This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on December 20, 2021 - December 26, 2021

5G is here, with Telekom Malaysia Bhd’s Unifi Mobile and YTL Communications Bhd’s YES being the first two to offer it to end-users with compatible 5G devices in Putrajaya, Cyberjaya and parts of Kuala Lumpur from Dec 15.

Yet, instead of being a landmark moment for Malaysia, the occasion was marred by lukewarm response from large operators and politicians — including members of the same Cabinet — questioning whether Malaysia should continue to rollout 5G via the single wholesale network (SWN) model under Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB) formed more than nine months ago under the Ministry of Finance.

The level of opposition by some members of parliament from different political factions is surprising, given that an accelerated rollout of 5G would help bridge the digital divide as well as development gap between states. Among other things, one deputy minister alleged that his former minister and the minister of finance unilaterally decided on DNB — claims that his current minister later refuted.

Then, there is the inane comparison of DNB with scandal-marred and debt-laden 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), when the government stands to effectively own Malaysia’s only 5G network infrastructure without paying cash or taking on debt. The latter is possible, thanks to the value of 5G spectrum, vendor financing and the securitisation of future payments from DNB’s customers (telcos). The model will work only if the government stands firm on the single wholesale model for 5G rollout that forces all players to chip in on the cost to accelerate 5G rollout to cover at least 40% of the population by end-2022 and 80% by end-2024.

Large mobile operators are naturally fighting to keep the status quo of being allowed to own and roll out 5G infrastructure themselves, as they have to balance financial considerations and obligations to shareholders even if they are supportive of the country’s desire to rollout 5G as fast as possible.

Under the DNB model, the large operators would be on a level playing field with smaller operators in terms of 5G wholesale capacity and will be forced to take up 5G wholesale capacity from DNB, even in areas where they may not be able to make money initially.

Policymakers should be clear, however, as to which decision is best for the people and country and not allow the lobbying to keep the status quo to delay and derail the nationwide 5G rollout.

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