| iTopia In RM15 Mln Deal To Develop China's First Wireless Digital City |
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BEIJING, May 28 (Bernama) - iTopia Services Sdn Bhd, a Malaysian ICT firm, has secured a RM15 million deal to develop Suifenhe -- China's north-eastern port city and gateway to eastern Russia, into the country's first direct wireless palm top digital city by the year-end.
Fu Yangcheng, the mayor of the Suifenhe Municipal Government, said the entire city would be a single hot spot, providing its citizens access to e-commerce applications such as booking of bus and train tickets.
Yangcheng, who was partly inspired by MSC Malaysia's ICT push when he visited the country two years ago, also called on Malaysian firms to set up base in Suifenhe city located in China's Heilongjiang Province.
To this end, the mayor, who deals directly with the Beijing central government, said a technological park would be built for ICT investors as a platform for Malaysian hitech enterprises to invest in China.
From Suifenhe -- an important gateway for north-east China, they could make tracks into regions near Vladivostok, located just 210 kilometres away.
The Siberian city is on a fast track plan to develop and raise its ICT capabilities in view that it would host the 2012 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit, Yangcheng told a press conference after the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Suifenhe Municipal Government and iTopia.
Yangcheng signed for Suifenhe while iTopia was represented by its managing director Ng See Nguan, at the signing witnessed by Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz following the Malaysia-Business Opportunities seminar.
Besides opening a new investment centre in China's northern region, Malaysian firms could also penetrate the United States, Japan and South Korea, he said.
Yangcheng said that through the technology park, he would help Malaysian firms to enter China.
"To enter China, you need a good relationship with a Chinese party, understanding of the system and governmental support, and Suifenhe is stepping up efforts to provide this," he said.
He said iTopia would bring a brand new generation of mobile services where the government has adopted a Wifi approach as China will be proliferated by Wifi services.
The company has also developed a platform where the government would get a mobile handset that can get full interactive real time entertainment system, e-government services, as well as commercial and retail applications which are cost competitive compared with 3G technology.
"Basically, everything you see on the laptop, you can see on the handset," he said.
-- BERNAMA
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