U Mobile has announced that its ULTRA5G network rollout has exceeded its 80% 5G population target ahead of schedule.
During today’s launch event where they revealed their latest ULTRA5G prepaid and postpaid offering, U Mobile says their 5G network has already achieved 82.9% 5G population average. It took them less than 9 months to hit the coverage milestone and the feat was recognised by Malaysia Book of Records as the fastest 5G rollout in the country.
The orange telco had set a target last year to hit the 80% milestone by July 2026 and eventually 90% in the subsequent 12 months.
U Mobile says its 5G network now covers majority of towns and cities nationwide. As of 31st March 2026, they have deployed a total of 6,737 sites across both West and East Malaysia.
Here’s the breakdown of ULTRA5G’s coverage of populated areas (COPA) by states and territories:
- WP Putrajaya – 99.9%
- Penang – 99.1%
- WP Kuala Lumpur – 98.6%
- WP Labuan – 96%
- Selangor – 95.2%
- Melaka – 92.6%
- Perlis 91.9%
- Johor – 86.4%
- Terengganu – 85.5%
- Perak – 81.3%
- Negeri Sembilan – 80.8%
- Kedah – 77.2%
- Kelantan – 75.9%
- Pahang – 72.8%
- Sabah – 62.1%
- Sarawak – 58.7%
The U Mobile ULTRA5G network is deployed using both Huawei and ZTE as their 5G technology partner. Huawei focuses on West Malaysia deployment, while ZTE is responsible for East Malaysia.
They have also looked into providing deeper 5G coverage with additional focus on in-building coverage. At the moment, they have 136 in-building 5G sites which include KLIA, KLIA2, KKIA, Langkawi International Airport, Penang Sentral, Salak South Transport Terminal, Berjaya Times Square, Bangsar Village, Bangsar Shopping Centre and TRX Mall.
Besides announcing new ULTRA5G plans, the telco is also the first in Malaysia to commercially offer 5G network slicing to consumers via its ULTRA5G Priority Pass. The pass which is bundled on its new postpaid and prepaid plans allow users to activate 3 hours of high priority access to the 5G network. Essentially, these passes work like a VIP lane to ensure that you get faster speeds and lower latency, which is useful in congested locations or high traffic situations such as a live concert or a sports event.
The ULTRA5G priority pass feature requires a 5G SA compatible device and it must be connected to the ULTRA5G network. You’ll know that the priority pass is activated once your device is showing UM ULTRA5G PRIORITY as the network name.
Since the second network has achieved its 80% 5G population target, the orange telco is expected to transition away from Digital Nasional Berhad.
U Mobile CTO Woon Ooi Yuen has shared that U Mobile has notified its intention to exit its 5G access agreement with DNB and they would only need to give a month notice for the termination. The timeline to end the access agreement with DNB will be revealed at a later time.
