CYBERJAYA, Malaysia March 18 (NNN-Bernama) -- Sabah and Sarawak states will not be marginalised in the National Broadband Initiative (NBI), which will be launched by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak on Wednesday.

Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) chairman Khalid Ramli said although high-speed broadband would be implemented in high-impact areas, broadband would be extended to rural areas under the people's broadband category.

"The initiative is aimed at providing a high-speed broadband service nationwide irrespective of whether it is in the urban or rural areas. The only different is the speed of the broadband," he told reporters here Thursday.

Khalid said so far RM1.7 billion had been spent to upgrade telco infrastructure in Sabah and Sarawak as well as rural areas in other states under the Universal Service Provision (USP) fund.

Plans are afoot to build two-third of 486 telecommunication (telco) towers earmarked for Sabah and Sarawak to increase the broadband penetration, he added.

He said the Malaysian Internet Exchange (MyIX) was also introduced in Sabah and Sarawak in January to overcome disturbance while surfing the internet.

"Under the USP, we launched several telecentres and community internet centres as well as reviewed and speeded up other initiatives for Sabah and Sarawak.

"Emphasis will also be given to upgrade wireless services in both state as rough terrain made it difficult to install telco infrastructure in Sabah and Sarawak," he added.

Khalid said the Malaysian broadband penetration last year was 31.4 per cent, which exceeded the target of 30 per cent while broadband subscription increased by more that 100 per cent to 2.78 million from 1.2 million in 2008.

He said Malaysia, which was committed to break 50 per cent broadband penetration by year-end, had achieved the Frost and Sullivan's projection of the Asia Pacific broadband penetration to reach 33 per cent in 2013.

-- NNN-BERNAMA