U Mobile today has released a statement to convey its side of the story following yesterday’s explosive revelation by Reuters that the telco alongside Maxis has decided not to become shareholders in Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB).
For starters, the telco has confirmed it will not invest in DNB just like what has been claimed by the Reuters report. In the statement, U Mobile said that it has gone through lengthy discussions regarding the matter but ultimately, the telco felt that it would be better for them to focus on its strengths of providing services that can take advantage of the 5G technology.
DNB yesterday said that two out of six local telcos have pulled out from the shareholder agreement even though they have previously agreed to participate in it. According to the announcement made by the government back in March, these local telcos altogether would have a combined 70% stake in DNB.
Through the same statement, the company also said that its ability to deliver 5G service will not be affected by this decision. This is because the 5G access is under a separate agreement altogether that has no link to the DNB’s equity agreement which is something that has been confirmed yesterday by the national 5G company.
The telco has further confirmed that it is currently in the process of finalising the access agreement with DNB although no actual timeline was mentioned in today’s statement. Nevertheless, U Mobile also said that it is confident with DNB’s ability to roll out 5G according to the schedule.
In general, DNB is aiming to bring the national 5G network to 80% of the country’s populated areas by 2024. At the moment, the company said that the figure currently stands at 30% and currently YTL Communications is the only telco that has offered 5G services to the mass market.
