KUALA LUMPUR: The National Digital Infrastructure Plan (JENDELA) initiative has helped push industry players, regulators and government agencies to work in a collaborative manner in deploying services and solving problems, said Digi.com Bhd chief executive officer Albern Murty.

He said as telecommunications now recognised as one of the utilities and digitalisation being a national agenda, it would speed up collaboration and efficiency.

"Being recognised as a utility, it provides an opportunity for telecommunication companies now to work with states and local government agencies and regulators to ensure quicker services deployment and faster problem-solving.

"Working together during the pandemic has also pushed a lot more cross-collaborations between the industry players," he said on Bernama TV's The Nation: JENDELA programme today.

Touching on the sunset of 3G network by the end of this year, Murty said that would require a lot of collaboration among industry players and regulators especially in educating the customers on the need to shift.

"There is a lot of work that needs to be done at the site level as well where we share infrastructure," he noted.

On the initiative to help JENDELA achieve the coverage target, he said in 2020 Digi had achieved 100 per cent of its target of network upgrading, with the industry managing to upgrade 16,000 sites and adding about 1,000 new sites to provide the coverage.

"But demand continues to be there. As soon as you start to provide coverage into the areas, more would be required.

"JENDELA is an ambitious programme but it is something that needs to be done. Digi is committed to continue in making sure of growth in areas that need the coverage and also areas that need capacity," he said.

During the Movement Control Order period, he said it was observed that, even in the first phase of the MCO, there was a 30 per cent increase in data traffic and further on, another 20 per cent spike in demand.

"Average Malaysians would require about 20 gigabytes per person. It is a lot of data that has been consumed by mobile customers, so you can relate to the capacity that we need to have," he said.

He also highlighted that in 2020, particularly during the MCO, Digi saw traffic pattern shifting; hence the need to change its strategy and continue to invest on the network despite the pandemic in order to ensure speed consistency.

"So it is not just about rural areas but also key market centres that need to be looked at," he said.

He said Digi was now focusing on infrastructure modernisation while looking for further needed sites in order to cater for increasing demand.

"It is a continuous redesigning, reviewing the traffic trend, and that requires us to be on the ground and optimise the traffic while utilising the spectrum that we have, to ensure customers are able to get the experience they are expecting," he said.

In conclusion, Murty said with JENDELA programme providing connectivity to all Malaysians, it would be interesting to see how connectivity could increase productivity and stimulate economic growth for the country.

"We are looking forward to being able to connect more Malaysians and connecting customers to what matters the most," he added.

-- BERNAMA