Community Broadband: Towards Education for All

Malaysia, in its effort to achieve its Vision 2020, launched a National Broadband Pelan (NBP) in 2004; subsequently Broadband Implementation Plan was formulated in 2007 as an effort and strategy by the government to provide and upgrade the ICT infrastructure and broadband facilities throughout Malaysia. The initiative to bridge digital divide is encapsulated in two strategic foundations of the National Mission which are: 1) Strategic foundation 1.2 whose purpose is to increase the effort to bridge digital divide effort; 2) Strategic foundation 3.7 whose purpose is to increase the development of underserved states by providing economic opportunity and upgrading the infrastructure, social facilities and basic necessities. As at the heart of these is the need to educate its citizen and to instill socioeconomic competitiveness, the government sets a target for the broadband penetration for each household at 50% by the end of 2010. This means one telecenter per district has been set as a target and the main focus is ICT literacy. Therefore, the paper discusses the roles of government initiated telecenters in Malaysia in an effort to bridge digital divide by focusing on the education aspects of telecenters. Key-Words: Broadband Implementation Plan, Bridging Digital Divide, ICT Infrastructure, Telecenters, Education, Broadband Penetration