Neighbor unfazed S'pore's high-tech

Neighbor unfazed S'pore's high-tech

SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore officials are not worried by the threat of being overtaken by neighboring Malaysia as an information technology (IT) leader, the Straits Times reported yesterday.

National Computer Board chief executive Stephen Yeo was quoted as saying that Singapore enjoys superior infrastructure and a high rate of computer literacy among its three million people.

Malaysia, which has a population of 20 million, is building a "multimedia super corridor" off the capital Kuala Lumpur, and is perceived to be stepping up efforts to overtake Singapore as Southeast Asia's IT capital.

The Singapore government is in the process of integrating the entire island into a high-capacity multimedia cable network capable of carrying television, cable TV and Internet signals to a wall socket in every home.

Later this year, Singapore is expected to be one of the first countries in the world to implement secure credit card transactions via the Internet.