Residents of Ng Singat, Sibu giving their thumbs up to their interim WiFi SALURAN service. The longhouse is 40-minute drive plus an hour boat ride from Sibu. – Photo by SMA
KUCHING (June 24): Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) providing WiFi SALURAN up and running at 200 targeted communities throughout rural Sarawak has solved digital connectivity issues faced by folks there.
Sarawak Multimedia Authority (SMA) said the state government was aware of the digital divide at rural areas, thus, through SMA, the Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation (SDEC) and Sarawak State Service Modernisation Unit (SSMU) have since fast tracked interim solutions for the underserved rural populace of Sarawak using the VSAT.
“SMA is fully aware of rural connectivity issues which has been made glaring by Covid-19 pandemic and subsequently the respective movement control orders,” the authority said in a statement today.
Given the vastness of Sarawak, there was a need to take a more pervasive strategy, it said.
“As such, by leveraging on existing telecommunication infrastructure network, the Sarawak Rural Broadband Network (MySRBN) solution has begun their high-speed broadband service,” it said.
As of June 22, a total of 6,167 households have registered for this fixed wireless access (FWA) service and 2,780 personal Wi-Fi top box have been installed, according to SMA.
It said MySRBN, implemented by SDEC, targets to serve 45,000 households in suburban and rural Sarawak. Details about registering for this service can be found at https://sarawak.digital/mysrbn/.
Ketua Kampung Tg Belipat Norela Omar giving her thumbs up with the MySRBN Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) on the wall behind her. – Photo by SMA
Similarly, SSMU through SAINS has extended the reach of satellite broadband service via their Sarawaknet programme, it said, adding that 60 sites scattered across rural Sarawak have been installed with VSATs, thus complementing the two hundred of Wifi SALURAN.
SMA also took note of the sentiments regarding its completed SMART First 300 telecommunication towers that are not on air.
To resolve digital infrastructure and connectivity issue not-with-standing, SMA as a statutory body were subject to the mandated financial process, it said.
“In addition, there is the compliance to the exacting standards of the telecommunication industry,” said SMA.
On top of this, SMA said to ensure sustainability, project specifications have to be future proof. No less, the inevitable delays owing to technical complexities has resulted Phase 2 of First 300 tower to be a drawn out exercise, it said, hence, the gap in completing and commissioning (Phase 2) these towers.
“It must be acknowledged that the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has re-jigged their JENDELA plan to accelerate interim broadband service for rural Sarawak.
“As a result, 62 per cent or 520 of the total 839 VSAT locations have been allocated to the state and are expected to be fully deployed by October 2021,” said the authority.
In more ways than one, given the lack of economy of scale for commercial telco investment in rural Sarawak, SMA said the vision to take charge of Sarawak’s telecommunication destiny in 2018 by the Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Openg has been a blessing in disguise.
The digital infrastructure plan is a crucial enabler for the respective Sarawak’s Digital Economy strategic plans, it said.
Like everything else, the pandemic has created unexpected challenges in this early phase of the Authority’s existence (since 2019), thus demanding the team at SMA to refocus their time and energy.
“Considerable time is needed to deploy digital connectivity service for our land mass that is 90 per cent the size of Peninsular Malaysia,” SMA General Manager Dr Zaidi Razak said in the statement.
“Therefore, the Authority is appreciative of its partners in doubling down and recalibrate their plans to respond to heightened digital connectivity needs of the community,” he added.