Friday, October 29, 2010

Universal Service Provision -- Money Well Spent?

Here's the thing -- the other day, Information, Communication and Culture Deputy Minister Joseph Salang Gandum seemed not to know much about the Universal Service Provision (USP), an issue raised by Wangsa Maju MP Wee Chee Keong .

The Malay Mail had the story on Oct 25.

In fact, Joseph said the fund had not yet been spent.

Which is interesting because yesterday (Thursday Oct 28), Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commision (MCMC) chairman Khalid Ramli was asked on the size of the USP fund and how much was left.

Listen to this: Khalid said the cumulative fund for the USP from 2006 was RM4 billion, based on an annual contribution of about RM800 million.

He added that most of the funds had been used for the construction of telecommunication towers and community communication centres, as well as for operational expenses.

According to Khalid, as of yesterday, there was about RM400 million left in the USP fund.

(The NST report HERE)

Now you do the math.

Money well spent?

14 comments:

GUiKP said...

I'm sure part of the money leaked into high-end properties and ferraris. You left out the pangkat dan gelaran. Cool. A trend setter.

Anonymous said...

MCMC is dysfunctional, they have a Chairman who knows nuts about ICT- who is ill advised by a group of also dysfunctional few. The Minister picks and choses who he wants to listen to and unfortunately, it is from the most incompetent few.
MCMC do have a small group of knowledge people but as usual they will be sidelined.


MCMC needs to be spruced up - remove the rotten apples.

They messed up licensing and are not tranparent and fair in all their actions.

Spectrum is scarce and it is a country's asset. How are they managing it, as though it is MCMC's asset. Exclusivity given without public consultation. Spectrum to be released known by a few outsiders before disclosed to all.

Operators are not consulted on fair basis. Satellite operator can propose positions to be presented as Malaysia's to International Conferences without consultation with Terrestrial operatteors who will be be affected undoubtedly.

Once there was public consultation, where is that process today? Missing because MCMC got big headed and the few there today believe they know what is best. Sadly, no because MCMC do not know their subject matter well. Else we won't be so messed up.

Look at some spectrum usage - some services cannot provide their intended services due to interference because MCMC did not do their job well. Allowing system such as LNA to be designed with specification running over such wide spectrum encroaching in bands where their services are prohibited and consequent - other services that have a rightful place in the spectrum cannot operate due to interference. The rule is simple - if MCMC love you to bitss no matter how terrible your services are - you will be protected.

Nuraina, why don't we do somethoing about all this nonsense.

FedUp

Anonymous said...

Yb Joseph was a director of TM when USP was launched. Perhaps, he was sleeping during the board deliberation on USP. Emm, what will be his performance as deputy minister? Will he be retained in the next cabinet reshufle?,Najib interested in performance or quota fullfillment?

Anonymous said...

Kak Nur, kena tanya ni which community yang benefit dan kat mana towers ni. Kita tak dengar pun better internet penetration except Klang Valley with Broadband. Tu pun, bukan semua tempat. MCMC pun tak boleh pakai. Mesti Minister kelaur perintah beli netbook from toko AlDino and MCMC macam kucing takda ekor pun angguk aje. Ish, kalau ada credible opposition, memang lah kami vote opposition. Rgds, SS

Anonymous said...

this is crazy ! MCMC needs to provide a detailed account of expenditure for every dollar spent!

Anonymous said...

transparency - list out all the projects with date and amount allocated and which company got the funds. Plus a report on benefits after the implementation of this projects.

Anonymous said...

does the deputy minister know what is going on at all ?

Anonymous said...

how does the supply of netbooks come under the USP Fund ? Can someone from MCMC explain this ?

Anonymous said...

Of Course it was well spent! All VVIPs got their Dividents right on time.

Anonymous said...

Salams Nuraina

Hopefully the MACC will dig this matter inside out.The rakyat has the right to know where has those RM gone about.

wawa

Anonymous said...

pahit tak semestinya racun, manis tak semestinya madu. pahit itu mungkin ubat, yang manis itu mungkin racun tikus.

kak, tak kan lah kakak kakak dan abang abang bloggers begitu naive to assume and highlight seolah olah minister dan politicians je yg potentially kacau tabung ni.

silap sebesar besar silap tu.

tuan tuan kolar puteh penjaga tabung tu, lentok melayan pressure groups from para peniaga; itu yang pagar makan padi. yang kapten, yang leftenan, yang kopral tu. tak semestinya yang jeneral.

tengok kes jet enjin hilang baru baru ni. bukan pangkat besar pun. macai je, tapi main besar besar.

sebenarnya tak bleh jadi kalau bala askar and foot soldiers tak bagi jadi.

janganlah simply hantam individu menteri. yes he is kinda dinosaur,a bit eccentric, non compliant, but he is very ok and one of the most diligent and careful minister. diantara politicians, memang tak perfect, but he is a straight guy.

kalau orang bersalah, tak akan berani nak melawan macam dia.

yang makan ni yang ramai ramai tu ha, even sebelum dia masuk lagi. dia masuk dah tinggal kerak je.

kalau orang nak sensationalize, emotionalize, pertikai kes anak dia di kaitkan dgn bisnesmen etc., tu biasalah. kalau dia tak nak pun, orang akan cuba nak pakai anak beranak dia. especially peniaga ceye nunal ep. memang style depa. Chow Yun Fatt in the movie The Corruptor.

none of the politicians in power, are spared from this scenario.

even ada negarawan negarawan yg dibanggakan pun ,yang disayangi abang roki pun, lebih terok dari ini, anak anak mereka, lelaki perempuan, sedara mara, ipar duai, yang di pakai oleh Chow Yun Fatt in the movie The Corruptor.

harapnya abang roki tak terlalu personal, dan kembali objectif memburaikan kes ini untuk kebaikan rakyat. bukan sorang dua yang dah komen macam ni. dengarlah, walau kami ni orang orang biasa, yg jarang bersuara.

tak mungkin naive sgt kot. saya sayangkan umno, sayangkan BN. baik hantam sekarang, objectively, buat pembersihan, sebelum nak pilihanraya nanti.


-down2earth-

Anonymous said...

Ask NST to do a follow up . Are your reporters, on the business side sitting on their backsides. Getting scooped almost daily by Reserve, Edge and the Star. No malice intended but this is my two sen worth of observation

Anonymous said...

I agree with down2earth, I think Minister is ok - this particular Minister is very ok.

The real problem is MCMC & Ministry. They have cleverly managed to reel the Minister to do their dirty work - or better to join them in their work. Unfortunately he is clever but not technical savvy to see all the rubbish thrown to him.


Minister biggest flaw - he trusted and looked at the wrong people at MCMC and Ministry for guidance and advise.

I wish he would take some time and analyse the situation. Everyone he has around him today is the reason why he is doing what he is doing today - being in the limelight for all the wrong reason.

Fedup

Anonymous said...

memang banyak org nak roki ni jatuh, so they make an event where roki tertembung with unlikely opponent, the minister himself.

to some people behind the scene, its one stone kill two birds. i really hope roki & minister, wake up and stick to objectivity. some smart ass are winning beb...