Malaysia is taking an unusual strategy for licensing 5G spectrum: it has built a government-owned 5G wholesale network and restricts the ability of mobile operators to refarm their licensed 4G spectrum to support 5G. The Digital Nasional Berhad wholesale network will begin commercial operations soon, but the leading Malaysian mobile operators are opposed to the move.
DNB says renting will cost half or perhaps 40 percent of what the mobile operators would have to spend to build their own networks.
In Malaysia, mobile device data consumption grew 35 percent in 2021. Nationally, fixed network broadband penetration is about eight percent, where mobile adoption is in excess of total population. In other words, most people rely on mobile devices for internet access in Malaysia.
source: Khazanah Research Institute
That is an issue in Malaysia now that the government is building a national 5G wholesale network and placing obstacles in the way of mobile operators who might otherwise wish to refarm 4G spectrum to support 5G.
The government has said 5G wholesale rates will be about 40 percent less than the annual cost of operating an owned 4G network.
source: Khazanah Research Institute, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission
But the leading mobile operators are not convinced. They say a lack of transparency about future plans is an issue. There is no clear guidance on whether the government might itself decide to become a retail competitor, for example.
As always, that would not be advantageous to the other wholesale customers of the network.
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