247 SMART towers fully activated in Sarawak, says Fahmi

KUCHING (May 24): A total of 247 Sarawak Multimedia Authority Rural Telecommunication (SMART) towers were successfully activated using Multi-Operator Core Network (MOCN) technology as of May 15.

Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said all the towers involved the services provided by CelcomDigi, Maxis, U Mobile and YTL.

He said the number was part of the 600 telecommunications towers planned to be built in Sarawak through several phases of allocations by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and telecommunications companies.

“With the signing of the agreement today, these towers will go on air sooner and these facilities will be able to be used by the people of Sarawak,” he told a press conference here today.

Fahmi said following the positive development of the SMART600 programme in Sarawak, all mobile network operators agreed to implement a similar programme nationwide.

“For the rest of the country, we will start with the construction of five towers first because there are commercial aspects that need to be examined and we expect that within a year next year, there will be 102 towers that will be prioritised. After that, the telcos themselves will work on it,” he said.

Earlier, Fahmi witnessed the signing of the SMART600 MOCN Agreement between Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation Berhad (SDEC) with CelcomDigi, Maxis, U Mobile and YTL as a significant leap towards improving digital connectivity in rural Sarawak.

Also present was Sarawak Utilities and Telecommunications Minister Datuk Seri Julaihi Narawi.

Meanwhile, Julaihi said that despite facing challenges in terms of topography and past permits, SDEC was able to physically build 512 of the 600 towers planned in Sarawak and described it as a proud success.

“The installation of all telecommunication equipment is ongoing and we found that 247 towers are already using MOCN technology, while 308 towers are already on air using Sarawak Rural Broadband Network (MySRBN) technology,” he said.

Meanwhile, MCMC in a statement said the agreement marked the first six-way MOCN in the world, providing connectivity services from CelcomDigi, Maxis, U Mobile, YTL, and MySRBN.

MCMC said the project is estimated to benefit around 1,000 settlements in rural Sarawak and with this initiative, the community will enjoy ubiquitous coverage regardless of the network they choose and will be able to be connected. – Bernama