Malaysia Working to Complete Evaluation of 5G Deployment by End of Quarter

Malaysia's Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil has stated that the country is expecting to reach a conclusion in its review of the 5G mobile services contract by the end of this quarter. This is due to worries that the process could be delayed, thus hindering the deployment of the high-speed network.

Fahmi stated in an interview with BFM 89.9 on Tuesday that the government has a variety of worries regarding the 5G services, from the agreements signed to the rate of deployment of the network. He also mentioned that the government is having a meeting today with Digital Nasional Bhd., the proprietor of the network.

Fahmi suggested that a decision from the Cabinet may be reached within the current quarter, but he was uncertain of the consequences of any further delays.

Malaysia has been one of the slowest countries in Southeast Asia to adopt 5G technology due to its history of political instability. A report by Opensignal shows that the country's average mobile download speeds are lower than those of Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia, which have all implemented the network quickly.

In 2021, the previous administration created DNB to lead the 5G deployment through a single wholesale network. DNB collaborated with the local branch of Swedish telecom giant Ericsson AB to manage this project for 11 billion ringgit ($2.5 billion), which drew criticism from then-opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim due to the cost and lack of transparency.

Fahmi noted that before this, the Ministry of Finance lacked a comprehensive view of the contractual obligations, particularly those related to Ericsson, which totaled 145 contracts. He also highlighted the importance of a speedy rollout.

In Malaysia, mobile network operators were slow to accept the access agreements to lease the network due to disagreements over the 70% equal stakes that DNB proposed. Eventually, six companies signed the agreement in October of last year, with Maxis Bhd. still awaiting approval from its shareholders.

DNB announced on Monday that Malaysia's 5G network has already reached almost 50% coverage of populated areas, with around 3,900 sites as of the end of 2022. This surpasses the 40% target set by the Communications and Multimedia Commission. Fahmi stated that it will take two weeks for the Commission to verify these figures.

Fahmi reported that the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) had recorded 2,575 5G towers deployed by DNB as of November 30th, which was lower than the company's projected 3,433 towers. He also noted that DNB must still deploy a total of 3,518 towers.

Fahmi noted that only 87% of the towers had been equipped with fiber optics.

Fahmi suggested that the reason why some people are not getting the speeds of 100-200 Mbps that have been advertised for 5G is because the towers in their area have not been fiberized yet.