Axiata’s Inaugural USD300 Million Bonds Oversubscribed More than Eight Times

Kuala Lumpur, 16 April 2010 - Axiata Group Berhad (“Axiata” or “Company”) today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Axiata SPV1 (Labuan) Limited, is proposing to issue senior unsecured USD 300 million 10-year Fixed Rate Guaranteed Notes (“Notes”). The Notes will be unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by Axiata. The issuance is part of ongoing efforts to improve the Group’s capital management post demerger and will allow Axiata to have a longer debt maturity profile.
The net proceeds of the issue, which represents the first USD bond offering by a Malaysian corporate year to-date 2010, will be used for the purpose of refinancing the existing borrowings of Axiata’s subsidiary and for the general corporate purposes of the Group. 

Dato’ Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim, President & Group Chief Executive Officer of Axiata said, “The exercise reinforces Axiata’s commitment to optimize the Group’s capital structure. In a short space of time Axiata has gone from deleveraging during the financial crisis to being rated investment grade, enabling us to tap into new sources of funding, namely the international debt capital markets, thus providing the Group further financial agility for long term growth. Furthermore, the exercise will enable Axiata to remain relevant and visible on the radar of investors”.  
The Notes will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933 (as amended) (“Securities Act”) and will be offered outside the United States in accordance with Regulation S under the Securities Act. Applications have been made to list the Notes on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited and the Labuan International Financial Exchange. 
In reflection of Axiata’s strong credit and financial profile as well as the sovereign shareholding, both S&P and Moody’s have rated Axiata as investment grade BBB and Baa2 respectively.  
Goldman Sachs International and Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc are the Joint Global Coordinators. Goldman Sachs International, Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc and CIMB Bank (L) Limited are the Joint Bookrunners and Joint Lead Managers for the Notes.

ICT Knowledge and Appreciation Programme

UEM Land’s ICT Knowledge and Appreciation Programme seeks to create awareness on the importance of ICT usage and to develop IT skills amongst the upper primary and secondary school children. With the long term objective of helping to bridge the digital divide between the urban and rural communities, the programme focuses on IT literacy and the competent usage of computers.

Under the programme, activities organised include training workshops and ICT Carnival. The ICT Training was organised for UEM Land’s PINTAR School students and teachers. Students were trained to use IT software and to use the internet as a learning medium whilst the teachers’ training was aimed at improving their proficiency in ICT and empowering them to, in turn, train their students in ICT.

More than fifty PINTAR school teachers and 3,200 students from UEM Land’s PINTAR primary and secondary schools have benefitted from this programme.

The ICT Carnival for Nusajaya zone aims to expose the surrounding communities, especially the school communities, to the current trends in ICT and to showcase each school’s respective ICT projects. It was first organised in May 2009 at SMK Tg. Adang and SK Tg. Adang, Gelang Patah and had attracted over 1,000 visitors comprising students, teachers and members of the local community.

On 11th May 2011, the 2nd ICT Carnival was organised in collaboration with Johor Bahru District Education Department (PPDJB) and State Education Department (JPNJ). The carnival was also held in conjunction with ‘Semarak Mahkota Pendidikan’, one of the programmes planned by JPNJ to build closer rapport between the Palace and the students, by making His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Johor, Tunku Ismail Idris ibni Sultan Ibrahim Ismail as an icon to all the students in Johor and additionally to be the patron of the students’ programmes. The carnival, held at SMK Taman Nusa Jaya, saw the participation of more than 3,000 students and teachers from more than thirty schools around Johor Bahru.

Cisco, Sime Darby Property and Mesiniaga Collaborate to Develop Smart+Connected Communities in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – April 6, 2010 – Cisco today announced that it is collaborating with Sime Darby Property (SDP), the property division of Sime Darby Group, and Mesiniaga Berhad to develop social, economic and environmental sustainability in Malaysia through connected communities. 

