KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25 — In our recent post, we reported that Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil is looking into complaints that telcos are charging customers “DNB Tax” to access the national 5G network deployed by Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB). These extra 5G access fees vary between RM5 to RM20 per month depending on the plan you’re on.

DNB has reached out to us to respond to our usage of the term “DNB Tax” in the post and here’s their statement in full:

Telco’s 5G extra charges not “DNB tax”

In reference to a SoyaCincau article published on 23 August 2023, Why Malaysian telcos are charging “DNB tax” for 5G? Fahmi to meet telcos to find out, Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) would like to clarify that the extra charges imposed by some Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) on their subscribers are not attributed to DNB, as the term “DNB tax” used in the headline may suggest.

As a 5G wholesale network provider, DNB does not play a part in the MNO’s end-user pricing.

– Digital Nasional Berhad

Fahmi to meet telcos on 5G access charges

To recap, Fahmi Fadzil said he will be meeting with telco CEOs to discuss the extra charges for 5G access which has been a concern for existing mobile customers migrating from 4G to 5G. He shared that his wife was hesitant to switch to 5G, and questioned why customers have to pay more when there’s no need to pay extra when switching from 3G to 4G.

Telcos have been charging extra for 5G since June

The extra charges to access 5G aren’t totally new. We reported back in November last year that Celcom would be charging RM10/month for 5G access and eventually, this was also applicable to Digi customers. Initially, the free 5G access offer was supposed to end in April 2023 but CelcomDigi had deferred the 5G access charges until 1st June 2023.

CelcomDigi Prepaid customers wishing to access 5G were required to pay daily or weekly 5G Booster passes. Meanwhile, CelcomDigi postpaid customers on monthly plans of RM90 and above are still able to enjoy 5G access for free. But customers on cheaper plans would have to pay up to RM20/month for 5G booster that also included extra data quota.

For those who don’t want to pay extra access fees for 5G on prepaid, CelcomDigi introduced their new Digi Prepaid Next 5G and Celcom Xpax Prepaid 5G which offers up to 45GB of 5G data for RM48/month.

Yoodo which offered 5G services to consumers since February 2023 has started charging 5G access fee of RM10/month from July onward. However, it is currently offering the access pass at a discounted rate of RM5/month.

Maxis is the last and final telco to sign the 5G access agreement with DNB. Existing customers on older plans can either pay RM5/month (Prepaid) or RM10/month (Postpaid) to enable 5G with their current quota or upgrade to their new 5G postpaid plans which offer 2.5X more data quota for an additional RM11/month.

As a comparison, the older Maxis Postpaid 98 (RM98/month) came with 60GB of 4G data while the all-new Postpaid 109 (RM109/month) comes with 150GB of 5G data. If you don’t need so much data, you can downgrade to the cheapest Maxis Postpaid 79 which offers 120GB of 5G data if you’re no longer tied to a contract.

As part of their introductory offer, existing Maxis and Hotlink customers can try 5G for free for 30 days on their existing plan.

The other two telcos — U Mobile and Yes 5G, currently do not charge customers additional access fees to access the 5G network. This shouldn’t come as a surprise as they have replaced their older 4G plans with newer 5G prepaid and postpaid plans. Yes 5G currently has the cheapest unlimited 5G plan with its FT5G prepaid that offers unlimited 5G data, unlimited calls and 12GB hotspot for RM30/month.

5G through Single Wholesale Network was supposed to be cheaper than 4G

DNB has said before that its Single Wholesale Network model will ensure affordable 5G prices to consumers as telcos will pay less for 5G than what they are currently spending on their own network. According to Digital Nasional Berhad’s Reference Access Offer (RAO), telcos will have to pay RM30,000 per Gbps per month to access the national 5G network. After the RAO was published in April last year, the big four telcos (Celcom, Digi, Maxis and U Mobile) issued a joint statement saying that DNB’s pricing will not enable affordable and quality 5G services for the rakyat. — SoyaCincau