Abang Johari (centre) speaking to reporters yesterday. On his left is Dr Jerip (File photo).
KUCHING: The Sarawak Cabinet views having a high-speed telecommunication highway as equally important as the Pan Borneo Highway in transforming the state’s economy.
As such, the State Cabinet wants internet and broadband services in the state to be improved and upgraded, disclosed Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg.
“If we are to transform our rural and urban areas, this infrastructure for telecommunication must be as important as the Pan Borneo Highway. Not only do we need (a physical) highway, we need telecommunication highway. Speed (of the Internet and broadband) must be fast.
“Only then we can transform our economy,” he said yesterday at the memorandum of understanding signing ceremony between PP Telecommunications Sdn Bhd (PPTelecom) and Kuching North City Commission (DBKU) for the ‘DBKU Metropolitan Free Wifi’ project.
He recalled a conversation he had with a government official, during which he was disappointed that the official was still talking about internet speed in ‘Mbps’ (megabits per second) when the current trend is ‘terabits per second’.
He lamented that the present internet speed was not fast enough and there were times when he clicked on a website only to see a ‘circle’ on the page as he waited for the page to finish loading.
He expressed his desire to see internet speeds upgraded in the rural areas to at least 150Mbps, from its current speed of just about 5Mpbs.
Elaborating his points further at a press conference held after the event, Abang Johari, who is also Housing and Urbanisation Minister, said Sarawak needs to migrate from copper-based to a more advanced fibre optic-based telecommunications infrastructure.
“Speed is very important. And if you are to transform the rural economy, then you have to use
e-commerce which depends very much on speed. The success of Jack Ma (founder of Internet services -based AliBaba Group) and America Online Incorporated (AOL) is all because of the speed and infrastructure they have.
“If you were to push Sarawak forward, then this infrastructure is as important as any other utility that you have to provide to our people. The Chief Minister has agreed on this, and we are looking towards that,” he said.
On another matter, Abang Johari was delighted that the Darul Hana area opposite Kuching Waterfront across Sarawak River is on its way to become a ‘smart residential area’ with internet connectivity.
He said, when completed, Darul Hana will be the first ‘smart’ area in Kuching. The RM120 million Darul Hana development project involving the redevelopment of 12 traditional Malay villages along Sarawak River was launched by then chief minister Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud on January 12, 2014.
Assistant Minister of Public Utilities (Electricity and Telecommunications) and Pantai Damai assemblyman Dr Abdul Rahman Junaidi is the state assemblyman for this area.