The Malaysian Productivity Corporation (MPC) in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Works (KKR) and the Malaysian Highways Authority (LLM) succeeded in improving the construction process of the Telecommunications Tower in the highway reserve by using agile regulatory methods that aim to strengthen the country’s digital infrastructure initiative.
Dato’ Abdul Latif Haji Abu Seman, Director General of MPC said, “According to the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2022 report, Malaysia is ranked 35th out of 63 countries around the world for broadband internet speed. This performance shows that Malaysia should multiply efforts in improving the performance of the internet to move towards a competitive, modern, and developed country. This aspiration can only be achieved with the cooperation of various parties, both the government and the private sector”.
Through this initiative, KKR through LLM has made several improvements to the approval policy for the construction of Telecommunication Towers in the highway reserve. Among the improvements that have been made are the revision and reduction of the total bank guarantee payment from RM50,000 to 5 percent of the project cost and the revision of the service charge from RM50,000 to RM20,000 for a period of 10 years. This initiative is expected to solve the problems and burden of costs incurred by telecommunication service providers in strengthening the competitiveness of digital infrastructure in the highway reserve. In addition, LLM is at the same time strengthening this digital infrastructure through a fiber optic cable construction project along the highway in Peninsular Malaysia. This infrastructure-sharing concept allows Malaysia to become a strategic big data hub in the ASEAN region.
Dato’ Wei Chuan Beng, a Member of the Digital Economy and Fourth National Industrial Revolution Council (MED41RN) who is also the Chairman of Digital Productivity Nexus welcomed the success of this initiative. “Private parties should be relieved because the review of costs in building digital infrastructure will definitely boost the development of digital infrastructure, which will enable the government’s targets in MyDIGITAL and JENDELA to increase internet coverage and speed to be achieved”, he explained.
