1. Medium impact: Significant long-term benefit/risk on MS. High impact: major immediate commercial benefit/risk to MS. Low impact: Little commercial benefit/risk, or is in line with current policy Signif resource should be committed Increase resource commitment No increase in resources reqd Declining resource reqment. Changing situation that could be positive or negative but should be approached proactively. An issue to be noted but that does not change the status quo. Changing situation that looks to be unequivocally good for MS, whether action taken or not. COUNTRY & INITIATIVE BUSINESS IMPACTENGAGE REQCONTEXTFOCUS & COMPETE* SME AU: Victorian Govt’s AUD11 million Digital Futures Fund launched Fund designed to promote the development and diffusion of new ICT capabilities, supporting Victoria’s competitive advantage. Successful applicants receive up to AUD500,000 in funding; eligible projects must involve collaboration between at least 2 businesses with fewer than 200 employees, and find solutions to shared problems. IT services company Interactive is launching an AUD30 million project in Victoria which will create 300 IT jobs over next 4 yrs Med impact: Australian states are competitive with one another, to attract greater investment, especially keen competition between NSW and Victoria. SG: Infocomm Industry Productivity Roadmap Grants and subsidized training to enhance IT skills and productivity will create growing interest in IT business and enterprise apps and OS. IDA has set aside SGD46 million for an ‘Infocomm Industry Productivity Roadmap’ which extends over 5 years to help 1,100 infocomm companies to raise productivity, market reach and train 1,000 workers in IT skills. Med-High impact: SGD45 million over 5 years as part of govt commitment to raising business productivity to compensate for tightening restrictions on imports of foreign labour. ASEAN Trade VN: India to help Vietnamese govt to improve high performance computing Short term it will provide biz opps for ICT companies. Long term: more efficient govt will improve biz env. Representatives from Indian and Vietnamese govts signed an agreement on upgrading Vietnam’s High Performance Computing capacity. Medium impact: The proj is estimated to be worth USD1 million. India will supply Vietnam 2 labs for grid computing, transfer technologies and train VN staff. m-Cloud HK: Financial help for DC development Financial waivers to accelerate DC devt will encourage rate of adoption of cloud services. Govt will introduce (i) a waiver of the fee for changing parts of industrial buildings aged 15 years or above into data centre use; (ii) will assess the premium for lease modification of industrial lots for development of high-tier data centres on the basis of actual development intensity and high-tier data centre use instead of optimal use. The measures will run from 2012 – 2016. Medium impact:: Govt pursuing aggressive policy to keep HK industry competitive through innovation with cloud services ear marked for special attention. ID: Pre-installed QQ browser and IM services in feature phones First-mover advantage in ID, competition to MSFT’s mobile phones and service provisions. Tencent will offer browser & IM (instant messaging) services preinstalled in low-cost mobile phones in partnership with a local telco. Services provided in Indonesian. Aim is to reach 8mil users by end 2012. Med impact: 80% of ID youth own mobile phones (highest in APAC) and hence, large market potential for cheap Internet & IM enabled phones. Monitor competition; device market strategy and react promptly. NZ: Draft version of Cloud comp code released for public comment, 1 step closer to being finalized Once approved, code should serve to push adoption of cloud services in NZ as it provides clarity and transparency on service definition. Comments close 10 Apr; Security reqs are referred to the Cloud Security Alliance’s STAR registry, participation in which will be the min security req. Adherents to the code could be barred from advertising a service as a “cloud” offering if it does not conform to the code Low impact: Collaborative effort across divergent constituents; the code has emerged from deliberation of public meetings and expert panels. SK: LGU+ to provide voice over LTE (VoLTE) services Service could be a game-changer in the country’s telco industry if LTE wins the 4G standards game, and other carriers follow. As the number of LTE subs continues to increase, telcos are finding new ways to attract more customer and gain market share High impact: LGU+ is aiming to provide VoLTE services in Oct after completing its deployment of LTE networks nationwide. Opp for app developers to engage LGU+ or other telco companies to develop VoLTE service. VN: Implementation of disaster warning system that utilises cloud Proj could lead to more govt initiatives to utlilise cloud computing in a number of govt services. Vietnam Natl Institute of Software and Digital Content Industry will implement “Sensor System for Monitoring and Warning for Natural Disasters” together with Panasonic System Networks, and Da Nang Dept of Info & Comms. Med-High impact: Proj is expected to be finished by 2015 with a total budget of USD50 million. System will use a sensor and a wireless network in combination with a cloud-based system to access data provided by iDragon Cloud. Opp for cloud service providers

