KUALA LUMPUR – Telekom Malaysia’s (TM) fibre network expansion to improve the country’s broadband coverage and quality has covered 5.9 million premises as of the first quarter (Q1) of this year, said its chief network officer Mohamed Tajul Mohamed Sultan.
He said the total was from the six million premises entrusted to TM under the National Digital Network (Jendela) initiative.
“There are less than 100,000 premises left to cover under the Jendela initiative… This will also speed up the launch of the 5G network. As we are ready with the existing infrastructure, the launch of 5G services will be faster.
“The construction of this fibre infrastructure is not only for the benefit of residential or business premises but also for mobile telecommunication towers,” he said when appearing as a guest on the “Ruang Bicara” programme entitled “Melakar Rangkaian Untuk Transformasi Digital Malaysia”, produced by Bernama TV last night.
He added that this fiberisation effort also targets the existing Streamyx users who mostly use copper technology, which has more limitations.
“In the initial stage of the Jendela implementation, there are 900,000 Streamyx users who use copper technology. Hence, today, due to the migration plan we carried out, we have successfully migrated 600,000 users to the fibre technology network.
He said TM was currently working to provide fibre facilities to 300,000 users for much better internet access.
Tajul said TM would continue this initiative so that it reached the rural areas while ensuring that Malaysians will be able to enjoy fibre infrastructure facilities with the best quality broadband services, regardless of their locations.
Jendela, launched in August 2020, aims to provide wider coverage and a better broadband quality experience for the people as a step in the country’s readiness to switch to 5G technology. It is part of the 12th Malaysia Plan (2021-2025) which will be implemented in two phases.
The first phase, which runs from 2020 to 2022, aims to expand 4G mobile broadband coverage from 91.8% to 96.9% in populated areas, increase mobile broadband speed from 25Mbps to 35Mbps, and enable 7.5 million premises to have access to gigabit-speed fixed line broadband.
The second phase will see the transition to 5G after a strong platform in the first phase is achieved in line with the 12th Malaysia Plan. – Bernama, April 8, 2022
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