MCMC: RM4.6 bln Jendela works tender to close on March 31, 2021

KUALA LUMPUR: The tender for infrastructure works at 1,661 sites involving an investment value of RM4.6 billion under the National Digital Infrastructure Plan (Jendela) will be closed on March 31, 2021 giving ample time for any party to participate.

Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) chairman Dr Fadhlullah Suhaimi Abdul Malek said the eligibility criteria are already available at the disposal of those who are interested in it.

“In the infrastructure level, Jendela would cost the industry and the government a total of RM21 billion,” he said in a virtual session with the media, on the National Fiberisation and Connectivity Plan 2 (NFCP 2) initiative updates yesterday.

With the introduction of Jendela, tenders relating to it would be dispersed and Fadhlullah said its main difference with the NFCP 2 tender is the number of sites.

“NFCP 2 has 500 sites while Jendela has 1,661 sites, that is a three-fold jump in terms of the tender size and tender load which covers the year 2021 to 2022.

“We think by front-loading it would allow us to get the impact earlier rather than later. In NFCP 2, there were 500 sites and because of Covid-19 the demand had gone up, a lot more places need to be covered and improved.

“Meanwhile, the second difference from NFCP 2 is it still had specifications for 3G and 4G, without having fibre to the tower being made mandatory.

“We also said in Jendela that the 3G network would be closed by the end of 2021, so it would be illogical for us to put up the tender for 3G and close it a year down the road; while constructing for 4G, it would usher in the 5G era that would allow us to enjoy speeds of higher than 100Mbps,” he said.

However, Fadhlullah admi ed that the telecommunication coverage and quality is still a prevailing problem. MCMC is doing what it can, but to realise it all will take time as infrastructure works don't happen overnight, he said.

“It takes us anywhere between 12 and 18 months. If some areas have a tower with radio access equipment that supports 3G, then we can quickly switch that over to 4G.

“The infrastructure deployment within 12 to 18 months would depend on tender submissions, hopefully with the support of the respective states. It might be less than 18 months as some states have begun to see the ‘light’,” he said.