Minister of Communications and Digital Fahmi Fadzil called on Digital National Berhad to explain on how it concluded that the implementation of 5G network coverage in the country had reached nearly 50 percent since the regulatory body Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission had not yet verified the information.
“I think DNB must explain how they arrived at these figures. MCMC has not yet verified this info. Next time I don’t think DNB should publish prior to verification,” he said in response to a tweet claiming that the numbers published by DNB were bogus.
DNB chief operating officer Nasution Mohamed is a statement said that the implementation of 5G network coverage throughout the country had reached almost 50 percent in populated areas as of the end of 2022, thus surpassing the initial target of 40 percent. Nasution said the network had now reached 15 million Malaysians involving 3,900 sites and will reach over 30 million people and businesses when fully implemented.
The government-owned network operator also said it is now fully focused on achieving the commitment of 80 percent of populated areas by the end of 2024 or earlier which will now also be questioned.
DNB has been laden with controversy with its proposed Single Wholesale Network model which hasn’t gone well with private mobile operators. However, due to coaxing by the then Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul, the majority of the operators excluding Maxis signed the network agreement albeit with some amendments.
However, now with a change in Government, there could be further changes with the national 5G rollout which till now is considered backward by global standards.
