MSC IAP : What, No Wireless?
It’s that time of the year again when the big names in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) pay a visit to Malaysia to advise our prime minister on what needs to be done to get the Multimedia Super Corridor chugging along.

Mary Anne Tan

This year’s International Advisory Panel Meeting, the ninth to date, will see the 29 foreign invitees moving out of the central MSC Zone in Cyberjaya and descending upon Bayan Lepas in Penang to see for themselves what Malaysia’s first Cybercity (other than Cyberjaya, of course) is like.

This year’s IAP theme “ICT Driving the Innovation Society” will focus on four areas - the MSC national rollout, skilled and high-value job creation, innovation, and shared services and outsourcing opportunities in the MSC and Malaysia.

The missing piece
The wireless industry is conspicuously missing. Does the government not realize that this is the year of 3G? That wireless is the hottest sector in the ICT world right now? That wireless is the best bet yet for bridging the digital divide?

“The mobile and wireless space is rife with innovations, but lumping them under the umbrella of innovation does not do justice to the importance of this segment to the nation’s economy,” one ICT analyst told MW.

Booming sector
A Deloitte Mobile and Wireless Trend 2005 report states that the global market for voice services both fixed and mobile is approaching US$1 trillion and cellular mobile will remain the dominant mobile and wireless technology in 2005. By year’s end, there will be nearly two billion cellular subscriptions worldwide, with subscriber growth for mobile strongest in Asia and Latin America.

There’s no question, wireless is on an upward march. According to IDC research manager of Telecommunications Research, Lee Huei Min, last year, the Malaysian wireless market grew 20.7 %, touching RM11.6 billion while the mobile subscriber base rose 32.6% to hit 14.59 million.

The government is turning to wireless technologies as a way to give Internet connectivity to rural areas. An initial RM153 million in funds, later raised to RM359.9 million (in the midterm review), was allocated under the 8th Malaysia Plan for the Bridging the Digital Divide programme.

With huge amounts of investments being pumped into the wireless space, it would make sense that this year’s IAP meet should perhaps give more focus to these lifechanging, disruptive technologies.

Little representation
Thorsten Heins, board member of Siemens Communications, is the only one among the 29 invitees that is slated to share on telecommunication technologies with the prime minister during the IAP.

Meanwhile, over on the Global Technopreneurs Forum 2005 side, there are only two panelists scheduled to give their input on the mobile and wireless space and both are locals - Ahmad Kabeer Nagoor of AKN Technologies and Norraesah Mohamad of Alcatel Network Systems.

“How important is mobile wireless? Try to equate that with the Internet exactly how much has the Internet helped Malaysia grow? Multiply that by a factor of three. That’s the total number of mobile users compared to Internet users in Malaysia,” says a senior manager from an enterprise mobile data service provider.

“Developments in mobile wireless, lead to the creation of content and applications that can contribute to the creation of intellectual property. This is something the IAP can help Malaysia with as we aim to become a knowledge-based economy,” he adds.

Missing the boat
An MDC source says mobile and wireless will likely be the main topics for next year’s IAP meeting. “We feel that mobile and wireless will only be pervasive by 2006 at which time, the IAP would be looking into the issues affecting the industry,” the source said.

A venture capitalist who has invested in a mobile content development company says the MDC has missed the boat. “The time for mobile and wireless applications is now, this year.”

He feels the government is wasting a golden opportunity to pick the brains of some of the best global minds on how mobile and wireless technologies are impacting their respective economies.

This year has seen dozens of 3G networks going live globally. A little closer to home, we’ve seen both Maxis and Celcom roll out their 3G services, and a couple more 3G licences are now going to be made available by the government.

The ironic thing is that the wireless sector is not a stranger to the MDC. Of the 1026 MSC status companies that are currently active and operational, 52 are listed as being involved in Wireless and Mobile Technology. Another 42 are in Telecommunications & Networking, 24 in Production/Postproduction & Animation and 111 are involved in Content Development. Put together, that’s a pretty
sizeable industry.

Wireless wish list
When asked who in the global mobile and wireless space would they want to see attending the IAP instead of the same IT laden group each year, the answers we got from various players in the mobile sector were Takeshi Natsuno, the brains behind Japan’s i-mode strategy, Shin Bae Kim, President and CEO of SK Telecom, Terry Clontz President, CEO of StarHub, Charles Henshaw executive director and CEO of China Resources Peoples Telephone Company and Lim Chuan Poh CEO of SingTel Mobile.

Penang Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon recerives the Cybersity declaration certificate from the PM in January

Perhaps the organizers of this year’s IAP should have looked at the theme for this year’s 3GSM World Congress for 2006, which is appropriately entitled “Stay In Touch With Tomorrow”. Certainly far more forward looking than the clichéd and tiredsounding: “ICT Driving the Innovation Society”.