Photo: Bernama
PETALING JAYA: Some 12 million Malaysians will begin to have access to fifth-generation (5G) mobile network services by the end of this year, says Tan Sri Annuar Musa (pic).
The caretaker Communications and Multimedia Minister made this announcement after five out of six telcos met the Oct 31 deadline to sign the reference access agreement (ROA) with Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB) for the implementation of the country’s 5G network.
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"Before the companies could offer their services to the public, they had to sign the ROA before the Oct 31 deadline.
"It will enable them to fix the bundle or retail prices from DNB and make subsequent offers to the public," he told a press conference on Tuesday (Nov 1).
He said the telcos that met the deadline were Celcom Axiata Bhd, Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd, YTL Communications Sdn Bhd, Telekom Malaysia Bhd and U Mobile Sdn Bhd.
He clarified that there was some confusion among mobile users as to the actual rollout of 5G services in the country.
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"Many complain, why talk about 5G when we can't even get 4G services yet.
"There was confusion as the earlier mention of 5G referred generally to the development of the infrastructure, not the rolling out of services," he explained.
With the conclusion of the ROA, Annuar said the telcos are expected to begin offering 5G services by the end of the year to some 12 million mobile phone users in the country.
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He noted that only those using phones with 5G capabilities will be able to access these services.
Malaysia’s 5G network is being rolled out by DNB, with the five telcos taking a stake in it and signing the ROA to use its infrastructure in offering their services to consumers.
