Annuar Musa announces the appointment of MRCB Vice Chairman as interim MCMC Chairman

Datuk Dr Fadhlullah Suhaimi Abdul Malek’s two-year contract as MCMC chairman ended on 9th June 2022. Before a new chairman comes on board, the Minister of Communications and Multimedia Tan Sri Annuar Musa, has announced the appointment of Tan Sri Mohamad Salim Fateh Din as the interim chairman.

Tan Sri Mohamad Salim Fateh Din is currently the Executive Vice Chairman at Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB). Prior to his recent appointment, Tan Sri Salim was appointed the Commission Member of the MCMC from 1st January 2022 for a period of two years.

Tan Sri Salim is described as a successful entrepreneur and he was one of the first property developers to embark on the green development concept. Some of his green projects include Menara Shell at KL Sentral and PJ Sentral Garden City, which are hailed as industry benchmarks geared towards the highest standard of Green Building Index (GBI). He’s also the founder and Managing Director of Gapurna Sdn Bhd and has served in various top roles across different corporations including Giant Malaysia and British Tobacco (Malaysia) Berhad.

Tan Sri Annuar Musa said he is confident that Tan Sri Salim will bring a breath of fresh air to develop the Malaysian telecommunications industry. He believes the stakeholders in the telco and digital industry will continue to provide their support to the various initiatives and efforts by the government through the MCMC which will benefit Malaysians both locally and abroad.

As the new interim Chairman of the MCMC, Tan Sri Salim will face the daunting task of solving the 5G stalemate between the big four telcos and Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB). Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz has recently indicated that the government is sticking to its 30th June deadline for telcos to sign up for 5G access with the single wholesale network. If the big four telcos refuse to take up the offer, the government may open up the stake offer to domestic and foreign private equity.

The telcos have raised concerns about DNB’s 5G access offer as it will not enable affordable and quality 5G services to Malaysians. One of the biggest issues is the high capacity cost of RM30,000 per Gbps per month which is fixed for a 10-year period. There are also concerns about transparency and the lack of framework and instruments to regulate a single wholesale network.

Related reading

• Five reasons why Celcom, Digi, Maxis and U Mobile are reluctant to accept DNB’s 5G access offer
• 5G in Malaysia: Will single wholesale network be successful? | Let’s Talk About #94
• MOF rejects telcos’ demand for controlling stake in DNB, 30 June deadline remains for 5G agreement
• Former MCMC Chairman appointed as Celcom’s interim Chairman