By Ken Zita
T
he Malaysian government has been heavily engaged
Contents
in industrial policy for telecom and information
Political and Economic Brief 3 technologies. Network services were liberalized in the
Economy 3 early 1990s under the nationalistic and closely managed
Telecom Policy Environment 5 economic policies of the former Prime Minister, Tun
Telecom Sector Restructuring 6
Dr.Mahathir Mohamad. Mahatir’s detractors view these
MCMC 9 early stages of market opening as being characterized by
Telecom Market Environment 11 an opaque regulatory environment that favored political
Mobile Market 12 supporters, heavy restrictions on foreign investment, and
Telekom Malaysia 14 protection of the incumbent state-controlled network
Maxis 15
Digi 15 provider, Malaysia Telekom. The Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998 ushered in a new era of market transformation. The government engineered a dramatic consolidation of the telecom services market but simultaneously introduced an institutional framework for progressive policy reform.
The creation of an independent policy and regulatory body, the Malaysian Communications and
Multimedia Commission (MCMC), has brought a new dimension of transparency and public accountability to technology sector administration.
Large, state-funded infrastructure and training projects are a trademark of the government’s New
Economic Policy (NEP). The Malaysia Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) – Malaysia’s answer to Silicon Valley – was crafted from textbook strategies for best practices in industrial planning and latest generation communications infrastructure. While the MSC is an impressive
‘demonstration of the possible,’ the success of its infrastructure development efforts has thus far been
Key Indicators discrete: programs aimed at increasing ICT usage and
Malaysia
promoting an “e-society” have yet to ignite widespread
Population^
25.58million adoption of broadband services