KOTA SAMARAHAN: Sacofa Sdn Bhd hopes that the number of towers with fibre-optic connections will grow throughout the state expanding to Lawas and Limbang by this year.
Its chief executive officer Sudarnoto Osman said more than 500 communication towers including the rural areas of Sarawak have been installed with the fibre-optic cables, to improve the quality of telecommunication services in the state.
He said the upgrading of these towers would enable high capacity bandwidth which will allow fast network services such as 4G and Long-Term Evolution (LTE) to all service providers.
“We now own more than 5,000 kilometres of submarine and on-land fibre-optic cable systems that link the Peninsula and throughout Sarawak since we have merged with Celcom Timur Sarawak.
“The connection would be connecting Kuching to Limbang and Lawas passing through Brunei via the Trans Borneo Fibre-Optic Superhighway to Sabah,” said Sudarnoto at the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas)-Sacofa Telecommunication Laboratory launching ceremony at the university here today.
He said they are exploring international gateways through neighbouring countries like Brunei, Indonesia and Singapore.
Sudarnoto added the establishment of the international connectivity and building high capacity fibre-optic network will transform Sarawak into an alternative regional hub for ICT services.
“I believe this would reduce the broadband cost, accelerate foreign investment to the state, further stimulate the development of human capital and bridge the digital divide,” he said.
He also said the company would expect better services when there is a collaboration of structural studies between Sacofa and Unimas.
Sudarnoto said Unimas-Sacofa Telecommunication Laboratory is the first collaborative arrangement in the field of telecommunication and technology.
The lab, which was completed in April, provides highly skilled human capital for the telecommunication industry and also acts to support the growing demand of telecommunication industry globally.
To date, Sacofa has set up more than 700 towers throughout the state.