Former Maxis CEO and former Shell CFO appointed directors at Digital Nasional Berhad

Digital Nasional Berhad, the 5G Special Purpose Vehicle under the Ministry of Finance has announced two new appointments ahead of Malaysia’s 5G rollout. Telco veteran and former Maxis CEO, Morten Lundal and former Shell CFO for China, Lim Tau Kien have been appointed as its non-executive directors effective 14th April and 28th April respectively.

The duo join other board members which include Datuk Seri Dr. Yusof bin Ismail, director-general of the Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU), Datuk Mohamed
Sharil Tarmizi, former chairman and chief executive of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC); and lawyer Datuk Muthanna Abdullah.

DNB Chairman Dato Asri Hamidon said, “On behalf of DNB, I am pleased to welcome both Mr. Lundal and Ms. Lim to the board. Their appointments will further elevate the board’s capacity in ensuring the best standards in corporate governance; and the combined experience of the professional appointees together with the leadership of Mr. Ralph Marshall with specialisation in regulatory and operating aspects of telecommunication, public finance and general management, and legal is particularly valuable as DNB makes headway in realising its goal to launch the 5G network by the end of the year.”

Morten is no stranger in Malaysia’s telco scene. He was previously the CEO at Digi from 2004 to 2008 and was also the former Group CCO at Vodafone. Morten joined Maxis in 2013 before leaving the green telco on 2018.

Meanwhile, Lim Tau Kien has over 40 years of corporate experience and was the Country Chief Finance Officer, Country Controller and Finance Director in Shell China before her retirement in 2008. She has held several key corporate roles including as a director of listed and non-listed companies since 1997.

According to Digital Nasional Berhad, they have issued a proposal request to 8 global network equipment providers (NEPs) on 7 April 2021 for the building and maintenance of a nationwide 5G network. According to The Edge, the 8 vendors include Ericsson, Huawei, ZTE, Cisco, NEC, Nokia, Samsung and FibreHome.

The selected NEP will be announced in July 2021. The appointed vendor will be tasked to work towards Malaysia’s first 5G rollout by the end of 2021 in Putrajaya, Cyberjaya and Kuala Lumpur.

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