173 more rural broadband towers operational in 2021

KUALA LUMPUR, 5 Aug 2020:

The construction of 173 broadband service towers in the interior and rural areas is expected to be completed and fully operational in stages from the first quarter of 2021, the Dewan Rakyat was told yesterday.

Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said the process of upgrading 3,324 communication transmitters at existing towers in the interior and rural areas for 4G services is now 99.8% complete.

“Since 2014 until now, a total of 2,406km of fibre optics have been installed as the core network for the preparation of the 4G mobile broadband services and a total of 146,040 fixed line broadband service connections have been provided.

“Of this total, 114,143 connections (78%) have been made available in rural areas, while 31,897 connections (22%) in low-cost housing areas nationwide,” he said when winding up debate pertaining to his ministry on the motion of thanks on the address of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

As of June, he said 1,689 towers had been built in the interior and rural areas nationwide for the preparation of mobile broadband coverage.

To improve the quality of fixed line broadband services, Saifuddin said the initiative to upgrade copper-based to fibre optic network involving 933,724 existing customers nationwide was being implemented within the next two years.

Touching on the issue of spectrum distribution in the country, he said it was subject to the framework under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (Act 588) and relevant subsidiary legislation including the Communications and Multimedia (Spectrum) Regulations 2000, because spectrum is a limited national resource.

Therefore, he said, the distribution of spectrum should be done efficiently to ensure its optimal usage as well as bring results that could benefit the country and enjoyed by the people through better quality services.

“If the distribution is made without a thorough study, it is feared that there will be a waste of resources which in turn will affect the country’s revenue.

“Spectrum distribution for broadband and 5G services will be reviewed taking into account the existing distribution involving the country’s telecommunications sector.”

The government has also implemented the Suburban Broadband (SUBB) and Rural Broadband (RBB) projects nationwide providing high-speed fixed broadband services in the areas concerned, said Saifuddin.

So far, he said there were about 639,676 connections available, while more than 34,781 connections were still under implementation and expected to be ready in stages this year.

“Of the total, more than 48,450 connections have been completed in Sabah and more than 31,741 connections in Sarawak, while there are 924 connections in Sabah and 4,236 connections in Sarawak still in the implementation stage.”

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission will be conducting a more detailed study on the quality of services in the specified areas.

He said network testing will soon be carried out by service providers before improvements are made to the coverage and quality of services in these areas.

– Bernama