Mcmc To Improve Internet Access For Orang Asli In Gua Musang

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The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has revealed plans to increase internet accessibility for the Orang Asli community in Gua Musang, Kelantan.
This comes after Pos Balar and Pos Bihai residents urged the government to modernise the local mobile internet infrastructure to improve connectivity and communication.
MCMC conducted investigations within these two villages following the report of poor internet access there and discovered that the telecommunication tower in Pos Balar suffered a power outage after its generator ran out of diesel.
The hilly roads towards these villages are unpaved and up to 70km long, making the journey for providers difficult.
“The route to Pos Balar was blocked due to a landslide which made it difficult to supply fuel for the towers.
“However, on Jan 5, the tower was successfully reactivated and is back to usual operation,” the commission said in a statement today.
In improving internet accessibility in the area, the commission noted the implementation of several solutions under Phase One of the National Digital Interconnection Plan (Jendela).
They include providing wifi broadband services to Pos Bihai and Pos Dokah, both near Pos Balar, where the local community can enjoy free internet access with a limited usage quota.
The purpose of the quota limit is to ensure that all users can enjoy the services fairly and at a reasonable level of quality, it added.
Increasing usage quota
The commission has also discussed with service providers, namely Numix Engineering Sdn Bhd and CelcomDigi, to come up with sustainable solutions.
“The short-term solution is that Numix has agreed to increase the existing free internet usage quota from 8GB to 12GB per month per user.
“Quota increase to 12GB monthly has been completed by Numix on Jan 7 and 8 in both locations to help the residents go about their daily activities,” MCMC said.
For a medium-term solution, MCMC and CelcomDigi are planning to temporarily increase the capacity of Very-small-aperture Terminal (VSAT) backhaul for each existing transmitter in Kampung Tandrik, Pos Belatin, and Pos Balar from 4 Mbps to 10 Mbps.
This approach will likely be completed by the second quarter of the year.
“This is a temporary solution because there is a comprehensive plan to upgrade the use of VSAT with more stable optical fibres as well as high capacity by CelcomDigi which is expected to complete in May 2024.
“This implementation is partial from MCMC's efforts to improve the speed of 4G services under the Jendela initiative,” the commission added.
Lastly, for the long-term solution, in collaboration with CelcomDigi, MCMC will be developing a telecommunications tower near Pos Bilai and another transmitter with fibre optic in Pos Dokah in the near future.
“MCMC will continue to monitor the areas and take measures so that internet access issues can be dealt with comprehensively.” - Mkini

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