Internet to be 3rd utility in Sabah early next year

KOTA KINABALU – Access to the internet in all high-rise buildings in Sabah will be made a third utility by early next year.

The uniform building by-law, which will make it legal for internet services to be the third utility services in the state, is now being processed at the Sabah attorney-general’s office.

The state Local Government and Housing Ministry is expecting the law to be introduced by year-end with enforcement set for early next year.

Assistant Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Isnin Aliasnih acknowledged the poor internet services experienced by tenants of residential apartments.

We have completed our final draft and once it is enforced early next year, the internet will be a third utility.

“Next year, local authorities across Sabah will adopt and enforce this new by-law,” Isnin told a press conference at the ministry’s office in Wisma Innoprise here yesterday.

Earlier, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission chief operating officer Datuk Mohd Ali Hanafiah Mohd Yunus said the commission is in the know of apartments’ joint management bodies disallowing internet service in residential apartments in Peninsular Malaysia.

“In the context of the internet becoming a third utility, we were able to proceed after close discussions with joint management bodies of residential apartments when such a hurdle arises,” he said.

With internet access becoming more of a necessity, some management corporations of apartment complexes in Sabah are restricting internet service providers into their development.

In certain apartment complexes here, management corporations made tenants sign up with exclusive ISPs, although these operators provide subpar connectivity.

This forced them to turn on the hotspot feature on their smart devices provided by commercial telecommunications companies (telcos), racking up hundreds of ringgit to pay telcos for their services.

On another note, Isnin also said that the revamp of the Lan (Subsidiary Title) Enactment, which started in 2016, was also in the final stage.

In 2016, a special committee was formed by the state government to improve the efficiency of management corporations and expedite the issuance of strata titles to property owners.

Isnin said the exercise was done under the purview of the state land ordinance, in which the stratified residential parts of the ordinance are currently being extracted and transferred to the local government laws.

“We are working closely with the Land and Survey Department and by next year, we want to present the Land (Subsidiary Title) Enactment to the state government,” he said.

High-rise apartments in Sabah are faced with numerous problems such as the lack of urgency among developers to apply for the sub-division, and delay in payment of premium for the conversion of Native Title land to Country Lease. – The Vibes, November 24, 2021