Bandar Seri Begawan - Brunei has achieved a 100 per cent penetration in the mobile market early this year, according to a research report.

The report also highlighted the decline of fixed-line penetration in Brunei to 18 per cent this year compared to 26 per cent in 2001, as well as the steady increase of the Sultanate's Internet subscribers, where 65 per cent has broadband access.

The figures were published recently in a market research report Research and Markets, a leading source for international market research and market data.

The report stated that Brunei's mobile penetration stood at 32 per cent at the end of 2001 and has continued to grow substantially since then.

According to the findings, Brunei's telecommunications infrastructure and services are of high standard and ranks well in Asia in terms of both telecom service penetration and infrastructure facilities.

"It is not surprising that the citizens of Brunei are big consumers of telecom services, given the level of encouragement from the government," the report stated.

However, despite the positive public response, Brunei needs to further restructure and generally liberalise the local telecom industry if the country wishes to continue to maintain the pace required to be globally competitive, the report suggested.

To further achieve the nation's goal in becoming globally competitive, the local industry made a significant move in the right direction in March 2006 by announcing the approval to corporatise Brunei Telecom Department or Jabatan Telekom Brunei (JTB) that continues to dominate the local market

The approval to corporatise department, now known as Telbru, was a turning point in the nation's telecom industry, the report said.

The agency however, remains to be a division under the Ministry of Communications, and much is still needed to be done in the area of sector reform, added the report.

The report also covered a comprehensive assessment of the trends and developments in telecommunications, mobile, Internet, broadband, infrastructure and regulations as well as an overview of the country's telecommunications market.

When contacted yesterday, officials from TelBru and the Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam (AITI) declined to comment on the report.

-- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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written by ranter , August 30, 2009

Location based or population based 100% penetration? Don't think that's possible with the current infastructure with bad reception and drop calls. Who did the report anyway?

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