CYBERJAYA: The implementation of the national digital infrastructure plan, Jalinan Digital Negara (Jendela), is progressing as scheduled since it commenced in September last year, according to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).

It said two quarterly reports detailing the latest development and progress of Jendela have been published on Dec 31, 2020, and March 31, 2021.

In fact, in a statement issued in response to Ledang MP Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh’s enquiries on the development of Jendela, MCMC said the 3rd Quarterly Report of Jendela will be published on June 31 this year.

According to the 1st Quarterly Report of Jendela, for the period ending Dec 31, 2020, a total of 456,757 premises have been provided with fixed broadband coverage compared to the initial target of 352,101 premises, a total of 876 new sites for mobile broadband expansion were erected against the target of 940, while a total of 16,367 existing towers were upgraded against the initial target of 16,214.

In the 2nd Quarterly Report of Jendela, it was stated that as of March 31, 2021, a total of 292,826 premises have been provided with fixed broadband coverage compared to the initial target of 221,539 premises, 29 new sites were erected compared to the initial target of 25, while 3,278 existing towers were upgraded compared to the target of 3,223 towers.

The 4G coverage has been increased to 93.51 percent from 92.03 pe cent in the previous quarter, and in total, 5.7 million premises have been provided with access to fibre optics as of March 31, MCMC said.

For this year’s Jendela target, MCMC said fibre optic connectivity to 1,245,452 additional premises and upgrading of 12,499 existing transmitting stations to 4G technology for coverage expansion and speed enhancement through the Commercial and Universal Service Provision (USP) Fund will be implemented.

Jendela’s target for 2021 is also to put an end to the 3G network and complete the spectrum transfer to 4G to increase speed, besides erecting 193 ner (commercial) communication towers, it said.

MCMC said for the less populated rural areas, the installation and provision of broadband access service via satellite (VSAT) in 839 locations to increase Internet coverage are also being implemented in Johor, Kelantan, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, Selangor, Sabah and Sarawak.

“The service is expected to be ready by October 2021 and will serve as an immediate short-term solution,” MCMC said.

For the year 2020, MCMC said implementation of Jendela will include the target to connect fibre optic to 929,631 additional premises and the construction of 1,661 new communication towers in rural and remote areas.

Details on Jendela, including the highlights of the quarterly reports, are available at https://myjendela.my.

In another development, MCMC said it had been deluged with complaints relating to communication services especially during this Movement Control Order (MCO) period.

“For complaints which have a short-term solution, it will be solved immediately. For those that cannot be solved in a short period of time, clarification will be given to the complainants to enable them to understand the available solutions,” it added.