A total of 51 SMART will be built throughout the Kapit Division, with 14 of them are under Phase 1 while the rest will be completed under Phase 2.
“With SMART, access to quality education high all the time will not only level up literacy but also opens up new perspectives and opportunities to students and teachers in rural areas,” said Minister of Utility and Communication Sarawak, YB Datuk Haji Julaihi Bin Haji Narawi.
He was representing the Premier of Sarawak at the launching of SMART at Ng. Sekukut, Ulu Yong Kapit on 9th August 2022.
“High speed internet opening up new opportunities for Kapit residents, especially in Ng Ulu Yong,” said Datuk Haji Julaihi while reading the Premier’s speech.
Also present during the event was Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation Berhad (SDEC) chairman, Tan Sri Datuk Amar Haji Mohamad Morshidi bin Abdul Ghani.
“SDEC is proud to launch this SMART and we hope the community will make full use the facility provided by the government of Sarawak positively by participating aggressively in our digital economy and improve their livelihoods,” he said.
The establishment of SMART in Ng. Sekukut is among the 300 SMART sites under Phase 1 that are expected to be fully commissioned in stages by 2023.
Another 300 sites under Phase 2 are in various stages of implementation and expected to be fully completed by 2024.
With the completion of 600 SMART sites from Sematan up to Lawas, 93.6 per cent populated areas of Sarawak will be covered.
The launching of SMART highlights the government’s commitment in addressing and enhancing connectivity in rural Sarawak.
“With the internet, rural communities in Sarawak will be given a platform to develop socioeconomics and building a strong Small and Medium Enterprise (SMEs) base by making new connections at the local level and also international,”
“This will open up a wider scope for rural communities to become entrepreneurs and subsequently succeed in changing the future landscape of the economy Sarawak,” said Datuk Haji Julaihi.
Aside from that, he also added that connectivity can connect the agricultural community in Sarawak digitally and adapt smart agriculture technology in agricultural activities, hence paving Sarawak on the right track to become a net exporter of food by the year 2030.
Apart from providing mobile services, SMART initiative also enables home broadband service through MySRBN.
SMART and Sarawak Rural Broadband Network (MySRBN) are among the components under Sarawak, Linking, Urban, Rural and Nation (SALURAN) initiatives.
SALURAN is an initiative under the Sarawak government which aims to bridge the digital divide between urban and rural areas by improving 4G coverage in rural areas by enabling consumers to use data services and make calls seamlessly.
MySRBN is a wireless access technology that provides 30 Mbps internet speed to 162 locations throughout Sarawak and as of now, about 15, 000 households are subscribing to MySRBN.
In Kapit, there are 16 locations in Pelagus, Katibas, Bukit Goram, Belaga and Murum that have received MySRBN services.
With SMART, all network operators such as Digi, Maxis, Celcom and UMobile are now able to leverage on the state invested infrastructure and equipment to expand their coverage footprint to rural areas by capitalizing on the Multi-Operator Core Network (MOCN) technology.
With this technology, the operating cost for the mainstream operators can be reduced significantly and shared equally.
