Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) chief operating officer Dato Mohd Ali Hanafiah Mohd Yunus has revealed via a recent interview on Bernama TV that an entirely new entity will take over Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) once it achieves 80% 5G population coverage. The state-owned network infrastructure provider is expected to fulfil its goal by the end of this year, with the nationwide coverage currently stands at 57.8%.
It is also revealed that once the new entity takes over, the government will dispose of its entire stake in DNB in the beginning of next year, transforming it into a fully private company that operates independently. Mohd Ali added that two entities will be formed – one of which will take over the company and manage its network operations as well as staffing, while the other will handle the country’s second 5G network.
On that note, Communications and Digital minister Fahmi Fadzil revealed last week during a media conference that Malaysia will switch to a dual network model once the nationwide 5G coverage has reached 80% of the country’s populated areas. He explained that allowing for a second 5G network was decided by the government in order to avoid a single point of failure and to establish redundancy for the infrastructure.
The announcement also saw several local telcos, including Maxis, U Mobile, CelcomDigi and TM, expressing their support for the implementation of a second national 5G network. In fact, a separate filing to the Bursa Malaysia noted that CelcomDigi has even terminated their Share Subscription Agreement with DNB shortly after, though it assured that the move will not affect the dual telco’s abilities to provide its 5G services to customers.
For now, the rollout journey of the nation’s second 5G network is still in the early stages, and there is still no proper deployment timeline or potential infrastructure partners announced just yet. That being said, things are expected to pick up starting from January 2024 onwards.
(Source: Bernama TV, via SoyaCincau)
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