Malaysia aims to finalise review of its 5G rollout

Bloomberg

Malaysia expects “some kind of finality” in its review of the 5G mobile services contract by this quarter, said Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil, amid fears that it would delay the rollout of the high-speed network.
The government’s concerns with the 5G services range from the contracts signed to the speed that the network is being deployed, Fahmi said in an interview with local radio station BFM 89.9. The government has a meeting today with state-run Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB), the network’s owner, he added.
“I believe it might be early right now to say when the Cabinet will come to a decision, but I expect perhaps within this quarter we will have some kind of finality. Hopefully. Because any further delays will perhaps, you know, we’re not sure what kind of effect or impact it would have,” Fahmi said.
Dogged by years of political instability, Malaysia has been one of the 5G laggards in
Southeast Asia. In terms of
average mobile download speeds, the country trails Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia, which have rapidly rolled out the network, according to a report by Opensignal.
The previous administration formed DNB in 2021 to spearhead the 5G deployment via a single wholesale network.
DNB partnered with local unit of Swedish telecom major Ericsson AB to manage this for 11 billion ringgit ($2.5 billion), courting criticism from then-opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim over the cost and transparency.
“Prior to this, the ministry of finance did not have full horizon visibility of the contractual obligations, whether it’s about Ericsson,” Fahmi said. “I believe there’s 145 contracts that DNB has signed. But more than that, it’s about the speed of rollout.”
Mobile network operators in Malaysia were slow to execute their access agreements to lease the network amid disputes over equal stakes totaling 70% that DNB offered to them. Six companies eventually signed up in October last year, with Maxis Bhd. still seeking shareholders’ approval.
DNB in a statement said that Malaysia’s 5G network has achieved almost 50% coverage of populated areas with some 3,900 sites as at end-2022 — exceeding the target of 40%.