Bicycle vs bullet train - ministry rebuts YTL on internet for schools contract
The Education Ministry has denied terminating the contract of YTL Communications Sdn Bhd to provide internet service for schools.
At a press conference today, ministry director-general Mohd Gazali Abas said phase one and phase two of YTL's contract, worth RM3.8 billion, ended on June 30, 2016, and on June 30, 2019, respectively...
The Education Ministry has denied terminating the contract of YTL Communications Sdn Bhd to provide 1BestariNet internet service for schools.
At a press conference today, ministry director-general Mohd Gazali Abas said phase one and phase two of YTL's contract, worth RM3.8 billion, ended on June 30, 2016, and on June 30, 2019, respectively.
Gazali said the ministry now wanted to rope in the best industry players to provide the best internet services for schoolchildren.
He described YTL's phase one of the project as only able to provide internet speeds up to 4Mbps, which is comparable to that of a bicycle, between 2012 and 2014.
Gazali also said YTL was chosen as the interim internet service provider for the second phase between 2014 and 2016.
He likened YTL's service, which provided internet speed between 6 Mbps and 30 Mbps from 2016 to June 2019, to the speed of a motorcycle.
“Of course there was improvement in the second phase, but what we want is beyond that. We only have YTL all this while, we are not saying it is not good, but we want the best,” he said.
"With today's technology, we can look for the speed of a bullet train. With the same price, we can have bullet train (speeds)," he said.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, YTL said the government had hired three internet service providers for schools when the company had offered to do so for free.
The company claimed it was awarded a 15-year contract from 2011 and its phase three contract had been scheduled to begin in 2020.
In the six months interim period starting this month, Gazali said the ministry wanted to try out what other players can provide.
He said the ministry will choose the best technology according to its financial capability.
For the time being, three service providers - TM One, Maxis and Celcom Axiata - will provide the internet service, he said.
According to him, TM One offered to provide free service for three months.
Gazali also complained that YTL charged excessively, as high as RM19,000 per school per month for its fibre network while TM One said it can charge RM200 per school per month for the same service.
MOE also shared with the media information via a slide presentation which outlined its reasons for turning down YTL's offer for service.
The ministry claimed that YTL never paid its electricity bills for its telecommunication towers set up in 2,715 schools.
The estimated cost of the power bill stood at RM41.88 million and the government was forced to foot the bill, according to the slide presentation.
"We decided to allow YTL to continue to use the telecommunication towers until September," said Gazali, adding the charge for using a tower was only RM10 per month.
He said these telecommunication towers were also used for YTL's commercial purpose for coverage outside the school.
Gazali said YTL can still participate in the bidding process when the government opens the tender for the schools' internet service.
Malaysiakini has emailed YTL Communications Sdn Bhd for comment and the company has yet to respond, as of press time.
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