Malaysia’s importance came into existence due to its central location in the ASEAN countries. The international trade has made great jumps in using ICT as a driving factor to reduce cost in global trade. The enhancement of Information and Communication Technology made an impressive transformation of economic environment. Malaysia is considered one of the key points for import and export in the region; thus the government has made large investments in building advanced and high tech infrastructure to meet the increasingly demand for higher speeds and advanced communication facilities.

1. ICT Development in Malaysian
ICT Infrastructure & Services
ijkjkj
Prepared by:
Taufiq Hail Ghilan Al-Madhagy
Towfeeq2k5@yahoo.com

2. ICT Development in Malaysia
Infrastructure and Services
Contents
i. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 3
ii. Importance and Effects of ICT.............................................................................................................. 3
iii. ICT background in Malaysia............................................................................................................. 3
iv. Government Encouragement for ICT ............................................................................................... 4
v. ICT Infrastructure and services ongoing development ......................................................................... 4
vi. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 5
Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................. 5
2

3. ICT Development in Malaysia
Infrastructure and Services
IT development in Malaysia
i. Introduction
Malaysia’s importance came into existence due to its central location in the ASEAN countries. The
international trade has made great jumps in using ICT as a driving factor to reduce cost in global trade.
The enhancement of Information and Communication Technology made an impressive transformation of
economic environment. Malaysia is considered one of the key points for import and export in the region;
thus the government has made large investments in building advanced and high tech infrastructure to
meet the increasingly demand for higher speeds and advanced communication facilities.
ii. Importance and Effects of ICT
The wider adoption of ICT in different mainstream of life, e.g. in education, industrial and commercial
sectors, as well as in health sector has made ICT to be pervasive and imperative element in Malaysian
society.
During the fifth plan, the Government has promoted the expansion of the communication infrastructure
including the fixed-lines telephony, internet access services, and public payphones for the underserved
areas especially the rural and remote areas.
These developments with the clear vision of the governments lead to rapid changes in ICT literacy and
consequently the society became more and more aware of ICT importance. In addition, several initiatives
has emerged and changed the market trend in widely usage of ICT services.
Many software companies has developed software packages and developed systems that created a lot of
job vacancies to encompass the local manpower. On the other hand, this development created new trends
to open new markets in China and the Middle East.
iii. ICT background in Malaysia
1996, Malaysia has invested heavily to develop Multimedia Super Corridor, MSC, which assisted as the
high speed backbone in the country that connects Malaysia to Japan, USA and Europe, and ASEAN
countries.1
The MSC has set the platform to build a competitive cluster of local ICT companies and ICT industry.
The primary focus of these companies is software development for general enterprise solutions, data
warehousing, high-end specialized applications, and e-commerce.
The second phase of MSC involved the conferring of MSC Cybercity status to Bayan Lepas in Pulau
Pinang and the Kulim Hi-Tech Park in Kedah.
One of the concentrated focuses of the Government to build ICT infrastructure for the future investment is
the Cyberjaya. It is a town with a science park as the core that forms a key part of the Multimedia Super
Corridor in Malaysia.
1
(www.epu.gov.m)
3

