Malaysia's information technology (IT) industry is expected to grow 6.5 per cent this year, rebounding from a 1.3 per cent decline last year, according to technology research firm IDC.

IT spending is likely to cross the US$6 billion mark this year, with hardware spending expected to return to a positive note, it said in its annual 'Top 10 Predictions of the Malaysian Information and Communications Technology

Industry (ICT)'.

"In terms of market movements, IDC foresees the impact of the global economic crisis in 2009 to drive new synergies and dynamics in the local market, bringing fundamental transformation and growth to the industry in 2010," said IDC Asean software research manager Roger Ling at a media briefing in Kuala Lumpur today.

According to Ling, 2009 saw an unpredecented year-on-year decline for the applications market that traditionally sees not only a strong year-on-year growth but contributes to a large chunk of the packaged software market.

"As for this year, there will be fundamental transformation for business software in which demand for applications will improve, driven by new offerings which relate to the changing business landscape," he said.

The Malaysian telecommunications industry is also expected to rebound strongly this year, with a growth of 4.4 per cent over 2009 while reaching a total of US$6.7 billion for the year, said IDC Asean telecommunications research manager Lincoln Lee.

"Growth in telecommunications spending is anticipated to come largely from the wireless market," he told the media briefing.

Lee said the industry is expected to see a growth in the adoption of smartphones this year.

"For 2010, IDC is predicting that the total smartphone shipments will hit 1.8 million units, growing by 19.8 per cent," he said.

IDC expects the historial trend of declining average selling prices to further support the growth in smartphone adoption, Lee said.

"IDC also forecast smartphone shipments in Malaysia to represent 30.1 per cent of the total mobile phone shipments sold in Malaysia this year," he said.

Mobile broadband services in Malaysia will continue to pick up this year, Lee said.

"High-speed packet access (HSPA) broadband subscribers are anticipated to reach 1.5 million users, a 71.5 per cent growth rate from 2009, while WiMaX subscribers will hit 137,000 users," he said.

The telecommunications service providers will roar in the 'Year of the Tiger', according to Lee.

The possibility of competitive forces is likely to lead to mergers and acquisitions in the telecommunications industry, he said.

Lee said the changing landscape post merger and acquisition will impact on partner programmes this year.

"Growing trends like cloud computing and services will add new dynamics moving forward," he said.

Security software products are expected to receive a boost in adoption this year, Ling said.

"IDC sees security-as-a-service creating traction into more niche areas such as security and vulnerability management," he said.

- Bernama