KUCHING, Feb 20: Rantau Panjang residents will soon experience improved mobile coverage and Internet service, thanks to the installation of a new communications tower, which was initiated by Sarawak Multimedia Authority (SMA) with collaboration from local telecommunication service providers.
According to a press release issued today by SMA, a request to resolve the problem of poor communication coverage in the Rantau Panjang area came from the office of Batu Kawah assemblyman, Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian, who is also the Deputy Premier of Sarawak, in June last year.
“According to Tan Kai, the political secretary to the Premier, who represented Dr Sim, said the Rantau Panjang community had been facing longtime poor mobile services for years in the past.
“There are (primary and secondary) schools within this linear shaped area that urgently need better connectivity to ensure online classes and multimedia teaching equipment can connect to the Internet all the time to facilitate the teaching process.
“Apart from the schools, there are quite a number of kampung, farmhouses, light industries, fruit gardens etc, agglomerated in this area,” said SMA.
Meanwhile, according to SMA general manager Ts Dr Zaidi Razak in the same press release, Rantau Panjang which is located within the city of Kuching, needs immediate attention for connectivity improvement.
“Now with the installation of a new communication tower in Rantau Panjang, it narrows down the wireless gap and fill the network blind spot by enhancing the connectivity coverage to ensure the development of an intelligence-led urban ecosystem to be achieved for Kuching Smart city and digital-led high income state for Sarawak in year 2030,” he noted.
SMA highlighted that its team had engaged in a few rounds of discussion with network service providers to resolve the issue and eventually Maxis took the lead and requested its network facility provider to erect the telecommunication structure at Rantau Panjang and later put up equipment to serve the area.
“Other network service providers, Celcom, Digi, and Umobile, will follow after Maxis to expand and enhance their services in this area to ensure all people can equally enjoy good connectivity regardless of what service providers that they are using.
“SMA had ended the long wait for Rantau Panjang’s people to hope for better mobile connectivity.
“The communication tower was put up last week and mobile connectivity will soon be ready to transmit the signal once the equipment is set by the service providers,” SMA remarked. — DayakDaily
