Telekom Malaysia failed to obtain more time to approve the share subscription agreement with DNB
Malaysian telco Telekom Malaysia (TM) has confirmed that it received a termination notice from state-run 5G network Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) regarding their share subscription agreement (SSA).
The agreement, signed on December 1, 2023, was dependent on Telekom Malaysia securing shareholder approval through an extraordinary general meeting. However, the telco was unable to secure this approval by the original deadline of August 21, 2024, prompting the termination of the deal.
In a release, the telco noted that it had failed to obtain more time to get shareholders’ approval for the SSA.
“This turn of event does not affect TM’s current 5G offerings to the customers as its 5G wholesale service subscription from DNB remains in place. The company is committed to providing high-quality converged digital offerings across various segments of its customers. TM will continue to play a key role in supporting the nation’s 5G ecosystem and transition to the 5G dual network,” the carrier said.
Following this development, local telcos CelcomDigi, Maxis, YTL and U Mobile now hold stakes in DNB, each with a 16.3% share.
These four Malaysian operators have submitted bids to build the country’s second 5G network, according to recent press reports. The Malaysian government is likely to select the winning carrier before the end of the year.
Under a ministerial order issued on June 21, 2024, the winner for the second 5G network bid will receive two blocks of 20 megahertz in the 700MHz band and a 100-megahertz block in the 3.5GHz spectrum band.
Once a carrier is selected by the government to build the second network, the winner of the bid will divest its interest in DNB. At the same time, the other telcos will remain with DNB to continue to operate and expand the 5G network. All mobile operators in Malaysia are currently offering 5G services via DNB’s 5G network.
In May 2023, 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.
As of the end of April, DNB’s 5G network had reached 81.5% of the total populated areas and the adoption rate was 39.2%. The country reached a total of 13.2 million 5G subscriptions nationwide as of the end of April.
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 are currently using to offer 5G services to their customers. DNB’s 5G network was deployed by Ericsson.
