KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 26 — Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil said that the government would soon decide whether to continue with Digital Nasional Berhad’s (DNB) Single Wholesale Network (SWN) 5G rollout model.
During a press conference today, he said that the ministry has sat down with all related telecommunications companies to decide the guidelines for the high-speed internet service.
“All telecommunications companies expressed their willingness to hold further discussions. I believe in the coming days and weeks, we will reach a conclusion.
I hope we can announce the decision before March on whether we continue with a single wholesale network or not and the relationship between DNB and telecommunication companies,” he said.
Apart from the guidelines, the ministry has stressed that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim wants the high-speed coverage to reach at least 80 per cent of populated areas and the price has to be affordable.
“And more important than that, two things were emphasized by the PM which is first, we want to see the reach of this 5G network covering 80 per cent of the populated area by the end of 2023 and the price of 5G network being affordable to the people,” he added.
Yesterday, it was reported that Anwar wants full participation from the telco companies in the rollout of the 5G networks nationwide.
DNB is the holder of Malaysia’s 5G spectrum. It has been tasked to develop Malaysia’s 5G infrastructure and lease it out to the telcos under the single wholesale network (SWN) model. It is set to achieve 80 per cent coverage by end-2023, from 50 per cent at end-2022, Anwar said.
The company is 35 per cent-owned by the government, while the remaining 65 per cent is split between Celcom Axiata Bhd (12.5 per cent), Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd (12.5 per cent), YTL Communications Sdn Bhd (20 per cent), and Telekom Malaysia Bhd (20 per cent).
