Malaysia’s Largest 4G Network, Now in Sabah

Kota Kinabalu, 19 April, 2014

YTL Communications Sdn Bhd today officially announced that it has expanded its Yes 4G network coverage to Sabah, bringing high-speed 4G Internet to more consumers in Malaysia. The event was officiated by the Chief Minister of Sabah Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Bin Aman, together with the Chairman of YTL Corporation Berhad Tan Sri Dato’ Seri (Dr.) Yeoh Tiong Lay, Executive Director of YTL Communications Dato’ Yeoh Soo Keng and Chief Executive Officer of YTL Communications Wing K. Lee here at Universiti Malaysia Sabah.

The commercial availability of Yes in Sabah is the continuation of YTL Communications’ commitment to deliver the most advanced 4G network throughout Malaysia. This network expansion adds 4G mobile coverage in most cities and towns in Sabah, including Kota Kinabalu, Beaufort, Keningau, Kota Belud, Kudat, Lahad Datu, Papar, Sandakan, Tawau, and Tuaran. Currently there are five Yes retail outlets located in Kota Kinabalu, namely Suria Sabah Shopping Mall, 1Borneo Hypermall, Centre Point Sabah, City Mall and Karamunsing Shopping Centre where customers can experience Yes 4G Internet surfing, touch and try out Yes 4G devices as well as enjoy a full-suite of services including sign up for Yes Internet plans, upgrade existing plans, pay their bills, purchase devices and make enquiries.

At the launch, Dato’ Yeoh Soo Keng shared, “When we started building our 4G network infrastructure, we made sure that we would cover the urban and rural areas throughout Malaysia in our network rollout. We began connecting Sabah to the Yes network since 16 September 2013, in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of Malaysia Day. I am pleased to share that, to date, more than 60% of the population in Sabah can enjoy the same world-class Yes 4G services as the rest of the Malaysia.”

The event also saw Executive Director of YTL Communications Dato’ Yeoh Soo Keng and Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Malaysia Sabah Professor Datuk Dr. Mohd. Harun Abdullah signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which was witnessed by the Chief Minister of Sabah Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Haji Aman, Chairman of YTL Corporation Berhad Tan Sri Dato’ Seri (Dr.) Yeoh Tiong Lay and Sabah State Education Department Director Datuk Jame Bin Alip.

The MoU between the two parties is to establish a 4G campus-wide network at Universiti Malaysia Sabah to ensure university students have easier access to the Internet for learning and research purposes. This marks the first step in a long run to further drive the transformation of the national education system towards global standards.

According to Dato’ Yeoh Soo Keng, “Through the Education Partner Program, we believe that this will help build a new generation that is progressive, innovative and skilled in ICT to bring about a positive impact to the development in Sabah and in the country.”

Earlier in the same day, YTL Communications organised “Hari Profesionalisme 1BestariNet Peringkat Negeri Sabah”, a state-wide educational awareness event which was also held at Universiti Malaysia Sabah. 2,070 headmasters and head teachers from 690 primary and secondary national schools in the Kota Kinabalu district turned up at the event, where they had a more hands-on experience at the workshops on ways to enhance and complement teaching and learning techniques while streamlining administrative duties through Frog VLE platform. This event will help move the Malaysian education standard to embrace the ICT age. It is also in line with the 10th Malaysian Plan to improve the quality of learning in the schools in the country.

1BestariNet is a project under the Malaysian Ministry of Education to connect all 10,000 primary and secondary government schools in Malaysia with Yes 4G connectivity and a cloud-based virtual learning environment called Frog VLE. Rural and urban schools are now connected together where the students will have equal opportunities to thrive in a knowledge based economy, thus creating a level playing field for everyone. Within the schools, a built-in content filter provides a safe learning environment to ensure that students are unable to access inappropriate content through the Internet. Only educational websites approved by the Ministry of Education will be allowed to pass through the content filter.

The event – the first of its kind in Sabah – is aimed at empowering school leadership to drive the use of technology forward in schools and fostering increased collaboration efforts and the sharing of best practices among neighbouring schools. Hari Profesionalisme will also be held consecutively in Sandakan, Tawau, Beaufort and Labuan to cater to all 1,315 government schools across Sabah and the Federal Territory of Labuan.

Chief Minister of Sabah Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Bin Aman was present to officiate Hari Profesionalisme. In attendance were also Sabah Education Department Director Datuk Jame Bin Alip, Sabah state education sector heads, and education district officers of Sabah and Education Technology Division officers of Sabah.