Bandwidth windfall, Govt charges telcos RM2.7bil in fees

Not exorbitant: Digi says its portion for the payment of the blocks is RM598mil, with a yearly fee of RM51mil.

PETALING JAYA: The Government has finally set a new benchmark for the sale of spectrum in the country, and in the first round, could raise about RM2.7bil in one-off fees for two blocks of bandwidth in the 900MHz and 1,800MHz spectrums from the four mobile players.

This would be the first time the Government, via the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), is charging players a lump sum fee for usage of the two spectrums, with telecommunications players having paid usage fees for the spectrum all these years.