Once all 600 telecommunication towers are reactivated, residents outside Sarawak’s city center will soon have access to 4G internet coverage.
Malay Mail reports that Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil explained that some of these towers currently lack transmitters or radios, colloquially referred to as “naked towers”.
This longstanding issue prompted collaboration between the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), the Finance Ministry (MOF), and telecommunication companies to allocate funds annually for tower utilisation.
Fahmi noted that 169 towers have been reactivated and offering 4G coverage since the beginning of the year. This hybrid solution involves collaboration between mobile network operators (MNOs), MOF, and MCMC to address the longstanding issue of underutilised towers.
Out of the 169 towers, 52 are occupied by four telecommunication companies, 37 by three companies, and 79 by one company, with one test site used by five companies for testing.
Additionally, Fahmi reported that 2,395 out of 3,884 planned telecommunication towers under the National Digital Network (Jendela) are operational as of 31 January.
