The Sabah government is confident of achieving a national broadband implementation target of 30 percent for households by end of next year, said state resource development and information technology minister Dr Yee Moh Chai.

He said the state government acknowledged that Sabah had always been at the bottom, in as far as information and communication technology and broadband penetration were concerned.

NONE Currently, he said, the broadband household penetration rate for Sabah was recorded at only 11 percent.

"We will work on ongoing programmes... we actually want to be on par and in the same league (with the rest of the country). We do not like to see one state poorer than the rest.

"It should therefore, be a national policy whereby every state is the same so that we can further strengthen our position at international-level," Yee told reporters after officiating the Broadband Fair organised by MCMC in Kota Kinabalu today.

Ranked one of the lowest in Asean

Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) Sabah and Labuan director Ahmad Nor Hisham Mohd Yusop said a 15 percent broadband household penetration rate was expected in the state by year-end.

Nationwide, MCMC has set the NBI at 50 percent broadband household penetration by end of next year.

The country currently ranks as one of the lowest in broadband penetration as compared to other Asean countries.

In a related development, Yee said his ministry noted that by year-end, it would have provided ICT training to about 80,000 participants over a four-year period in the state.

Meanwhile in his speech, Ahmad said that one way of promoting broadband was through the community broadband centres (CBC). Six CBC have been set up in the state.

- Bernama