Sunway, Celcom and Huawei Malaysia ink MOU to develop 5G in Sunway City

• Development of smart solutions in areas of public safety and security, telehealth
• Collaboration will boost technological capacity building, & demonstrate immense potential

Sunway Bhd (Sunway), Celcom Axiata Bhd (Celcom) and Huawei Technologies (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (Huawei) yesterday sealed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore Malaysia’s first tripartite collaboration towards advancing smart township solutions encompassing Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), with fifth-generation (5G) connectivity.

The MoU aims to explore the potential for Celcom and Huawei to be the 5G technology enabler for Sunway Group. Sunway City in Selangor will be the “launch pad” of this ground-breaking partnership.

All three parties will explore the possibility to facilitate and support one another within the digital ecosystem to promote technological adoption to enrich people’s lives.

The proposed collaboration will see the development of smart solutions in the areas of public safety and security, telehealth, e-learning, hospitality, leisure and retail experience using the latest telecommunications technology as they become available for Sunway City Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s model smart sustainable city, as well as other existing and upcoming developments of Sunway. The tripartite collaboration will also contribute towards achieving sustainable development. 

As 5G will drive optimum adoption of IR4.0 solutions for smart township,the three parties involved will potentially develop an architectural design, use cases and deploy projects for Sunway City.

“We are proud to partner with Celcom, as the leading telco with widest network coverage in the country, and Huawei, one of the global leaders in 5G applications, on this first-of-a-kind tripartite partnership to advance 5G technology for Sunway City, Selangor,” said Chew Chee Kin, president of Sunway Group.

“We envisage Sunway City to be Malaysia’s model smart sustainable city where a host of communities live, work, play, learn in a safe, healthy and connected environment,” he added.

“After more than a decade working together, we are proud to take the partnership with Sunway Group to the next level. This collaboration will be the perfect platform for Celcom to demonstrate how technology could provide a firm foundation for a holistic smart township, and further improve lives of the community,” said Idham Nawawi, chief executive officer of Celcom.

The proposed collaboration will boost our technological capacity building, and demonstrate immense potential in bringing innovative products and services, while creating a ‘win-win-win’ situation to benefit industry, rakyat and achieve the nation’s digital aspirations,” Idham added.

Celcom has been cementing its position as a digital enabler within the nation's digital ecosystem, propelling towards becoming an integrated multi-access, multimedia services and Internet of Things solutions provider, in line with evolving technologies and consumer behaviour.

Being Malaysia's mobile operator with the widest network coverage, Celcom boasts 93% 4G population coverage together with 83% for 4G LTE-A. Celcom continues to strive in expanding its network to empower all communities, both urban and rural throughout the nation, with seamless connectivity.

Since presenting Malaysia’s first 5G trial in 2017, Celcom's network is ready to transition towards 5G, paving the way to accomplish the objective of the tri-partite collaboration.

Meanwhile, Michael Yuan, chief executive officer of Huawei Malaysia said, “The world is moving rapidly towards a fully connected and digital era, and it is important that a conglomerate like Sunway Group understands the importance of digital transformation and continues to embrace the digital shift. As a leader in ICT solutions, we are committed to our partners in providing secure, reliable, and sustainable services to help them grow in an intelligent world.”

Sunway and its solution partners, on the other hand, will have the opportunity to be part of Celcom’s Centre of Digital Excellence (“CODE”), in testing telecommunications technology and further developing use cases essential for Sunway’s envisioned smart solutions, particularly within Sunway City.

“With this collaboration, we hope to position Sunway City as one of Asia’s model smart and sustainable cities,” added Chew.