THE Sarawak government is committed to providing internet facilities to the people of Sarawak through the various initiatives.
Minister of Utility and Telecommunication Datuk Julaihi Narawi said that the six main initiatives of SALURAN is the construction of 600 new towers equipped with telecommunication equipment under the Sarawak Multimedia Authority Rural Telecommunication (SMART) project; provision of WIFI SALURAN broadband access facilities using satellite technology in 250 areas without telecommunication services; expansion of SarawakNet services through the Digital Socio Economy programme to 60 sites throughout Sarawak; expansion of 130km of fibre optic coverage in Sebauh, Bintulu through the Sebauh Rural High-Speed Open Broadband Network pilot project, provision of Point of Interconnect (PoI) to provide internet services for nine national parks in Sarawak; and implementation of fixed wireless broadband services through the Sarawak Rural Broadband Network (MySRBN) package.
“The Sarawak government has allocated RM1.89 billion to implement these initiatives. The National Digital Network Programme (JENDELA) in Sarawak implemented by the federal government through Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) is also coordinated under the SALURAN initiative to avoid site duplication,” he said in his ministerial winding-up during the DUN sitting yesterday (May 24).
He also mentioned that a total of RM4.09 billion is allocated under the MCMC through the JENDELA Phase 1 programme to implement four key initiatives to expand and improve telecommunication services in Sarawak.
“The four initiatives are construction of a total of 824 towers equipped with equipment that provides 4G facilities; expansion of fibre optic services to cover 116,096 residential and business premises throughout Sarawak; Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) which involves the provision of collective broadband access facilities (wifi hotspots) in 523 rural locations; and upgrading 3G network services to 4G at over 3,000 existing transmitting stations.
“A total of 82 towers have been completed so far and the remaining 742 are scheduled to be completed in stages until the third quarter of 2023. To date, 636 of the 742 towers are in various stages of implementations,” he said.
Julaihi said that the subsidies for telecommunication services in rural areas, which at the moment is provided free of charge through the SALURAN initiative, amounted to RM305.5 million per year and has benefited 470,000 users.
