As announced by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) on 30 September 2019, Penang is among the six states in Malaysia in which 5G-use cases will be demonstrated, starting already this month.

The state is delighted with the announcement as Penang has been working aggressively for the past few years to make the state a smart city. This announcement is timely and a great news for those living and working here.

Penang has been working on the Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ) platform, facial recognition in our City Councils’ CCTV, the Penang Smart Parking System, Penang Smart Street Poles, hosting the Word Congress of Information Technology (WCIT) 2020 and Techfest2020 and many more. The state is also heading towards cashless economy across the state as well as cross border trade.

Hence, Penang is most excited to be one of the leaders in piloting 5G technology. Some areas that are of great interest to us are telemedicine, manufacturing and industrial automation, smart city networks and smart agriculture. This is reflective of Penang’s economic growth nodes and of our aspiration in becoming a prominent and competitive digital economy.

Promising network speeds of up to 10Gbps with latency as low as 1-millisecond, the implication of this nation-wide rollout is huge; particularly for machine-to-machine communication and the economic benefits that will accrue from productivity gains.

To be sure, 5G technology is heavily reliant on the successful rollout of small cell infrastructure. In this, we are taking active steps to ensure that the provision of infrastructure and the associated regulations go hand in hand. The goal is to enable access to 5G networks for all Penangites by 2030.

This is in line with the Chief Minister’s Penang2030 Vision: “To Be A Family-Focused Green and Smart State That Inspires the Nation”. In order to leverage on this new technology in the coming years, the state government is in the process of establishing Digital Penang Corporation, a statutory board that will coordinate and strengthen the various digital initiatives undertaken by the government, by industry, and by society at large.

CHOW KON YEOW

Pocket News