OCK group managing director Datuk Sam Ooi Chin Khoon.
SHAH ALAM: OCK Group Bhd
’s recent strategic collaboration with the Selangor state government-owned digital infrastructure company, Smartsel Sdn Bhd, is set to ensure recurring income for the group.
The collaboration will see OCK Group leveraging on its expertise of providing turnkey solutions for the telecommunications industry by developing 40kms of high-capacity underground optical fibre infrastructure in Cyberjaya.
OCK Group will adopt a revenue-sharing model with Smartsel.
So far, four kms of the Cyberjaya Fiberisation Project has been completed, taking roughly three weeks.
The remainder of the project is estimated to be completed in June next year.
Group managing director Datuk Sam Ooi Chin Khoon said looking at the nature of OCK Group’s business for the last 20 years, it was clear that owning fibre in the future would be a very important factor.
“We already own a tower and a solar farm, so we see this as a timely collaboration.
“This will be a very good opportunity for OCK Group to create another source of income,” he told StarBiz on the sidelines of the project launch here yesterday.
The fibres developed by OCK Group will operate on a leasing method, thus allowing it to gain income.
Ooi added that as a bonus the collaboration was with one of the most developed states, Selangor, which had a strong history of investor lending.
The budget for the project will be from the state and federal government.
“Once we deploy the capital expenditure, we will have a long-term ownership asset with the state of Selangor. It will be a 20 to 30-year contract,” he explained.
Selangor also has a budget from the federal government for smart-city features, including smart CCTVs and traffic lights, which will increase the state’s return to the country’s gross domestic product.
As a pilot project, this initiative will form the foundation for the Selangor Dark Fibre Network, enabling the Selangor state government to provide digital infrastructure in a strategic, inclusive and public interest-oriented manner.
In a similar manner, OCK Group will also develop 889kms of fiberisation throughout the state, excluding Cyberjaya.
Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari said the project will take about three years to be completed and is valued at RM800mil.
“This infrastructure will become the backbone of the state’s digital strengths, where data centres in particular will flourish,” he said.
He added this project would lower the dependency on the private sector’s infrastructure, while allowing the state to mitigate costs and ensure data and communications are secured.
Ooi said despite the announcement yesterday being solely on fiberisation, the signed collaboration between the company and Smartsel will enable a larger scope of works.
This was formalised when both parties signed a business alliance framework at the project launch yesterday.
This alliance is in support of the Digital Selangor agenda and will focus on five pillars – telecommunications, in-building solutions, network operations, digital solutions and green energy.
Essentially, this allows OCK Group to then take on more projects in the future.
“This means we can touch on more layers other than just hardware, we will start with fibre.
“But anything that the state wants to do to improve and explore in Selangor, we will accommodate the resources and expand the team,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ooi acknowledged that the aim of the group is to position itself as a digital infrastructure company, no longer just about towers and solar.
“This is especially true for countries we are entering into, we want to be seen as an end-to-end digital infrastructure creator.
“Naturally, we will work with partners, like we have done with Smartsel and build on our capabilities that way,” he noted.
