This article appeared in SoyaCincau on 15 December 2022.

Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) has refuted claims made by Maxis on Twitter that the national 5G coverage is only available in Putrajaya and Cyberjaya. The green telco replied to several users that the project to launch 5G is still ongoing and 5G is only available currently in Cyberjaya and Putrajaya.

In a statement issued to us, DNB said Maxis has made certain erroneous statements on their Twitter handle on 14th December 2022. It clarified that the 5G network currently covers almost all of Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Cyberjaya, Selangor and significant parts of Penang, Johor and Negeri Sembilan. The network also covers some parts of Malacca, Perak, Kelantan, Sabah and Sarawak. Users are urged to check the current 5G coverage map for the latest info.

DNB claims to have 38.7% 5G population coverage nationwide as of 30th November and it is confident of surpassing 40% 5G population coverage by 31st December 2022. Based on the coverage rollout breakdown, the 5G network covers over 96% of populated areas in Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, and 84% in Selangor. The 5G single wholesale network has also recently turned on 5G in Kota Kinabalu and Kuching, in East Malaysia.

At the moment, only 5 telcos are offering 5G services – Celcom, Digi, Telekom Malaysia, U Mobile and YTL Communications. Maxis still can’t offer commercial 5G services yet as they are still pending shareholders’ approval before they can execute the 5G access agreement with DNB. They are expected to settle the access agreement by January 2023.

iPhone users in Malaysia are finally able to get 5G on their phones after receiving iOS 16.2 update. However, the 5G toggle settings are only shown to users of Celcom, Digi and U Mobile. Unifi Mobile and Yes 5G customers will not be able to access 5G via the iPhone as the two telcos are not Apple’s partner telcos.