Gobind seeks Chinese, Japanese expertise for 5G rollout
The communications and multimedia minister meets Chinese firm Fiberhome and Japan’s Fujitsu, NEC and Rakuten to learn about their products and solutions.
PETALING JAYA: Chinese firm Huawei is expected to face competition in rolling out the 5G technology in the country by the first half of 2020.
Nikkei Asian Review today reported that Malaysia is seeking expertise from global telecommunications firms, particularly from China and Japan, to meet its ambitious plans.
It said the proposals will diversify the pool of technology service providers.
It quoted Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo as saying the 5G-compatible spectrum would be allocated to the telecommunications players by June next year.
Commercial products could be available within three months.
“We remain open for proposals and I am constantly meeting with companies which have ideas on how best Malaysia can roll out 5G and make full use of the allocated spectrum,” he told the news agency after addressing the Cyber Initiative Tokyo 2019 in Tokyo.
Gobind confirmed meeting with representatives of Chinese firm Fiberhome and Japan’s Fujitsu, NEC and Rakuten to learn about their products and solutions.
Gobind said he wanted to invite them to participate in the Malaysian 5G rollout.
He said an industry-led national 5G task force will present its findings by January, after which the government will formulate a dedicated policy on the 5G rollout.
The 5G infrastructure is expected to encourage the usage of holograms, remote patient treatment and diagnosis, humanoid robotic motion control and autonomous cars.
Gobind told Nikkei the government will not stop any local telecommunications players from pursuing partnerships with Huawei.
This is despite misgivings by the US administration that Huawei’s 5G equipment may contain “back doors” that could allegedly be used for cyber-espionage.
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In October, Huawei was roped in as a hardware supplier for the 5G network rollout in Malaysia by Maxis — one of the largest telcos in the country.