Opcom Holding a leading fiber optic cable manufacturer in Malaysia has announced that it will collaborate with Global Forway Sdn. Bhd. a network enabler, to push for more opportunities in the 5G sector. Under the deal, both parties will incorporate a new company in which Opcom will hold a 60% equity interest and Global Forway will hold the remaining 40%.
As it is, both bring complementary skills into the deal, Opcom, through its subsidiary companies, is currently the largest manufacturer of fiber optic cables in Malaysia with a 27-year track record in supplying fiber optic cables to the Malaysian telecommunication industry. It also provides related engineering services and holds a G7 certificate from CIDB. As for Global Forway, it holds network facilities provider (“NFP”), network service provider (“NSP”) and application service provider (“ASP”) licenses from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission as well as a G7 certificate from CIDB. The skill sets of Opcom and Global Forway will be consolidated through Opcom Vision which will be the vehicle in pursuing opportunities in the Malaysian Government’s digitalisation initiatives
Dato’ Mazlin Junid, Chairman of Opcom, noted that “the Government has clearly demonstrated its focus toward preparing Malaysia to be a high-technology based economy through various initiatives and policies such as those set out in the 12th Malaysia Plan, the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint as well as jendela. This push toward digitalisation however would require improving the nation’s 4G coverage and accelerating the roll-out of 5G. In this respect, we see various opportunities for us to contribute toward the Government’s digital aspirations for the country.”
Commenting on the collaboration, he added “combining the skill sets and experience of Opcom and Global Forway enables Opcom Vision to be able to offer comprehensive solutions encompassing the entire spectrum from the supply of fiber optic cables and installation of infrastructure and maintenance to designing software applications. Such applications would provide the asset owner complete control over the entire ecosystem. Global Forway has the necessary licenses and expertise for us to expand our suite of services to include value added services. These services include connectivity services involving dedicated internet access and point-to-point leased lines, security services such as managed security monitoring as well as data centre services encompassing co-location services and data centre internet access to cloud services.
Global Forway’s Group Chairman, Dato’ Sri Vincent Gey, in referring to the collaboration said “Opcom is the ideal partner to complement our own skillset. Its experience in manufacturing and installation of fiber optic cables coupled with our licenses and capabilities in-network services puts us in an enviable position to bid for contracts of different scopes under JENDELA and the rollout of 5G.
