JASIN: The country's largest electricity utility company Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) will expand the National Optical Fiberisation and Connectivity Plan (NFCP) project nationwide to enable more consumers to benefit from the service.

Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said to date, five states, namely Melaka, Perak, Penang, Kedah and Johor, would enjoy the high-speed broadband services by the first quarter of next year.

"This is a pilot project by TNB and I am led to understand that they are preparing to expand the development of the optical fibre nationwide under NFCP to other strategic states throughout peninsula Malaysia.

"We laud TNB's involvement in this area. Most importantly, is that I see this as a complementary project between TNB and the telecommunications company to provide benefit to the people," he told reporters after visiting the NFCP pilot project here on Monday (July 6).

He said, to date, the NFCP pilot project in Melaka encompassed 1,100 homes in three areas, namely Felda Kemendor, Taman Merbau Perdana and Taman Maju in Jasin district.

Meanwhile, TNB's wholly-owned unit Allo Technology Sdn Bhd in a statement, informed that the open access services network for the NFCP project was being expanded gradually to urban and rural areas in Malacca especially in areas with limited fiber optic infrastructure such as Alor Gajah, Malim Jaya and extended to additional area involving 15,000 homes in Jasin.

For the record, so far there are four retail internet service providers, namely Digi, Astro, Maxis and City Broadband, offering broadband bundled service packages; and through the offerings, houses in the areas involved with the NFCP project would enjoy high speed broadband service from 30Mbps to 1Gbps.

The implementation of NFCP, which combines the use of optical fiber and wireless connectivity, is aiming towards achieving a 98% broadband coverage in residential areas by 2023, with a minimum bandwidth speed of 30Mbps.