NTT MSC Sdn. Bhd., a wholly owned subsidiary in Malaysia of Japan's NTT Communications Corp., on Monday launched its Internet portal, Arcnet, making it the fifth Internet service provider in the country and the first foreign player.
In August, NTT MSC became the first foreign company in Malaysia to be awarded a license for a limited area of services.
To prevent it from competing with local players, the license is restricted to a "specific area and specific market," said Akio Hotta, president and chief executive officer of NTT MSC.
Arcnet provides Internet access, a data center, Web site-making services and e-commerce applications, among other things, and will target a "business-oriented market" such as dot-com companies and multinational corporations, Hotta said.
In a speech sent in by NTT Communications President Masanobu Suzuki and read out before the launching by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Suzuki said Arcnet, a registered Malaysian trademark, is linked to NTT Communications' Arcstar global network services.
In a part read by Katsuya Okimi, senior executive vice president of NTT Communications, Suzuki expressed the hope that Arcnet would "capitalize the region's vast, untapped opportunities, both in the business-to-business and business-to-consumer sectors."
Twenty multinational corporations, mainly dot-com companies, have signed up for Arcnet's data center and Web-hosting services.
NTT MSC is investing 30 million ringgit (about $7.89 million) to build a three-story Internet data center to accommodate the e-business.
NTT MSC is the first foreign company to set up in Cyberjaya, the high-tech township in the heart of the Multimedia Super Corridor, after having achieved "MSC Status," with an entitlement to a special tax exemption and other privileges such as unlimited recruitment of foreign expertise and 100 percent ownership.
The MSC is a 15-by-50 km area south of Kuala Lumpur developed to house Malaysia's information technology industry.