KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 27): Wireless laser communications technology company Transcelestial is collaborating with Malaysia’s Glocomp Systems to spearhead a wireless laser communications boost in Malaysia. Through the partnership, they hope to solve pain points faced by mobile operators and enterprises as they explore solutions to 5G’s last mile connectivity hurdle.

Currently, physical fibre cables are the main obstacles to faster internet delivery in urban areas as they are costly and slow to implement. Covid-19 posed another hurdle, resulting in delays of up to 24 months to roll out the cables typically needed in last mile connectivity for 5G, home and office broadband.

Transcelestial’s technology relies on lasers instead, which makes it possible to beam fibre-grade internet without the need for wires between buildings, cell towers or street-level poles. This can be implemented in a fraction of the time and cost of physical fibre cables.

“Transcelestial’s solution gives the industry another option to fibre optic cables, which require infrastructure-intensive physical wires… We are forging a new path for connectivity in our market that could mean a much faster rollout of internet upgrades,” said Joseph Giam, managing director of Glocomp.

The solution will be made accessible to mobile network operators, internet service providers, enterprises and resellers nationwide via Glocomp’s comprehensive portfolio of information and communications technology solutions and services. The parties hope to demonstrate wireless laser communications in Kuala Lumpur with Glocomp’s existing telco and enterprise clients, who will trial the solution first-hand.

The accelerated rollout aligns with existing national initiatives under the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint (MyDIGITAL) to drive 5G, support fixed wireless access and connect homes and offices with broadband. To date, RM28 billion have been allocated by the government to Jalinan Digital Negara (Jendela) to strengthen digital connectivity in the country.

“Malaysia’s telecom service providers, enterprises and the government have taken active steps to narrow the digital divide. They’ve shown tremendous interest for more ubiquitous 5G and broadband services and Digital Nasional Bhd is one great example of this in action. But given the marginal spread of fibre cables across the country, the transformation could come at a high cost of time, resources and complexity.

“Transcelestial’s CENTAURI Wireless Laser Technology could rapidly bridge this gap via a high-speed internet backbone, which will make it possible for enterprises and telecom service providers to achieve these ambitions,” said Rohit Jha, CEO and co-founder of Transcelestial.

“A big way to enable Malaysia’s digital transformation would be to leverage the high density of mobile towers in the country and upgrade them to dynamic telecom backbone providers. This has been a major trend with US and European infrastructure and telecom service providers,” he added.

Founded in December 2016, the Transcelestial team is headquartered in Singapore and backed by major investors such as Wavemaker Partners, EDBI, Airbus Ventures, Kickstart Ventures, Cap Vista, SEEDS Capital (Enterprise SG), Entrepreneur First, Partech Ventures, 500 Startups, AirTree Ventures, Tekton Ventures, SGInnovate, SparkLabs Global Ventures, Michael Seibel (CEO of Y-Combinator, Founder of Twitch.tv), Charles Songhurst (Microsoft’s former head of corporate strategy) and others.