This article appeared in The star on 03 March 2022.

PETALING JAYA: Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB) is ramping up the 5G rollout in a bid to achieve 38% population coverage by the end of 2022.

The targetted areas include parts of Johor, Penang, Sabah, Sarawak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Melaka and Perak.

“We would like to thank the various federal, state and local authorities and government agencies that are working with DNB to expedite the 5G rollout.

“They are helping us stay on track for our 5G coverage target of 37.9% of populated areas by the end of 2022,” said DNB chief technology officer Ken Tan in a statement yesterday.

He said DNB’s ultra-lean design of the 5G network makes it approximately 15% more energy efficient compared to earlier cellular standards, including 4G LTE.

By leveraging the Third Generation Partnership Project’s New Radio (NR) standards, it is now possible to optimise energy usage to such an extent that a combined 2G, 3G, 4G, and full 5G network deployment would consume less total energy than a corresponding network without 5G.

YTL Communications chief executive officer Wing K. Lee said the company had received “very encouraging” response on the 5G network as customers are experiencing excellent speeds and low latency.

“We are working with major manufacturers to bring more 5G devices into the market at affordable prices.

“Together with our various initiatives, such as our #FirstToDiscover5G Campaign, which offers a FREE YES FT5G Prepaid Discover SIM Pack, more Malaysians will be able to enjoy the power of 5G as DNB continues to expand the 5G network across the country,” he said in the same statement.

He added that the network was resilient, performing as expected, and was managed by the state-of-the-art DNB 5G Network Operations Centre (NOC).

The DNB 5G NOC will monitor, maintain and manage network faults, security and performance KPIs, while leveraging the Ericsson Operations Engine.

In a separate statement, Ericsson said DNB’s 5G network will be the world’s first commercial network to apply Ericsson’s dynamic radio resource partitioning (DRP), a 5G radio access network (RAN) slicing solution.

Head of Ericsson Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh David Hägerbro said the DRP would enable six mobile network operators to deliver customised 5G services with guaranteed performance, ensuring configured spectrum resource sharing among mobile network operators (MNOs) using DNB’s 5G network.

“This innovation also allows each MNO to differentiate its offering to consumers on the shared 5G network,” he said.

The American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) said it supports the efforts by the government to address the issue of digital connectivity through initiatives like the National Digital Network or Jendela and MyDIGITAL, the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint, with the goal of improving and enhancing development across Malaysia.

“AmCham supports a plan of action that is transparent, competitive and addresses information security needs, including data integrity, confidentiality and availability,” it said in a separate statement yesterday.

AmCham said any delay in the implementation of 5G in Malaysia will not only impact the country’s National Investment Aspirations, but could also have implications for the country’s competitive standing, especially among neighbouring countries.

“Any decision that is made by the government on the issue of 5G rollouts, be it the single wholesale network or SWN, the Dual Wholesale Model or any other model has to take into account the following: firstly, the progress and investments that have already been made in the implementation of the rollout plan.

“Secondly, the need to ensure that there is effective communication to the public and other stakeholders along with extensive consultation, transparency and deliberation of issues impacting the rollout.

“And lastly, to ensure an effective model with extensive coverage to all citizens that will encourage greater foreign and domestic investment and unlock the full potential of Malaysia for future success,” it added.