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Borneo Bulletin Yearbook 2021
INFORMATION AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY
Over the past few years, several major
developments have taken place in the country’s
telecoms and infocommunications landscape.
On December 15, 2018, the Ministry of
Communications was renamed the Ministry
of Transport and Infocommunications (MTIC)
to reflect the ministry’s expanded portfolio,
taking into account the development of global
technology and digital economy, among others.
In 2019, the country’s telecommunications
network infrastructure was consolidated and
officially taken over by Unified National Networks
Sdn Bhd (UNN). The three telcos - imagine, DST
and Progresif – focus on retail operations with
UNN providing equal access to the network
infrastructure.
The following year, MTIC announced the BND25
annual licence fee waiver for mobile phone
subscribers, effective January 24, 2020. The
annual fee waiver is a step taken jointly by the
Ministry of Finance and Economy (MoFE), MTIC
and the Authority for Info-communications
Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam
(AITI) in line with the restructuring of the
telecommunications industry. It aimed to make
telecommunications services more accessible
and affordable for the public, and to increase
the community’s readiness to adopt new digital
technologies and services.
On January 24, 2020, DST and imagine launched
new products and service packages to provide
more choice for consumers, while Progresif
introduced theirs on February 1, 2020. Consumers
were advised to do their due diligence before
subscribing to a different product or switching to
a different service provider.
To ensure consumers can make a fully informed
decision, all service providers are required to
provide transparency on the following: service
price and package; product features; terms and
conditions of use; billing practices; customer
care services; Fair Usage Policy describing the
service provider’s traffic management practices;
early termination charges; and unused credit
balances.
AITI
The
Authority
for
Info-communications
Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam (AITI)
is a statutory body which is responsible for
Brunei Darussalam’s telecommunications and
radiocommunications regulation, radio frequency
spectrum planning and management, as well
as ICT industry development. Recognising the
untapped potential of the domestic ICT talent
pool, AITI has introduced several initiatives to
prepare Bruneians with the skills related to the
fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0).