PUTRAJAYA, May 18 (Bernama) -- To turn Malaysia into a digital nation, the government needs to address the four key thrusts of connectivity, accessibility, education and content, according to Intel Corporation, the world's leading computer chip company.

Its vice president and general manager of end-user platform integration, Prasad L. Rampalli, said focus should be on the four key thrusts, which were in line with Intel's global initiatives, to drive greater use of information and communications technology (ICT).

"The government needs to make connectivity and accessibility affordable and easily available to drive higher PC (personal computer) penetration in line with its Ninth Malaysia Plan goals," he said.

"We believe the recent announcement of the WiMAX spectrum will help to push for greater PC and broadband penetration," he told Bernama here Friday.

Rampalli is here as the representative for Intel at the ongoing 10th MSC Malaysia International Advisory Panel (IAP) Meeting which started yesterday and will end tomorrow.

According to him, Malaysia needs a country-wide broadband initiative and the country also has to bring ICT technology into education to grow its knowledge workers.

"Intel has many initiatives with the government and one of them is the 1:1 eLearning on Classmate PC which we recently announced with Education Ministry to work with 10 schools to set up a 1:1 learning environment and study its impact," he said.

The government, he added, also needed to expand the e-government initiative and continue with its efforts to bridge the digital divide by increasing telecentres across the country.

Asked for his view on the MSC Malaysia strategies as outlined by Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) and discussed at the IAP meeting, Rampalli said: "Generally, there were good discussions around the key components to move the MSC (Multimedia Super Corridor) to the next level, especially in the areas of education, the need for more talented resources, human capital development and ICT infrastructure expansion."

He said there was good input from the attendees on how Malaysia could leverage its resources and geographical location to expand the penetration of broadband and wireless applications.

"I believe the government will take the input seriously for its next action plan," he added.

On the need for talented resources, Rampalli said the government needed to make study fees cheaper to encourage graduates to continue their studies and move up the value chain, especially becoming involved in research and development activities.

According to him, incentives have to be provided to attract global talents, including getting Malaysians abroad to return and work in Malaysia.

Rampalli said Intel has collaborations with local universities in co-developing curriculums in electronics, materials engineering and other disciplines as well as in providing grants for research.

"Our engineers teach at universities and also sit in the curriculum advisory panel. We must shorten the throughput time for curriculum change considerably to commensurate with the rapid rate of technological changes," he said.

-- BERNAMA