This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on January 19, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB), which is exploring opportunities in the high-speed broadband market with Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM), says it is logical to partner with a firm that has the necessary infrastructure.

Nevertheless, TNB has no qualms about collaborating with other parties who can contribute to the Nationwide Fiberation Plan (NFP) that is being pushed by the government — including Broadnet Networks Sdn Bhd — so long as they can provide more “value creation” to the project, according to TNB president and chief executive officer Datuk Seri Azman Mohd.

On Tuesday, TNB and TM inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to jointly develop an implementation plan to deliver the government’s NFP. The NFP is a last-mile fiberisation project to provide high-speed broadband services to all households.

Interestingly, the move came after the government appointed Broadnet Networks — a new company reportedly aiming to be the second provider of high-speed broadband in the country — to partner TNB to undertake the NFP, with a RM1.5 billion incentive provided by the government.

Analysts, however, have been mixed about the NFP’s implementation. RHB Research said in a report dated Jan 17 that Broadnet Networks — who has high-profile civil servants on board — has no track record in broadband development.

Meanwhile, details are sketchy as to what role the government-appointed Broadnet Networks will play in the NFP and it is not immediately clear if the MoU between TM and TNB would change anything, RHB Research noted. Broadnet Networks, however, holds both the National Facilities Provider and National Services Provider licences, which allows it to bid for infrastructure jobs.

“The owners of the [high-speed fibre] infrastructure in Malaysia are TNB and TM. So really, if you want to make it a success, we have to get these infrastructures combined, so they can allow open access to the people.

“Who else is capable of doing it when you don’t have any infrastructure? I think that is why it is logical [for us] to explore options with [other] infrastructure players first. And you really go on from there,” Azman told reporters here yesterday.

“We are open to any proposition by any third party if they can add value to the NFP,” added Azman, as he shared that TNB had received “a few proposals” by interested parties, though he declined to confirm if Broadnet Networks is among them.

“Infrastructure involves very heavy investments, and infrastructure should not be old or developed by many [different] people because it will be duplicative and that does not contribute to a better [system],” he added.

Azman was speaking to the press after the soft launch of the 22nd Conference of the Electric Power Supply Industry 2018, scheduled for Sept 18 to 22, 2018.

On the signing of the MoU with TM, TNB also said it would be able to fund the project without government support.