SPEECH BY
HAJI AZHAR BIN HAJI AHMAD
PERMANENT SECRETARY MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS
AT THE OPENING OF THE ASEAN IVO FORUM,
23RD NOVEMBER 2017
THURSDAY, 23RD NOVEMBER 2017
8:45 AM
THE RADISSON HOTEL
Bismillahir Rahmaanir Rahim.
Alhamdullilahi Rabbil `Alameen Wasaalatu Wassalaamu `Ala Asyrafil Ambiae Walmursaleen, Saidina Muhammadin Wa'alaa Aalihi Wasahbihi Ajama'een.
His Excellency Motohiko Kato (Ambassador of Japan to
Brunei Darussalam)
Professor Dr. Hjh. Zohrah binti Hj Sulaiman (Vice- Chancellor, Universiti Teknologi Brunei)
Dr. Hideyuki Tokuda (President, NICT)
Dr. Fumihiko Tomita (Vice-President NICT)
Professor Dr Zuruzi bin Abu Samah (Assistant Vice- Chancellor for Research, Universiti Teknologi Brunei)
Mr Katsuhiko Kobayashi (Senior Vice-President, NES) Distinguished speakers and guests,
Ladies and gentlemen.
Assalamu’alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh and a very good morning to all.
1. First and foremost, I wish to extend my sincere appreciation to Universiti Teknologi Brunei (UTB) for the kind invitation to attend this morning’s event as the Guest of Honour.
2. I wish to also extend a very warm welcome to all speakers and participants to this ASEAN IVO Forum. I hope that the information shared, learned and obtained will be useful for all of us as we strive to continuously formulate policies and coordinate activities for our mutual benefit.
3. Towards this, the forum this year shall discuss aspects along the lines of smart applications in agriculture, tourism, smart society and environment protection, all intended to contribute to national development.
4. Aligned to this, the Ministry of Communications and related stakeholders collaborate and strive to achieve a Smart Nation through well-educated and highly skilled people, an improved quality of life and a dynamic and sustainable economy. Therefore, a connected and innovative community, enabled by technological ICT advancements and data-driven service delivery, is an integral part of our drive towards this goal.
5. As stated in the Titah of His Majesty Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan on 18th February 2017 at the First Retreat of the Special ASEAN-US Summit in California, emphasizes the importance of stronger cooperation to promote innovation and the digital economy, key strategies to spur economic growth which is also one of the key priorities in ASEAN’s Vision 2025 towards elevating the region up the global value chain. In acknowledging that technological advancements are aimed towards developing industries in terms of long-term competitiveness which contribute to economic diversification, thus it is important for Asean to continue addressing challenges facing the
global economy, amongst them, cyber security and the growth of new opportunities to exploit potential security vulnerabilities.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
6. Brunei Darussalam has observed a significant rise of data usage and demand internally and globally over the years. According to the Ericsson Mobiliy Report 2017:
a. Mobile subscriptions worldwide in 2016 were 7.5 billion and is estimated to increase to 9 billion in 2022. Brunei Darussalam currently already has a mobile penetration of 120%.
b. The worldwide data traffic per smartphone was 2.1GB in 2016 and is estimated to increase by 12GB in 2020
c. This means the approximate worldwide mobile data traffic in 2016 was 8.8EB (Exabytes) and is expected to grow to 71EB in 2022.
7. Therefore, telecoms operators, not just in Brunei Darussalam, are thus aggressively promoting better data packages instead of the normal voice calls we are so used to. The potential for applications and uses for Big Data are endless. There is an ever increasing array of equipment such as vehicles, public transportation and home appliances equipped with digital technology, GPS, sensors, detectors, data storage and connectivity. The key is thus to find a way to be able to analyse, value add and repackage the information we collect in order to discover the relationships among those variables and deliver a product or service that is more citizen-centric than ever before.
8. Brunei Darussalam is also hoping to see local app developers and solutions providers coming up with new and innovative applications to leverage on the power of analytical platforms and solutions and add value to the data available to them.
9. With the advent of these current ICT technological advancements connecting more people worldwide, we still need to continuously ensure effective implementation of smart nation initiatives and overcome rural disconnectivity. Towards this, there is thus a need to invest in the sustainable development and deployment of ICT infrastructure especially in the affected areas. For further protection, the issue of cyber security challenges and the improved security of our data should be a serious consideration.
10. Thus the Ministry of Communications’ efforts towards ensuring a Smart Nation where connectivity is key, the incorporation of the ICT element via an Intelligent Transport System for all is justified. Similarly, other relevant agencies will have their own contributions and this forum provides one platform for sharing those initiatives.
11. Once again, before I end my speech, I wish to thank UTB for kindly inviting me today and wishing you the best in your fruitful deliberations.
12. With the kalimah Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, I am pleased to declare the ASEAN IVO Forum 2017 officially opened Thank you. Wabillahi Taufik walhidayah Wassalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
