PUTRAJAYA, Dec 5 — Malaysia’s grand plan to introduce 5G telecommunications will be going back to the Cabinet for a discussion before its official rollout.
Digital Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said that while the Finance Ministry is responsible for the Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB), the company in charge of 5G, the distribution rights fall under his ministry’s purview.
“I have not been fully briefed on the 5G rollout as yet. I look forward to meeting with representatives from DNB to understand the current situation.
“I want to hear directly from DNB with regards to the issue of spectrum distribution. Whatever my personal sentiments before, the situation now is I’m the minister in charge so it’s something that I will have to refer to the Cabinet and seek some instructions,” he told a press conference today.
The Finance Ministry is helmed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Anwar had earlier today said his administration will review the country’s plans for a state-owned 5G network introduced by the previous government.
He said the 5G plans by the previous government were not carried out transparently.
DNB was established in early March 2021 to accelerate the deployment of 5G infrastructure and network in Malaysia. It will offer 5G as a wholesale network service to other telcos.
Putrajaya under former prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s administration has been in constant negotiations with telcos in the country over the rollout of 5G, with telcos constantly pushing back for more favourable terms — advocating for a dual wholesale network (DWN) model instead of the government’s single wholesale network (SWN) — which they claim would provide better optimising availability and pricing of 5G.
