KUCHING: The signing of the Sarawak Multimedia Authority Rural Telecommunication (SMART) 600 Multi Operator Core Network (MOCN) agreement will enhance connectivity and the overall user experience in rural areas in Sarawak.
Utilities and Telecommunications Minister Datuk Seri Julaihi Narawi said to achieve a high income economy for both the state government and the rakyat, service providers play a pivotal role in the matter.
He pointed out that the Sarawak government has implemented an intervention programme to complement the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) Universal Service Provider (USP) programme which focused on expediting mobile coverage for the rural communities.
“There are 512 out of 600 SMART towers now physically completed statewide. Out of the number, 308 are already on air. Out of these, 245 are using MOCN technology.
“With the progress thus far, we hope we can speed up the efforts to enable the agenda under Post COVID-19 Development Strategy 2030 (PCDS) and Sarawak Digital Economy Blueprint to be implemented.
“Having said that, I thank everyone who has taken the initiative to help Sarawak move forward,” he said.
He said this during a press conference after witnessing the signing of the SMART600 MOCN agreement together with Minister of Communications Fahmi Fadzil at Hikmah Exchange here yesterday.
For the record, the signing ceremony here was between Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation (SDEC) and the mobile network operators (MNOs), namely CelcomDigi Berhad; Maxis Broadband Sdn Bhd; U Mobile Sdn Bhd; and YTL Communications Sdn Bhd.
To achieve the effort to provide mobile services to all of the SMART towers in Sarawak, the federal government announced funding through MCMC, ensuring that operational expenditure (OPEX) for SMART 600 MOCN would be shared among SDEC, the MNOs, and the MCMC.
Fahmi stated that the federal government and MNOs have allocated an amount not more than RM207 million comprising RM116.4 million from the federal government through MCM and the Ministry of Finance, and RM87.3 million from the MNOs for the operational expenditure of the MOCN services for a period of three years.
“With this agreement, we can hasten the progress so that all the towers in the state will be on air.
“Following the agreement here today, we will also implement a similar programme nationwide. For the rest of the country, we will start off with five towers first because there are commercial issues that we need to look into.
“After that, we expect that in one year’s time, we will expand it to 102 towers and more,” he said.
