Sunway, Celcom, Huawei in 5G smart township solutions tie-up
PETALING JAYA: Sunway Bhd, Celcom Axiata Bhd and Huawei Technologies (M) Sdn Bhd have entered into a tripartite collaboration to advance smart township solutions with fifth-generation (5G) connectivity.
The three parties inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) yesterday, aiming to explore the potential for Celcom and Huawei Malaysia to be the 5G technology enabler for Sunway Group, with Sunway City Kuala Lumpur to be the launch pad.
The proposed collaboration will see the development of smart solutions encompassing the Internet of Things (IOT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the areas of public safety and security, telehealth, e-learning, hospitality, leisure and retail experience.
Sunway Group president Datuk Chew Chee Kin said the MOU marked another major milestone towards establishing Sunway City Kuala Lumpur as the region’s model smart-sustainable city of the 21st century.
“We hope to start by using 5G technology to transform the buses plying elevated lanes in our bus rapid transit (BRT) system into autonomous vehicles.
“This would make us the first city in the country, perhaps even the world, to deploy driverless vehicles in a mass transit system.”
He said the group is also looking at using 5G to enhance the safety and security of more than 200,000-strong community that it served.
“Measures such as facial recognition will add to the capabilities of our auxiliary security force in ensuring that Sunway City Kuala Lumpur maintains its reputation as a desired place to live, stay healthy, study, work and play,” he said.
Since presenting Malaysia’s first 5G trial in 2017, Celcom’s network is ready to transition towards 5G, paving the way to accomplish the objective of the tripartite collaboration.
Celcom Axiata CEO Idham Nawawi expects the pilot project to be showcased to the public in Sunway City Kuala Lumpur by early to middle of the fourth quarter this year.
“We will begin showcasing some solutions in Sunway’s retail spaces and implement smart security surveillance, where the public will be able to experience how smart-solutions and 5G can make a city liveable and secure.
“The proposed collaboration will boost our technological capacity building and immense potential in bringing innovative products and services, while creating a win-win situation to benefit the industry and rakyat and achieve the nation’s digital aspirations,” said Idham.
Sunway and its solution partners will have the opportunity to be part of Celcom’s Centre of Digital Excellence in testing telecommunications technology and potentially further developing used cases essential for Sunway’s envisioned smart solutions.
“We hope to start by using 5G technology to transform the buses plying elevated lanes in our BRT system into autonomous vehicles.”
Datuk Chew Chee Kin