MCMC Chairman Al-Ishsal Ishak speaks during a media briefing on 5G demonstration projects in Cyberjaya September 30, 2019. ― Picture by Choo Choy May

CYBERJAYA, Sept 30 — Eight companies will be investing RM116 million to roll out 55 5G use cases across 32 sites in six states in Malaysia for a six-month period from October 1, 2019 till March 31, 2020.

In a media briefing today. Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) Chairman Al-Ishsal Ishak said use cases will involve nine verticals split between the eight companies.

“These companies are using their own money, nothing from the government. The areas they will be testing in are agriculture, education, entertainment/media, digital healthcare, manufacturing and processing, oil and gas, smart city, smart transportation and tourism.

“The 5G demonstration projects will focus on facilitating and cultivating the development of a holistic and inclusive 5G ecosystem in the country in pursuit of stimulating the demand as well as adoption of 5G technology for both businesses and consumers alike.

“We hope to commercialise some of the use cases beginning third quarter of 2020,” said Al-Ishsal.

The state governments that are involved in the demonstrations include Kedah, Perak, Penang, Selangor, Terengganu and Kuala Lumpur.

Among the use cases that will be conducted are Smart Traffic Lights, Smart Parking, Remote Diagnosis, Medical Tourism, Remote Medical Consultation, Smart Agriculture, Augmented Reality for education, Vehicle Tracking and 5G 360° Panoramic Live Video Surveillance.

The companies involved are Altel, Celcom, Digi, e.co, Maxis, Petronas, TM and U-Mobile.

The smart agriculture vertical will be taking place in Langkawi and its project owners are TM and Maxis. Digital healthcare will take place in Langkawi and Selangor with Digi and U-Mobile as the project owners.

The education vertical will have use cases in Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi and Selangor and is handled by Digi and Maxis. Under the media and entertainment vertical, the likes of Altel, Digi and TM are project owners in Langkawi and Selangor.

Perak will see Altel manage the manufacturing and process industries in Tanjung Malim in a collaborative effort with Proton City. Meanwhile, Petronas will be the project owner under the oil and gas vertical in Terengganu.

The smart city vertical will take place in Selangor and Langkawi under Altel, Digi, Celcom, e.co, Maxis, U-Mobile and TM.

Langkawi will also benefit from the smart transportation vertical under Altel. Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is expected to test out the autonomous car there next year. The tourism vertical owned by Digi and TM will also be taking place in Langkawi.

“If you noticed, in almost every vertical Langkawi is there. It’s because an island is a remote location but it already has telecom and undersea cables there as well as interference from Thailand.

“So it’s a perfect testbed to try new things in a closed environment,” said Al-Ishsal.