Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Utar) and YTL Communications are to deploy a 4G (fourth generation) cellular network at the unversity's flagship campus in Kampar, Perak.

The move is under YTL Comms' Education Partner Programme (EPP) which is aimed at bringing converged web services - such as mobile broadband and cellphone coverage - to all Malaysian universities. Utar's network is scheduled to be deployed by year end.

Utar president Ir Prof Datuk Dr Chuah Hean Teik said the installation will help promote new levels of interactivity for students and faculty members. "Being a university that prides itself on performing extensive studies, our researchers will be happy to have the more innovative capabilities at their fingertips, that the 4G services will bring," he said. Chuah said the EPP will empower the 12,000 students at the Kampar campus, and the other 7,000 students populating its three other campuses, located in Petaling Jaya, Setapak, and Sungai Long in the Klang Valley.

Under the programme, the students will enjoy 300MB (megabytes) of data and voice services free per user, per month, for a period of three years. YTL Comms chief executive officer Wing K Lee said the company is pleased that Utar has joined the EPP and will work closely with the university to meet its technology and connectivity needs. "The students have an endless need for information to supplement their studies, coursework and daily lives, so now they can access this information on the Internet from wherever they are on campus," he said.

Utar and YTL Comms also have plans to develop Internet applications as part of the university's technology degree courses. "We want to make YTL Comms' 4G service the foundation of our Centre of Excellence for 4G network applications and devices that our students develop.

On the Kampar campus alone, we already have an immediate sample size comprising 12,000 users with which to carry out our research," Chuah added.