Higher broadband reach if illegals excluded
Published on: Friday, December 07, 2012
Kuala Lumpur: The household broadband penetration in Sabah has stretched to 34 per cent, but if the number of illegal immigrants is set aside, the rate can reach 47 per cent, said the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC). It said this was based on a report in July that 37 per cent of Sabah's population of over 2.52 million was illegal immigrants. The state's broadband penetration rate increased from 4.5 per cent in 2006 to 14.5 per cent in 2009 and 33 percent in 2011 as a result of various initiatives undertaken for the past years, the MCMC said in a statement Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT It said in an effort to expand broadband access in remote areas in Sabah as well as Sarawak, the government would implement the Broadband to the General Population initiative aimed at expanding the fibre-based core network in both states. "In Sabah, 54 fibre connections costing RM133 million have been identified to expand broadband access in rural areas," he said, adding that this would attract more service providers to offer their services to consumers in the state. The MCMC said the high-speed broadband technology was introduced in Sabah this year to improve the quality of broadband services and an exchange was under construction while seven more would be upgraded into high-speed broadband exchanges that could provide 22,000 ports. In addition, it said the coverage of 3G and WiMAX would be further enhanced by service providers to provide over 75 per cent coverage in populated areas. ADVERTISEMENT A clawback system was created to encourage service providers to expand coverage in certain states, it said, adding that the initiatives included the implementation of the 1Malaysia Internet Centre, wireless villages, and new technologies such as nanotechnology and femto. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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On mobile phone coverage, the MCMC said Sabah would boast nearly 400 telecommunication towers this year with the installation of 75 more towers since last year.
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It said plans were afoot to increase wireless villagers in Sabah to 500 from 400 at present at the cost of RM37 million while 80,000 more 1Malaysia computers would be distributed.