Malaysia is expecting to roll out the 5G mobile services completely in the country, as they aim to finalize the review of the contract this quarter. As of the end of 2022, almost 50% in populated areas implemented the 5G network coverage throughout the country.
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This general view shows the Kuala Lumpur city skyline as seen from the Kuala Lumpur Tower on February 24, 2020. - Malaysian politics was in turmoil on February 24 after leader-in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim denounced a "betrayal" by coalition partners he said were trying to bring down the government, two years after it stormed to victory.
This general view shows the Kuala Lumpur city skyline as seen from the Kuala Lumpur Tower on February 24, 2020. - Malaysian politics was in turmoil on February 24 after leader-in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim denounced a "betrayal" by coalition partners he said were trying to bring down the government, two years after it stormed to victory.
5G Rollout in Malaysia
5G connectivity is still not fully available in Malaysia. But according to Bloomberg's report, the full rollout may come this quarter as the government finalizes the review of the mobile services contract.
Communication Minister Fahmi Fadzil stated they have a meeting today with Digital Nasional Bhd., the owner of the network, to talk about their concerns regarding the connectivity service.But it seems like the concerns were already acknowledged as it proceeded to roll out signing.
"Prior to this, the ministry of finance did not have full horizon visibility of the contractual obligations, whether it's about Ericsson. I believe there's 145 contracts that DNB has signed. But more than that, it's about the speed of rollout," he added.
5G is being rolled out by DNB and Malaysia's unit of Ericsson AB, a Swedish telecom major.
Current Roll Out
Based on The Sun's report, 5G network coverage is already implemented to almost 50% in populated areas, with 3,900 sites at the end of the year. This exceeded the initial target of 40%.
Meanwhile, 2,575 5G towers were already rolled out as of November 30. DNB must completely roll out a total of 3,518 towers.
DNB Chief Operating Officer Nasution Mohamed stated that the network has now reached 15 million Malaysians, and will reach over 30 million people and businesses when the full implementation is done.
He added, "DNB is now fully focused on achieving the commitment of 80% t of populated areas by the end of 2024 or earlier." To obtain these figures, it will take two weeks for the country's Communications and Multimedia Commission to verify.
While this may already look like a success, only 87% of cellular towers were fiberized. Fahmi stated that this means, people will have 5G connectivity but it will still only be about 30-40 Mbps, compared to the usual 100-200 Mbps.
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Reuters reported earlier this month that the newly appointed Prime Minister of Malaysia, PM Anwar Ibrahim stated that he fully supports a state-owned 5G network. This was previously introduced by the previous government before his administration, but "it was not done in a transparent manner," he stated.
Anwar added that the government will also revise and improve the budget for this contract, which was presented in parliament by the previous government. Rolling back certain decisions by the previous administration will also not be considered.
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