2. Medium impact: Significant long-term benefit/risk on MS. High impact: major immediate commercial benefit/risk to MS. Low impact: Little commercial benefit/risk, or is in line with current policy Signif resource should be committed Increase resource commitment No increase in resources reqd Declining resource reqment. Changing situation that could be positive or negative but should be approached proactively. An issue to be noted but that does not change the status quo. Changing situation that looks to be unequivocally good for MS, whether action taken or not. COUNTRY & INITIATIVE BUSINESS IMPACTENGAGE REQ CONTEXTFOCUS & COMPETE* Edu TH: Changes to OTPC contract arrangement The troubled policy reveals the possibilities and risks in developing tablets for the Thai market. - Initial govt-to-govt contract for OTPC (one-child-per-tablet) scheme with Shenzhen Scope Company was replaced with a direct contract between Thai govt and the company to cut down procurement time. Low Impact: Tablets run on Android Honeycomb system. No action required. Public Sector AU: Single regulator in the offing + new R18+ classification system + restart of mandatory Internet filter, perfect storm of censorship? A single all-powerful regulator to cover publications, films, computer games, online and mobile content, broadcast and subscription TV content is worrisome to many in the industry as it might lead to greater censorship, imposition of mandated Internet filter and more business- sapping onerous regulation. Influential Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) recommends a new Classification of Media Content Act which would apply to all media content, in a ‘platform neutral’ way; Judge Ray Finkelstein hands in his media report to Gillard govt and calls for establishment of News Media Council; Comms Minister Stephen Conroy says Optus and Telstra using online content filters as part of a voluntary scheme, and they were having negligible impact on Internet services. High impact: Industry which prefers self-regulation is up against powerful advocacy groups calling for govt to impose tighter reins on digital content to protect minors. MY: MOSTI to have public consultation for Computing Professionals Bill Will raise the quality of IT professionals (both local and foreign) but will increase costs to acquire accreditation. Oppty to influence bill. Bill has been very unpopular with IT community for being too ambiguous. Only 3% have expressed support the current bill, 25% support the bill but require amendments, and 72% oppose the bill. First draft did not include public consultation. Low-med impact: MOSTI has proposed to conduct public consultation and engagement with relevant stakeholders to review the bill. MOSTI given till Jun to amend the bill. Both local and foreign IT professionals required to register and accredit themselves with the Board of Computing Professionals Malaysia. NZ: New Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment is established Mega ministry to be in place by 1 Jul expected to strengthen the public service's ability to work on biz policy, regulation and engagement - commitment to innovation and intl orientation is a positive sign and helps reduce complexity of working with multiple govt agencies. Follows similar models in AU and UK; Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce is expected to lead the new ministry; will absorb functions of Ministry of Economic Development, Dept of Labor, Ministry of Science and Innovation, and Dept of Building and Housing. Med impact: Pro business agenda to make NZ economy more intl focused via ICTs and innovation, a boon for all. PH: Lawmaker plans to investigate use of cloud in govt If the study commences, business impact will depend on whether it will recommend govt to use less or more cloud computing services. Study could also make recommendations and set standards for govt use of cloud computing. Rep. Teddy Casino urged the House of Representatives to study the effects of using off-shore facilities in handling data owned by Phil govt. Casino expressed concern that data could be accessed by host country’s govt and put the security of data owned by PH govt at risk. Med-High impact: Casino stated that he is not against the use of cloud in govt and he recognises the benefits it will bring. He just wants to be certain of the security of data as laws such as the US Patriot Act gives US govt the right to intercept data stored in US servers. There are no concrete plans yet as to whether the House of Representatives will conduct a study. Opp for cloud providers to be proactive and engage members of govt to allay their fears. TH: Smart Thailand Plan to Provide 95% Broadband coverage by 2020 Better ICT ecosystem will benefit both the ICT and the Thai economy in general. Multiple approaches adopted: wi-fi hotspots, network infrastructure and e-government services are part of the plan, led by MICT. NBNCo, JV between TOT, CAT and private sector established to oversee network expansion. Smart Thailand plan receives significant gov’t commitment. Low-Med Impact: No immediate impact, due to long window period. PPPs between software associations and MICT to develop computing skills for Thai IT professionals. Opportunity to provide training services where appropriate.