Tan Sri Nuraizah Abdul Hamid, Chairman ... - Connect-World

company logoMalaysia's Approach to Communications, Multimedia,Information and Content Services - Aspirations of aHubby Tan Sri Nuraizah Abdul Hamid, Chairman, MalaysianCommunications and Multimedia CommissionArticleAbstractThis article presents an overview of the economic and regulatory perspectives onthe regional issues of the digital revolution and technological convergence. Theauthor, Tan Sri Nuraizah Abdul Hamid is Chairman of the MalaysianCommunications and Multimedia Commission. In her eminent career Tan Sri hasworked in various economic Ministries and she brings this experience to bear in acomprehensive analysis of the industrial and technological issues facing Malaysia,ASEAN nations and Asia-Pacific as a whole.Communications versus Telecommunications'Telecommunications' now goes beyond voice. It extends not only to data servicesbut also to service solutions. In the advent of a convergence environment,'communicating' is in the forefront. Technology is no longer a service, it is anenabler to 'communications'. In this sense therefore, we view the'telecommunications' industry as more of a 'communications' industry.Asia-Pacific as a New Growth Centre - Malaysia in PerspectiveCommunication today is borderless. However, it is useful to note the diversity ofgrowth and the digital divide amongst the Asia-Pacific countries. Countries such asJapan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore have high penetration rates with theAsian tigers showing strong growth rates as well in the last five years. Taiwanshows fastest growth and highest penetration rate. Other countries such as China,Cambodia, Indonesia and India have low penetration rates, and temptingly largepopulation bases.Malaysia's cellular mobile subscriber growth is at 27 per cent over the last five

years, hitting a total of 5.1 million subscribers, and penetration of 22 persons per100 population in the year 2000 and now almost 6.8 million subscribers with apenetration rate of almost 29 persons per 100 population. Malaysia's mobileposition is somewhere in the middle. Malaysia is considered 'emerging' in terms ofcommunications spurred growth, with infrastructure ready and readiness to leap.Growth - Driven by the Right Policies?The Asia-Pacific region therefore offers large pockets of growth and is collectivelyconsidered a centre of new growth. Such diverse communications markets in theAsia-Pacific region have common bases in government-driven communicationsreform in terms of liberalisation policy, with focus on competition or building fromlow penetration rates. China, potentially the largest communications market in theworld, is beginning to address the challenges of improving its communicationsinfrastructure to support its rapid economic growth through avenues such asstrategic joint ventures.However, there are issues. Many countries in the Asia-Pacific region needassistance. Not all are that well developed, and many do not even have what wouldbe considered in Europe the basic communications needs. Countries in Asia-Pacificare looking for models and mentors-models to emulate and mentors to assist. Forexample, Malaysia is seen by some as a model for developing countries to emulate.We have the world's first convergence legislation. In fact, India and Indonesia arevery much looking at our framework and are adopting a similar approach toMalaysia. Whether this model will work for them, only time will tell, but we inMalaysia believe that our model will work for us.At the end, however, each country will have to find its own choice of a regulatorystructure and methods of managing its evolution and determining the speed ofgrowth of its communications market, its ability to attract the foreign capitalrequired and all other steps necessary to fulfil its telecommunications needs.Regulation Viewed as a Partner of InnovationRegulation is essential from the fundamental perspective that it is intended tocompensate for lack of real competition in an immature marketplace. In thisrespect, the communications market in Malaysia is at various stages ofdevelopment-some services such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) andcellular mobile services are very advanced from a competition standpoint.However, fixed line services are still very much dominated by the former PTT,notwithstanding that the market was liberalised about five years ago.As a proactive stance before long-run decline in monopoly effectiveness, regulatorsin a number of countries have instituted open competition policies, reviewingdominant carrier controls or flexibly controlling market entry to effect competition.Malaysia has done so, and, as previously mentioned, other regulators in Asia-

