Explain intermediaries in 5G lamp post project - MP tells Annuar

 

Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil has urged the Communications and Multimedia Minister Annuar Musa and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to explain why intermediaries are being used to roll out Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s (DBKL) smart lamp post project.

He opined that DBKL should have been given a licence to set up the 5G smart lamp posts themselves, which would allow it to earn more when it is rented out to telecommunications companies while reducing costs passed onto consumers.

Fahmi said he was informed that such intermediaries would subsequently rent out the lamp poles - which are used as telecommunications antenna towers in addition to street lighting - to telco companies for RM3,000 to RM4,000 per month per lamp pole.

“If the MCMC were to negotiate directly with DBKL, Kuala Lumpur residents and those who come to Kuala Lumpur can benefit more from higher income earned by DBKL from these lamp poles.

“In other words, these middleman companies, those 29 companies, don’t even need to be there. In my view, if DBKL were to issue the contract themselves, they could earn more than RM850 per lamp pole per month – double, triple or even quadruple that.

“If DBKL were to charge telcos directly an amount, maybe not RM4,000 but RM1,600 instead, it also means the telco companies will not have to charge their customers more. The price for us to use the telco companies’ services, including 5G, would indirectly be reduced,” he told Malaysiakini yesterday.

Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil

The DBKL’s smart lamp pole issue first came to public attention after Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng questioned the government over a RM30.75 million contract to replace 200 lamp poles in the city.

The replacement is expected to start this month until May 2023.

Since then, a subcontractor involved in the project clarified that the project’s cost is fully borne by the main contractor, which is the concrete product maker Ennova Sdn Bhd.

Public hearing

In addition, Federal Territories Minister Shahidan Kassim said DBKL will not bear any cost for the project and will instead receive rental payments of RM850 per pole per month once the project is completed.

“So far, I was told that 1,000 lamp poles have been built by 29 companies that have been given permission by the MCMC,” he said on Thursday.

According to Fahmi, however, the RM850 rental is too low and below market price since other local governments such as the Petaling Jaya City Council charges “a lot more”.

On another matter, Fahmi said there should have been a public hearing process before the lamp poles were erected, as with other types of telecommunication towers.

Residents need to be notified where the lamp poles will be erected or where existing lamp poles are fitted with telecommunications equipment.

“I think we can’t take it for granted that the residents will all be agreeable. We need to have a public hearing process. They need to put up a clear sign and leave the sign there for a very long time so that residents can properly understand what is being put up in the neighbourhood,” he said. - Mkini