Zaidi (centre) chairs the meeting with the Maxis delegation


KUCHING, 20 April 2022 - Sarawak Multimedia Authority (SMA) has called on telecommunication providers to share their masterplan on the setting up of telecommunication towers in the state.

 

Its general manager Dr Zaidi Razak said the masterplan would enable SMA and other relevant authorities to decide where the towers could be constructed.

 

“The masterplan would enable us to ‘lock’ the sites, which will take into account the future development of Sarawak. For instance, we have a masterplan in Kuching that includes zoning of areas such as commercial and market place zoning as well as residential zoning.

 

“That is why we need the masterplan from telecommunication providers such as Maxis, Celcom, Digi and U Mobile on where they intend to set up the telecommunication towers,” he said during a courtesy call from Maxis at SMA office here recently.

 

The Maxis delegation was led by its chief network officer Abdul Karim Fakir Ali.

 

Zaidi said with the masterplan, SMA can put up the request to the State Planning Authority (SPA) for approval.

 

“We hope that telecommunication providers such as Maxis can provide us with their five-year masterplan so that we can assist in their strategic planning,” he said.

 

He hoped that Maxis and other telcos in the country increase their investments in Sarawak to provide better telecommunication coverage and services to the people.

 

He also said that SMA is working closely with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to provide better communication services in the state.

 

On a related matter, Zaidi said telecommunication towers in Sarawak’s remote areas were susceptible to power outages which will affect the communication network.

 

“We are aware of the challenges we have in Sarawak. For instance, if the network is suddenly down in Kapit for two to three hours, nobody will know unless we have a remote sensing trigger device.

 

“We will only find out that a particular site is down a day later or when people relay the message to us. That’s one of the challenges we faced.

 

“So, I hope the network providers will look into this matter,” he said while commending Maxis for setting up sensor devices to monitor their network in Sarawak.


Source: The Borneo Post