120 / 276
118
Borneo Bulletin Yearbook 2023
UNN
Established in 2018, Unified National
Networks (UNN) is awholly government
owned organisation recognised as a
government-linked company under
Darussalam Assets Sdn Bhd, offering
wholesale telecommunication services
to both national and international
clients. UNN officially took over all
network infrastructure operated by
(then) telecommunication providers
– DST, TelBru, Progresif and Brunei
International Gateway (BIG) – in
September 2019 to consolidate
and modernise all the transferred
networks.
The consolidation has allowed UNN
to modernise and protect Brunei’s
networking infrastructure, allowing
them to better deliver highly resilient
and quality services across the nation.
With digital transformation being
a key strategic imperative of the
government as it looks to build a
future-ready society and to further
fuel
economic
growth,
UNN’s
advancement is crucial to Brunei’s
digital and economic success. UNN
has announced plans to invest up to
BND85 million (USD60 million) as part
of a consortiumof telecommunication
companies in a new submarine cable
connecting Singapore to Hong Kong.
The Asia Link Cable (ALC) will be
approximately 6,000 kilometres in
length and construction is expected
to be finished by the third quarter
of 2025. The main trunk connecting
Singapore to Hong Kong will have
branches into Brunei Darussalam,
the Hainan province in China and the
Philippines. Other members of the
consortium are China Telecom Global
Limited (CTG), Globe Telecom Inc and
DITO Telecommunity Corporation,
and Singapore Telecommunications
Limited (Singtel).
According to UNN, the ALC will adopt
an open cable system architecture
to reduce dependency on any
single provider consortium partners
and expedite the capacity upgrade
process in serving internal and
customer requirements. Therefore,
individual members of the consortium
could select the best equipment
independently from each other
depending on their requirements and
preferences.
With strategic locations and bullish
digital growth prospects in mind,
there has been an increase of interest
to interconnect in the trans-Asian
region, enriching the infrastructures
for prospective customers. The ALC
will help enhance the existing facilities
in catering future requirements in the
region.
UNN is also in the final stages of
completing full modernisation of its
whole infrastructure to be 5G-ready.
The modernisation through Radio
Access Network (RAN) expansion
and broadband network upgrade will
increase the capacity to manage the
growing traffic and data volume as
well as improve customer experience
in Brunei Darussalam. 5G services
will have the potential to improve
productivity,
enhance
virtual
experience and achieve digitalisation
towards becoming a Smart Nation.