Maxis Bhd acting chief technology strategy officer Tan Cheng Peng
PETALING JAYA: Communications services provider Maxis Bhd
is capitalising on its technological strength to fortify its sustainability strategy at a time when sustainability is high up on the agenda of businesses.
To this end, Maxis Bhd acting chief technology strategy officer Tan Cheng Peng told StarBiz the telco is leveraging its technology to support its sustainability strategy in several ways.
“For example, we are using solar off-grid telecommunications towers to helps us reduce emissions.
“We deploy artificial intelligence (AI)-powered energy efficiency management across Maxis facilities and cell-sites that reduce power consumption during off-peak hours.
“The company has also kick-started its e-Waste programme to complete the loop in network and digital devices contributing to the overall circular economy, “ he noted.
Tan said Maxis at the same time is bringing connectivity to more rural and underserved areas via satellite backhaul.
“Through multi-operator core networks sharing between mobile network operators, the company is reducing the overlapping of tower buildings.”
On digital inclusivity, the company has been supporting the transformation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and micro SMEs with digital tools and connectivity.
“As for community outreach, the telco has been championing education for many years through our flagship community programme, eKelas, on digital learning for students in the rural areas, as well as enabling greater digital adoption for B40 micro-entrepreneurs through eKelas Usahawan,” he noted.
As to how Maxis is using tech to support SMEs in their digital aspiration, the company’s head of SME Kevin Lee said:
“We have been building our capabilities to be a strong digital partner by delivering new technologies, models and mindsets through our integrated offerings, which is line with our ambition to be the one-stop digital solutions provider for businesses.”
In 2020, Maxis was identified as a technology solutions provider for Malaysia Digital Economy Corp’s SME Digitalisation Grant.
“We enable SMEs who apply for the grant through us to choose from the widest range of connectivity and digital solutions to accelerate their digital aspirations, including digital marketing, electronic point-of-sale, remote working and eCommerce solutions.
“SMEs will benefit from a single touchpoint as we will help them manage the entire application process end-to-end, with a complete digital onboarding experience,” Lee said.
He said the company’s dedicated SME Help Squad works closely with customers to identify their current situation, pain points and their goals, and together identify the right solutions to help them achieve the outcomes they want.
“We recently officially launched our Maxis Business Innovation Centre (MBIC), a 9,000-sq-ft space of immersive experience built with our business customers in mind.
“MBIC was developed to foster innovation among businesses and to demonstrate the power of technology where SMEs can learn, discuss and be inspired on how digitalisation can help their business to stay ahead,” Lee noted.
To stay ahead of competition at the technological front, Tan said this would come from blending strong in-house skills with an ecosystem of world-class partners and technologies.
Maxis currently allocates about RM1bil as capital expenditure per year which includes network-related technologies.
In preparing its network for the future demand for connectivity, he said Maxis would continue to develop solutions across its day-to-day operations on its network infrastructure.
For example, since network towers are not the easiest to reach for check-ups and maintenance, it has sent drones up to capture 360-degree high-definition imaging of its network towers, which then relay the footage to its server for high-speed diagnostic scanning.
“The AI technology then sifts through millions of images faster than any human, recognising everything – from antennae to eagles’ nests.
“It has been trained for precise, efficient structural fault detection and prediction and is capable of recommending the appropriate preventive maintenance measures.
“As it learns, it gets smarter, so our engineers can resolve the fault before they become problems.
“This is one of the ways that we can ensure our network remains always on for consumers and businesses who rely on the connectivity lifeline.”
On the key tech trends, Tan said the surge of on-demand services in real-time and cloud gaming business are some of the key tech trends that are fast emerging post- Covid-19 pandemic.
He said consumer behaviour has undergone dramatic changes over the last few years and this has further evolved, especially over the course of the pandemic.
Services have to be on-demand and in real time, with intuitive interfaces and the intelligence to predict what consumers’ want.
In this digital age, he said it would only increase, with more and more industries, from entertainment to education to health, transforming their businesses to offer digital services.
According to a Mastercard Impact study in 2020, in the early stages of the pandemic, nearly half of Malaysian consumers surveyed had increased their online shopping activities, surfing the Internet for news and entertainment, video streaming, social networking and home delivery for food and groceries.
Tan said another noticeable trend is the cloud gaming industry that is booming.
“With mobile devices being more accessible and affordable, gamers, especially the younger generation, are moving from game consoles to smartphones for mobile or cloud gaming experience.
“The advancement of technologies is no doubt changing the way we live, work, shop and play.
“What we could only imagine as science fiction a mere decade ago is now very real, and it’s exciting to see the possibilities – from virtual, augmented, and mixed realities and 360-degree videos which are now reshaping customer experiences,” he said.
He said a key component in this vast space of new experiences is the evolution of network architecture and power of the cloud.
For example, multi-access edge computing (MEC) enables unprecedented single-digit millisecond computing response time with data processed and stored at the edge of the network, bringing cloud resources much closer to the end user than ever before.
This makes MEC particularly attractive to businesses that operate time-critical edge applications such as automation and remote-control of machines, since it significantly enhances efficiency and accuracy in real-time, while minimising connectivity and data storage costs.
He said Maxis was in fact the first to bring MEC to Malaysia to empower enterprise customers with next-gen technologies while enhancing its capabilities to provide secure, cost-effective and on-demand network infrastructure for businesses of all sizes.
