ASEAN Southeast Asia Telecommunication Top 10 Predictions: 2010 The Year for an Upswing IDC, Feb 5 According t o IDC's recent report Southeast Asia Telecommunication 2010 Top 10 Predictions: The Year for the Upswing, three key items will shape the Southeast Asia (SEA) region, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, telecommunications industry in 2010. First, 2010 will be the year of post-crisis transformations as both service providers (SPs) and end-users race to capture opportunities from recovering economies while applying lessons learned from the economic slowdown of 2008 and 2009. Second, it will be the year for heightened mobility and related creative offerings. Lastly, 2010 will be the year for the next wave of buzz-technologies including cloud computing and Fiber to the x (FTTx) in the SEA region. Brunei Internet
and e-commerce industry in Brunei, Ecommerce Journal, February 16 Malaysia Mobile Broadband to be Expanded to Rural Areas Bernama, Feb 17 Malaysia is recognised as among countries which have contributed significantly to the advancement in the mobile broadband industry, Information Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said. He said the recognition spurred Malaysia to further expand and expedite the usage of the technology, especially the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), in rural areas. "WiMax, via the 2.3 and 2.6 GHz frequencies, will be the key technology for the mobile industry in Malaysia," he told reporters at the end of his three-day visit here. He said that by August, the service would be expanded nationwide through numerous initiatives to be launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin. "We will carry this out in collaboration with Telekom Malaysia and several telcos," he said. Five Star Ratings for More Schools AsiaOne, Feb 13 The Education Ministry hopes to upgrade another 5% of the country's 10,000 schools to a five-star rating under the Smart School Qualification Standards (SSQS) by the end of the year. There are presently about 500 schools with five-star ratings. Education director-general Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd Dom said the ministry's target was to rate 75% of schools at three-star and 20% at four-star by December this year. Malaysia Top Among Developing Countries In Connectivity Scorecard 2010 Bernama, Feb 12 Malaysia scored the highest for deployment and usage of information communication technology (ICT) among 25 resource and efficiency-driven countries in the Nokia Siemens Network's Connectivity Scorecard 2010. It led the group for the third consecutive year. The Connectivity Scorecard is a global ICT index, an annual study which ranks countries not only on their deployment of ICT infrastructure but also measures the extent to which governments, businesses and consumers make use of useful connectivity technologies to enhance social and economic prosperity. ICT Spending to Grow by Eight Percent This Year Bernama, Jan 18 Spending on information and communication technology (ICT) is expected to grow by eight per cent this year supported by steps taken by the government, new applications and purchasing cycle. President of the Association of the Computer and Multimedia Industry Malaysia (Pikom), C. J. Ang, said the incentives and tax break given by the government would help accelerate the growth. "We are encouraged by government spending to drive demand and stimulate other sectors. The government's strong focus on Islamic banking will also spur this sector and result in more implementation of ICT," he said. IT Industry Set to Grow 5-10 percent This Year The Malaysian Insider, Jan 12 The government expects the Information Technology (IT) industry to grow between five and 10 per cent this year. Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Fadillah Yusof today said the government this year will focus on elevating local IT players to penetrate the international market. As for investment from international players, Ms. Yusof said that it expects more investment from the creative industry. Fadillah also disclosed that the ministry was working out to get more allocations for the ICT industry in the upcoming Tenth Malaysia Plan. In the Ninth Malaysia Plan, the government allocated RM12.88 billion for ICT-related programmes, a 64 per cent increase from the Eight Malaysia Plan allocation.
