• Narrowing the digital divide in Sarawak • ‘Difficult transition period in 2017’
Much work is needed to narrow Sarawak’s ever- present digital divide between the rural and urban areas. Stakeholders such as Celcom have played their parts in partaking in telecommunication infrastructure projects, thus promoting greater coverage across the state.
In fact, Celcom first became a Universal Service Provider (USP) in Sabah and Sarawak in 2004 by providing payphones and basic residential lines at underserved areas.
USP is an initiative funded by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to bridge the digital divide between rural and urban areas.
“Celcom’s contribution in bridging the digital divide has since expanded to include more telecommunication infrastructure projects,” Kuehner said.
In Sarawak, Celcom has installed 141 T3 sites; upgraded 37 2G sites to 3G and installed 60 units of small cell coverage at selected Long Houses.
Celcom is now in the midst of upgrading 143 2G sites to LTE and implementing eight new LTE sites as well. In addition, the group has four Pusat Internet 1Malaysia (PI1M) and 116 WiFi Komuniti in Sarawak.
As for Sabah, Celcom has installed 70 T3 sites; upgraded 99 2G sites to 3G; installed 40 units of Small Cell coverage at selected rural areas.
Soon, Celcom will upgrade 60 2G sites to LTE and roll out 19 new LTE sites in Sabah.
Additionally, the group has 82 PI1M and 560 WiFi Komuniti in Sabah.
“With these USP initiatives funded by MCMC, telecommunication infrastructure and coverage across Borneo will be greatly enhanced,” he enthused.
Investment-wise, Celcom has in 2016, invested more than RM1 billion nationwide for its network infrastructure, and approximately 83 per cent was utilised for 3G and 4G coverage initiatives.
“We operate in an exciting market that requires constant focus on the ability to accelerate. At present, we are aggressively engaged in executing our growth strategy, which of course includes Sabah and Sarawak.
“We are working towards delivering focused business results for the long term and will implement targeted digitised marketing initiatives to drive data consumption, to the benefit of our customers,” Kuehner affirmed.