RESIDENTS and communities at Penang Hill could experience a broadband speed of up to 800Mbps instead of only 8Mbps in the past, thanks to the collaboration between Penang Hill Corporation (PHC) and Telekom Malaysia (TM).
Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the upgrading work at the upper station, summit area, The Habitat Penang Hill, Jalan Upper Tunnel, lower tunnel and Jalan Moniot had been completed in December last year.
“The residents and visitors are able to enjoy better telecommunication and internet coverage. The residents can also make stable calls especially during emergencies.
“The fiberisation of Penang Hill provides a conducive environment for future development of new technologies, such as 5G and other potential development or deployment of IoT (Internet of Things) solutions.
“It also allows the implementation of smart farming, as well as greater collection of data on the hill for analytics purposes, such as weather forecast,” Chow told a press conference at his office today.
TM ONE head of Government sales Mohamed Faisal Naina Mohamed said TM was glad to partner with PHC in this project.
“This project enables Penang Hill to move forward. It is part of our nationwide fibre optics rollout.
“We are upgrading around one million ports nationwide as part of our national agenda – to migrate from the copper network to fibre for the next two to three years.
“We are putting in about 83,000 ports in Penang and the progress now is about 20%. We hope to fiberise our networks in Penang by the end of 2022,” he said.
Penang Hill Corporation general manager Datuk Cheok Lay Leng thanked TM for selecting Penang Hill as a strategic partner to implement the fiberisation effort.
“This is a new chapter for Penang Hill. It is a big step towards digitalisation and connectivity for the community at Penang Hill.
“We thank TM for being a wonderful partner in making Penang Hill a better place for Malaysia.
“This effort can also enhance the experience of visitors,” he said.
Also present was Penang Transport and Infrastructure Committee chairman Zairil Khir Johari.
Story by Christopher Tan
Pix by Adleena Rahayu Ahmad Radzi
Video by Alissala Thian