KUALA LUMPUR, July 16 — The government always strived to implement various initiatives to improve the coverage and quality of broadband services throughout the country, thus narrowing the digital divide between urban and rural areas, including in Sabah and Sarawak.
Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said the ministry was holding a planning session with the industry through the National Digital Infrastructure Workshop (Makmal) which started from July 13 until Aug 14 led by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to strengthen the quality and coverage of services throughout the country.
In Sabah, for example, Saifuddin said, at least 115 new telecommunication towers, which include broadband services, would be built under the initiative to provide public cellular services.
“Besides that, a total of 10 new 4G transmitting stations and 266 upgrades have been implemented commercially by the service providers in Sabah which have been completed and operational this year.
“In addition, to improve the quality of fixed line broadband services, the initiative to upgrade copper-based to fibre optic networks will be implemented and a total of 43,879 customers in Sabah will be upgraded within the next two years,” he said in a written reply that was posted on the Parliament’s official website today.