The collaboration, through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Cisco and Sime Darby Property, is intended to lead to the integration of a complete range of information and communications technology solutions and related services provided by Cisco and Mesiniaga for SDP's current and future projects. The projects, which include the Sime Darby Idea House and Sime Healthcare, will build on Cisco® Smart+Connected Communities solutions.

Healthy outlook for health information technology By ELAINE ANG

According to Elaine Ang,

It has tremedous potential for growth globally

HEALTH information technology (IT) has great potential for growth globally in the wake of rising healthcare costs and demand for better healthcare, according to US-based Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) president Stephen Lieber.

“Health IT is one of the key components to help improve the cost and quality of healthcare,” he told StarBiz.

Lieber was in Malaysia to attend the HIMSS Asia Pacific conference held in Kuala Lumpur recently.

Citing an example, Lieber said the quality of patient care could be improved via an electronic health record system where all the data and medical treatment given to the patient were accessible, so that correct and timely treatment could be given to the patient.

here is also a clinical decision support system where suggestions are offered to doctors preparing for the next round of treatment for the patient.

“Having electronic medical record systems also avoids unnecessary or ineffective tests on patients as whatever tests that are done would be available at a glance.

“This will avoid any repeat tests which may not be necessary if the patient’s condition is unchanged thus increasing costs. If there was more information available about the patient, certain tests may not even be necessary,” Lieber said, adding that healthcare savings were estimated at 20% to 25% in the United States due to the use of IT.

In the United States, electronic health record systems are used mainly in the radiology, cardiology, laboratory and opthalmology departments.

HIMSS vice-president and executive director (Asia-Pacific region) Steven Yeo said that in the Asian region, Hong Kong and Singapore were expected to launch an electronic health record system for all their hospitals next year.

Australia, South Korea and Japan were exploring the possibility of integrating the electronic health record systems among their hospitals, while Malaysia and Singapore had such systems in place but no integration yet, he said.

“In Asia, spending on health IT has grown by 10% to 12% in the past two years.

“There is great potential for further growth for health IT in the region – at least a compounded annual growth rate of 11% in the next five years.

“This is because there is a realisation that health IT can improve quality of care and reduce rising healthcare costs. Asia also has a large ageing population and a lot has to be spent on them in the next 10 to 15 years,” he said.

The Middle East is another area where significant growth in IT spending is expected as a number of countries there have not invested much in health IT in the past.

In addition, some Middle Eastern countries have also put in significant resources in new hospitals and are building up the healthcare infrastructure in their countries.

High growth is also expected in emerging markets such as China, Thailand, Malaysia, India and the Philippines.

Yeo said based on the 2006 data on healthcare spending per capita in the Asian region, Australia was the highest at US$2,600; South Korea, Singapore and Japan at over US$1,000; Malaysia US$200; and China and India US$60.

According to Lieber, health IT spending in the United States was estimated to be US$30bil to US$35bil over the next five years due to a newly-passed government legislation that would provide incentives to the healthcare industry to acquire technology.

“We are on the verge of a tremendous explosion in IT adoption in the healthcare industry in the US,” he said.

Nevertheless, Lieber sees various challenges in the adoption of health IT globally.

“The technology exists but the biggest barrier is funding. There is also the resistance to changes that technology brings, such as a change of work processes for physicians,” he said.

HIMSS is a global non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting a better understanding of healthcare information and management systems.

Founded in 1961, it has offices in Chicago, Washington DC, Brussels, Singapore and globally. HIMSS represents more than 20,000 individual and over 350 corporate members.

Use of information technology

INFORMATION and technology are life-changing

I would like to thank The Star and its talented, creative and insightful columnists for highlighting, enlightening and showcasing very intriguing, touching and relevant articles of happenings in society.

I remember reading about technology and the 555 small notebook some time ago.

It was written in an easy, simple and very understandable manner.

Information and technology are great, powerful and life-changing only if you know how to utilise it wisely.

Look around you. Some are so hooked up with their gadgets and updating themselves with the latest information.

