Sabahan university student Veveonah had to climb a tree for Internet access so she could take her online examinations online back in 2020.
DID you know that access to the Internet is now considered an essential human right, not a luxury?
You may not even have stopped to think about this, as for most of us being connected to the Internet and mobile services is as natural as breathing air nowadays.
Staying connected over the Internet and mobile services is already an integral part of our daily activities, and with the acceleration of the digital revolution, it is only going to become further embedded in our lives.
Part of the effort to address connectivity gaps in Malaysia is the National Digital Network (Jendela) initiative, launched by the government in 2020.
Back in 2020, when everyone was stuck at home during the Covid-19 pandemic, unsurprisingly, Internet traffic surged significantly, revealing flaws in the country’s digital infrastructure at the time.
Thus came the Jendela initiative, which was formulated to provide wider coverage and better quality of connectivity as well as prepare the country for the transition to 5G technology.
The government claims Phase 1 of the initiative, between 2020 and 2023, has been a success.
Several metrics even exceeded the original targets. Initial targets include 7.5 million premises installed with fibre Internet connections, 4G network coverage of 96.9%, 5G network coverage of 37.9% and 35Mbps for mobile network speed.
At the end of Phase 1, the government had achieved 7.74 million premises installed with fibre Internet connections, 96.92% of populated areas with 4G network coverage, 47.1% 5G coverage, and mobile network speeds achieving a mean of 116.03Mbps.
The Jendela initiative is more ambitious than just that, though.
In the upcoming Phase 2, Jendela aims to increase fibre Internet connectivity to nine million premises and increase 4G coverage to 100% of populated areas as well as fully deploying the 5G network.
