Brunei to get faster Internet connection

BRUNEI will experience faster and better Internet services between the middle and end of the year with the deployment of "Fibre to the Home" (FTTH) infrastructure, the Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Communications said yesterday.

"We are in the pipelines of deploying FTTH, which is the infrastructure that provides broadband Internet service to the premises, instead of copper. This will increase the Internet speed, and hopefully provide better coverage. Hopefully with good modelling along with regulatory modelling, we hope to get a more affordable price for the consumer," Abd Mutalib POKSS DP Hj Mohd Yusof told The Brunei Times in an interview.

He was speaking at the Brunei International Airport before departing to Japan for a week to represent Brunei at the "21st Century Partnership Invitation Programme". The deputy permanent secretary said that he would be meeting with senior officials of Japan's transport and the communications sector, particularly in infrastructure such as Information Communications Technology (ICT).

However, he highlighted that FTTH was one of the keen interests he would be looking at on behalf of the ministry.

"Japan is one of the many countries we are looking at in terms of FTTH. We have been looking at a few good practices around the world, and we take this opportunity to look deeper and have some discussions on FTTH," he said, adding the state is looking "very closely" at carrying out the implementation plan in the second half of the year.

Abd Mutalib added although there were "a lot of things" to take into consideration, such as looking into the business and pricing modelling, the ministry was "very keen" to meet its target in implementing the infrastructure before the end of the year.

The deputy permanent secretary also lauded Japan's public transportation system, and expressed interest in finding out more about their bus and taxi systems. "We are also very interested in Japan's public transport system, as it is so established and is something we look up to. They also have one of the good practice models of public transport," he said.

"Although their rail systems may not be relevant to Brunei at the moment, we are looking more closely at their bus and taxi system," the deputy permanent secretary said, adding he hoped there would be good discussions and that he would bring back new ideas upon his return.

Being the only representative that was selected on behalf of Brunei to participate in the programme, Abd Mutalib said, "Many thanks to His Majesty's government for giving me the approval to go for this one-week programme. I also want to thank the Japanese government for selecting me to represent Brunei," he said. The Brunei Times