KUCHING, Nov 20: The Sarawak Multimedia Authority (SMA) said an interim solution is in place to resolve the connectivity issues in rural areas in the state.
SMA in a press statement today, said they noted with great concern of the great efforts taken by the school children in Nanga Sumpa and Nanga Jambu in Lubok Antu, to get good internet coverage in order to keep up with their education.
According to SMA, they are also fully aware of the state’s connectivity issues which were made worse by Covid-19 pandemic and subsequently the respective movement control orders.
“Whilst the strategic action plan to construct telecommunication towers in non-commercial viable areas is an on-going process, SMA has already put in place interim solutions to resolve connectivity issues that have been highlighted.
“It shall be noted that the mandated procedures will be complied with before rolling out the solutions. Hence the Saluran 200 plan will see the deployment of Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSAT) to targeted areas so that the school children in rural areas will get minimal disruption to their education,” it said.
On the same note, SMA also seeks to expand the telecommunication coverage to rural areas in Sarawak through the Sarawak Multimedia Authority Rural Transformation (SMART) initiatives.
The authority said SMART is one of the state’s intervention efforts to reduce the socio-economic divide of our rural communities in the state.
“The construction of the first three hundred telecommunication towers is now at 67 percent completion,” the statement read.
Recently, a teacher in Lubok Antu took the initiative by bringing 14 primary school students and eight secondary school students to a two-hour hike in the nearby jungle to get good internet coverage to enable them to study. –DayakDaily.
