New telecommunication towers to be constructed soon - Annuar

He said tenders for the projects would be issued within four weeks from now.

"In my and the government's views, the issue of connectivity and the internet is considered as a human right. We want to see all Malaysians, whether in the interior or wherever they are, they need to get this access, not only connectivity but with high quality," he said this when winding up the debate on the motion of thanks for the Yang di-Pertuan Agong's royal address, in the Dewan Rakyat today.

He said this in his response to the interjection of Ahmad Fadhli Shaari (PAS-Pasir Mas) on the slow implementation of the construction of telecommunication towers, despite already being in the planning of the National Digital Network (JENDELA) initiative.

Annuar said among the locations where telecommunication towers will be built in stages were Hulu Rajang (59 towers), Julau (47), Betong (40), Beaufort (26) and Pasir Mas (two).

He added that his ministry also targeted the transition of coverage from 3G to 4G to be fully achieved by the end of this year.

In the meantime, Annuar urged MPs whose constituencies have telecommunication coverage problems and need the construction of towers, to inform him, so that a study for the construction of the infrastructure can be carried out immediately.

He also said that the ministry, through the Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), has been implementing various programmes to provide opportunities to target groups, including young people, to reap the benefits and opportunities in the digital world.

He added that the programmes included the Global Online Workforce (Glow) under PENJANA, which was introduced in September last year to help 10,000 individuals from three target groups, namely, individuals who lost their jobs, affected income sources (salary cuts of more than 50 per cent) and unemployed graduates.

He said until June 30, a total of 10,200 participants were trained and mentored, and managed to generate accumulated income amounting to RM15.29 million.

In addition, there are also the MyDigitalWorkforce Work in Tech (MYWIT) initiative to improve employee skills; Premier Digital Tech Institutions (PDTI), in an effort to produce high-quality graduates who meet the needs of the industry; as well as an e-commerce campaign aimed at encouraging small, medium and micro enterprises to use the platform and e-commerce applications to expand the market.

On the Malaysian Emergency Response Services 999 (MERS 999), Annuar said that it would be improved in the future, to be able to display more accurate location information automatically for incoming calls to the MERS 999 call centre.