KUALA LUMPUR, April 5 — Most of the undersea cable construction in Malaysia does not involve government funds, but is implemented by the private sector using their own funds, said Deputy Communications and Digital Minister Teo Nie Ching.

She said the companies involved view the installation of the cables as having commercial value and on that basis they are willing to build them without relying on government funds.

"The existing undersea cables including the basic East-West submarine cable system linking Mersing to the termination point in Kuching by Sacofa Sdn Bhd... were all through private funding.

"Only TM (Telekom Malaysia Berhad) made use of its own funds and some from MCMC (Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission) through the USP (universal service provision) programme,” she said.

Teo said this in response to a supplementary question from Senator Apandi Mohamad who wanted to know how much the government spent on the installation of the undersea cable system during the oral question and answer session at the Dewan Negara today.

She said government funds were instead used to look after the interior areas which have no commercial value and where telco companies were not interested to invest in to construct new towers.

"To cater to the needs of all Malaysians, new towers are erected in the interior areas and this is funded by the government by using the USP funds,” she said. — Bernama