Last year, the government of Malaysia announced plans to implement a second 5G network in the country
The government of Malaysia is moving closer to implementing a dual 5G network in the country with the announcement of the new board members of state-run 5G network Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB), local press reported.
The appointments were announced following the signing of the share subscription agreement (SSA) by five local carriers to acquire a 70% stake in DNB network late last year.
According to Malaysia’s digital minister Gobind Singh Deo, these appointments pave the way for the implementation of a dual 5G network scheme in the Asian country.
“After this, they will move forward and I hope that they can move forward quickly because it is very important for us to make sure that we can focus on the 5G rollout,” the minister said. Gobind stressed that the government’s position to move towards a dual network remains.
The minister also pointed out that it has always been the government’s policy and commitment to have a dual 5G network in Malaysia.
DNB, together with local mobile operators, has also overseen the deployment of several 5G private networks in verticals such as oil and gas. Gobind also urged the manufacturing sector in Malaysia to quickly invest in adopting 5G and other cutting-edge technologies such as industrial robots to boost productivity.
DNB was set up by the Malaysian government in 2021 as a special purpose vehicle to develop the country’s 5G network infrastructure, which private telecommunications firms would use to offer 5G services to their customers. DNB’s 5G network was deployed by Ericsson.
In May 2023, the Malaysian government announced it will enable the deployment of a second 5G network in 2024, adding that a new entity will be created to manage Malaysia’s second 5G network. At the time, the country’s communications minister Fahmi Fadzil said the decision to allow a second 5G network in the country was made with the aim of avoiding a single point of failure and to establish redundancy for 5G services.
The Malaysian authorities had said that the country would shift to a dual 5G network once DNB achieved 80% coverage in populated areas, something that occurred in December 2023. That month, Malaysia’s five major mobile operators signed share subscription agreements to acquire a collective 70% equity stake in DNB.
Under the terms of the agreement, local carriers CelcomDigi, Maxis, U Mobile, Telekom Malaysia and YTL Power International agreed to each buy a 14% stake in DNB, with an investment of about $50 million each. Those share subscriptions are expected to be completed between February and April 2024 after due diligence requirements are met, according to the Malaysian government.
The Malaysian government had previously said that it will retain a “golden” share in DNB, as well as the remaining 30% stake. The government also confirmed that it will hold no stake in the second 5G network.
