PUTRAJAYA, March 16 — Putrajaya today officially announced that Malaysia will proceed with its 5G rollout via its Single Wholesale Network (SWN) model operated by Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB).

The announcement was made by both Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz and Communications and Multimedia Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa in a press conference here.

In the same announcement, Tengku Zafrul said the government has also agreed to allow telecommunications companies to hold equity in DNB.

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“After considering several different models for the national 5G network infrastructure, the government has decided to maintain the implementation of being supply-driven and based on cost recovery through the SWN,” he said.

Following a Cabinet meeting, Tengku Zafrul also said the government has agreed to offer 70 per cent of equity holding within DNB to telecommunications companies whereas the remaining 30 per cent will be held by the Malaysian government.

This meant that the DNB will not be fully-owned by the Malaysian government as previously announced, which critics have raised concerns the approach would create a monopoly, raise prices at the expense of efficient services.

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“Ownership, equity value and other aspects related to this proposed equity participation are subject to negotiations between DNB and the telecommunications companies, where the agreement is targeted to be finalised in the near future,” he said.

When inquired further, Tengku Zafrul said the valuation and allocation for the respective telcos will be performed through an independent party and expressed hope that matters could be concluded latest by the end of June.

As for the issue on data pricing, the ministers said DNB is expected to maintain its current promised wholesale 5G data pricing of less than 20 cents per GB.

For context, the Malaysian government last year selected Ericsson to develop the country’s 5G network infrastructure, simultaneously going with a SWN model operated by DNB, which is a wholly-owned unit of the Finance Ministry.

DNB was formed as part of the government’s digitalisation blueprint set out in the 12th Malaysia Plan, with the rollout of the 5G infrastructure being a key pillar towards realising growth for the next five years.

Late last year, all four major telcos in Malaysia recommended that an additional 5G network run parallel with DNB, adding that two organisations will utilise existing telco assets to coordinate and collaborate in the first 12-18 months to achieve a faster rollout of 5G across Malaysia.

“Maintaining the SWN model reflects the government’s firm stance on the continuity of policy in Malaysia.

“It also symbolises Malaysia’s strong public-private partnership model, as well as a robust private sector financing ecosystem, all of which will boost investors’ confidence in Malaysia,” Tengku Zafrul added.

In today’s announcement, the government also noted that DNB will be regulated by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), while the Finance Ministry will continue to monitor DNB from the administrative and shareholding aspect.

Separately, Annuar said Malaysians should be able to enjoy access to high-quality 5G services fairly, equitably and at an affordable price, in particular to help accelerate Malaysia’s post-pandemic economic recovery in the years to come.

“The SWN model will help bridge the urban-rural ‘digital divide’ and enable all Malaysians to enjoy high quality 5G services and be widely available to them through telecommunication companies,” he said.

In regards to criticism of the move to utilise a SWN model that is viewed as monopolistic and a rather slow 5G rollout since Celcom, Digi, Maxis and U Mobile aren’t part of it, Annuar insisted that all of the views involving stakeholders have been taken into account.

He said it was inaccurate to assume the government would be monopolising the rollout, pointing out that the Cabinet has since made the decision to offer a 70 per cent stake to telcos as part of DNB’s ownership.