| Siti Hajar |
THE country’s leading telecommunications provider Telekom Brunei Berhad (TelBru)has set its sights on improving connectivity in Brunei’s rural areas within the next few years as it aims to close the digital gap between city dwellers and those living slightly off the grid.
In an interview with the Weekend Bulletin, TelBru Chief Marketing Officer Lim Ming Soon explained that the company is in negotiations with government regulator, the Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam (AITI), to upgrade Internet speed in rural areas where, though net connections do exist through copper technology, data movement is still considered slow.
Acknowledging that these areas may be too remote and not as feasible compared to more urban areas for Fibre-To-
The-Home (FTTH) connections, Lim said TelBru is looking to provide wireless access to rural area customers, with the emphasis that “we shouldn’t see rural areas differently from those in urban areas”.
While upgrades have seen Internet speeds averaging at about 8.7Mbps recently, those in rural areas are still experiencing traditional speeds of 128kbps to 512kbps. The wireless upgrade to High Speed Broadband is hoped to make equal access to information for all regardless of location and obstacles, he explained.
“Just because we have customers living in remote areas doesn’t mean they shouldn’t enjoy the benefits that the country has to offer,” he said, adding that the initiative is also part and parcel of TelBru’s corporate social responsibility that balances the company’s commercial sustainability and providing quality service to the whole of Brunei.
Though a target date for installation has yet to be established, the TelBru official assured that planning and negotiations are ongoing to see the manifestation of this particular project.
“This is important to us because there are still those who are not as Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) literate compared to others and so by introducing better Internet access we aim to uplift their technological knowledge,” said Lim.
There are ways in which better Internet access can aid in enhancing education in rural areas with schools among the main benefactors of this movement which those in more developed locations are taking for granted, he noted.
“A lot of rural schools have less access to technology and so when they take part in the wider society once they’re older they could potentially be left behind from an ICT standpoint compared to urban area children who are better acquainted with technology,” he pointed out.
“We want to ensure that there is no differentiation in terms of serving the people of Brunei.”
A similar plan is also being undertaken by TelBru for Kampong Ayer residents, the official said, with surveys conducted last month to determine feasibility of wireless Internet technology to serve customers in the country’s iconic water village.
Despite the ability to provide direct physical connection for locations within the area, copper infrastructure limitations including cable theft, has inspired TelBru to develop solutions to ensure service to customers are not disrupted, Lim said.
“It has been an ongoing issue,” he shared, with one cable theft potentially affecting at least 100 customers. Instead of copper, the solution comes in the form of fixed wireless technology, he added.
“While we are obliged to serve customers in Kg Ayer we have to also preserve our network,” with thefts, which were reported in local media last year, resulting in big losses for the company and inconvenience to customers.
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