The information may be necessary, it may be good. But too much of something is not good.

One may end up suffering from Information Overload Syndrome. It’s a form of craving. We get bogged down by a kind of bumper-to-bumper crawl to our senses.

Information and technology are supposed to simplify our lives. What if simplicity becomes simplexity ? It’s simpleness becoming complex.

We can get confused with too much information particularly those that are not relevant. Let’s look from context of a simple decision making. Too much information may not lead to better decision making. It only reinforces our judgment.

We only need to ‘thin-slice’ of information for simple decision making.

Information addiction affects us physically and also mentally.

Choose only beneficial, empowering and the be-inspired information. One may consider applying 80/20 Pareto information management principle. Schedule our priorities, not prioritise our schedule. Apply flexibility. Don’t get carried away.

Learn to manage information efficiently and effectively. If not, it can affect us in many ways.

Let me cite an example here. What if you receive fiery, rude and disparaging information in the form of destructive criticism ? Pause. Take a few deep breaths. Think zen-ly, ‘Form is Emptiness, Emptiness is Form’.

(EDWARD WONG , The Star Online)

Postgraduate: A practical master’s in IT

“THE future is information technology. The world is not going back,” quips Dr Saadat Alhashmi from the School of Information Technology, Monash University Sunway campus.

IT plays a strong role for any job, and those who avoid learning about it will only fall behind. Today, at the rate the world is growing, no one can really escape IT. Kindergarten students are already beginning to learn how to use computers to learn. All college students need to use computers to conduct research and type out assignments.

No one can escape information technology. So the only thing to do about it is fully embrace it and all its conveniences.

Dr Saadat points out, “It is integral to everything we do. To succeed in the working world, it is good to know how technology works and improve our work quality and its processes. In the last 10 to 15 years, the world’s businesses have been leaning towards technology. Technological aspects of companies drive it to succeed. If you look at successful and failing companies just notice which one is using technology in a smarter way. No matter what your background is, it’s good to know how technology evolves.”

Monash University Sunway campus plays a role in providing learners of today with the most up-to-date courses. A postgraduate programme called Master of Business Information Systems perfectly blends technology and a business education for those with or without IT backgrounds.

So how is it different from other courses? “It combines technology with business. If your background is in business and you want to know more about technology then this is a course for you,” explains Dr Saadat.

“And Monash University turns out the most well-planned modules delivered by the most important factor in the learning environment – the lecturers. A strong faculty and research powerhouse is what separates Monash University from other universities. Here we have a team of international staff who have graduated from prestigious universities. They publish their works in the best forums and journals of the world, and they’ve worked at the best blue chip companies of the world. Monash is a Group of Eight University with an IT faculty and is recognised worldwide mainly because of the strong team of staff behind it.”

“We are also proud to boast state-of-the-art university labs, with cutting-edge technologies. Students have access to online journals and high quality books through the library here.”

Even though the course was introduced this year, it is already seeing a positive response. The aim of the school is to have a smaller student-staff ratio in order to provide the students with more attention.

ICT Investment and Economic Growth in the 1990s: Is the United States a Unique Case? A Comparative Study of Nine OECD Countries

This paper compares the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) capital accumulation on output growth in Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Over the past two decades, ICT contributed between 0.2 and 0.5 percentage point per year to economic growth, depending on the country. During the second half of the 1990s, this contribution rose to 0.3 to 0.9 percentage point per year. Despite differences between countries, the United States has not been alone in benefiting from the positive effects of ICT capital investment on economic growth nor was the United States the sole country to experience an acceleration of these effects. ICT diffusion and ICT usage play a key role and depend on the right framework conditions, not necessarily on the existence of a large ICT-producing sector.

Ahmad, Nadim, 2001, Measurement of Corporate and Government Expenditure on Gross Fixed Capital Formation and Intermediate Consumption: Software and Office Machinery, paper presented to the OECD Meeting of National Accounts Experts.