By Lee Wei Lian
KUANTAN, Aug 4 — The government will talk to Telekom Malaysia on how to accommodate a second provider of high speed broadband over fibre optic networks to the home.
Telekom Malaysia was awarded the national high-speed broadband network (HSBB) project last year without an open tender.
The reason given then was that it was the only company capable of rolling out such a network.
A Pahang state-backed company – Jalur Lebar Nasional Sdn Bhd (Jalenas) – had proposed an alternative nationwide fibre optic network last year that was based on open access, but it was rejected.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today signalled a willingness to look at a role for an alternative fibre optic network.
“Even though the HSBB was awarded to Telekom, I hope the Pahang state initiative is given some scope to participate,” said Najib at the launch of Pahang MSC Malaysia.
Jalenas is based on the open access network model, which encourages competition and quality of service, that has been adopted in advanced countries such as Sweden, Norway and Denmark as well as those planned for deployment in Singapore and Australia.
After its initial proposal was rejected last year, it adjusted its plans and will start with a regional rollout in Kuantan offering speeds as high as 100 Mbps to 30,000 homes and offices as early as the end of this year.
Its technology partner, Ericsson will build and operate the network.
The first phase in Kuantan is a prelude to a planned rollout to other cities nationwide.
It plans to invest up to RM10 billion in private funds to connect 2.5 million city homes and offices, becoming the world’s largest single operator of an open access network.
“We want to complement present operators and whatever networks are in existence and construct an alternative highway where vehicles can travel at a higher speed. We can see that broadband is not speedy enough,” said Pahang Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob.
Jalenas is one of the plans that the Pahang government has devised to create new revenue streams for the state.
The company is owned by High Speed Broadband Technology Sdn Bhd which is jointly owned by the state government and Bumiraya Resources Sdn Bhd.
Malaysia currently lags behind advanced countries in terms of quality and affordability of its broadband offerings.
While some countries such as Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Sweden and Finland have been enjoying speeds up to 100 Mbps for several years now, most Malaysian still make do with speeds of 1 Mbps or less.
Recently, Singapore, China and Australia have also upped the stakes in this strategic sector and announced massive initiatives to wire up their countries with fibre optics.
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