In his first-ever media conference since appointed as the Minister of Communications and Multimedia, Saifuddin Abdullah stated that there will be no changes to the deployment schedule of 5G in Malaysia. The same also applies to the National Fiberisation and Connective Plan (NFCP) infrastructure packages.
As you might have heard, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has previously announced that the commercial availability of 5G in Malaysia is expected to take place in the third quarter of this year. This was mentioned as part of the announcement for the first set of 5G spectrum bands.
As for NFCP infrastructure packages, the government previously has planned to implement six packages in total. The deployment of NFCP 1 which is meant to boost mobile Internet speed in selected underserved areas has already begun last month involving edotco, FGV Prodata Systems, Maxis, and U Mobile.
On another hand, NFCP 2 which has similar objectives as per NFCP 1 and will be deployed at 500 additional areas, is going through the tender process as we speak. Focusing on fibre rollout, NFCP 3 has just begun its tender process while the upgrade for copper to fibre by TM under the NFCP 5 package is expected to begin within this quarter.
With the aim to bring connectivity to Orang Asli settlements, the NFCP 4 tender process is scheduled to begin in the second quarter. Last but not least, there’s also the mobile-oriented NFCP 6 package in the fourth quarter of this year.
Meanwhile, the minister did mention that the ministry is now currently waiting for further clarifications on whether there will be additional funding to be injected into these projects. This is because the government is currently reassessing the previously announced economic stimulus package to see if it needed to be tweaked further.
(Source: Press Conference @ Ministry of Communications and Multimedia.)
