Fibre-optic cables better for broadband
THE Covid-19 pandemic has exposed our unsatisfactory broadband situation especially in rural and remote areas. The report about a student who had to climb a tree to get better Internet access in order to do her online exam is a case in point: “Sabah girl stays in tree to get Internet connection” (The Star, June 12).
In the past, we’ve had a few misadventures in our quest to develop our broadband connections. These include the NetBook project (but without the Net), Kampung Tanpa Wayar (wireless villages) and 1BestariNet (without sufficient bandwidth to satisfy the need of users) and HSBB (High Speed Broadband) focusing on areas with significant economic activities only. The most recent is the National Fiberisation and Connectivity Plan (NFCP) even though we do not have an integrated fiberisation plan.
Announced in 2018 by the Pakatan Harapan government, the NFCP is a plan that “aims to put in place robust, pervasive, high quality and affordable digital connectivity for the well-being of the people and progress of the country.”
In my view, we have to re-look the whole broadband strategy, especially for rural and remote areas. We should review the need for tall towers in rural areas for 4G and 5G services.
The most critical component is the fibre-optic network. Without this, bandwidth would not be sufficient to satisfy the need of consumers. Even for mobile (wireless) services, it is still needed at the base stations (towers).
Instead of building expensive towers for 4G or 5G services, I suggest that resources for the NFCP be used to lay fibre-optic cables. For the cost of one tower, 10 to 20km of fibre-optic cables can be laid along all roads (even lanes without tarmac) leading to remote villages. The cables can be chained from one village to another, or buried or hung on poles (which is cheaper). There are already proven techniques to prevent monkeys and rodents from biting the cables.
A village that consists of a few households can be served with Wi-Fi. If necessary, mesh Wi-Fi can be used to expand the coverage. Wi-Fi devices are widely available
and cheap.
Who should build and operate this fibre network? To avoid any conflict of interest, it should not be a retail service provider. It should only serve retail service providers that can provide Wi-Fi, 4G or 5G services competitively. The best option is to have a not-for-profit GLC and any excess revenue could be used to expand the coverage.
As for funding the project, the annual collection of USP (Universal Service Provision) fund (of around RM1.5bil) should be sufficient. Implementation can be done over a five to 10-year period.
Once the fibre-optic cables are in place, they can be extended to telco towers, schools, houses, offices, CCTV systems and etc.