Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB) will charge telecommunication companies less than 20 sen per gigabyte, said Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz today at the Parliament, adding that he believes telecommunication companies will welcome good pricing.
He was clarifying allegations in Parliament that the telecommunications company does not want to register with DNB for 5G because of the price offered by DNB, which is seen operating as a monopoly.
According to allegations, the price is too high and some claimed that the cost is much higher than the cost of the telecommunications company if they implement it themselves.
“In comparison, this is much cheaper than the current incremental cost per GB of 4G service produced by telcos at a rate of between 45 and 55 sen per GB,” he said during a question and answer session at Parliament today.
Tengku Zafrul said that the government, like the members of the House, also expects 5G implementation can be done efficiently and smoothly and bring benefits to all stakeholders.
He said that this is because 5G is an enabler for improving the well-being of the people and enhancing national competitiveness. “At the same time, it will encourage technology-based investment from within and abroad to this country,” he said.
He said that the COVID-19 pandemic has shown us the need for fair and equitable access to the network at high speed, especially in rural areas and the interior of the country. “This includes affordable coverage for people from all walks of life, along with the spirit of the Malaysian Family,’ he said.
Tengku Zafrul said that instead of awarding the 5G spectrum band to individual licensees, MCMC Final Report supports granting this bandwidth to a single consortium formed among licensees.
“However, due to differences of interest among mobile network operators, efforts to share networking, cost savings and launching 5G did not happen as hoped,” he said
