5G wholesale price must be maintained even if DNB structure changes - Annuar

 

The current wholesale price of 5G at less than 20 sen per gigabyte (GB) must be maintained even if there are changes to the structure of Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB), said Communications and Multimedia Minister Annuar Musa.

Annuar (above) said DNB would be regulated by his ministry through the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), including in terms of quality and continuity, and the MCMC would manage pricing matters through consultation with the relevant parties, especially DNB.

"We do not want changes to cause higher costs and burden consumers,” he said at a joint media conference on DNB with Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz regarding the implementation of 5G here today.

Putrajaya has decided to maintain the implementation of the 5G network as a single wholesale network (SWN) and allow telecommunication companies to hold equities in DNB.

The cabinet has agreed that the government, which now holds 100 percent equity in DNB, will offer up to 70 percent of the equity stake to Mobile Network Operator (MNO) telecommunications companies which were committed to the access agreement under the SWN model.

Annuar said the government's target was for the cost of 5G to be cheaper than the current 4G network.

According to him, companies previously built their own infrastructures and this led to overlapping, thus causing inefficient implementation and high cost that was borne by the companies.

"Now, there is the Multi-Operator Core Network (MOCN) technology that allows one tower to be shared by six companies.

"Imagine how much savings can be made and the cost reduction that will be enjoyed by consumers. Our target is for the cost of 5G to be cheaper than 4G," he said.

Annuar said that in implementing the 5G network, the government will spearhead the efforts by inviting telecommunication companies to be on one platform under DNB.

Asked about the 5G distribution spectrum, Annuar said it would not be distributed to companies but, instead, given to DNB, which is owned by various companies.

- Bernama