This article appeared in SoyaCincau on 3 February 2023.

Following Digital Nasional Berhad’s (DNB) response on the actual 5G sites that are accessible by consumers in Malaysia, a source close to the matter has refuted DNB’s claims about the onboarding process of new 5G sites. DNB says it has delivered integrated sites which are ready to be onboarded by telcos and the timing is dependent on the mobile network operators (MNO). DNB added that it is up to the MNOs to decide which sites and when they intend to onboard before it can be accessed by consumers for 5G services.

According to the source, it is inaccurate to say that telcos get to decide which sites and when to onboard for 5G services. As far as the telcos are concerned, they have no visibility of when the sites are ready and only after onboarding they will be aware of the sites’ operational status.

When it comes to onboarding, the source mentions that it is typically done in batches of 100-200 sites and each batch takes about a day or so. It involves a configuration on DNB’s Radio Access Network (RAN) equipment and the MNOs would have done the preconfiguration for them to onboard.

Recently, Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil has scrutinised DNB’s claim of achieving close to 50% 5G population coverage by the end of 2022 as the MCMC has not yet verified the info. When we reached out to DNB, they have confirmed that out of 3,900 sites which claimed to provide 47.1% 5G population coverage, the total of onboarded 5G sites accounts to approximately 38% of coverage of populated areas.

Despite the shortfall of actual 5G sites that can be accessed by consumers, DNB says they are closing the gap as they are onboarding an average of hundreds of sites per week. The single wholesale network added that its 5G network has recorded 426TB in data traffic per day with a peak of 121,000 concurrent users as of 31st January 2023. It aims to achieve 80% 5G population coverage by the end of 2024.

At the moment, a total of five telcos have signed 5G access agreements with DNB which include Celcom, Digi, Telekom Malaysia, U Mobile and YTL Communications. Maxis has decided to postpone its decision on the 5G access agreement with DNB until the government completes its review into the 5G single wholesale network model.