KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said emphasis must be given to develop a world class infrastructure in an effort to transform Malaysia into a developed and high-income country.
He said high-speed broadband (HSBB) was a key enabler to change Malaysia from a medium-income to a high-income country.
"Definitely, HSBB broadband will make Malaysia a 21st century nation," he said when launching a HSBB service at the Merdeka Square here Wednesday night.
He said HSSB service would give a huge impact in stimulating the economy, enhancing competitiveness, reinforcing local and foreign investors' confidence, enriching creative and innovative minds, and as a conduit to disseminate information and knowledge to the people.
"It cannot be denied that HSSB will make our lifestyle more sophisticated, making it easier for us to communicate with one another. "For example, I have been using this service when I invited 300 of my Facebook friends to have tea with me recently.
"From 138,000, who have registered as my Facebook friends, I invited 300 of them for a tea reception. I feel this is my way of communicating with the people directly," he said.
Najib said the government decided to launch a public and private partnership with an allocation of RM2.4 billion in three and half years while Telekom Malaysia would provide RM8.9 billion more in 10 years.
He said the high-speed broadband should be understood and embraced as it would benefit the country, economy, competitiveness and individuals.
"As such, besides ensuring quality inventory and services, we must tell the people that this is for their benefit. I hope the question of public education will also be tackled to ensure that the demand for high-speed broadband will increase," he said.
In driving the social and economic transformation towards achieving the high-income nation objective, Najib announced six national broadband initiatives.
Firstly, 246 community broadband centres will be set up for 615,000 people at the cost of RM60 million.
Secondly, the people's internet centres will be set up at 138 Information Department premises nationwide for 400,000 users.
Thirdly, e-kiosk will be provided at community centres and mukim offices in 1,100 mukim nationwide at the cost of RM4 million.
A total of 873 telecommunication towers, including 278 in Sabah and 257 in Sarawak will be built under the fourth initiative.
The fifth initiative entailed a RM1 billion allocation from the universal service provision (UPS) with the providers agreeing to hand out laptops to needy students nationwide.
Najib said under the sixth initiative, Telekom Malaysia agreed to reduce a broadband package with netbooks from RM50 to RM38 while in the USP areas it would be further reduced to RM20.
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