PETALING JAYA: Telecommunication companies planning to bid for the dual 5G network need to finalise the share subscription agreement (SSA) within 20 days, says Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil.
He also said that the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) is expected to announce the tender process for the roll-out’s second network.
“As the coverage of populated areas for 5G network has surpassed 80%, the next step would be for the mobile network operators to complete the SSA process, which is their equity share in Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB).
“The Cabinet was informed that the meeting between the telco companies was held on Monday (May 20) and they were given 20 days to decide their equity share in DNB within that period,” he told reporters on Tuesday (May 21).
He added that the telco companies need to complete the SSA before they are allowed to bid for the tender.
In December, five mobile network operators (MNOs) signed a SSA with DNB as part of the transition from a single wholesale network (SWN) to a dual network.
Fahmi said the Cabinet has agreed that the implementation of the 5G network will shift from SWN to the dual network once the coverage reaches 80% of the populated areas.
As of April 30, he added that the 5G network has reached 81.5% of the total populated areas and the adoption rate was 39.2%.
“Overall, there are a total of 13.2 million 5G accounts nationwide. This is a positive achievement and proof that the roll-out was successful policy-wise and through the monitoring body (MCMC),” he said.
Of the total number of accounts, Fahmi said that there are 12.7 million individual users and 422,609 enterprises.
He said a memorandum of understanding will be signed between MCMC and the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) to further boost 5G participation among small and medium enterprises.
“Within a week or two, MCMC and Mida will sign an MOU to help these SMEs adopt and implement a 5G network in their businesses,” he added.
