NETWORK engineering and services provider Binasat Communications Bhd has won contracts to set up a total of 275 satellite facilities for Kelantan and Pahang in its maiden step towards rolling out satellite internet broadband services to underserved areas.
The contracts would pave the way for Binasat to expand its services to other local state councils and businesses. The group is eyeing for a double-digit top line growth from this business division.
For its latest venture, Binasat has joined hands with Kelantan ICT Gateway Sdn Bhd and Pahang Go Sdn Bhd, both being state-owned entities of Kelantan and Pahang respectively.
This is a positive development after the group obtained the application service provider license in 2022 which enables it to launch the BinaNet Satellite Internet Service targeted at underserved areas.
This also marks the inaugural collaboration between Binasat and Malaysia’s two local state councils. Under the collaboration, the group will first set up 225 and 50 satellite facilities for both Kelantan and Pahang respectively.
It expects to complete the set-up for Pahang before end-2023 and within 1H 2024 for Kelantan. Binasat’s roles include the setting up of BinaNet while both state governments will provide site lists and power supply to the equipment.
“We are very excited to have been part of the efforts to bring internet connectivity to the underserved communities in both states,” commented Binasat’s executive director-cum-CEO Zulamran Hamat.
“We believe this will help push forward the digitalisation efforts and narrow the digital divide in these areas which lack the existing telco infrastructure. At the same time, this also helps us to build on our track record and expand our services to other local state councils.”
Instead of waiting for the deployment of telco infrastructures that involve fibre optic and other internet cables, Zulamran said the communities in Kelantan and Pahang can now gain access to the internet by installing a device that taps on the BinaNet satellite broadband services.
“We are also confident that the deployment of our satellite broadband services will gain traction with more customers coming on board,” he projected. “This will help Binasat to generate a long-term sustainable, recurring income for the group as Binasat continues to explore other win-win collaborations with other state councils.”
Aside from business-to-government (B2G) arrangement, Binasat will also explore business-to-business (B2B) opportunities by targeting the maritime and oil & gas (O&G) industries that are increasingly more likely to adopt the very small aperture terminal (VSAT) system.
“This is another untapped market which we are eyeing. Our RM13 mil investment in 2018 has now come into commercialisation, and our objective is to grab the low-hanging fruit sectors such as maritime and O&G,” enthused Zulamran. “We are seeing these industries increasingly adopting the VAST system.”
At 4.43pm, Binasat was down 0.5 sen or 1.64% at 30 sen with 613.400 shares traded, thus valuing the company at RM117 mil. – Jan 6, 2023
