Companies ink MoU to digitalise Sarawak
KUCHING: Sarawak Information Systems Sdn Bhd (Sains), Sacofa Sdn Bhd (Sacofa), and PP Telecommunication Sdn Bhd (PPTEL) yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to digitalise Sarawak in the effort to fulfil the state’s digital transformation.
The three companies will jointly provide end-to-end services and solutions, including infrastructure, content, and applications to accelerate the fulfilment of the digital transformation initiatives set forth in the Post Covid-19 Development Strategy (PCDS) 2030.
Signing the MoU on behalf of the respective companies were Sains chairman Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr George Chan, Sacofa chairman Tan Sri Datuk Amar Abdul Aziz Husain, and PPTEL chairman Abang Abdillah Izzarim Abang Johari.
Utilities and Telecommunication Minister Datuk Julaihi Narawi, who witnessed the signing of the MoU, said each of the three parties has been a key player in Sarawak’s digital transformation from providing digital infrastructure, building connectivity to rural and remote areas, as well as developing and implementing application systems to enable the Sarawak government’s services to be conveniently accessed by the public at any time and from anywhere.
“The collaboration will effectively provide a complete ecosystem required for the digitalisation of Sarawak.
“As a key vehicle for Sarawak to accelerate its digital transformation, the consortium will act as the primary agent for Sarawak digitalisation, who will work together with other service providers, technology providers, and local vendors to bring about the state’s digital transformation,” he said.
He pointed out that the efforts made by the three companies should serve as an example among other telecommunications companies in Malaysia.
“We should be proud that there are local companies from Sarawak who have taken the right step to move the state’s telecommunications sector.
“We believe that this sector must be private-driven to assist Sarawak in moving forward towards achieving its digital transformation.
“From the collaboration and commitment of these three companies, who are already strong and established in their own fields of expertise, in assisting Sarawak to fulfil its vision, we can expect tremendous effectiveness and exciting outcomes ahead of us,” said Julaihi.
Since its inception, Sains has created over 200 applications, transforming hundreds of manual processes in the Sarawak government into automated application systems and mobile apps, thus elevating the efficiency of the state civil service to among the top in the country.
Sacofa is Sarawak’s leading ICT infrastructure company entrusted with implementing state-of-theart telecommunications and information technologies development.
Sacofa currently owns and/ or operates more than 1,800 telecommunication towers throughout Sarawak to cater to the network expansion needs of cellular operators and other organisations. The company also has an extensive fibre optic network of over 12,000km, covering the whole of Sarawak and a submarine cable from Sarawak to Johor, which links to Singapore, plus inter-border terrestrial connections with Sabah, Brunei, and Kalimantan, making Sacofa the largest telecommunications company in East Malaysia.
PPTEL is a Sarawak-based international telecommunication infrastructure provider, which operates the first international submarine cable system that connects Sarawak with Indonesia and the regional telecommunication hub of Singapore.
It also operates a CarrierNeutral Data Centre, which is the first Tier-IV facility in Malaysia and participates in the region’s first Open Cable System, which has a main trunk between Singapore to Hong Kong and branches to Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, and Hainan in China.
PPTEL is constructing subsea fibre connectivity to key international hubs in the region and a terrestrial backbone within Sarawak to dramatically improve broadband speeds and performance in the region in line with the aspirations of the Sarawak government’s Digital Transformation Programme.
Among those present at the event were Deputy Minister for Utilities and Telecommunication Datuk Liwan Lagang, Sarawak Economic Planning Unit director Datu Dr Muhammad Abdullah Zaidel, Sains chief executive officer Dr Anderson Tiong Ing Heng, Sacofa managing director Dato Sri Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Abdul Taib, and PPTEL chief executive officer Dr Jonathan Smith.