The Week That Was: A collaborative effort

Mohd Redzuan said the government's master digital platform to ensure cybersecurity would be launched within the next five years. — Bernama

Collaboration makes things happen, as these organisations showed last week.

Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd (Digi) teamed up with the wholesale arm of Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) to expand its fibre broadband coverage to more households nationwide.

The deal was for Digi to leverage off TM’s Layer 3 HSBB (High Speed Broadband) Network Service, enabling it to extend its broadband footprint to more areas across the country, including Sabah and Sarawak.

The agreement was signed by TM Wholesale executive vice-president Amar Huzaimi Md Deris and Digi chief marketing officer Loh Keh Jiat.

Amar Huzaimi said TM advocates infrastructure sharing and that this industry-level collaboration – using its HSBB network service as the platform – reiterates the national telco’s commitment towards accelerating broadband Internet adoption.

Loh said this collaboration would enable Digi to connect an additional three million households with fibre Internet services.

Loh said this collaboration would enable Digi to connect an additional three million households with fibre Internet services. — LEE KAH LENG/The Star

TM said the collaboration would fully utilise its infrastructure efficiently to avoid unnecessary duplication, in line with the government’s call for greater industry cooperation.The announcement followed Digi’s rollout of a range of home fibre plans with speeds ranging from 100Mbps, 500Mbps and 1Gbps (Gigabits per second).

The Digi Internet Freedom plan is currently available in selected areas within the Klang Valley, Penang, and Sabah.

Another technology driven collaboration was between Tesco Stores (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (Tesco) with NE Suria Satu Sdn Bhd (NESS) to install solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on the rooftops of hypermarket’s buildings.

Tesco said it planned to equip 15 of its stores by October, including those in Mergong, Kulim, Sungai Petani Selatan, Jitra and Stargate in Kedah; Bukit Mertajam and Seberang Jaya in Penang; Rawang, Klang, Puchong and Bukit Puchong in Klang Valley; Seremban Jaya in Negeri Sembilan; and Ipoh, Tesco Station 18 and Kampar in Perak.

The panels were expected to generate about 18 gigawatt hours (GWh) of clean energy per year.

For context, Tesco said that was enough power to light up 104 Olympic-sized stadiums simultaneously, or about 800,000 homes for a year.

This Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with NESS is slated to run for 20 years, until 2040.

A rooftop view of partially installed solar PV panels on Tesco Jitra, one of the 15 Tesco stores that will soon begin generating clean solar energy. — TESCO

On the topic of building for a better future, the government will be setting up a master digital platform to ensure cybersecurity, in light of a spike in cyberattacks during the movement control order (MCO) period.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Special Functions) Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof said it would be launched within the next five years.

During the question-and-answer session at the Dewan Rakyat, Mohd Redzuan revealed that CyberSecurity Malaysia had recorded an 80% increase in cyberattacks nationwide during the MCO.

He added the project was still in the development phase and would be created through the Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (Mampu).

Another ministry turning to online solutions was the Ministry of Health (MOH), which set up a chatbot on WhatsApp to keep the public informed about the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

MOH stated via its Telegram channel that the chatbot would save users time, instead of having to wait to get answers from a busy hotline.

It provided a QR code that connects users to a verified business account called CPRC (Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre) Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia.

Its profile information lists itself as a government service, with a link to the Crisis Centre’s address and the Health Ministry’s website.

The chatbot answers queries based on a fixed menu of options, and can reply in either Bahasa Malaysia or English.

The information it can provide includes general updates and statistics on coronavirus cases in Malaysia, Covid-19 safety measures, a list of hospitals treating suspected and confirmed cases, plus government clinics that provide screening services.

MOH added that the chatbot was created in the hopes that if the public were better informed about the pandemic, they could in turn better assist the government in curbing the spread of the virus in the country.