Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil today said the launch of the country's second 5G network may be delayed even though Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) has reached 80 percent coverage as previously planned. Fahmi said the delay was also for the DNB board to be formed first.
Five major mobile network operators CelcomDigi Berhad, Maxis Berhad, Telekom Malaysia Berhad, U Mobile Sdn Bhd and YTL Power International Berhad signed an equity stake in DNB in early December last year. DNB's 80% coverage had already been reached last January with many thinking that the second 5G network had already been announced at this point.
The formation of this second 5G network faces several issues, among which is the use of Huawei and ZTE equipment. The United States and the European Union (EU) each issued a warning to countries not to use the equipment of these two Chinese companies for safety reasons. At that time Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said the government would not prevent the use of Chinese telecommunications equipment for the two countries' 5G networks.