'Price of gadgets in M'sia among the cheapest'

The price of computer gadgets and smart phones in Malaysia is among the cheapest in the world because the government is committed to provide the people with better access to information technology.

Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek said the government did not want to burden the people with various additional taxes for them to enjoy the IT facility.

"If we go to other countries, we will find the price of computer gadgets, including the smartphones, iPhone, iPad and others here are cheap.

"If we look at the price of the iPhone in the United States of America, there is no difference from the price here," he told the Dewan Rakyat sitting here Thursday.

He was responding to a supplementary question from Datuk Abdul Manan Ismail (BN-Paya Besar) who wanted to know whether the government intended to give tax deduction on computer gadgets and smartphones to enable the people, including in the rural and interior areas, to also enjoy the IT facility.

Ahmad Shabery said the government was always committed in improving the communication infrastructure because they were the benchmark in determining a country's development.

On broadband, he said there were three important aspects, namely penetration, coverage and speed.

"For penetration, we have achieved 67 per cent and it is something to be proud of compared with several other countries.

"However, there are still rooms for improvements where speed is concerned," he added.

He said efforts to improve the communication infrastructure needed the cooperation of local government authorities and suggested for them to include planning of the facility in new housing areas to facilitate installation of optic fibres for the purpose.

Otherwise, the telecommunication companies had to find suitable sites which may incur cost in land rental which would then be passed on to consumers, he added.

On the 1Malaysia Wireless Village programme, Ahmad Shabery said that 4,380 of the villages had been set up so far and plans were afoot to set up another 306 villages.

Apart from that, 121 1Malaysia Internet Centres have been set up at the District Information Office nationwide, 99 broadband libraries have been developed in selected libraries and more than one million units of 1Malaysia Computers distributed to those eligible, he added.