KUALA LUMPUR, May 3 — The board members of Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) including the five new members will meet next Tuesday to review the due diligence findings, and work towards the fulfillment of the remaining conditions precedent, and complete the details of the share subscription agreement (SSA).
Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo said they will have 20 days to come up with their recommendations.
“What we need to do is go through the process. After they (new board members) get into the board they will study this process of due diligence that was done, study the reports that were made and it will be for them to decide the direction that things will take after this,” Gobind told reporters after witnessing the memorandum of understanding (MoU) exchange between DNB and Ericsson with Intel, SKF, Scania and eMooVit today.
“There are time frames set for that, I believe 20 business days, for them to come back after looking at the due diligence reports so we will take it one step at a time,” he said.
The SSAs were entered into by parties to put into effect the government’s policy as announced on May 2, 2023, on the transition from a single wholesale network (SWN) 5G model to a dual network (DN) 5G model.
There are two main phases to the transition. First, the DNB 5G network reaches 80 per cent coverage of populated areas (CoPA) and the participation of the mobile network operators in DNB.
Second, the shift to DN and the divestment of the government through Ministry of Finance Inc (MoF Inc) equity in DNB where some of the mobile network operators will remain with DNB while the rest will move to the second 5G network and divest their equity in DNB.
Once the SSAs are completed, the telcos will take 70 per cent equity in DNB (14 per cent per telco) while the MoF Inc will retain 30 per cent equity and a special share which will accord the Ministry of Finance certain special rights for a stipulated period.
The five new board members are Datuk Kamal Khalid (CelcomDigi), Uthaya Kumar Vivekananda (Maxis), Chang Yit Fei (U Mobile), Nik Azli Abu Zahar (Telekom Malaysia) and Datuk Seri Yeoh Seok Hong (YTL Power International).
The five new members will join other incumbent board members Secretary General of Treasury, Ministry of Finance, Datuk Johan Mahmood Merican and Deputy Secretary General of Digital Ministry, Ma Sivanesan Marimuthu.
DNB remains the sole 5G network in Malaysia and it is the only entity assigned the 700MHz and 3.5GHz spectrum for 5G rollout. All major telcos including CelcomDigi, Maxis, U Mobile, TM and YTL are currently providing 5G services through their respective access agreement with DNB.
