cheaper rates or lower cost than services offered through the manual system.

"For example, applications for university entries, schoolarships and jobs are now all online. In this respect, I find it ironical and sad that the poor people and those who live in the rural areas would not able to take advantage of the ICT and the Internet", he added.

Chan said the best example was air travel where online booking and ticket purchase were more convenient and incurred less cost thant to visit the counter.

The rural people would have to come to the counter because they do not have Internet facilities. he said.

Thus the State government was very concerned that Sarawak must not only have better broadband penetration, but also equitable and even distribution of the services, he added.

"Otherwise, our efforts will only widen the socio-economic gap", lamented Chan, who in view of this, proposed that the telecommunication companies do all they could to help develop telecommunication and broadband infrastructure in Sarawak, especially the rural areas.

Chan was happy that the State government, through Sacofa Sdn Bhd and Danawa Resources Sdn Bhd, had embarked on a public Wi-Fi Internet Service and the 'Sarawak Rural Broadband Initiative'.

At present, the services have covered urban areas of Miri, Kuching and Sibu, and the smaller towns and rural areas such as Mukah, Matu, Daro, Betong, Debak, Matadeng, Dalat, Oya, Sarikei, Tanjung Manis, Semop, Bintangor and Julau.

MCMC, Sarawak Region Director, Zulkarnain Mohd. Yasin, William Patrick Nyigor, the Director of ICTU of the Chief Minister's Department, CFM Executive Director, Muhamad Tahir Muhamad Noor and CEO of SAINS, Teo Tien Hiong.