Citing next generation telecommunications business opportunities as a driver, Straits CommNet Solutions has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Malaysian telecommunications infrastructure company Edgepoint Towers.
Straits CommNet Solutions is a 70% indirect subsidiary of Straits Energy Resources, whose interests include oil bunkering (the provision of marine fuels to ships and other ocean-faring vessels) and trading.
EdgePoint Towers, the operating entity of EdgePoint Group in Malaysia, services the telecommunications infrastructure needs of mobile network operators with more than 800 towers. It holds both NFP (network facilities provider) and NSP (network services provider) licences.
Parent company EdgePoint Infrastructure says it is focused on building and leasing shareable, fibre-integrated, and modern telecom structures as well as providing solutions such as small cells and in-building systems.
EdgePoint also says it aims to be the leading 5G–ready provider in the region, which is appropriate given the language used in the filing of the MoU, whose purpose is described as “to collaborate and participate in the vast business opportunities of 4G and 5G as well as private network rollout, digital transformation and Industry 4.0 aspirations in the oil and gas, port management and transportation sectors through smart technologies and IoT in Malaysia and regionally”.
Straits CommNet CEO Sunny Ho Khin Choy has been quoted in local press reports as saying that through the partnership his company will become the equipment and service provider to complement EdgePoint’s telecommunication infrastructure offerings.
The opportunity offered by next generation technology to the private sector is not a new theme for industry – in fact Straits Energy Resources last November entered into an MoU with US company Baicells Technologies, which provides 4G LTE and 5G NR access solutions.
Here again reference was made to the business opportunities of 4G and 5G rollout and also to the digital transformation of the oil and gas industry through the Internet of Things.