Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (17 September 2014) – Huawei, a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, today announced that it has successfully deployed the Multi Operator Radio Access Network (MORAN) mobile network sharing system through its partner Maju Nusa at over 127 sites spread across Malaysia. It is a national project under the TIME 3 Universal Service Provision program initiated by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).
TIME 3 Universal Service Provision (USP) project is part of the National Broadband Initiatives introduced by the Malaysian Government and MCMC. It is a cellular coverage expansion initiative that was introduced to increase the geographical coverage of cellular services nationwide. It involves rolling out infrastructure such as towers in extreme rural areas with low population density, or commercially uneconomic areas. These include plantations, Orang Asli settlements, new tourist locations, and significant highways.
The deployment aims to bridge the digital divide between the urban and rural locations in Malaysia, providing broadband service to disadvantaged groups, as well as to increase the broadband access rate by providing broadband service to areas with low public switched telephone network penetration, high density areas, or places where current public services are not sufficient. The deployment also gives end users more options when choosing their preferred network, irrespective of their location.
In 2013, MCMC awarded the deployment at over 40% of the site under the TIME 3 USP project, to Maju Nusa Sdn. Bhd. Maju Nusa selected Huawei Multi Operator Radio Access Network (MORAN) wireless solution to delivering 2G and3G cellular services to the targeted USP areas. Meanwhile, Maju Nusa has also utilized the best-in-class VSAT (very small aperture terminal) system as the transmission backhaul solution for all these sites, as they are located in very distant and remote rural fields in Malaysia.
The MORAN network is undoubtedly the first of its own kind in the world to provide a complete series of Radio Access Network sharing equipment for multi operators. It enables each cellular operator to separately configure cell-specific service management and thus offers cellular services to end users via the shared Radio Access Network based on its owned licensed spectrum frequency.
As of today, Maju Nusa had delivered more than 95% of the total sites which carry live voice traffic for the three major mobile operators in Malaysia, i.e. MAXIS, Celcom and DiGi. All these sites are successfully integrated into the major commercial cellular networks in Malaysia. Senior officials from MCMC, Celcom, MAXIS, and DiGi had recently visited these sites and appreciated the infrastructure setup, the services offered, and the impact it brings to the standard of connectivity in Malaysia. With the successful deployment of MORAN solution in the TIME 3 USP project, for the first time the communities staying in these rural areas now have access to the mobile connectivity.
Speaking on the deployment, Executive Director of Maju Nusa, Mr. Desmond Looh said, “We are proud to be part of TIME 3 project and are thankful to MCMC for showing trust in our capabilities. The project was a challenging one, and we are glad to have delivered on the ultimate objective of the project, which was that remote households are able to make calls and use other cellular services without changing their phone connections. New users are now free to choose from an increased number of cellular operators as three mobile operators deliver services at each site. Huawei has contributed significantly towards the project deployment and we are happy to work with them.”
