Digistar hopes to join digital TV ‘revolution'

Kuala Lumpur: The migration from analogue to digital television transmission has everyone excited over who will be given the coveted government contract, estimated to be worth RM2 billion.


ACE market-listed Digistar Corp Bhd is one of those companies that are looking to be involved in the project once the government announced the contract.

Digistar director Tan Sri Zaman Khan expressed hope that the government would give preference to local and homegrown companies
with the experience, expertise and know-how.

“The government needs to do more to nurture local companies
to become world-class companies. For example, TATA Group of
India, which started off as a truck company, has expanded

to become the country’s top IT company with the support of
the Indian government,” he said in an interview with Business Times, recently.

Currently, the market talk is that tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary, through his privately held entity Puncak Semangat Sdn Bhd, had been promised the job by the government.

It is also learnt that Puncak Semangat had gone on a recruitment drive to hire engineers by teaming up with local universities to
train talent.

Digistar managing director Datuk Lee Wah Chong said the company was preparing for the conversion project, in the event that it was able to land a part of the contract.

“We very much would like to supply for that job and we are talking with several companies. It would also help Digistar’s future earnings if it was involved in the project.”

Lee said the company was also in the midst of starting a subsidiary in Singapore early next year to bid for similar jobs in the region.

"All TV stations will have to switch to the digital system by 2015 as no equipment for the analogue system will be produced any more," he added.

Digistar is involved in, among others, the design, supply, installation and integration of IT infrastructure; teleconferencing; interactive media management systems; radio and television news automation; telecommunications systems; and other related electronic systems.

Lee also spoke on the problem of brain drain in Malaysia, saying it was slowing eating into the productivity of local companies, including Digistar.

"The government should provide more support to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The growth of SMEs will help reduce and reverse the brain drain.

"In Japan and Taiwan for example, local SMEs get more projects and contracts compared with foreign companies," he said.