4. ICT Development in Malaysia
Infrastructure and Services
The official opening ceremony for Cyberjaya was held in May 1997 by then Prime Minister, Mahathir
bin Mohammad.
Cyberjaya was considered Malaysia’s premier IT hub and has a communication backbone using fiber
optics known as Cyberjaya Metro Fiber Network (CMFN) which facilitates as a straight connectivity to
the building using “Fiber-To-Building” concept with ring topology that ensures full redundancy for the
cables.
Cyberjaya is planned as an intelligent city with ICT and multimedia industries, R&D centers, a
Multimedia University and operational headquarters for multinationals wishing to direct their worldwide
manufacturing and trading activities using multimedia technology.2
The number of internet users was negligible in 1996, 1.7 million, and increased dramatically to 13.7
millions in 2012(the Ninth Malaysia Plan). 3
The ongoing developing process has emerged the need to review ICT regulations and laws in addition to
security issues related to Business and public security especially when B-2-B, Business to Business, and
B-2-C, Business to Consumer, online service become more popular and a demanding issue for the secure
connectivity.
To narrow the digital gap, hundreds of telecenter where established under the USP, Universal Service
Provision, and Government. Many programs were implemented, e.g. in 2003, to increase ICT literacy
among households like the “One Home One PC”.
iv. Government Encouragement for ICT
The gap between the supply of and the demand for practical skill set in industry has created a huge
demand for skills training. The private sector through MSC has offered two programs, namely, the
“Undergraduate Skills Program, and MSC internship program.” The government also conducted training
programs to enhance ICT knowledge and skill levels of workforce through Human Resource
Development Fund, and reserved RM 176 million for this purpose. This involved the financing of
241,359 training places at 227 training centers nationwide.4
v. ICT Infrastructure and services ongoing development
Malaysia has various terrain and sometimes difficult to implement communication facilities. The
Government’s goal is to narrow the gap among the cities and the rural/remote areas in terms of ICT
services which includes e-Government services. The palm oil plantation is covering a wide range of the
land. In addition to that, there are islands that are scattered and the forests that have a wide green layer of
trees.
Using fiber optics to connect different areas with the heart of the ICT backbone is hard to achieve and
implement without a great loss of the nature, the plants, and sacrifice of the oil palm plantation industry.
The only way, as I believe, was the wireless and Wi-Fi technology. Thus, there was an intensified focus
on the investment of this technology to cover the different, and sometimes the difficult terrain.
2
(Cyberjaya)
3
(The Impact of ICT Infrastructure on Malaysian Trade)
4
(The Impact of ICT Infrastructure on Malaysian Trade)
4

5. ICT Development in Malaysia
Infrastructure and Services
The government has invested a lot to build e-based services to reach all the citizens in all areas and to
embody the Nation unification due to the fact that Malaysia has different races. The government, through
its policies, regulations, and legislations wants to emphasize that everyone is responsible for the
development of this country and has give his/her share to build the Nation’s economy. This responsibility
the Government is holding also involved the private and industrial sector to share in building strong and
knowledgebase economy. A good example of that is the USP, Universal Service Provision.
One of the main things that should be mentioned here is that Malaysia is giving the citizen great value and
always emphasize that everyone has the right to benefit from this technology. One example of this is the
“One Home One Pc” initiative which covers the low income and household in rural and remote areas.
The rising demand for ICT usage pushed the government to think of upgrading to IP version 6. Thus the
Government setup the National Consultative Counsel to study the implications of such upgrade in terms
of regulations, policy, manpower requirements, timeline, and investment.
The usage of Radio Frequency Identification technologies will be used to create ubiquitous network that
will be used to intensify information usage thus generating new value added activities and services within
the ICT industry.
vi. Conclusion
Walking through the above mentioned information regarding ICT in Malaysia; it seems clearly that the
Government is fully focused on making Malaysia a key player in IT and Multimedia industry. Keeping in
mind the huge investments in IT, involving populace in using ICT in their daily course of life, especially
in all Governmental sectors as well as rural and remote areas, international contribution and partnership
with well-known international institutions and IT companies, all these indicate that the intensified efforts
are behind all the current development in ICT infrastructure in Malaysia. The wheels of time are
progressing in line with the efforts of Malaysian to achieve this goal.
Bibliography
[1]. (n.d.). Retrieved October 4, 2012, from www.epu.gov.m:
http://www.epu.gov.my/html/themes/epu/html/rm9/english/Chapter5.pdf
[2]. Cyberjaya. (n.d.). Retrieved October 3, 2012, from en.wikipedia.org:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberjaya#Technological_features
[3]. The Impact of ICT Infrastructure on Malaysian Trade. (n.d.). Retrieved October 4, 2012, from
UKM Artical1: http://www.ukm.my/fep/perkem/pdf/perkemVI/PERKEM2011-2-5A4.pdf
5