The Wireless Village 1Malaysia (KTW1M) facility is useless as it defeats the purpose of providing wireless Internet access to villages, said Miri PAS division head Jofri Jaraiee.

With a range of only 250 metres fromthe wireless hotspot, the millions of ringgit spent to develop and implement the project is pointless if it cannot be fully utilised, Jofri ( right ) said.

“The wireless village signboard gives the impression that entire villages can enjoy the facility, but in actual fact the WiFi signals can only be received 250 metres from the transmitter,” he said.

Jofri said in a statement that the government's intention to provide Internet convenience for the villagers was “admirable”, but it completely “defeats the purpose” if users cannot fully utilise it.

He highlighted a village in particular that was selected for the initiative, Kampung Luak, saying that since the area is very wide but the KTW1M provides very limited coverage, most villagers rely instead on private Internet lines, which are expensive.

Calling on the government to expand the WiFi signals for the villages, Jofri also requested that the systems to be “upgraded and improved”.

The KTW1M initiative, which was launched by the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) in 2010, is to provide wireless Internet facilities to selected remote villages, especially recipients of the 1Malaysia netbook.

To date, 4,808 villages have been provided with wireless Internet connection.