KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 14 — Bangi MP Ong Kian Ming today asked telecommunications companies in the country if they are satisfied with Digital Nasional Berhad's (DNB) 5G connectivity plans following its detailed explanation.

Ong, who is also DAP’s  assistant political education director, said mobile network operators like Maxis, Celcom, Digi, U Mobile and Yes, should respond to the explanation from DNB and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) that a single wholesale network plan was the most cost effective way to roll out 5G.

"The argument which DNB and the MOF makes is very convincing from an economics standpoint, which is that it is much more cost effective for a single entity to roll out 5G given the high infrastructure costs involved,” he said in a statement. He said that DNB and MOF argued that it would make much more sense for there to be one multi-lane highway built for the purposes of 5G rollout where different lanes can be shared by the MNOs at a lower cost compared to each MNO building and owning their own highways. "Some industry experts seem to agree with the arguments made by DNB and MOF. What is the industry’s response to this argument?” he asked. He also asked if the industry felt the benefits worthwhile in having DNB rollout the 5G network initially and giving an option for MNOs to buy stakes in DNB after a significant portion of the 5G network has been rolled out perhaps in the next two years. "Would this lessen the concerns on the part of the MNOs that DNB would "abuse” its position as a monopoly and put unreasonable charges on the industry players for access to the 5G network?” he asked He also asked them to clarify if they would prefer a Dual Wholesale Model (DWN) compared to the current SWN model with another entity building and rolling out another 5G network. Ong said that he could understand the attractiveness of a SWN model led by a government entity that would push for speedier deployment of 5G into the semi-urban and rural areas despite the initial lack of demand. "The rapid deployment of 5G, coupled with the existing plans to rollout 4G in a complimentary manner by the MNOs will provide the impetus for jobs and investments to flow to lower cost semi-urban and rural areas in different parts of the country which would lead to an increased demand for 5G coverage and services,” he said. He said one of the main arguments by DNB is that the private mobile operators should focus on competing based on service offerings rather than the speed and connectivity of their network under 5G as data and data access are increasingly being commoditised. "From my own understanding, there has been little innovation especially in terms of value-added services for the SMEs and the manufacturing sector. If the MNOs are freed up from having to focus on the 5G rollout and are ‘forced’ to compete based on service offerings, wouldn’t this lead to a more innovative mobile telco landscape, for businesses as well as individual consumers?” he questioned. He asked industry players to publicly make their stand on the matter.