Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has announced that the JENDELA program is closing in on providing the target of reaching full 4G coverage by year end. In its latest report, level of 4G coverage in populated areas has already reached 94% compared to 91.8% in September last year when the program was initiated. Apart from the development, the national average mobile broadband speed has also goe up reaching 29.14Mbps and improvement from 25Mbps. As of now, a total of 6.255 million premises have been covered with fiber optics which is a significant jump from 4.95 million premises last year The JENDELA program was mooted after severe disruption were highlighted during the MCO, many rural areas were completely disconnected due to poor telecommunication coverage which made WFH and study from home near impossible. This prompted then Communication Minister hold the 5G rollout and focus on getting 4G reach 100% before year end. So far, under the Phase 1, a total of 1,661 new communication towers will be built in urban and rural areas which is expected to start in the last quarter of 2021. In order to offer connectivity to remote locations that towers are impossible to be built, MCMC has roped in satellite broadband access (VSAT) services to deploy at 839 locations for sparsely populated areas in the interior. MCMC has also informed that for JENDELA to be fully implemented, strong support by State Governments, Local Authorities, and cooperation by the industry is essential.
