Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) announced through its Twitter account that it is upgrading KLIA and KLIA2’s communication infrastructure, which includes mobile network radio towers. The exercise, which started on the 1st of January 2019, will last for up to three months.
Malaysia Airports said that the upgrade exercise is to improve both coverage and capacity in the long run. It is also being done to support the organization’s Airports 4.0 digital transformation effort.
Appointed for the upgrade exercise is edotco which is a division of the Axiata Group and has took over the indoor building network (IBC) management from Skai Network Sdn Bhd. MAHB will be proceeding with the upgrade in phases, but naturally, the upgrade is expected to affect users in terms of both reception and data speed.
Hello passengers! We will be upgrading our communication infrastructure at KL International Airport starting from 1 January 2019 to further improve on its coverage and capacity as well as to cater for future digitalisation requirements such as Airports 4.0 initiatives. pic.twitter.com/VYV74WOKub
— Malaysia Airports (@MY_Airports) December 31, 2018
In fact, The Star has reported that representatives from Celcom, Maxis, Digi, and U Mobile as well as Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) have done a walkthrough at the airport and found that the IBC network is not up to par since the switch over. Hence the three months timetable.
As a workaround, Malaysia Airports has suggested visitors to utilize the free Wi-Fi service at both airports in order to make calls using apps such as WhatsApp if the reception is bad. The airport also has fixed-line telephones at the information counters at both airports for patrons and passengers to use to call if they need to call out.
(Source: Malaysia Airpots, The Star)
