Time to start ‘Telekom Sabah’, says economist

Zainnal Ajamain says Sabah needs to make a 'leap of faith' by launching its own telco to boost internet speed and ensure full network coverage in the state.

Zainnal Ajamain says Sabah must take charge of its destiny and build its own telecommunications company. (Facebook pic)

KOTA KINABALU: A local economist has urged the new Sabah government to look into the possibility of creating its own telecommunications company to boost the ICT industry in the state.

Zainnal Ajamain, who is also a political activist, said the company should be tasked with increasing the speed of internet service in the state, and even venture into Peninsular Malaysia.

He said the company was needed as national telecommunications firms such as Telekom Malaysia Bhd did not seem interested in increasing the network capacity in Sabah.

He said the only point of presence (PoP) for internet access in the region was in Brunei.

“They don’t have the money to do it and it does not make financial sense to them to invest a large portion of their capital in Sabah because of the small population and low buying power here,” he told FMT.

“But Sabah needs to make a leap of faith in this because we cannot afford to be left behind anymore. The only way to do this is by taking charge of our own destiny and building our own telecommunications company managed by the state government.”

Zainnal, who co-authored the state’s development agenda titled “Sabah’s Halatuju” over a decade ago, said the state government should realise that it could not compete with others in industrialisation by using the old model focused on manufacturing.

He said the manufacturing sector currently contributed only 7% to the state’s gross domestic product despite various programmes and incentives to encourage its growth.

The previous government had undertaken several industrial projects such as the Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park (KKIP) and the Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC), but failed to get the returns it wanted as investors continued to shy away from the state.

Zainnal said using the same model would only leave Sabah behind, especially as the state also faced competition from giants like China and India.

“In order to catch up with the peninsula states, we must bypass all the traditional development stages in order to remain relevant.”

He said he believed that developing ICT was the proper path for Sabah, not only because of its proximity to Brunei but also because almost all graduates produced by Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) were IT-literate.

A state-held telco, he said, could require a large sum of money in the beginning but it was a necessary investment for the state to create thousands of jobs in the future.

He added that there were at least 60 million people in the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA), which covered Sabah, ready to buy the state’s products.

“Using the internet, we can market our products and connect with potential buyers in Indonesia, the Philippines, Sarawak and Australia,” he said.

“We will need experts in the IT field, thus creating white-collar jobs for our graduates so that they no longer have to work as cashiers at 7-Eleven despite holding a computer science degree.”

Zainnal added that Sabah could also be a hub for other IT-based industries such as animation and movies.

“The manufacturing industry provides blue-collar jobs. This (IT) industry will create a huge middle-class population in Sabah. Our young people deserve this,” he said. - FMT