U Mobile Sdn Bhd, the telco with the fastest mobile network in Malaysia, has signed an agreement with SACOFA Sdn Bhd , the company with the exclusive rights to construct, own and manage communication infrastructures in Sarawak.

As part of the agreement, SACOFA will deliver built-to suit-sites and provide bandwidth leasing services to U Mobile over a period of 10 years. Furthermore, U Mobile will be able to leverage upon SACOFA’s telecoms infrastructure footprint of over 700 sites state-wide, as well as its bandwidth leasing service to expedite network expansion and to enhance service quality in Sarawak.

Wong Heang Tuck, U Mobile’s Chief Executive Officer,said: “We are delighted to be able to collaborate with SACOFA to maximise the deployment of shared sites. Through this, U Mobile will have the ability to expedite the expansion of our network footprint and as a data centric telco, we are also delighted to be able to enhance our customers’ internet experience, whilst saving operational cost and reducing environmental impact.”

He added, “The partnership is also timely as SACOFA will be a key facilitator for our network expansion using the new 1800MHz and 900MHz frequency spectrum which was allocated to U Mobile by the government early this year.”

The Managing Director of SACOFA Sdn Bhd, Zaid Zaini, commented on the partnership: “SACOFA’s current extensive network of towers and fiber optic infrastructure which spans across the entire State of Sarawak, will cut down the rollout time for these service offerings quite considerably which will greatly benefit U Mobile. We are also confident the significant reduction in speed of deployment and the ensuing cost savings for these services rollouts will further boost competition, resulting in enhanced quality and lower cost of mobile connectivity to the Rakyat.”

Zaid also pointed out that overall, this echoes the State Government’s aim to rapidly deploy quality and affordable communications and multimedia services to as many people as possible.