Kuala Lumpur, 8 January 2008: The Penang K-ICT Council, in collaboration with the Ministry of Energy, Water & Communications (MEWC), and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and will be organizing the inaugural Penang Wifi Treasure Hunt on Sunday, 20-January 2008, as part of the promotion campaign for the Penang & Kulim Pilot Broadband Project.

YBhg. Dato' Sri Chia Kwang Chye, Deputy Minister of Information Malaysia and Chairman of Penang K-ICT Awareness Committee announced the Penang Wifi Treasure Hunt at a Press Announcement yesterday, where he filled up the first entry form to sign up the first team for the event.

The Penang & Kulim Pilot Broadband Project is one of the projects under the National Broadband Plan. Following a demand survey done by the MCMC in 2003, it was discovered that consumers in Penang were ready for broadband, especially from the private sector - 20:1 ratio private vs public sector demand. Subsequently, the Penang state government, the MEWC and the MCMC decided to initiate the Penang & Kulim Pilot Broadband Project with six locations, namely Batu Feringghi, Bayan Lepas, Bukit Mertajam, Batu Kawan, Kulim and Kepala Batas being selected as a test-bed to be linked together under one common data centre to test out new guidelines for broadband deployment. Incorporated as part of the Penang i-Land 2010 Masterplan, the Project is designed to provide the necessary infrastructure to realize Penang as a fully connected state by 2010 with reliable, fast broadband and affordable network infrastructure.

Amongst the objectives of the Penang & Kulim Pilot Broadband Project, includes:

• to enable the government to conduct and refine new broadband selection criteria whereby priority is given to sub-urban and semi-urban areas where the demand for broadband is relatively high but nevertheless, due to the inadequate cost effective supply of broadband services, justifies the need for government intervention;
• to test potential "killer" content & applications services required to value-add in order to make broadband an essential feature in every Malaysian enterprise as well as the average Malaysian home.