Chairman’s
Message

2021 marks the second year of realising the Government’s aspirations through the implementation of Jalinan Digital Negara (JENDELA) programme. The JENDELA action plan was formulated in H2 2020 to provide wider coverage and better quality of broadband experience through various initiatives, especially in the rural, remote as well as urban poor areas.

The JENDELA programme aims to realise the national target of 96.9% 4G mobile coverage (in populated areas), with an average speed of 35 Mbps and 7.5 million premises passed with access to fibre broadband services nationwide by the end 2022.

Since the first quarter of 2021, several USP initiatives were planned and commenced to support the JENDELA programme. This includes the deployment of 362 new communications towers, the upgrading of 5,394 transmitters, the fiberisation of 426 existing communications towers, the installation of fibre optic access to 180,014 premises, and the installation of two submarine cable systems from the Peninsular land to two local islands; while gradually retiring the 3G network at existing communications towers nationwide by end of the year (as part of 4G quality improvement initiatives). This is in addition to completing the implementation of other initiatives which have already been identified earlier under USP, commenced in 2020.

As the new normal gives rise to higher digital demand, the Commission acknowledges the circumstances and challenges in improving broadband access and quality of experience. The Commission is committed to deliver the JENDELA programme and will continue to address connection issues experienced by the community throughout the nation, including those in very remote areas.

In Quarter 3 2021, the Commission has accelerated the deployment of WiFi services via satellite technology in far and remote areas, which had initially been planned for execution in 2023. A total of 839 WiFi locations have been identified in the remote areas in eight (8) different states, namely Johor, Kelantan, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, Sabah, Sarawak and Selangor.

By the end of the year, I am pleased to report that the said WiFi services have been successfully made available in a total of 437 locations, whilst the balance will be completed in 2022. With the availability of broadband access in these communities, we hope that the Rakyat will benefit from improving socio-economic well-being, as well as experiencing better home-based teaching and learning activities.

Implementing initiatives in these areas is by no means easy and takes a considerable effort by all parties involved, especially the communities themselves who are in need of better services. The Commission nevertheless, will continue to strive and stay committed to improve internet connectivity in the country, thus ensuring that everyone could enjoy better communications and broadband services nationwide.

We believe that the provision of ubiquitous digital infrastructure in our country would bring enormous impact to the Rakyat, both socially and economically. Internet service is key for the future. This is in line and will certainly support the Government’s aspiration to transform Malaysia into a high-tech and high-income nation with a better quality of life for the Rakyat.