Wild animal attacks on telco towers among causes of internet disruption in Serian, says Fahmi

KUCHING (Feb 26): Attacks by wild animals and pests such as rats and squirrels at telco towers have been identified as among the causes of internet and telecommunications disruptions in the Serian parliamentary constituency, said Communications Minister Datuk Fahmi Fadzil.

He said in a written reply in Parliament that such incidents, along with power supply interruptions, damage to teleco tower equipment, and fibre optic cable faults, contributed to service instability in the area.

“The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) recorded 102 reports related to coverage disruptions and internet service quality in Serian between Jan 1, 2025 and Jan 31, 2026.

“In the same period, 4,471 network disruption incidents based on Commission Determination on the Mandatory Standard for Quality of Service (Customer Service) Determination No. 4 of 2021 were also recorded in Serian.

“To address these issues, MCMC has conducted engagement sessions with service providers to ensure communication tower sites are equipped with backup battery power,” he said.

Fahmi said 24-hour monitoring is carried out through MCMC’s Network Operations Centre, while collaboration with Sacofa Sdn Bhd is ongoing to strengthen fibre optic network infrastructure in Sarawak, including improvements to link redundancy to reduce the risk of single points of failure.

He was replying to a question by Serian MP Datuk Seri Richard Riot Jaem, whose office distributed the answer sheet to the media yesterday.

Despite these challenges, Fahmi noted that internet and communications coverage in populated areas of Serian has improved significantly to 99.03 per cent as of Jan 31 this year, compared to 54.27 per cent prior to the implementation of the National Digital Network Plan (Jendela).

Based on service provider data, he said the highest recorded coverage in Serian stood at 97.69 per cent, while the lowest was 9.84 per cent.

Fahmi said MCMC also conducts periodic quality audits nationwide to ensure service providers comply with the Mandatory Standard on Quality of Service (MSQoS).

From Jan 1, 2025 to Jan 31, 2026, quality tests were carried out in 15 locations within the Serian parliamentary constituency.

“Following the audit findings in Serian, 13 compliance notices were issued under Section 51(2) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 due to non-compliance with MSQoS,” he said.

Subsequently, 10 locations in the Serian parliamentary area have been identified and included in the near-term network development plan.

The next network audit test for Serian has been scheduled for the second quarter of 2026.

Fahmi also said Sacofa is implementing network upgrades to increase backhaul capacity for service providers throughout Sarawak through fibre optic upgrades and enhanced infrastructure capacity.

For Serian, implementation is scheduled from March 1 to July 31 to reduce congestion and improve internet stability, including in rural areas.