2010 is a year of recovery and transformation for Philippine ICT Manila Bulletin, Feb 11 IDC expects the Philippine 2010 ICT market to post modest growth across various segments, driven by the transformation in business objectives, both from the vendor and service provider (SP) community and the end-user segments, corporate or small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and consumer. "Overall, the ICT landscape in the Philippines will be driven by recovery of the ICT spending psyche and activities and transformation of key business objectives of the enterprise sector, as well as the consumers' ICT focus. Furthermore, the ever-evolving end user needs and objectives will impel vendors and SPs to re-examine key transformational strategies on marketing, consultative selling, and regionalization, as well as expansion and product and solution portfolio," says Jubert Daniel Alberto, Manager for IT Spending research at IDC Philippines. End of the Line for ICT Bills ZDNet Asia, Feb 10 Two crucial ICT bills: the creation of the Department of ICT (DICT) bill and the proposed cyber-crime bill did not make it on the last day of session of the House of Senate of the Philippines. With no DICT (and cybercrime law) for now, the country has no other option but to stick it out with the CICT. The agency, however, is also in a precarious situation as the next president may abolish it altogether with the mere issuance of another executive order. BPO sector to hire 600,000 workers, post revenues of $9b this year Manila Standard, Feb 9 The Commission on Information and Communications Technology expects the business process outsourcing and information and communications technology sectors in the Philippines to post robust growths this year. "We see a 26-percent growth this year. We project additional hiring of workers from 550,000 last year to 600,000 this year. Last year’s revenue hit $7.3 billion and we expect it to grow to $9 billion this year," said Secretary and CICT chairman Ray Anthony Roxas Chua III Monday at the opening of a conference in Pasay City.
Singapore IT market: government has budgeted S$1.7bn in ICT spending PR-News, Jan 1 The total size of the Singapore IT market is expected by BMI to increase from a projected US$5.0bn in 2009 to around US$6.6bn in 2013 as government information and communication technologies (ICT) spending helps to compensate for deferred consumer and enterprise IT spending. The IT market is projected to remain in positive territory in 2009, but growth will be less than in last year.
Cloud Needs Thai Government Backing ZDNetAsia, Jan 27 Governments in Asia's developing economies should look to cloud computing to free up capital to boost their countries' IT sectors, urged a Thai government official. Speaking at the GovTech 2010 conference here Wednesday, Jirapon Tubtimhin, a senior expert at Thai statutory board, the National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC), said the government is needed to boost IT sectors in developing nations. "Modernization often comes from government spending in emerging economies, not the private sector," Tubtimhin said. Wild ride ahead in mobile-Internet market, The Nation, Feb 9 Research firm Ovum has forecast that the number of mobile broadband users in Thailand will grow to about 1.66 million this year. The number was only 595,000 last year. By 2014, the number is expected to rise to almost 30 million. Ovum Asia-Pacific believes that Thailand's mobile-broadband market will continue its helter-skelter growth this year, even without any sign that widely deployed 3G is around the corner. Its researcher Nathan Burley foresees that Thai mobile-phone operators will change business direction to focus more on services, especially mobile Internet and mobile content, rather than continuing to rely on traditional revenue from voice services. Digital-content scheme launched, The Nation, Feb 16 The Digital Media Asia 2010 (DMA 2010) scheme was launched last week with the aim of driving Thailand to become the hub of the digital-content industry in the Asia-Pacific region within the next three years. Speaking at the launch, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the scheme was part of the government's creative-economy policy and a vital project to drive Thailand's digital content into overseas markets and to attract foreign investment to the country. VNPT Asked to Take Lead in ICT Development VOVNews, Feb 2 The Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) should help vigorously develop the information and communication technology (ICT) sector to support economic growth, maintain national defence and ensure social welfare. Party leader Nong Duc Manh gave the task to VNPT during a pre-lunar New Year (Tet) to the group on February 2. Others United Nations plans to launch global broadband commission, COMMSDAY, Feb 17 The United Nations is poised to launch a new broadband commission in an effort to redress what Denis Gilhooly – principal adviser to the UN Office for Partnerships – describes as up to twenty years of government policies which hindered network rollouts. Speaking to an audience of telco representatives, civil servants and ministers from all over the world at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Gilhooly announced the new commission. “We’re going to be launching the Broadband Commission for Digital Development on March 15th in New York; it’s going to be co-chaired by the secretary general of the UN… and Irina Bokova, the new director-general of Unesco,” he said. “It will be a who’s who of the industry both in terms of conduits, connectivity and content.”
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