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KUALA LUMPUR: The RM 21 billion national digital infrastructure plan, Jalinan Digital Negara (JENDELA) was designed to guide Malaysia towards greater digital connectivity by driving the efficiency of the national infrastructure and optimizing spectrum use.
In August, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced that JENDELA’s action plan, which is part of Malaysia’s Twelfth Plan (2021-2025), would lay the foundation for comprehensive, high-quality broadband coverage, as well as prepare the country for the transition to 5G technology.
Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) Chairman Dr. Fadhlullah Suhaimi Abdul Malek said the tender for infrastructure works at 1,661 sites with an investment value of RM4.6 billion under JENDELA, would be closed on March 31, 2021.
He said that JENDELA has two phases, where Phase 1 runs from 2020 to 2022 and Phase 2 from 2022-2025.
Phase one involves enabling up to 7.5 million locations with gigabit speed fixed line broadband; expand 4G mobile coverage from 91.8% to 96.8% in populated areas; and the upgrade of mobile broadband speed from 25 Mbps to 35 Mbps, and refers to the gradual withdrawal of 3G networks by the end of 2021.
The second phase involves utilizing fixed wireless access and other appropriate technologies to address new gaps in the digital divide while preparing for eventual 5G adoption once phase one plans are achieved.
Nokia’s Managing Director for Malaysia and Sri Lanka, Datuk Sivananthan Shanmugam, said the JENDELA initiative highlights the government’s commitment to developing the necessary infrastructure to facilitate broader coverage of current generation wireless technology across the country, which in turn, it would help accelerate the advancement of 5G. -out in the near future.
“For mobile network operators, the Map will be especially useful for them to seek opportunities to optimize their resources through infrastructure exchange companies, as well as to reduce overlaps and duplications of operators to improve broadband coverage nationwide. ”He told Bernama.
An industry collaboration for the success of JENDELA
Of the 21 billion ringgit budgeted for JENDELA, 40 percent is derived from MCMC’s Universal Service Provision (USP) funds and the remaining 60 percent will be funded by industry players.
MCMC will help manage the delivery of JENDELA goals by telecommunications companies by creating a Specialized Project Management Service unit to closely monitor the progress of the industry with the respective directions and provide solutions to solve any inconvenient.
In a note, Kenanga Research said that existing market leaders such as Celcom, Digi, Maxis and U Mobile would likely spearhead the goal of achieving 96.8 percent national coverage by 2022, while expanding the fiber network of up to 7.5 million locals probably will. be led by broadband leaders like TM, TIMEDOTCOM and Maxis.
5G launch by 2022
While the nation expects a successful deployment of 5G spectrum, Communications and Multimedia Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said the government has committed to implementing 5G technology by the end of 2022 or early 2023, with connectivity being one of its main priorities.
He said that the implementation of the 5G network project includes availability in terms of connectivity, the willingness of people to receive the network, as well as regulatory and industry readiness.
“In terms of connectivity, it is useless if we have 5G in some areas, when even 4G or others are not available in rural and inland areas. There should be availability of access to avoid the digital divide.
“In terms of industry accessibility, we expect 70 percent of 5G implementation to be for industry use, while the remaining 30 percent will be with the general public,” he added.
Performance of telecommunications companies amid the Covid-19 pandemic
The Covid-19-induced Movement Control Order (MCO) in March 2020 left businesses across the country reeling with only a few crucial ones allowed to operate and virtually paralyzed economic activities.
Nevertheless, the telecommunications industry remained resilient given the highly essential nature of its services.
While industry players saw some changes in their postpaid / prepaid mix and average revenue per user (ARPU), Kenanga Research found that total subscriptions for the first half of this year was 43.4 million, which it is very similar to last year’s figure in the same period. due to lower foreign subscriptions and multiple SIM card users.
The research house said fixed line subscriptions grew six percent compared to the first half of last year, as broadband plans became more necessary due to higher agreements at home.
The year saw emerging trends such as ‘Work from home’, while Malaysia and the world at large, shackled by the pandemic and movement restrictions, transitioned to a ‘new normal’, which catapulted demand for internet services into households.
Malaysia Internet Exchange (MyIX), a partnership under the MCMC recorded the highest internet traffic peak of 532 gigabytes per second (Gbps) compared to the 2019 highest peak traffic record of 500 Gbps after the application of the MCO on March 18.
Connectivity remains a priority
Meanwhile, the government continued to show its commitment to boost the coverage and capacity of the country’s network with a sizeable allocation in the 2021 Budget.
Under the digital infrastructure, MCMC gets RM7.4 billion to build and upgrade broadband services in 2021 and 2022, while the Jalinan PRIHATIN Program will get RM1.5 billion to ease the financial burden of B40 by accessing the Internet, which in value it will be matched by telecommunications companies with free data.
The government also allocated RM500 million to implement JENDELA and ensure the connectivity of 430 schools in Malaysia, in addition to RM42 million to improve connectivity in 25 industrial areas. -Called
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