The government’s concerns with the 5G services range from the contracts signed to the speed that the network is being deployed, Fahmi said in an interview today with local radio station BFM 89.9.
The government has a meeting today with state-run Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB), the network’s owner, he added.
“I believe it might be early right now to say when the Cabinet will come to a decision, but I expect perhaps within this quarter we will have some kind of finality,” he said, adding he was unsure what would be the impact if there were further delays.
One of the first things Anwar Ibrahim did on becoming prime minister was to announce that his administration will review the 5G network plan introduced by the previous government, as it was not formulated transparently.
Anwar said the 5G plans would be evaluated to ensure it strictly followed procedures, alleging that there had been “no proper tender process”, without specifying details.
Malaysia a 5G laggard
Dogged by years of political instability, Malaysia has been one of the 5G laggards in Southeast Asia.
In terms of average mobile download speeds, the country trails Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia, which have rapidly rolled out the network, according to a report by Opensignal.
The previous administration formed DNB in 2021 to spearhead the 5G deployment via a single wholesale network.
DNB partnered with a local unit of Swedish telecom major Ericsson AB to manage this for RM11 billion, courting criticism from then-opposition leader Anwar over the cost and transparency.
“Prior to this, the ministry of finance did not have full horizon visibility of the contractual obligations, whether it’s about Ericsson,” Fahmi said.
“I believe there’s 145 contracts that DNB has signed. But more than that, it’s about the speed of rollout.”
Mobile network operators in Malaysia were slow to execute their access agreements to lease the network amid disputes over equal stakes totalling 70% that DNB offered to them.
Six companies eventually signed up in October last year, with Maxis Bhd still seeking shareholders’ approval.
DNB in a statement yesterday said that Malaysia’s 5G network has achieved almost 50% coverage of populated areas with some 3,900 sites as at end-2022 — exceeding the target of 40%.
These figures would take Malaysia’s Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) two weeks to verify, said Fahmi.
As of Nov 30, DNB had rolled out 2,575 5G towers, according to the MCMC. This compared to the company’s forecast of 3,433 towers by that period, he said.
But, DNB must deploy a total 3,518 towers, he added.
Another key aspect was that just 87% of the towers were “fiberised”, said Fahmi.
If people have been complaining of a slow internet connection despite a 5G network, it is because the towers were not fiberised yet, added Fahmi.