After missing the 8th July deadline, Malaysia’s Communications and Multimedia Minister has said this afternoon that discussions on Digital Nasional Berhad’s (DNB) stake deals are progressing well and are set to meet the deadline when all six telcos sign on 31st August. Last week, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul said telcos have until 31st August to agree on DNB’s terms or risk losing out on access to 5G.
As quoted by Bernama during Annuar Musa’s visit to Celcom Business Tech Week 2022, he said “I know what MCMC is going to decide and it’s good for everybody and I’m sure all parties can accept it.” He shared that the MCMC is chairing a meeting on 29th August to decide on a few terms.
“Of course, there are ongoing processes and I’m happy to inform that things are progressing very well and have met all the deadlines.
“Then between DNB and the telcos, there will certainly be discussions especially regarding assets and pricing involving MCMC as the regulator,” he said.
On 30th June, Annuar Musa told reporters that the sale of DNB’s 70% equity stake was going according to plan and it will be concluded by 8th July 2022. He also expected telcos to complete their due diligence for the DNB equity deal in two months while major telcos will start offering 5G services by September.
From what we know so far, none of the telcos have signed DNB’s Reference Access Offer, a document which determines the pricing and deliverables for 5G wholesale services. The big four telcos such as Celcom, Digi, Maxis and U Mobile have previously expressed concerns that DNB’s current RAO will not enable affordable and quality 5G services. Two days ago, Telekom Malaysia CEO Imri Mokhtar said TM is still negotiating with DNB on finalising the equity agreement and wholesale agreement. It aims to meet the 31st August deadline as set by the Finance Ministry.
At the time of writing, DNB has not revised the RAO published on its website which currently charges telcos RM30,000 per Gbps per month for 5G access and is tied to a 10-year duration. Assuming MCMC is finally stepping in to revise the pricing and to address the telco’s concerns, it seems overly optimistic to expect the telcos to sign the deal in just a couple of days.
YTL Communications’ Yes 5G remains the first and only telco in Malaysia to offer 5G services to consumers. As shared recently by YTL Communications’ CEO Wing K Lee, DNB’s 5G network currently has 30% 5G population coverage nationwide and 90% population coverage in Kuala Lumpur, Cyberjaya and Putrajaya. Under the current roadmap, DNB aims to cover 40% population coverage by the end of 2022 and 80% population coverage by the end of 2024.
In case you missed it, you can watch our discussion on the current progress of 5G in Malaysia.
[ SOURCE, IMAGE SOURCE ]
Related reading
- YTLC CEO: DNB now has 90% 5G population coverage in KL, Putrajaya and Cyberjaya, 30% nationwide
- Tengku Zafrul: Telcos have until 31 Aug to agree to DNB terms or risk losing out on access to 5G
- KL ranked second fastest for 5G download speeds in APAC but 5G coverage remains among the lowest
- 5G Malaysia: Has Celcom, Digi, Maxis and U Mobile accepted DNB’s 5G access offer?
