Internet and e-commerce industry in Brunei

Brunei, or officially the State of Brunei Darussalam, is a Muslim micro-state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia, populated by slightly over 388,000 people. Having one of the world's fastest growing GDP at purchasing power parity, the country also can boast about the second highest Human Development Index among the South East Asia nations, after Singapore. Brunei is an active participant of international relationships, being a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, ASEAN, APEC and Organization of the Islamic Conference, and other regional and international forum. Brunei, that has adopted an Internet communication technology successfully, is currently achieving to become one of the centers of e-commerce and offshore businesses.

It used to be difficult for Brunei to obtain up to date official statistics for the ICT sector.  But since 2002 Internet industry in Brunei has been developed by the incumbent Jabatan Telekom Brunei (JTB), that until 2006 was a division within the Ministry of Communications. Currently, Brunei Darussalam has one of the most advanced ICT facilities in the region with the fixed line telephone density second only to Singapore. At present two only Internet services providers in Brunei operate successfully: the monopolist Brunet (part of JTB) and Simpurnet of DSTCom. 

TelBru delivers ADSL connection with speeds ranging from 512 kbit/s to the maximum speed of 1 Mbit/s through ADSL broadband. Brunei's broadband ranging from 512 kbit/s to 1 Mbit/s is one the most expensive in the world.

Presently, Brunei Darussalam has an extensive network of external plant consisting of copper and fibre optic cables, completely digital exchanges with adequate international connectivity via the satellite system and the fibre optics submarine cable systems. Meantime, such Internet services as 3G Mobile is being deployed. Broadband coverage has spanned the whole of Brunei since the release of "E-Speed 2".


The country’s Internet code top-level domain is .bn, administered by Telekom Brunei Berhad, or simply TelBru. Two years registration agreement for Brunei’s .bn is very expensive $399, according to rwgusa.com. Moreover, it’s obvious that a number of restrictions, related to the registration under the national domain, exist in this Muslim state, including the necessity of local presence as well as local registration of the business.

It’s also possible in Brunei to be registered directly under second-level domains such as:
 

• .com.bn
• .edu.bn
• .org.bn
• .net.bn
•  
•  

Unexpectedly rapid deployment of ICT industry in Brunei can also be reflected by the broadband penetration increase that has made up almost 625% for the dewcade. Thus, in early 2000 only less than 9% of Bruneians could access to the web. By 2007 the volume of users in the country surged to 41%. And, according to the latest data from internetworldstats.com, 56% of citizens in Brunei are using Internet actively.

Such a successful ICT sector developing process in Brunei is stipulated by active Government participation.

The Authority for Info-Communication Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam (AiTi), a regulatory body, was established in 2003 to administer the regulatory function and development of the Info-Communication industry in Brunei Darussalam.
The key functions AiTi accomplish are the following:

• to exercise licensing and regulatory functions with respect to telecommunication system and services in Brunei Darussalam;
• to efficiently manage the national radio frequency spectrum;
• to contribute towards diversification and development of the economy through the development and growth of the ICT industry of the country.

Rapid deployment of ICT sphere determined the development of e-commerce and offshore business sector in Brunei. Moreover, this small Muslim state managed to become one of the most successful offshore jurisdictions.

By locating websites in Brunei to carry out functions previously based in high-tax jurisdictions such as sales and marketing, treasury management, supply of financial services, and most of all, the supply of digital goods such as music, video, training, software, businesses can take benefits from low rates of taxation for increasingly substantial parts of their operation.

Showing such good signs of ICT and e-commerce progress, Brunei Darussalam has a great chance to become one of the major offshore jurisdictions. And it’s only a matter of time before this small Muslim country becomes a centre of e-commerce activity. Country’s fine ICT sector development level and its matured business infrastructure are also the driving force to Brunei’s e-future.