(from left) Isaac, Mohamed Zaid and Ainor pose for a group photo with the signing board after the virtual signing ceremony via video conferencing between Sacofa in Kuching and MSAR in Kuala Lumpur.
KUCHING: The deal signed between Sarawak’s leading ICT infrastructure firm SACOFA Sdn Bhd (Sacofa) and MSA Resources Sdn Bhd (MSAR), a telecommunications infrastructure provider based in Peninsular Malaysia, is anticipated to further strengthen Malaysia’s digital telecommunications infrastructure.
This comes as the two companies sugned a share subscription, share sale and purchase and shareholders’ agreements (Definitive Agreements) virtually on Monday.
Sacofa and MSAR in a joint statement said this will also augur well for the overall growth of telecommunications ecosystem in the country as well as further support the overall national telecommunications roadmap as outlined by the federal government’s Jalinan Digital Negara (Jendela) and MyDigital initiatives.
Under the definitive agreements, Sacofa’s acquisition of an initial 30 per cent share of MSAR which will eventually be raised to 50 per cent, will enable the two companies to form a strategic alliance and jointly undertake key telecommunications infrastructure projects in Peninsular Malaysia while also focusing on extending and enhancing broadband connectivity to neighbouring Asean countries Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, and Brunei Darussalam.
MSAR managing director Saiful Husni Samak said MSAR is delighted to welcome SACOFA as its newest shareholder.
“Our aligned vision to turn MSAR into a telecommunications infrastructure powerhouse will be greatly served by SACOFA’s experience and expertise.
“We are currently building our new fibre optic network which stretches from Johor Bahru to Bukit Kayu Hitam, and at 1,063km is one of the longest fibre optic network constructions currently being carried out in Semenanjung Malaysia,” he said.
He said with Sacofa onboard, MSAR will also be better positioned to roll out mobile infrastructure services such as towers and poles for 5G along all major highways in Peninsular Malaysia.
“This new low latency network will serve as a platform for the adoption of future technologies along the highways such as IoT, smart highways, autonomous vehicles and more.”
The agreements were signed by MSAR executive deputy chairman Mohd Sofian Mohd Arshad, Saiful Husni, MSAR head of corporate affairs and business sevelopment Razlan Joffri Mohd Radzi, Mohamed Zaid, and Sacofa corporate strategy and general counsel vice president Ainor Khaliq Anuarudin.
Witnessing the virtual signing ceremony were MSAR chairman Senator Tan Sri Mohd Radzi Tan Sri Sheikh Ahmad and Sacofa deputy chairman Dato Isaac Lugun along with directors and senior management figures of MSAR and Sacofa.
Meanwhile, Sacofa managing director and chief executive officer Mohamed Zaid Zaini said that over the past 20 years, Sacofa has been focused on building and further upgrading telecommunications infrastructure in Sarawak.
“This in line with the federal and state governments’ initiatives, particularly Jendela spearheaded by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and the Digital Economy Strategy 2018-2022 initiated by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg to leapfrog Sarawak’s economy via digital economy to become a high income state,” he said.
He also said that Sacofa is actively enhancing inter connectivity to link Sarawak to the world.
“One of our corporate missions is ‘to expand beyond Sarawak’ which we have been striving to achieve and build over the past few years. These Definitive Agreements with MSAR will certainly add to Sacofa’s mission of extending our operations beyond Sarawak and more importantly link East Malaysia to West Malaysia on many levels.
“We are confident that this event will allow both MSAR and Sacofa to work with the federal and state governments to ensure that we increase the broadband penetration rate and narrow the digital divide while building the foundation upon which upcoming technology platforms such as 5G and IR4.0 may be implemented, in line with ongoing government initiatives and undertakings by public-private partnerships.”
In the context of stakeholders, he said broadband consumers in Malaysia stand to benefit from better connectivity at competitive prices which will enable them to access the Internet and online services for all manner of activities such as e-commerce, education, public services and so on.
“In short, this will be our contribution to enable Malaysians to unleash the limitless potential of digital connectivity from anywhere,” he added.