– extracted and adapted from RAKAN Sarawak January-March 2022 –
As one of the states in Malaysia being prioritised under the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint (MyDIGITAL) and the National Digital Network (JENDELA), Sarawak will be among the earliest states in the country to roll out the national 5G network in 2022.
Minister of Communications and Multimedia YB Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima TPr Annuar Haji Musa revealed this during a two-day Strategic Communications Roadshow in Tanjung Manis, Mukah and Sarikei at the end of November 2021.
He explained that Sarawak’s strategic location on the Borneo Islands in terms of geopolitics and connectivity was one of key factors behind this crucial decision by the Malaysian Government.
“From the new geopolitical aspect, we can see how the location of the Borneo Islands has become a strategic area. Even Indonesia is moving its capital to Borneo and the (Malaysian) government also intends to give Sarawak and Sabah the highest priority in development planning.
“As for connectivity, Sarawak’s location again makes it the most strategic state, including in the future in terms of development related to submarine cables. One of the cables being planned will pass through areas in Sarawak, which has been identified as one of the landing points,” he said, as quoted by Bernama.
The minister further cited Sarawak’s capability in generating environmentally-friendly electricity, which is essential in the establishment and energy provision of data centres for cloud computing activities, among others.
To achieve this, Sarawak will undergo Phases One and Two of JENDELA; that is to have its 4G network coverage expanded and strengthened at the start to ensure a more seamless and prepared transition to 5G.
“Phases one and two are both the main focus for Sarawak…. This is a big agenda because Sarawak is a uniquely big state and has a wide population distribution, so we must ensure all these residential areas must be connected,” Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima TPr Annuar elaborated.
Nationwide, Malaysia intends to achieve an estimated 80 per cent of populated areas with 5G network coverage by the end of 2024, focusing on urban and rural areas as well as industrial parks.
Targets Under JENDELA
JENDELA will be carried out in two phases:
Phase One (2020-2022)
National target realisation of 96.9% mobile coverage, 35 Mbps speed and 7.5 million premises passed
- Increase 4G coverage from 91.8% to 96.9%
- Increase mobile broadband speed from 25 Mbps to 35 Mbps
- 83% premises nationwide will have access to gigabit speed of fixed broadband
- 3G sunset, upgrade of 4G and fiberisation
Phase Two
Full deployment of 5G that will follow up robust platform for 4G coverage is achieved, in line with the 12th Malaysia Plan, thus boosting digital connectivity nationwide.
Source: https://myjendela.my/
