Two KKMM initiatives can help B40 households own devices - Saifuddin

PUTRAJAYA: The two initiatives by the Communications and Multimedia Ministry (KKMM) - increased subsidy for the purchase of smart phones and MyBAIKHATI - under the Strategic Programme to Empower People and the Economy (PEMERKASA) will help B40 households own devices.

"It will, thus, enable them to learn, work and trade online as well as continue to sustain their lives under the new norm," Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said in a statement today.

Under PEMERKASA, the government increased the subsidy for the purchase of handphones from RM180 to RM300 for B40 households.

He said the subsidy would be channelled to eligible recipients of Bantuan Prihatin Rakyat (BPR), especially households with school-going children.

"Apart from that, an alternative plan, namely data rebate, will also be introduced for families and individuals at RM15 per month for 12 months," he said, adding that the RM2 billion subsidy programme would be implemented by early May.

The MyBAIKHATI programme, meanwhile, began on March 18 and is a crowdsourcing campaign aimed at collecting and repairing used devices for use by children from the B40 group.

MyBAIKHATI, which involves six telecommunications companies, namely Celcom Axiata Bhd, Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd, Maxis Bhd, U Mobile Sdn Bhd, Telekom Malaysia Bhd and TIME dotCom Bhd, will run for 12 months, starting from the Klang Valley before going nationwide, he said.

"I welcome telecommunications companies to further intensify additional data quota apart from offering affordable Internet packages to everyone so that nobody is left behind in the country's transformation towards digitalisation and Industrial Revolution 4.0," he said.

-- BERNAMA