Putrajaya gets thumbs up for move to review Digital Nasional Berhad’s role

 

The government says it will reconsider its decision on making Digital Nasional Berhad the sole 5G wholesaler. (AFP pic)

PETALING JAYA: The government’s decision to reconsider Digital Nasional Berhad’s (DNB) role as the sole 5G wholesaler has received backing from an assemblyman and the Centre for Environment, Technology and Development Malaysia (Cetdem).

Semambu assemblyman Lee Chean Chung and Cetdem executive director Anthony Tan Kee Huat said separately that the government should stick to setting good policies and allow industry to decide on the technological advances to adopt.

Lee, the PKR treasurer, said the lack of engagement from competitors could be the reason the government had announced the review of its plan.

The government established DNB early this year as an agency that would build and roll out the nation’s 5G network. However, the monopolisation of the project caused a stir among telcos and other industry players.

Yesterday, communications and multimedia minister Annuar Musa announced that the government would reconsider its decision on making DNB the sole 5G wholesaler.

Tan said the government had learnt the hard way that a free market would not accept the pricing set by a government agency that might or might not have the experience and expertise to operate an advanced 5G network.

The government should not be in the “business of businesses”, he quipped.

“The free market has been setting the auction prices for bandwidth sales of 3G and 4G by the government and self-regulating the prices of 4G packages,” he said.

“The local telcos are mature enough with sufficient technological experience and support to set up their own 5G network without government interference, and that too at a good negotiated price from the best supplier.”

Tan said Annuar should first honour his promise that 5G would be ready in Putrajaya by this year. “Time is ticking,” he said.

Lee noted that DNB was not required to table its annual report in Parliament and said that showed “a lack of transparency and a lack of regulation obligation to ensure DNB’s adherence to healthy financial statements, fair pricing, quality of service and network resilience, among other things”.

He said that DNB, by selecting a single vendor under the vendor financing scheme, would cause a lock-in situation in the long run.

“DNB will have to rely on a single vendor’s delivery bandwidth, capability, technology roadmap, etcetera, with no alternative. This will leave DNB in a very challenging situation,” he said. - FMT