Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil has announced the appointment of Tan Sri Mohamad Salim bin Fateh Din as the new Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) Chairman. His appointment takes effect on 1st March 2023 and it is for the duration of two years.
Tan Sri Salim, an MRCB Vice Chairman, was previously the interim MCMC Chairman who took over after Datuk Dr Fadhlullah Suhaimi Abdul Malek’s two-year contract as Chairman ended in 2022. After the change of government, Tan Sri Salim resigned from his interim chairman role in December 2022 and the ministry appointed Datuk Muhammad Azmi Bin Mohd Zain as the new interim Chairman.
Commenting on the appointment, Fahmi said he believes Tan Sri Salim’s appointment will help to solve the current communications infrastructure issues including addressing the final 3% of the populated areas that don’t have access to the internet, and bridge the digital divide and drive Malaysia into a golden digital decade.
At the moment, the government aims to expedite the rollout of 5G to achieve 80% 5G population coverage by the end of this year, which is one year ahead of Digital Nasional Berhad’s (DNB) schedule. As mentioned by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim during the tabling of Budget 2023, the state-owned 5G single wholesale network will be managed more transparently to achieve full participation by the telcos. As of the end 2022, DNB claims to achieve close to 50% 5G population coverage with 3,900 sites nationwide, but only 38% of the populated areas can access 5G services.
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