This article appeared in Bernama on 4 December 2022.

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 4 (Bernama) -- Malaysia’s 5G network has been recognised globally at the prestigious Glotel award which acknowledges innovation and excellence in advancing and transforming telecommunications.

The winners were revealed at the global awards ceremony in London last Thursday where Ericsson’s joint submission with Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB) won the “Best Vendor 5G Innovation” category.

In a statement today, Head of Ericsson Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh David Hagerbro said the award was testimony to the technology and innovations being incorporated into the network that Ericsson is delivering for DNB, which would be the backbone for Malaysia’s digital transformation.

He said the award goes to the telecom companies that have developed the best new technology or service that raises the bar for 5G while demonstrating a significant contribution to the advancement of 5G on the whole.

“The Glotel award is just one example of our commitment to provide a world-class 5G network for Malaysia that offers affordability, a world class user experience and security that is accelerating the digital transformation and becoming an attractive destination for foreign investment where secure and robust connectivity is required for operations and manufacturing,” he said.

For consumers, 5G will enhance their digital lifestyle in areas such as gaming, streaming, healthcare and education while enterprises will be able to rely on business-critical use cases in areas such as mining, logistics and agriculture.

The award-winning entry was for “Multi-Operator Core Network and Dynamic Resource Partitioning for the National Wholesale 5G Network”.

DNB’s 5G network is the first commercial network in the world to apply Dynamic Radio Resource Partitioning (DRP), a 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) Slicing solution from Ericsson.

Hagerbro said DRP enabled six telecommunications operators on DNB’s shared network to deliver customised 5G services, allowing them to achieve the best possible speed which provided consumers with uncompromised choice while driving value for the network with 5G as an innovation platform.

The complements the Multi-Operator Core Network (MOCN) that is also used on DNB’s 5G network that allows operators to share radio resources fairly without any compromise to quality during busy hours and differentiate their offerings for customers.

He said the ability for active sharing would maximise spectrum utilisation and ultimately lead to lower costs of 5G services for Malaysia, which in turn would accelerate adoption and digital transformation.

”We are looking forward to bringing the latest innovation and technology to Malaysia while achieving more milestones that will strengthen its competitiveness and accelerate the nation’s journey as it leapfrogs forward as a Digital Nation,” he added.