Sabah rural residents first to use new and fast Internet

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TENOM: The rural population, especially from Kuala Tomani in Kemabong here, can now enjoy a new and fast Internet network using the most advanced technology, the Wi-Fi 5 Giga, from a South Korean company, SK Telecom.

Communications and Multimedia Minister Dato’ Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek said the service is the first in Malaysia and in the Asia region to use the technology.

He said the technology provided a wider network coverage and faster Internet speed compared to the existing Wi-Fi network today.

“I was very interested and impressed with the effort and the technology used by SK Telecom in bringing the broadband services to the rural communities because it uses faster data transmission using the catching server.

“This method is even easier for Internet users in the rural areas to browse for information and for educational purposes,” he said at a press conference after launching the SK Telecom Community Broadband Centre in Kuala Tomani here yesterday.

Ahmad Shabery said the main problem for broadband services at village level was a network that was not so fast, therefore frustrating the villagers to access anything over the internet.

“This technology is effective in the rural areas and is used for the broadband community centRE here.

“Secondly, what is important is how this technology helps in learning where the centre is providing guidance to many students from kindergarten level up to primary schools.

He added that in wireless villages in Malaysia and in 1Malaysia Internet Centres (1MIC), this service had already been available, but the problem was speed of the Internet.

“In Kuala Lumpur, the1MB per second speed was great but the community wanted more speed, at 10MB, 20MB and so on for data to be downloaded, they want fast Internet access.

“I would like to thank SK Telecom for choosing Malaysia to introduce this concept,,” he said.

Meanwhile, Tenom member of parliament Datuk Raime Unggi described the development of this project as helping to improve the knowledge of the villagers, especially Internet for youngsters.

“This new technology will be beneficial to the surrounding villages, particularly in improving their knowledge and socio-economy,” he said.

Present at the event were Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission chairman Dato ‘Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi, SK Telecom president Lee Suk Han, SK Telecom executive vice-president Park Jung Ho, Packet One Networks Sdn Bhd chairman Shukor Karim and District Officer Siriman MF Basir.