Connecting rural areas

The Universal Service Provision (USP) project, an initiative led by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to provide telecommunications facilities in rural areas, will cost RM28.8 million in its first round of roll-out involving three districts. According to the commission, of the amount, RM16.8 million has been allocated for the project roll-out in Yan, Kedah, while RM6 million will be used to finance implementations in each of the other two areas, namely Julau in Sarawak, and Kinabatangan in Sabah. MCMC chairman Tan Sri Nuraizah Abdul Hamid said Maxis Mobile Sdn Bhd is the appointed universal service provider in Yan, while projects in the other two districts will be undertaken by Telekom Malaysia. Under the USP project in Yan, more than 600 new telephone lines have been installed. She said in Julau and Kinabatangan, the USP projects will include the installation of public pay phones based on solar power and very small aperture terminal (VSAT) technology in 10 locations for each area this year. “The facilities will benefit people in several longhouses in Julau and communities of villages in Kinabatangan,” she told Computimes in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday. Nuraizah said the commission is currently working with State governments to finalise a list of districts for the next round of USP, and areas identified are based on their need for such service. The commission, she added, also expects to start the bidding process to choose the universal service provider for the next round of USP by year-end. She said the effectiveness of the USP could be gauged by the success in maintaining the telecommunications facilities offered, for example, in the case of pay phones, making sure that they operate and not vandalised. Another factor to look at is ensuring that the telecommunications facilities are effectively used and income derived from the facilities can sustain them. Investments in the USP project are sourced from a fund contributed by licensed service providers through a formula outlined in the Communications and Multimedia (Universal Service Provision) Regulations 2002, whereby each licence holder is to contribute six per cent of weighted net revenue, exceeding RM500,000, of 12 categories of services. For example, net revenue from cellular mobile service, when exceeding RM500,000, carries a weightage of 0.5 and this will be multiplied by six per cent to get the amount of contributions to the USP fund. In another example, net revenue from national call, international call, and Internet protocol telephony each carries a weightage of one. Nuraizah said a revision of the regulations will be announced soon and licensees can expect a more fair sharing of contributions to the fund, which so far has collected about RM400 million. She said among probable changes include changes in the weightage of revenue components. This may result in Telekom Malaysia, which so far as been carrying the main bulk of the USP, to pay less, and other licensees to pay more towards the USP fund.