Service provider Telekom Malaysia is said to be exploring plans to build a new hyperscale data centre, expanding its capacity from the existing Klang Valley Data Centre (KVDC) and Iskandar Puteri Data Centre (IPDC).

The hyperscale data centre is likely to be a large facility offering at least 40 Megawatts (MW) of IT power capacity, catering to large cloud service providers and internet companies.

CIMB Investment Bank, which, according to the Edge Malaysia news service, announced the news, suggests that, by leveraging its extensive submarine and terrestrial networks as well as its strong local relationships, Telekom Malaysia may be able to attract strong strategic international partners to co-invest in the new data centre.

« Besides helping to partly fund the investment required, a strong strategic international partner could also share expertise in the design and operation of data centres that cater to hyperscalers and AI workloads, » CIMB said in a note earlier this week.

If Telekom Malaysia proceeds, CIMB, a leading ASEAN-focused bank and one of the region’s foremost corporate advisors, expects the group to develop the facility in phases. It notes, « If kicked off in 2H2024, the first phase could be ready for service by 1H2026. »

For the moment, this news awaits confirmation. However, data centre activity in Malaysia does seem to be ramping up. Among many similar announcements in recent months to appear in these pages, we reported last week that Malaysia’s Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI) has formed a strategic partnership with the Ministry of Investment of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to develop data centres in Malaysia.

Indonesian operator Telkomsel announced it has formed a strategic partnership with Google to provide rich communication services (RCS), including a rich business messaging (RBM) feature aimed at enterprises.

Telkomsel signed of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Monday with Google for the development of RCS in Indonesia. Telkomsel’s parent company Singtel also signed the MoU, under which it will develop and offer RCS in Singapore.

RCS is the messaging protocol spearheaded by the GSMA, whose RCS Universal Profile is designed to enhance SMS and MMS with features such as more interactivity, better support for multimedia content, group chats, notifications for received and read messages, and typing indicators.

The RBM feature is designed to enable businesses to use RCS messaging as another application-to-person (A2P) channel to reach consumers, similar to how many businesses currently use OTT messaging apps like WhatsApp.

A recent report from Emergen Research said that businesses are increasingly adopting RCS because of its ability to engage customers effectively: “Research suggests that RCS messages are read 35 times more often than emails, and engagement with brands using RCS is 74% higher.”

The catch is that consumers need a phone that is compatible with RCS – which at the moment is limited to Android phones running Android 5.0 or later. iPhones currently do not support the RCS Universal Profile, although Apple announced in November that iPhones will start supporting RCS later this year.

“We hope that this service can support digital transformation in various types of businesses and open up new opportunities for business innovation in the future, » said Jason Choy, international director of Android and Business Communication Product Partnerships at Google.

Telkomsel’s RCS play comes almost three months after rival telco Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison launched Indonesia’s first RCS service in November.

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These days plenty talk about building fiber infrastructure, but few have taken on the task of rebuilding      the infrastructure of one of the biggest markets in the world from the ground up.  But that’s what DF&I has been doing when it comes to northern Virginia, and that’s what they hope to replicate elsewhere even as they continue to add new routes.  With us today to explore their vision of the dark fiber and conduit business and where DF&I might go from here are the co-founders and veteran fiber builders John Schmitt and Judd Carothers. … [visit site to read more]

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by J. Drew Mullin, Partner, ATLANTIC-ACM        

Despite a 2023 slow-down in the expectation of fiber route mile builds, fiber deployment remains extremely active driven by upgrades, opportunity, and infinite demand for capacity. National carriers continue the shift from legacy copper services to more scalable fiber infrastructure. Regional and emerging fiber-focused players strategically seize niche opportunities including new long-haul routes and densification of existing metro markets. Providers maintain a more disciplined approach to deployment, recognizing it as a strategic land-grab … [visit site to read more]

Malaysia’s Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI) said on Thursday it has formed a strategic partnership with the Ministry of Investment of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to to develop data centres in Malaysia.

Under an MoU signed yesterday, the two ministries will collaborate on digital infrastructure to boost Malaysia’s status as a regional data centre hub, with potential projects providing a total capacity of 500 megawatts, according to the Bernama news agency.

MITI said that Malaysia has already emerged as a preferred destination for data centres in Southeast Asia, and that growing demand from regional SMEs will boost its status as a major regional player in the digital economy, the report said.

Bernama quoted Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz as saying the collaboration with the UAE “will certainly help strengthen our position as a preferred destination for digital investments.”

Zafrul added that Malaysia is well positioned to capture a big chunk of the digital economy in ASEAN, which is forecast to reach US$1 trillion by 2030.

The MoU also comes with an AI angle – MITI says the MoU aligns with the Malaysian government’s New Industrial Master Plan (NIMP) 2030, revealed in September last year. Among other things, NIMP aims to boost AI development among industries, SMEs and start-ups, which will require plenty of extra data centre capacity.

As for the UAE, the main benefit of the MoU is enhancing bilateral ties between the two countries, particularly in terms of trade and investment. According to Bernama, the UAE is Malaysia’s second-largest trading partner in the Middle East, while Malaysia plays a key role in the UAE’s exports and re-exports in ASEAN.

Bangladesh Infrastructure service provider Summit Communications has signed a deal with Juniper Networks to upgrade its core optical network to 400G in anticipation of a surge in traffic demand once 5G is commercially launched in the country.

Under the deal announced by Juniper on Wednesday, Summit will deploy Juniper’s PTX10000 Series packet transport routers equipped with 400G coherent optics. Juniper said the routers enable Summit to make a seamless transition to a converged optical routing architecture that delivers high-speed data transmission over long distances to its PoPs in Bangladesh while maintaining high reliability.

Summit Communications chief network architect Md. Farrukh Imtiaz said the 400G solution will “establish a more robust foundation, delivering the performance, scalability and operational efficiencies essential to our network.”

Summit Communications MD and CEO Arif Al Islam said that the company has made “tremendous progress” in rolling out networking infrastructure services to mobile operators and ISPs in Bangladesh, but that it needs to adopt innovative new networking solutions to keep up with current and future demand for mobile, internet and digital services, especially with 5G coming down the pipeline.

“[Juniper’s] solutions will continue to play an integral role in our network, ensuring that we provide cutting-edge 5G connectivity and services for our customers guaranteeing fast, reliable, ultra-low latency services along with adaptation of network slicing and segment routing,” he said in a statement.

State-owned telco TeleTalk has been trialing 5G since 2021, while Grameenphone and Robi Axiata have launched their own trials since then. In 2022, Grameenphone, Robi Axiata, Banglalink and Teletalk paid a combined US$1.2 billion for 5G spectrum in an government auction. However, none have commercially launched 5G thus far, opting instead to focus on expanding their 4G networks first.