GEORGE TOWN, Feb 4 — The Penang government is rolling out RM23.2 million worth of 5G demonstration projects in collaboration with seven telecommunications (telco) companies before fully rolling out 5G connectivity later this year.
Public works, utilities and flood mitigation committee chairman Zairil Khir Johari said the 19 projects are fully funded by the telco companies.
“These projects are use case as 5G is a new technology and we need use cases to make it viable especially in the commercial sector,” he said in a press conference after the official launch of the 5G projects in Komtar this morning.
He said the purpose of the use cases were to ensure the applications are beneficial to various sectors, namely in smart city governance, manufacturing and tourism.
The 19 projects included collaborations between Celcom, U Mobile, Digi Telecommunications, YTL Communications, Maxis Broadband, Telekom Malaysia and edotco Malaysia with various government bodies such as Penang Island City Council (MBPP), Tourism Penang, Malaysian Airport Holding Berhad, Penang Hill Corporation, Prasarana Malaysia Berhad and Penang Development Corporation.
There were also collaborative projects with factories such as Clarion Sdn Bhd, Intel Technology and Hotayi Electronic Sdn Bhd.
Among the projects were 5G live streaming at the Penang International Airport, ultra high speed internet access and virtual tourism experience at Penang Hill, smart facial recognition and smart production automation and monitoring in Hotayi, smart building in Komtar, smart safety and security, smart traffic light and smart parking around Komtar area and fixed wireless access at the ferry terminal.
Zairil said these use cases were to prove the efficiency of the connectivity for commercial uses, such as an improvement in production in Hotayi.
“We will fully roll out 5G connectivity by the third quarter of this year when the state will award the 5G spectrum to telcos,” he said.
He said telcos that plan on investing in 5G infrastructure had to make sure there is a return for their investment through these use cases.
“We have to be prepared by September as we will be hosting the World Congress on Information Technology 2020 then,” he said.
Penang is now also working on its Penang Connectivity Master Plan to ensure the provision of coverage through fiberisation in every household in the state.
He said it is expensive to fiberise every house so the state has to look into other ways to introduce fibre optics connectivity, such as laying fibre cables through the drainage system or aerially.
“We have tried a few pilot projects in Minden Heights and Butterworth and it is one cost effective way to bring fibre to the people but we have to do this in a controlled environment, come up with guidelines and make sure it doesn’t disrupt council properties,” he said.
He said the masterplan is expected to be completed by September this year and it will be a 10-year plan to roll out more infrastructure along with 5G connectivity to ensure coverage for everyone in the state.
He said Penang has very good coverage where almost all areas are covered with 4G connectivity but the capacity in the state is still lower than other states.
“We are lacking in capacity as in if there is a crowd, the capacity is not enough,” he said.
He said the masterplan will also look at improving the capacity in Penang.
