Revoke ministerial order giving DNB sole permission for 5G rollout, govt told

 

A ministerial direction in May 2021 made DNB the sole entity legally permitted to build and manage 5G infrastructure in the country. (Reuters pic)

PETALING JAYA: An economist has called for the government to revoke the directive granting Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB) the exclusive rights to build and manage 5G infrastructure in the country.

In a ministerial directive issued on May 31, 2021, then communications and multimedia minister Saifuddin Abdullah said DNB was appointed “the single neutral party to undertake the deployment of the 5G infrastructure and network nationwide, and to provide wholesale 5G services”.

This made DNB the sole entity legally permitted to build and manage 5G infrastructure in the country. From a legal perspective, the directive remains in force to the present day.

Geoffrey Williams of the Malaysia University of Science and Technology said the government must remove the regulation to show it is serious about dismantling monopolies.

“Breaking the monopolies is simply a matter of revoking the protection and opening the market.

“In the case of DNB, the regulations will have to be revoked and fortunately, it’s simpler because it is only a ministerial directive,” he told FMT.

Williams said the monopoly, created when DNB was appointed as the government’s special purpose vehicle for the 5G rollout, was unnecessary.

Implementation of the technology was feasible without Putrajaya’s involvement, he added.

“The DNB monopoly was pushed through politically and it is good that it is being dismantled now as consumers will benefit from lower costs, with more innovations driven by the market,” said Williams.

Ledang MP Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh said although uncertainty remained over the 5G rollout, the introduction of a second network was the right move.

He agreed that there was never a need for DNB in the first place, with existing telecommunications companies and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) sufficiently equipped to handle and monitor 5G implementation.

On May 3, communications and digital minister Fahmi Fadzil announced that Putrajaya had agreed to introduce a second 5G service provider.

However, he said the rollout of the second network will only take place once state-owned DNB achieves 80% coverage in populated areas.

Fahmi said he expected the second network to begin operating as early as January. - FMT