Three of the main telcos in Malaysia including Celcom, Digi, and Maxis have recently renewed their rights with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission to utilize the 2100MHz spectrum. Mainly being used for 3G services, this gives them the right to the spectrum for another 16 years starting from 2 April 2018.
According to the announcements that they filed to Bursa Malaysia, each of these telcos were required to make a payment of RM 118.4 million each to MCMC which equals to RM 355.2 million in total. Additionally, they also have to pay additional RM 50 million per year throughout the assignment period.
As for U Mobile who also owns a license to operate within the 2100MHz spectrum, its license will only expire on 1 March 2027. Hence, that is why the company didn’t release any statement related to the topic.
Given the amount mentioned above, the spectrum bands are clearly quite valuable to the country. This goes hand in hand with what we have learned from the 700MHz spectrum assignment last year.
(Source: Bursa Malaysia – 1, 2, 3 // Nikkei Asian Review. Thanks for the tips, Josh HD!)
