Consumers can expect telcos to deploy their 5G service sometime this month according to Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB). This is following the finalisation of the DNB’s share agreement between local telcos.

Officially announced just hours after the tabling of Bajet 2023, Celcom, Digi, TM, and YTL Communications now collectively have 65% shares inside DNB. As you may recall, Maxis and U Mobile have decided not to pick up any stake in DNB although both telcos are still committed to obtaining 5G access from the national 5G corporation which involved a different agreement altogether.

Out of the 65% figure, TM and YTL have obtained 20% shares each while Celcom and Digi have 12.5% of stakes each. The reason why Celcom and Digi have a smaller number of shares is that they are going through a merger.

DNB pointed out that under the share agreement, the merged entity can’t hold more than 25% of shares in the company. Similarly, the agreement also stipulated that each individual telco can’t own shares of more than 20% in the company.

The other 35% stake in DNB belonged to the government which has also obtained a Golden Share in the national 5G company. This means the government has extra says in the company regarding certain matters such as ownership, sale, and transfers of shares.

Now that the share agreement is finally done, all parties involved are now shifting their attention to the access agreement. DNB Chairman Asri Hamidon noted in today’s announcement that the testing & integration of the 5G sites by telcos have been smooth and the company is confident that the telcos are quite ready to provide 5G services to consumers.

On DNB’s part, Asri said that it is working to achieve its target to cover 40% of the country’s populated areas by the end of this year and ultimately 80% by 2024. At the moment, the 5G coverage in Malaysia currently stands at 33% according to the company.

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