Development
In another milestone to
the telecommunication industry in Brunei Darussalam, Jabatan Telekom
Brunei is now on the cutting edge of technology by implementing one of the
first commercial next generation network (NGN) info-communication
services. The system was supplied by Huawei Technologies of the People’s
Republic of China.
The NGN system replaced
the aging and obsolete existing telecommunication equipment installed more
than 17 years ago, with new telephone exchanges, transmission, internet
access and data communications thus providing convergent Internet Protocol
(IP) services. The replacement is in line with the government’s
undertaking through JTB in providing info-communications services to meet
the social and economic developments especially ICT, e-government,
e-business and information gathering via internet. With the implementation
of the NGN, Brunei will have the capability to provide various
info-communication services for the community.
The leadership and
experience through the implementation of this technology has generated
considerable interests and excitement globally from international
telecommunication service providers and operators. To further enhance this
leadership and increasing awareness of this technology, JTB and Huawei
Technologies jointly organised an NGN Forum bringing together Chief
Executive Officers, Presidents, Directors, international speakers and
experts from around the world to Brunei Darussalam. The Forum shared JTB’s
experience in implementing NGN in Brunei Darussalam and highlighted the
telecommunication technologies and applications. Around 200 delegates
representing international telecommunication service providers and
operators from this region (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam,
Indonesia), Asia (China, Iran, Hong Kong), Europe (United Kingdom, Turkey,
Russia), South America (Brazil), Africa (South Africa, Mauritius, Namibia)
and Middle East (United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia) were here in Brunei
Darussalam for the forum.
JTB also launched The
NGN Showcase Centre, housed at the Ground Floor of JTB Headquarter
Building. The Showcase Centre showcases the capabilities and features of
the NGN technology for the Government, Corporate and Residential
customers. Customers would be able to experience hands-on demonstration of
the applications. Customers are invited to visit the Showcase Centre
which is opened during office hours.
Brunet Core Infrastructure
JTB has also seen
improvement in the provision of internet services in Brunei Darussalam
through the complete overhaul of the BruNet core infrastructure.
Under the 8th
National Development Plan (NDP), JTB has undertaken to revamp the BruNet
Core Network to make it more robust and resilient. With the stable network
in place, problems related to internet access have been handled. In
addition to the core network, JTB has also redesigned the access network
to make the existing cable system broadband ready.
JTB has also increased
its international internet access through the fibre optic submarine cable
through STIX (Singapore) and Teleglobe (Canada). Alternative routings has
also been included through the Trans-Borneo optical fibre cable to West
Malaysia and beyond.
JTB is also seriously
looking into the BruNet network security. Under the 8th NDP,
JTB would be implementing two major projects namely the Intrusion
Detection System (IDS) and Anti-Virus, Anti-Spamming and Anti-Relay. With
the completion of these two projects, BruNet would be able to monitor
internet traffic activities, intrusion and e-mail spamming activities.
International Access
International
connection is easily accessible through the use of the optical fibre
submarine cable and the satellite systems. Currently Brunei Darussalam is
connected to the South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 3 (SEA-ME-WE3)
submarine cable system, the Trans-borneo optical fibre system and the
Telisai Satellite Earth Station which is considered as one of the best
stations in the world in terms of reliability, availability of services
and achievement of INTELSAT objectives.
Studies are currently
being carried out to complement the existing international access to
provide for better reliability and connectivity for Brunei Darussalam to
cater for the increasing demand for international bandwidth.
Rural Communications
In line with its
mission of providing telecommunication services to the general public, JTB
implemented the rural communication systems to rural areas in Temburong
(2001), Tutong (2002) and Kuala Belait (2002) giving customers in these
areas access to telephony and internet services.
The implementation of
the systems has provided customers in the rural areas to enjoy the same
benefit as those of the urban areas and indirectly has narrowed the
digital gap between these two areas. The improved info-communication
facilities has also enabled those in the rural areas to improve their
social, economic and educational development.
Customer Management System
Since March 2004, JTB
has implemented its computerised Customer Management System (CMS) to
replace the current billing system, BIPS. The new billing system provides
greater flexibility and management of new products and services. The CMS
through its web self care service allows customers to do on-line
telecommunication application as well as viewing and printing their
monthly bills.
