The government and private sector have spent over RM100 billion in building telecommunication infrastructure in the country since 1990, Communications and Multimedia Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek said.

He said efforts to upgrade the 2G to 3G facility needed an investment of up to RM40 billion, which was very costly, and delayed the effort to increase the speed and coverage of broadband service, which took quite some time to be implemented.

"The first phase of the High Speed Broadband Programme (HSBB1) was implemented at a cost of RM11.3 billion, not including the HSBB2 project and the construction of telecommunication towers," he told reporters after launching the 2015 World Telecommunication and Informative Community Day celebration in Kuala Lumpur today.

He said in line with the 11th Malaysia Plan, the government would continue building broadband infrastructure, including fibre optic cables with the cooperation of state governments and private sector, to ensure that the country could become a fully-developed nation by 2020.

"Failure is not an option. For a fully-developed nation, having a broadband access is an important foundation to enable various online transactions to be done, such as e-commerce, e-payment, e-government and e-banking," he said.

Ahmad Shabery said in today's world, broadband access was no longer a facility or luxury, as it has turned into a human right that could not be denied.

"If it is slow, it is as if we deny the people's right to broadband service, just like any other utilities," he said.

For that purpose, he said the ministry had also introduced the integrated 'Connecting the Unconnected' programme involving its various agencies.

- Bernama