Resolve internet issue in other areas of Sabah – NGO

KOTA KINABALU: The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), Ministry of Communications and Multimedia and service providers have been urged to pay attention to other areas in Sabah in great need of better mobile connectivity services.

A member of a nongovernmental organisation in Kota Kinabalu, Neville Yap, pointed out that since 2015, thousands of complaints about the poor signal had been made by people in many districts of Sabah to their service providers.

Since then, much of this problem has yet to be resolved by the service providers (Digi, Celcom and Maxis) due to the villages situated slightly outside the radius coverage of a telecommunications tower.

“Since the pandemic last year, there is even a great need for better internet service to serve thousands of children who can’t go to school and rely on the internet. This is not just a case of three villages but hundreds are experiencing this problem. I urge the MCMC, the ministry and the service providers to work together to address this issue since people are spending a lot of money and not being able to enjoy the quality of internet that people in the urban areas enjoy,” Neville told the Borneo Post.

Neville added many rural people in Sabah are increasingly dependent on the internet for commerce, education, entertainment and so on. These people deserve the same quality of mobile connectivity as people in urban areas that will help make a lot of difference including needs of the many other government agencies who serve on the ground, civil societies and community groups, associations and villages.

The MCMC is resolving Internet access issue at Kampung Labi Beaufort, Kampung Panikuan Kudat and Kampung Waluhu, Ranau in Sabah after reports of three siblings in Kampung Labi had to follow home-based teaching and learning (PdPR) classes on a boat due to poor coverage.

After the Movement Control Order (MCO) was announced in the state following the increasing number of daily Covid-19 positive cases, many students struggled with the PdPR. Many areas in Sabah still have poor Internet coverage, while some areas totally don’t have access — which makes it difficult for many students to attend the online classes.

Local and national media have been highlighting the issues almost on daily basis, with some stories catching the attention of many parties.