Thursday 19 April 2012

INTERNET IS A HIT IN SABAH VILLAGES



THERE are 19 e-Desa centres or rural cyber cafés in Sabah since the first one was launched in 2004 by the ministry of resource development and information technology. Its aim is to bring the internet to the villages to keep farmers informed of things around them such as weather, farming practices, prices of produce and what is available in the market.

These centres have also narrowed the digital gap between villagers and town people. Now demand for them has grown greatly, according to Dr Yee Moh Chai, a Deputy Chief Minister who heads the ministry.

At an e-Desa workshop for 49 villagers on April 13, Dr Yee said e-Desa has been very successful. “It is not just the people who want it,” he said. “State assemblymen and members of parliament have been asking for them to be set up in their constituencies.”

Teaching Villagers ICT.

An E-Desa centre costs between 500,000 and 700,000 ringgit ($163,000 and $229,000), according to Dr Yee. And the Sabah government has spent about 12m ringgit on them.

This is money well spent as villagers have not only learnt how to use computers and the internet but they have basic knowledge of information and computer technology that has enriched their life.

Courses have been conducted for them to learn how to use software and internet applications.

An e-Desa development department has been setup to manage the e-Desa portal and to provide training for villagers. Broadband penetration rate has increased from 15% in 2009 to 33% although still below the national average of 60%. (Insight Sabah- Pictures by Victor Lo)

25 comments:

  1. Program e-Desa menyediakan satu platform komunikasi untuk komuniti sasaran mengakses sumber maklumat yang berkaitan dengan pertanian, alam sekitar, kesihatan, pasaran dan perkhidmatan kerajaan secara online.

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    1. Projek tu harus boleh membantu rakyat atau penduduk sekitar,tingkat lebih covergae supaya penduduk luar bandar dapat menikmati kemudahan yang disediakan.

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  2. Semoga penduduk luar bandar akan memanfaatkan pusat e-Desa untuk memajukan diri dan tidak ketinggalan dengan arus pembangunan.

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  3. Kerajaan harus memastikan kemudahan perkidmatan memuaskan hati penduduk

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  4. dgn inim harap ia membantu penduduk desa dalam arus pembangunan.

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  5. Kelemahan dalam jalur lebar ini perlu diperbaiki oleh pihak pembangun itu sendiri.

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  6. semoga lebih banyak kampung2 yang mendapat kemudahan e-Desa..

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  7. With the federal gov­ernment targeting broadband penetra­tion rates of 75 per cent by the end of 2015, much work remains to be done in Sabah, which, at 33 per cent, has the lowest penetration rate of all Malaysia’s states.

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  8. Some progress has been seen in this regard recently, how­ever, with several telecoms companies moving to boost their investments in Eastern Malaysia.

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  9. The issue of inequality in ICT infrastructure between East and West Malaysia was re­cently highlighted by Sabah’s deputy chief minister, Yee Moh Chai, who appealed to the federal government to ensure that Sabah has access to the same broadband services and pricing schemes as Peninsular Malaysia.

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  10. Yee, who is also Sabah’s resource development and information technology minister, said recently in comments to the press, “We don’t want to feel as if the federal government has neglected the development of technology and communications in Sabah.” He also added that only the federal government had the necessary authority to expand coverage in the state.

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  11. Meanwhile, the govern­ment’s National Broadband Initiative spelt out the impor­tance of implementing broad­band services nationally, calling attention to the posi­tive impact broadband access could have on GDP and attract­ing foreign direct investment, as well as promoting national competitiveness by facilitating the knowledge-based economy and creating knock-on effects in other sectors.

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  12. In 2007, the government of Malaysia set a target household broadband penetration rate of 50 per cent by the end of 2010. However, Sabah was assigned a separate target rate of 25 per cent, which the state had since surpassed. Peninsular Malaysia’s rate, however, is currently over 60 per cent.

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  13. Yet recently, customers in Sabah had voiced dismay over a trend in which broadband telecommunications compa­nies operating in the state had increased charges but not service quality.

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  14. Some broadband providers which had previously offered five days of access for RM10 (US$3.2) reduced the number of days to two, meaning that pay-as-you-go customers were now paying more than double the original amount for a week’s internet access.

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  15. Sabahans were particularly cost sensitive, as they often paid more and made less than their counterparts on the Peninsula. However, overall costs were generally higher in Malaysia than in other regional peers. Singapore’s broadband system, for example, charges around 10 per cent of the average fee in Malaysia to deliver 2Mbps services.

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  16. Last year, during an infor­mation, communication and technology (ICT) forum, the federal government promised to investigate reducing broadband access fees nationwide to ensure that more people – especially those in rural areas – could af­ford broadband service.

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  17. Indeed, a more equitable deal for Sabah’s broadband consum­ers may now be on the horizon. The newly appointed chairman of the Malaysian Communica­tions & Multimedia Commis­sion (MCMC), Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi, met with telecom­munications industry CEOs in early November and report­edly told them he wanted to see improvements in the quality of service and coverage for both broadband and cellular service, including narrowing the gap in rural connectivity.

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  18. Sharil’s words have appar­ently been heeded. Maxis, one of Malaysia’s wireless com­munications providers, said it was now working closely with the federal government to lower the cost of entry to broadband adoption to boost the overall penetration rate in Sabah.

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  19. In late November, Maxis reported that it had invested about RM100 million (US$31.4 million) in the past 18 months to boost its network coverage in Eastern Malaysia. Maxis’ joint COO, Mark Dioguardi, said in local press reports that the investment had significantly improved Maxis’ coverage in the two states.

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  20. In addition, Dioguardi said Maxis had also doubled down on its commitment to assist urban areas in Sabah achieve economic growth.

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  21. “Maxis aims to provide Saba­hans with critical broadband connectivity through more network infrastructure invest­ments and competitive localised customer offerings,” Dioguardi told reporters.

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  22. Other companies offering broadband services in Sabah in­cluded Celcom, DiGi, Telekom Malaysia, Y-Max, U-Mobile, Redtone-CNX, Asiapace and Packet One.

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  23. Additional improvements might be on the way. In Oc­tober, YTL Communications announced it was assembling a business plan to secure licences to roll out Yes, its 4G mobile broadband network, which included internet-with-voice service, in both Sabah and Sarawak.

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  24. Such a service could not be launched quickly enough for those in Sabah hoping to fol­low the wider country’s lead in boosting its internet penetra­tion rate and developing new, high-tech and value-added businesses.

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