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M'sia pushing to close digital gap in Southeast Asia

By Sreejit Pillai, ACC on August 1, 2000

Summary

The Malaysian government is now pushing for a concerted ASEAN-wide Universal Service Program (USP) to help bridge the digital gap within the region's premier political and economic organization.

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KUALA LUMPUR--The Malaysian government is now pushing for a concerted ASEAN-wide Universal Service Program (USP) to help bridge the digital gap within the region's premier political and economic organization.

The purpose of the USP is to help provide universal communication service to areas currently lacking in proper communication tools within a country. The idea is to ultimately achieve a more balanced development between the digital "haves" and "have-nots".

A USP model is usually based on three basic principles of availability, accessibility and affordability, with unhindered telephone and Internet coverage the norm, and no discrimination in terms of price, service or quality, irregardless of whether the location is deemed unprofitable.

Energy, Communications and Multimedia Minister Leo Moggie today suggested the USP model be adopted by the 10-member ASEAN countries during his opening address at the e-ASEAN Task Force Meeting to be held here in Kuala Lumpur from Aug 1-4.

His suggestion for a USP program for the region could have stemmed from the fact that ASEAN countries share many similarities, from geographical conditions to social and rural-urban set-ups.

Moggie said the national phone company Telekom Malaysia was appointed the sole USP for a two-year period from January last year.

"We expect a new Universal Service Fund to be into effect early next year under which all local mobile operators are obliged to contribute to this special fund," he said.

Basic telephone penetration rates for the country in 1999 was around 21 percent, compared to 14 percent in 1994 when the government liberalized the telco market, allowing new players into the sector.

"Correspondingly, rural telephone penetration has also increased from 5.1 percent to about 11 percent," Moggie said but cautioned the pace of this increase has not kept up with the overall increase.

e-ASEAN Task Force chairman Roberto Romulo also urged ASEAN to work together to close the widening digital divide which could set off serious economic implications in the near future.

"If we (ASEAN) are not careful, countries like China could take prominence in the Internet Economy in Asia," he said. ASEAN comprises a total population of about 500 million people.

The e-ASEAN Task Force was set up by ASEAN countries to formulate an action plan for an ASEAN e-space and to develop expertise in the information and communication technologies.

Related stories

Asean nations need to have common e-commerce framework

Government may boost Universal Service Provision fund

M'sia faces uphill task to bring ICT to the masses

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