Surround yourself with people who bring positive energy

IN this week’s Success: The Insight Story column, SunBiz turns on Measat COO Yau Chyong Lim (Picture).

What have been the highlights and challenges of your tenure at Measat?

In more than 25 years in the satellite industry, there have been many highlights during my tenure at Measat. I am proud to have played a pivotal role in Measat’s transformation from a video-based broadcast platform provider and bandwidth leasing company to a full-service broadband solutions company.

As the leader of the team, I am proud to see Measat expanding its role as Malaysia’s premier rural broadband provider through its CONNECTme NOW satellite broadband service.

Recently, Measat achieved a new milestone when we launched the multi-mission satellite Measat-3d, our eighth satellite, providing unrivaled in-orbit satellite redundancy for direct-to-home, broadcast and regional telecommunications services, and broadband Speeds of up to 100Mbps across Malaysia, including areas with limited or no terrestrial coverage.

With Measat-3d, we are better positioned to support the government’s goal of achieving 100% internet access in populated areas by 2025, using satellite broadband services to bridge the broadband gap in locations without 4G, 5G or fiber coverage.

How do you think the industry in which you work will develop?

Advancements in satellite technology provide much-needed connectivity and will play a significant role in enabling high-bandwidth applications such as B. Industrial Revolution 4.0, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, 5G, cellular backhaul, telemedicine, online learning and more. which will increase socio-economic benefits and increase gross domestic product.

When satellite technology improves connectivity by providing affordable, high-speed, low-latency internet in underserved regions of the world, we can achieve societal goals such as: B. Improving economic growth and income opportunities, improving access to educational services, and reducing overall inequality between urban and rural residents.

Our new Measat-3d satellite will help close the digital divide in rural areas. Measat-3d’s High Throughput Satellite capacity will enable Malaysians to enjoy high-speed internet even in hard-to-reach rural villages via Measat’s CONNECTme NOW satellite broadband service.

We all know the industrial revolution, are we facing a technological revolution? Her thoughts.

I believe that a technological revolution is upon us. From a young age, many of us imagined what future technologies would be like, and while some of the technologies may not yet have materialized, many of the futuristic technologies seen in the sci-fi genre could become a reality in the future.

After all, the implications of communications satellites and other forms of information technology that we enjoy today must also seem like science fiction to people of the past.

What qualities do you look for in your talent or how do you decide who is right for a job?

determination and a positive attitude. In every job, and certainly in the satellite industry, there are always challenges that will stick in our memories and even haunt some people. Therefore, it is important to be surrounded by people who bring positive energy when the weather is stormy.

What advice can you give to those who want to start their career in the satellite/space industry?

As in any industry, it’s important that we like what we’re doing – and we also need to be patient and open-minded to learn as much as possible whenever the opportunity to expand our knowledge presents itself.

In secondary school, you take as many science, engineering, engineering, and math subjects as you can. If you’re not sure what subject you want to get into, take as many general science (biology, chemistry, physics, etc.) and math courses as you can. So all doors remain open to you when it is time to decide on a course of study.

It is also important to keep up to date with the satellite/space industry. Having a natural passion for space and satellites really helps. Consult websites, read books and magazines, watch space science shows, and visit space exhibits in museums to learn about past, present, and future endeavors in space.

You can also go to a space camp to stimulate your imagination with hands-on activities. This will help you learn more about the satellite/space industry, which can be beneficial in landing your dream job.

What do you want to achieve in the next five years?

• Leading the team in delivering high-speed broadband connectivity to the remaining 3-5% of the unserved and underserved rakyat in Malaysia who live in remote areas of the country.

• To expand our CONNECTme services regionally. Many of our neighboring countries are also facing the challenge of providing internet connectivity to people living outside of urban areas. Therefore, our satellite broadband services aimed at connecting rural residents via affordable prepaid vouchers will be an excellent solution to their needs.

• On a personal level, as a parent, getting my kids to complete their college education is definitely one of my top priorities.

The best advice you’ve ever received for your career.

• be humble. There are always people with more knowledge than you and unexpected sources of knowledge that you can benefit from.

• never stop learning There is always room for improving our knowledge.

How do you keep up to date on issues affecting your industry?

You have to love the industry and like what you do to keep up! Reading, networking, and maintaining good relationships with industry peers are key ways to achieve this. We shouldn’t overlook neighboring industries either – what happens there can have a significant impact on our own area.

What was the biggest challenge you faced? And what did you learn from it?

Of course, when running a business that provides solutions and services, downtime is one of our biggest challenges. Although we are doing our best to ensure this does not happen, in June 2021, Measat experienced our only major outage since it began operations in 1996. Our Measat-3 satellite experienced an anomaly, resulting in capacity loss and degradation who led services. This required the immediate activation of our business continuity planning operational procedures and the mobilization of a core technical team to determine the root cause of the issue, mitigate any disrupted services, and restore services to customers with urgency.

Our long-term investment in in-orbit redundancy, as well as strong relationships with other regional satellite operators, enabled us to secure sufficient reserve satellite capacity in a short period of time.

Coupled with deploying many skilled remote contractors to realign antennas and reconfigure services, we were able to restore the majority of services within 24 hours, particularly in supporting key customer Astro and its 5.6 million subscribers with minimal interruption. Certainly the key lessons here were that contingency planning and investing in redundancies is never wasted, and that building strong relationships with your industry peers and assembling the best possible team are truly efforts that prove valuable at critical times!

However, most of the challenges are time dependent. Experience definitely helps – if you look back at challenges that happened 5-10 years ago, you might find that they are no longer challenges at this point. When faced with a challenge, stay positive and never strive for a perfect solution because it doesn’t exist!

On a more personal level I have to say that one of my biggest challenges was convincing myself 26 years ago that the satellite industry is where I wanted to build my career!

What three factors would you attribute your success to?

• Strong purpose. It is important to stay the course amidst the challenges that lie ahead.

• Ability to stay calm and positive. Giving in to negativity and frustration can cause us to overlook solutions.

• The many people who have helped me in one way or another along my career path. I am truly grateful to my colleagues and team members at all levels of the company, as well as other friends and business associates in the industry, for their trust and support.

I also have the deepest appreciation for my family for their support, encouragement and understanding. A career in this field can take up a lot of time, even for extended business trips, and this often results in less time being spent with family.