Celcom Axiata, Digi and Maxis announced today they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore joint fibre infrastructure development to efficiently deploy fibre backhaul and rollout fibre to their base stations across the country.
The Telcos said that this will enable improved 4G LTE connectivity nationwide, in line with the government’s NFCP ambitions.
A base station is a radio transmitter/receiver, including an antenna, used in a mobile telecommunications network. The base station maintains the communication between the network and the mobile users through a radio link, including for 3G, 4G and 5G. With greater demand for super fast Internet speeds and low latency especially in 5G, fiber optic links are said to give cost effectiveness, future proof, high bandwidth new capacity with more flexibility than copper links.
Maxis claims it has the widest fibre-optic footprint to mobile base stations in preparation for 5G rollout. The Telco has 9,000 4G coverage sites nationwide.
Celcom has a total of over 11,000 sites including over 9,000 4G LTE sites nationwide. Digi said its fibre network expansion reached 9,610 KM at the end of 2019.
Full media announcement below:
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Celcom, Digi and Maxis have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore joint fibre infrastructure development to efficiently deploy fibre backhaul and rollout fibre to base stations in the country. This will enable improved 4G connectivity nationwide, in line with the government’s NFCP ambitions.
The MoU sees the three telcos exploring to combine their expertise in designing, building, commissioning, operating and maintaining their fibre infrastructure nationwide. It also includes evaluating ways the telcos can optimise the use of existing fibre infrastructure, and current swapping and common build arrangements.
The MoU also serves as an important milestone as Malaysia gears up for 5G deployment. To achieve all that 5G offers, a denser, fibre-rich infrastructure is needed to deliver 5G’s key performance indicators: low latency, higher data speeds, ultra-high reliability and capacity to manage more connected devices.
Quote: Idham Nawawi, CEO, Celcom:
“We believe collaboration is the way forward for the industry towards the development of a sustainable ecosystem. Therefore, we welcome this initiative to explore on a collective resource of assets that will potentially lead to a more coordinated joint roll out of our services. Our MoU will also explore the best practices to deploy network enhancement that are cost efficient, prevent duplication of infrastructure building, further widening the nation’s connectivity landscape, and ultimately, the rakyat will benefit by receiving products and services with the most value.”
Quote: Albern Murty, CEO, Digi:
“We have always viewed partnerships as a positive way forward to deliver affordable, widespread connectivity to all Malaysians; with some of our current sharing initiatives now ongoing for close to a decade. This MoU is an extension of our existing successful partnership with Celcom on fibre deployment, and we look to forward to work with both parties to ensure we cater for better customer experience across the country.”
Gokhan Ogut, CEO, Maxis:
“This is a positive step forward in delivering ubiquitous network access in all the towns and cities in the country, and an example of intelligent cooperation towards achieving the government’s NFCP ambitions and targets. We look forward to working together to explore what we can all bring to the table in terms of resources and capabilities which can ultimately benefit all consumers and businesses in Malaysia.”
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