KUCHING: Among the basic necessity for Sarawak to become a knowledge based economy by 2020 is to have a higher internet penetration for the state populace.
Inside Investors’ Sarawak Report stated to achieve this, funding was needed to equip rural areas with the needed infrastructure.
“For investors, this means they can build on government support out of its Universal Telecommunication Fund. However, every company venturing into this field should perform its own due diligence,” it advised.
Aside from the rural areas, the report also note that, “Sarawak’s development corridor, the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE), is in need of modern information and communication technology (ICT) facilities, not only for infrastructure but also for hardware and software services, information technology (IT) consulting and outsourcing.”
With significant numbers of new companies being set up, many had to start from zero with their IT facilities and communication equiptment.
In general, the report opined that the government was on the right path in supporting the use and penetration of ICT services as there seemed to be a direct correlation between Internet usage and gross domestic product (GDP), a relationship that could be seen in South Korea.
Strategic frameworks and initiatives had been drawn up by the government to facilitate its smooth transformation into a knowledge based economy together with its comparative advantage in terms of its rich natural resources.