By DD Team
KUCHING, Dec 26: Sacofa is poised to shed its ‘jaguh kampung’ image to become a regional telecommunications player, revealed its managing director cum chief executive officer Zaid Zaini.
He was optimistic that Sacofa could achieve this vision with its young and highly qualified pool of engineers and technicians.
“We cannot be jaguh kampung. We have to move forward especially with the initiative of our Right Honourable Chief Minister’s policy which is focusing on digital economy.
Global technology companies are our potential clients using our cable network. This is an exciting time,” Zaid told DayakDaily in its ‘Spot On’ programme to be aired today.
He also shared Sacofa’s business model which is to expand beyond the shores of Sarawak.
“Our business plan is to expand beyond Sarawak. What we have at the moment, apart from towers, is more than 11,000 km of fibre optic cable from south to north (of Sarawak), passing through Brunei to Sabah.
“And we also have assets which connects East to West Malaysia, that is from Buntal to Mersing (in Johor).
“Through various partnerships, we have arrangements for the usage of another submarine cable to Singapore and Batam.
“So, we plan to expand to move outside of Sarawak. We are looking at different regional roles. (And), we have a small presence in North Kalimantan and we have a small licensed company (there). This is good news for us,” he said.
At the same time, Sacofa currently finalising its presence in Peninsular Malaysia to connect the whole of the peninsula with Singapore and Batam and from Batam to Thailand and Kalimantan.
“We are looking to West Malaysia; actually we are finalizing a deal there. We hope Sacofa can move beyond Sarawak.
“Once things come to fruition, our submarine cable from Batam will connect to Thailand passing through West Malaysia and from Batam to Kalimantan. This is our immediate future plan,” he reiterated.
And insofar as talent is concerned, Zaid affirmed that Sacofa has the capacity to become a regional player as it has some of the best engineers and technicians available in Sarawak.
“Yes, we do have the capacity. In Sacofa, we have a great pool of talent. And since we have a small population and Sacofa is a leading infrastructure player, I would like to think that the best engineers and technicians are with Sacofa, the best (of what we have) in Sarawak (is with us),” he said.
On wealth-sharing, Zaid said Sacofa has been engaging with local vendors and contractors to implement its projects.
“We deal with a lot of vendors and contractors in rolling out the towers for us. There are 120 contactors carrying out works for us from building towers to laying cables. We want to share the pie with the local contractors and vendors,” added Zaid. — DayakDaily
