KUCHING: A total of 1,400 villages in the interiors of the country will be installed with satellite broadband technology under the Jendela Phase 2 programme, says Tan Sri Annuar Musa.
He was speaking to the media after the distribution of tablets to students of Batu Lintang Teachers Training College (IPG) and IPG Tun Abdul Razak Campus under the PerantiSiswa Keluarga Malaysia state-level event starting yesterday.
“In Sarawak, over 600 villages will be provided with the satellite broadband technology which, no doubt, will be a costly project.
“However, this technology can be carried out as soon as possible as if we want to have fibre optic connectivity in the country, that will take some 10 years to implement,” said the Communications and Multimedia Minister.
Annuar added that the Measat-3d satellite broadband technology project would be carried out next year.
“Sarawak is one of the biggest states in the country and it is a huge challenge to implement fibre optic connectivity in the state as there must be a fixed line.
“The only solution is to have the satellite broadband technology and in the next three years, Sarawak must have Internet connectivity.”
At the function, Annuar distributed tablets to 144 IPG Batu Lintang Campus and 267 IPG Tun Abdul Razak Campus – all from the B40 families with less than RM5,000 household income.
The programme is a collaboration between the ministry and the Ministry of Education.
As of Sept 20, the number of approved student applications for Sarawak is 7,400.
Application is open until Sept 30 through https://perantisiswa.kkmm.gov.my/.
