by Danny Wong. Posted on February 19, 2012, Sunday
SIBU: In the government?s effort to attain a high-income nation, one of the sectors that have to be improved is communication.
Stating this, Deputy Minister of the Information, Communication and Culture Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum said his ministry had been entrusted to push for connectivity to narrow the communication gap.
?The effort to connect society by the ministry has begun to bear fruit; both urban and rural society has benefited from the communication and broadband facilities,? he said at the launch of NJOI, Astro?s subscription-free satellite TV service nationwide held at the multi-purpose hall in Sibu Jaya yesterday afternoon.
Salang who is also Julau MP, said as of December last year, the household broadband penetration rate nationwide stood at 62.3 per cent. For Sarawak alone it was 47.5 per cent while cellular coverage for populated area stood at 84 per cent.
Although the national cellular coverage rate was wide, the effort to widen connectivity was still being implemented, he said.
He said in the state, among the efforts to widen cellular coverage was the construction of 114 telecommunication towers to be completed by the middle of this year.
Apart from that, under the worldwide service provision being managed by Malaysia Communication and Multi-media Commission (SKMM), the people are provided with broadband facilities to narrow the digital divide between urban and rural areas including in Sabah and Sarawak.
He said among those was the distribution of one million laptop computers associated with broadband packages affordable for students and low-income group.
According to him, Sarawak has been allocated 182,168 laptop computers, of which 74,858 had been distributed to-date.? The other 107,310 would be distributed to qualified students and members of the public within this month.
In addition, SKMM has implemented broadband community centres (PJK) and broadband libraries (PJL) to provide communication, infrastructure services and Internet accessibility in rural areas, he said. Sarawak has 34 PJK and 33 PJL in operation to date.
The wireless village initiative (KTW), he said, was operated based on the concept of the widening wireless broadband service to villages.
?A total of 600 wireless villages projects are to be implemented throughout the state in which 212 wireless villages are operational while 388 will be developed early this year.
On behalf of the ministry, Salang congratulated Astro for introducing NJOL to the public. By buying NJOL decoder set from a retailer, the public could enjoy 37 TV and radio channels free.
He also congratulated Astro for continually discharging their corporate social responsibility through NJOL.
?The government realised the shortcomings faced in narrowing the communication gap especially in an area where free TV and radio services were inaccessible,? he said.
In this respect, the satellite broadcast system is a good alternative for closing the gap.? Through NJOL, recipients in selected areas will get NJOL decoder set and NJOL channels for free.
He said NJOL was not only a commercial project but continuation of the government?s effort to provide access to knowledge, education, information, entertainment and radio contents.
Chief operating officer of Astro Henry Tan was among those present.
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Source: http://www.theborneopost.com/2012/02/19/communication-needs-to-be-improved/
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