The Ministry of Communications and Digital will form a 5G special task force, its minister Fahmi Fadzil announced earlier today. It will be responsible for ensuring that DNB’s rollout of the infrastructure achieves 80% coverage of the populated areas in Malaysia by the end of the year, as well as for a smooth transition towards the new dual 5G network model that’s slated to be implemented by early 2024.
Fahmi said the new task force will be chaired by the ministry’s chief secretary and secretary-general of the Treasury, and managed by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC). It will also include representatives from DNB and other service providers such as CelcomDigi, Maxis, Telekom Malaysia (TM), YTL Communications and U Mobile, as well as other parties that will be determined later on.
The main goal of this task force is to monitor the framework and transition plan to the dual 5G network model in Malaysia, the minister added. This is to ensure regularity and order in its implementation from legal, technical and financial aspects. Last week, Fahmi explained that the shift in allowing for a second 5G network is to establish redundancy for the infrastructure, as well as to avoid a single point of failure.
On a related note, MCMC chief operating officer Dato Mohd Ali Hanafiah Mohd Yunus revealed via an interview on Bernama TV that the government will dispose of its entire stake in DNB once the goal is reached, and will establish an entirely new entity to take over its operations. Despite no longer being state-owned, the company will continue to operate as an independent company.
Meanwhile, he added that a separate new entity will also be formed to manage the country’s second 5G network rollout as early as January 2024. That being said, there is still no proper deployment timeline or potential infrastructure partners announced for the secondary network just yet, as it is still in the early stages of development.
(Source: Fahmi Fadzil [official Facebook page])
