KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 — The Malaysian government's new 5G rollout model — which will involve switching from a single network to a dual network at a later stage — will not result in telecommunications firms (telcos) or consumers having to pay more for internet access, Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil was reported saying.
According to financial publication The Edge, Fahmi said the Single Wholesale Network under the Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) could transition to a dual network under DNB as well as a new entity that could be formed as early as next year.
But Fahmi said the price for internet access is not expected to go up, and said internet speed would also be maintained under the dual network model.
“The government’s role, in spite of two entities coming into existence from next year onwards, is to ensure that there will not be a price increase at the wholesale level. That is the commitment of the government as well as that of the telcos.
“The cost per gigabyte will not be any worse or more expensive than what is being offered currently,” he was quoted saying by The Edge today in an undated briefing at his ministry's Putrajaya headquarters.
On May 3, Fahmi said the rollout of 5G in Malaysia under DNB will transition to the dual network system, after a planned extension of 5G coverage to 80 per cent of Malaysia's population by the end of this year.
Coverage of 59.5 per cent of the population has been achieved as of April 30, while 4,827 of the 7,509 network towers have been built for the 5G rollout.
According to The Edge, Fahmi said ideas from at least eight different models were considered before the Cabinet decided on this model of a dual network for the supply of 5G internet access in Malaysia, while saying the government will honour existing contracts while also addressing concerns within Cabinet and by industry experts through the switch to a dual network.
He reportedly said the US and some European countries have at least three or four 5G networks.
On May 9, Fahmi had announced a task force jointly chaired by the Treasury secretary-general and his ministry's secretary-general to monitor the transition of Malaysia's 5G plan to a dual network, with the task force's representatives including DNB and five telcos.
In The Edge's report, Fahmi said the task force will report to him and he would then present to Cabinet, adding that the dual network could start operating as early as next January 1 if the telcos are able to decide on the equity they would take up in the second entity.
While each telco has varying degree of 4G internet coverage even though the overall 4G coverage in Malaysia is at 96.92 per cent, Fahmi said entity B will build up its own 5G network separately from DNB and both networks under the dual 5G network “will have more or less the same amount of coverage”.
Those who use the second entity's network will continue to receive 5G coverage and ride on the first entity's network, adding that the dual networks for 5G would enable telcos to decide on the different types of solutions for different type of consumers such as refineries, offshore platforms and retail consumers.
On March 13, deputy communications and digital minister Teo Nie Ching told the Dewan Rakyat that internet prices in Malaysia can be lowered with the expansion of 5G coverage.
On May 17, national news agency Bernama reported Fahmi as saying in a recent media interview that the planned switch to a dual network will not lead to an increase in wholesale costs for 5G to telcos, which would then be important to determine the package price which telco offers to consumers.
Fahmi had also said the Malaysian government through the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has the power to impose ceiling wholesale prices, give orders or impose penalties if there is unhealthy competition or breach of service quality offered to consumers.
In its weekly publication last week, The Edge owner Tan Sri Tong Kooi Ong had raised multiple queries over the new 5G model involving a dual network, including whether the government could help ensure that telco offer cheaper internet prices to Malaysians under the new model.