Telephony Services
Presently there are
about 80,000 fixed telephone customers throughout the country. JTB has
introduced several other value added services to improve the fixed
telephony sector growth. Last year, JTB introduced the fixed line SMS to
cater for short messaging requirement over the fixed line. Just recently
JTB introduced the prepaid fixed telephony service called I-Call which
allowed customers to control their telephone usage. More innovative
services will be introduced in the near future.
In addition to the
fixed telephony service, JTB has also improved the public telephone
service in 2000 through the introduction of smart card service. Presently
there are more than 700 public telephone units installed throughout the
country. More are being planned for installation in the near future.
Local call charges were
introduced on 1st January 2002. This coincided with the
reduction in the monthly subscription charges from $17 to $13 for
residential customers and $25 to $13 for business customers. This was part
of the tariff rebalancing exercise to compensate for the reduction of the
monthly subscription charges and the international call tariff. A large
part of the revenue collected by JTB came from international calls made by
the customers and this was previously used to cross subsidise the local
calls.
All local calls (made
within the district) are now charged as 3 cents per minutes while the
inter district charge remains the same at 20 cents during the peak period
(7.00am – 6.59pm) and 10 cents during the off peak period (7.00pm –
6.59am).
The international
tariff was reduced up to 60% with effect from 1st June 2001.
The reduction in the international tariff was to encourage customers in
Brunei Darussalam especially the business communities to make use of the
international call facilities.
Internet Protocol (IP) services
With the introduction
of the new NGN system, a host of new internet protocol related services
will be available to the consumers such as EG bandwidth, virtual private
network, high speed internet access and multimedia services. JTB’s
internet related service called BLINK will enable multimedia services to
be provided to the customers such as video telephony, remote monitoring,
security and surveillance.
Apart for that, the NGN
system also provide platforms for small and medium entrepreneurs in this
country to come forward with creative ways to create info-communication
business opportunities such as content development, software development
and business portals to support the development of info-communication
industry in Brunei Darussalam.
Data Services
To meet the demand from
the public and the business community, JTB offers products and services
that can be tailored to the needs of the customers. Among the services
available are; leased lines, integrated services digital network and
virtual private network. This service plays a major role in providing
secure and reliable infocommunication services to major corporations in
Brunei Darussalam such as the airline, banking and finance and oil
industries.
Valued Added Services
JTB has also introduced
a range of value added services to the consumers in Brunei Darussalam for
example caller line identification (CLI), call waiting, call transfer and
electronic lock. In addition, JTB has also introduced prepaid card
services such as economy call hallo card, netkad for prepaid internet and
payless VoIP calling card.
Internet Services
BruNet, the first
internet service in Brunei Darussalam was introduced in October 1995 and
has enjoyed phenomenal growth. BruNet played an important role during the
19th SEA Games and APEC2000 meeting, providing vital internet
connections to the international delegates and visitors to Brunei
Darussalam.
To cater for high speed
broadband requirement from internet customers, JTB launched e-speed
service with a revenue sharing agreement with a local company. The e-speed
service employed ADSL (asynchronous digital subscriber line) technology
using existing copper distribution cables offering speeds of 128 kilo bits
per second (kbps), 256kbps, 384kbps and 512kbps. This service was also
made available during the APEC 2000 Conference.
To complement the
e-speed service, JTB launched e-speed2 service in February 2004 making use
of the NGN system and expanding the high speed internet access to most of
the population nationwide.
Initiatives
In
its effort to continuously provide better services to the public, JTB has
carried out several initiatives such as:
-
Introduction of visa card payment in 1999. JTB was the first government
department to introduce visa card payment of JTB services. Baiduri Bank
was appointed as the merchant bank for JTB.
-
Introduction of
telecom business centres as part of the business process re-engineering
work carried out to decentralise the operations and maintenance of the
outside plant and customer service divisions. A total of 7 telecom
business centers have been opened throughout the country enabling JTB
customers to make their payments and applications.
-
Introduction of
payment through post offices throughout the country to ease the
overcrowding at JTB main payment counters.
-
Launching of INFOTEL,
a JTB brand to encourage local entrepreneurs to market JTB products and
services. INFOTEL is a registered brand to enable businesses who meet
the set criteria and requirements to open up info-communication centers
to provide telecommunication services to the public.
-
Initiated joint
venture projects with local entrepreneurs to provide some services to
the general public such as Hallo Kad, Netkad, Gold Global Calling Card,
VoIP Payless prepaid and e-speed.
