The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) today has announced that it is ready to announce the licensees of the first National Fiberisation and Connectivity Plan (NFCP 1) infrastructure package in early January 2020. At the same time, the federal communications regulatory body has also revealed that the Request for Proposal (RFP) phase of NFCP 2 has begun last month.
RFP represents the first step for the deployment of NFCP 2 infrastructure package in which licensees have until 31 March 2020 to submit their bids. Despite taking place at different time, the objective of NFCP 1 and NFCP 2 infrastructure packages are identical which is to deliver public cellular network that able to deliver average Internet speed of at least 30Mbps using 3G and 4G technology.
NFCP 1 packages will be rolled out in 153 locations throughout Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, Terengganu, and Sabah. For NFCP 2, it will cover 500 additional locations and will also involve Melaka as well as Sarawak in addition to the eight states that we have mentioned earlier.
While both NFCP 1 and NFCP 2 packages will be funded through the Universal Service Provision (USP), the Chairman of MCMC, Al-Ishsal Ishak pointed out that the actual cost will be only revealed when MCMC announce the successful licensees. With that, expect to hear more from MCMC this coming January regarding the rollout of NFCP 1 infrastructure package.
(Source: MCMC – 1.)
