GEORGE TOWN: Penang aims to be the first state in the country, outside of Putrajaya and Cyberjaya, to roll out the fifth generation technology or better known as the 5G network.
State Local Government Committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo expressed hope that the Communications and Multimedia Ministry would look to Penang as the leader by bringing the infrastructure here.
He said the infrastructures for the 5G network in Penang were at a very advanced stage.
"The only thing we need to look at when 5G comes along is the connection to the premises concerned. But for the main trunk roads, we are almost there. That is very important.
"So, I hope Penang will be chosen as the first state in the country to launch the 5G network outside of Putrajaya and Cyberjaya (where a pilot project is being tested there)," he told newsmen after witnessing the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signing ceremony between the Penang Island City Council and IBM Malaysia here today.
Mayor Datuk Yew Tung Seang signed on behalf of the council while IBM was represented by its managing director Catherine Lian.
The MoU is aimed at expanding the council's smart city initiative and enhancing the delivery of public services in the state. Under the MoU, IBM will provide advisory, technical expertise and consultation around four key technologies, namely cloud computing, artificial intelligence, blockchain and Internet of Things (IoT), that are related to the council's smart city implementations.
Earlier in his speech, Jagdeep said Penang had achieved 100 per cent 3G network penetration and 98.2 per cent 4G network penetration respectively.
He said even YTL Communications Sdn Bhd chose to launch its Terragraph market pilot in George Town, in February this year, to deliver a reliable, affordable and high-speed broadband connection to the heritage city.
The deployment, supported by Facebook, was the first large-scale market pilot in Asia and aligned with the government’s efforts to invest in and further improve the country’s digital infrastructure.
"Indeed, Penang is ready for the 5G network. With this in place, we are in the right track in our journey to be a smart state," he said.
Penang is leading the way in the region when it introduced the smart government and smart city initiative in 2017. Various smart city initiatives have been done and are planned to be executed in the state.
Among them is the first digital library in the country, the first state with closed-circuit television camera (CCTV) facial recognition, the crush aedes totally (CAT) programme to detect hotspot locations to address the dengue outbreak and the first smart bus stop.
The works in progress include the smart parking, with the first phase slated for August this year, smart LED lights and the soon-to-be-announced smart traffic analytics and recognition system (STARS).