Pacific are taking a similar approach, though not necessarily through the samemethods.In any case, some element of deregulation has initiated the platform for technologyinnovation to assist growth in the communications industry, especially from aconsumer perspective. Media, content and information are in abundance, especiallyin Malaysia's multi-religious, multi-racial, multi-cultural and multi-lingual society.Malaysia is poised to take advantage of this attribute, which is a privilege enjoyedby so few throughout the world.In Malaysia, the government has made conscious efforts to increase thedevelopment of the content industry from low levels. As mentioned earlier, wehave a lot more room to grow. The government has introduced various contentdevelopment initiatives through the E-village Project in the Multimedia SuperCorridor. The programme is designed to attract world-class content companies tocarry out their work in Malaysia where they would be creating employment for thelocals and thereby promoting technology and skills transfer.Capital Investment for the Long TermCommunications are the cornerstone of development-particularly multimediacontent services-and should be recognised as such and treated as a long-termcapital investment. Industry participants should not treat communicationsinvestments as you would treat a 'fire and forget missile'. It should be viewed as along path towards an interconnected world, providing infinite businessopportunities along a time line towards a convergent environment. If the approachtaken is merely to supply equipment and then leave the customers to figure out howbest to deal with the issues facing them, then in the long run, no one benefits.Communications infrastructure development that means not only physicalinfrastructure but also the soft infrastructure, such as knowledge and skills, requireaffirmative action by the government together with the industry. Throughcombined strategic planning in nation-building, everyone will prosper.Prosper Thy Neighbour - Smart Partnerships Between Industry andGovernmentOn the international level, a similar approach should be adopted. Globalisation andthe WTO loom in the horizon. Policies at the international level are mainly onstandardisation and rationalisation; does this leave any room for developingcountries such as Malaysia to have any say?On a regional level, the ASEAN countries follow the principle of prosper thyneighbour. Specific initiatives like e-ASEAN have a regional focus,notwithstanding WTO. When we help one another grow, we will all grow anddevelop. Liberalisation issues under WTO should not be to the detriment of local

players, local industries and developing nations.Malaysia aspires to be a global hub for communications and multimedia, and thereis also a need to reduce the digital divide between countries and within countries.There is a requirement for skills training centres, and this is where leadingcompanies that have operations or facilities in Malaysia can provide the channeland the expertise. Such training should not be seen as only for Malaysia: skilledpersonnel could be trained for the Asia-Pacific region countries so that others canalso benefit from another country's growth. The 'smart partnership' betweenindustry players and the government is one of the building blocks for Malaysia toachieve its intent of becoming a hub for communications and multimedia.In Malaysia, the convergent environment under the Communications andMultimedia Act 1998 has instituted new economic markets in terms of networks,network services, application services and content application services. The newmarkets are open and ready for innovative industry-led growth. There is atremendous avenue for new business models and new ways of doing thecommunications business. However, it should be noted that the opening up ofmarkets and introduction of competition, in line with liberalisation andglobalisation, should not be detrimental to the local industries. There must be someappreciation of the level of development of the countries concerned and theircapacity to compete.Technology as a Provider of Solutions to ProblemsIn Malaysia, we focus on what technology can do for us to solve our problems andnot technology for what it is. There is a need to focus on what the technology cando for us as opposed to what the technology can do per se. This approach isreflected in our licensing framework under the Communications and MultimediaAct 1998.The Need to Review Existing IssuesExisting infrastructure has spurred the development of the country. However, achanging communications landscape requires regulators and industry participantsalike to review what has been achieved and what are the future challenges. In orderto retain a robust and dynamic communications environment, Malaysia, forexample, may need to extricate maximum value out of networks and encouragerethinking of network utilisation by using innovative combination solutions such asfixed wireless solutions to deal with last mile issues.ConclusionIn view of the various levels of communications development amongst countries inthe Asia-Pacific region, with the diverse approaches and speed of progress and thedigital divide, there is a need to do a stock take to assess where we are and wherethe specific needs are. Hence, potentialities of the region could be assessed andmethods devised as to how best to tap them or obtain resource assistance, where

equired.There is a need to know the best practices that keep the communications growthformula vibrant in the rapidly changing communications landscape. A plannedapproach is required to strategise for maximum benefit on the part both of thecountry and of the industry service providers. This is certainly the case inMalaysia's partnership with its ASEAN friends.HomeMagazine Contact UsCareers Tell a FriendSiteMap©Copyright World Info Comms Ltd.