Kuala lumpur: Malaysia and other ASEAN member countries need to combine technology with stronger partnerships, disaster preparedness, and coordinated policies to ensure telecommunications networks remain operational and communities stay connected during crises, according to resilience experts.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, Kacific Broadband Satellites Group and K Tower managing director Hussein Abdulkader emphasized that network resilience could not depend on any single technology, but required an integrated ecosystem involving governments, regulators, mobile operators, satellite providers, and humanitarian agencies. During a panel session titled 'Networks for Resilient Digital Nations: Preparedness, Continuity and Innovation in ASEAN' held in conjunction with M360 ASEAN 2026, Abdulkader remarked, "You can't say there's a particular piece of technology that will make us resilient, but with people, partnerships, policy, governance, funding, that ecosystem is what gives us resilience."

Abdulkader highlighted the importance of integrating terrestrial and satellite networks to deliver seamless failover when physical infrastructure such as fibre or microwave links is severed during disasters. He cited disaster relief operations in Papua New Guinea, where portable solar-powered satellite units supported first responders following a landslide, as an example, stressing that having technology on hand is futile without pre-established rapid deployment protocols.

Echoing this view, British High Commission in Islamabad's first secretary and humanitarian and resilience adviser Heidi Carrubba stated that disaster readiness must be embedded long before calamity strikes. She noted, "The most effective investments are not necessarily sophisticated technologies... but it's also about building a system that is designed, governed, and tested before the crisis." Carrubba emphasized that digital resilience should ultimately be felt by citizens, particularly in reaching remote communities with actionable safety alerts rather than mere warning sirens.

Carrubba further elaborated, "Your phone can actually be a life-saving device in your pocket." She advocated for mobile-enabled early warnings, combined with hazard analytics and anticipatory action, to help governments shift from reacting after disasters to preparing communities before they occur. She added that while ASEAN already possessed an emergency preparedness framework, closer cross-border collaboration was needed to ensure every citizen received trusted, real-time alerts.

Meanwhile, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) director-general Lt Gen Dr S.P. Kochhar called for major natural disasters to be treated as national emergencies, urging authorities to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and satellite data to anticipate disaster zones and deploy resources swiftly. He noted that disaster resilience is a cross-sector and cross-border responsibility requiring predefined SOPs, command structures, and asset registries. Kochhar stressed that such investments should not be judged strictly on commercial ROI, as preserving emergency communications protected national infrastructure and lives. "For disasters, we should not look at investments or ROIs. We are protecting a part of the nation, the infrastructure, and the population. Investments have to be made, government funding mechanisms could support infrastructure in areas where commercial returns alone may not justify investment," he said.

Huawei Asia Pacific wireless industry development director Alex Lai pointed out that auxiliary power is often the weakest link in network continuity, as base transceiver stations frequently shut down once backup batteries run out, even if equipment remains undamaged. Lai advised operators to deploy autonomous on-site backup power and prepare alternative wireless backhaul routes, as restoring severed underground or overhead fibre lines could take significant time during major floods.

M360 ASEAN 2026, organized by the GSMA on September 9 and 10, brings together ministers, regulators, and industry leaders to discuss digital trust, artificial intelligence, resilient infrastructure, and regional digital integration. The event, held for the first time in the ASEAN region and in Malaysia, is endorsed by the Ministry of Communications, with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) as host partner.