By Sim YH –
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, SEPT 8 – Unified National Networks Sdn Bhd (UNN) last September 5 set a new milestone after receiving the Asia Technology Excellence Award 2024 in the Network and Broadband Category – Telecommunications in recognition of its efforts.
According to UNN’s statement, a panel of judges consisting of Price Waterhouse Cooper, KPMG, Deloitte SEA, EV Asia-Pacific and RSM Hong Kong reviewed several entries from the Asia Pacific region and deemed UNN worthy of the award.
Last May, UNN submitted a white paper that highlighted several achievements involving the implementation of technology powered by renewable energy to connect rural communities that were previously cut off from other areas as well as the development of a Rural Outreach Program to promote social and digital inclusion as part of the initiative its environmental, social and governance (ESG) corporate.
The white paper also covers the company’s achievements between 2019 and 2024 where more than 800 old base stations have been modernized and reused, increased nationwide mobile coverage from 80 percent to 96 percent and introduced IMS and VoLTE to replace the old 3G voice and launch 5G through use of C-Band and 700MHz Dynamic Spectrum Sharing.
Mobile service customers can now enjoy an average speed of 104 Mbps from 27 Mbps in 2019.
Nationwide fiber coverage also increased from 54 percent in 2019 to 94 percent in 2024 by halving the wholesale tariff during the period which saw retail prices drop to make the use of ICT more affordable and accessible to all, especially the less fortunate.
Fixed broadband customers in Brunei are now also guaranteed 100Mbps compared to 25Mbps in 2019.
These initiatives to improve connectivity and user experience throughout Brunei have placed the country in first place in OOKLA in ASEAN and 15th globally for mobile services and 71st globally for fixed services in July 2024.
