Media FAQs

On Fiberail

Tell us about Fiberail.
Fiberail is a joint- venture company formed by Telekom Malaysia Berhad, and KTM Berhad and now includes Petrofibre Network Sdn Bhd, which was acquired by Fiberail in 2006. The company is a service provider, providing backbone infrastructure for network services. Fiberail provides dark fibre, leased line (bandwidth) and ancillary services (tower & cabin space). Fiberail owns fibre optic cable networks along railway corridors and Petronas gas pipeline corridors.

What is Fiberail’s edge as opposed to its competitors?
At Fiberail, we are very proud of our team of highly skilled support personnel and consultants. Many of them have many years of experience in the telecommunications infrastructure field, including their experiences while working at KTM, TM or Petrofibre Network Sdn Bhd.

Fiberail also has a fully-computerised National Control Centre (NCC) located in Kuala Lumpur that operates 24-hours a day throughout the year and 20 Operation Centres (OC) strategically located at major townships nationwide, supporting the National Control Centre by providing immediate network restoration and fault rectification services.

Fiberail offers the same / similar products and services and your parent company Telekom Malaysia, how has this arrangement panned out?
Yes its true that our products can be similar. However, we have our own sets of clients. In the case of Asiaspace, we are actually complementing each other as our nodes (location of towers) are in different locations. Fiberail sees it as healthy and complementary – not competitive.

On the Industry – KTMB Double Track Project

Tell us about the project.
This cable replacement project is in conjunction with the Government and Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad’s Railway Infrastructure Development Project, where the existing single-track railway infrastructure will be converted to a modern electrified double-tracking network to increase line speed and throughputof Peninsular Malaysia’s railway network.

The double-tracking project is being implemented by the MMC-Gamuda Joint Venture under a private funding initiative whereby the company will provide its own funding for the project.

This project is vital as it will enhance operational safety of both passenger and freight train services. Currently, the railway network in the southern part of the peninsula has already been converted to a modern electrified double-tracking network.

What is Fiberail’s Role?
The double-tracking project is divided into eight packages. The laying of new cables for the packages between Alor Setar and Sungai Petani and between Sungai Petani and Bukit Mertajam has been progressing smoothly and is expected to be complete by the end of January 2008.

Fiberail is acting as both contactor and consultants.

On the Industry - Asiaspace

What does the agreement between Asiaspace and Fiberail entail?
Fiberail provides the fibre backbone for Asiaspace’s backhaul for its WiMAX network. Fiberail will lease Ethernet technology bandwidth and also offer ancillary services consisting of tower & cabin space. Fiberail also provides existing infrastructure and Ethernet nodes. If needed, Fiberail will construct new nodes based on Asiaspace’s requirements with some investment from Fiberail for equipment and fibre optic construction.

How was the idea for this agreement germinated?
Asiaspace approached Fiberail and TM Berhad for the use of our nodes as they required our service for their WiMAX backhaul. As TM Berhad and Fiberail are among the trunk providers, we decided to jointly provide nodes as the locations of our nodes are complementary,

How is Fiberail benefiting from this agreement?
Fiberail is expanding its business into new avenues by serving a WiMAX licensee. Indirectly, we are also serving the nation.

Will there be any payment be made to Fiberail? What is the value of this agreement?
As the agreement is for three years, there is not yet a fixed value for it.

How many nodes will Fiberail provide?
Seventeen nodes (17), mainly in the Klang Valley.

Twin Tower 1
Twin Tower 2
Jaring TPM
Menara Aik Hua
Cordoda TPM
VADS Plaza
NCC, KL Station
Menara Great Eastern
CRC PJ
CSF, Cyberjaya
NTT, Cyberjaya
FSBM, Cyberjaya
Menara UOA
Menara HLA
Subang Hitech – Dot Com
Phileo Promenade
CCC, Cyberjaya

On the Industry - Future

Does Fiberail see the technologies of WiMAX, HSBB and 3G helping to increase broadband penetration in the country? If so, why do you think the government reduced its broadband penetration expectancy from 75% to 50% in 2010?
Fiberail believes these technologies will help increase penetration to an extent, as the availability of quality infrastructure is an important criterion to promote adoption of a new technology. However, there are other determining factors which also influence the rate of adoption, including:

Cost
Basic equipment – computers in every home
Schools allocation for setting up and maintaining students’ ICT lab
Public libraries’ allocation for maintaining and improving ICT facilities

Fiberail is of the opinion that the government has made a prudent move to adjust the forecasted rate as it takes into account the various challenges to be met to achieve the forecasted broadband penetration level. We believe the move taken to improve the infrastructure is the first and most crucial step.

Does Fiberail think that the Government is too ambitious? Technologies like WiMAX and ensuring HSBB is available to homes is an expensive endeavour.
No, Fiberail thinks that the Government is taking all precautions and preparing the infrastructure needed. We believe that using existing infrastructure is one way to reduce cost. Fiberail is constantly improving our reach and capacity to ensure that we are able to meet customer needs. We also applaud the Government’s efforts in planning for fibre-to-home infrastructure, and we hope to support this by offering our existing network to ensure reach.