It will offer a 70% stake to mobile network operators (MNOs), Tengku Zafrul Aziz added.
At a press conference today, he said this was the best solution to accelerate the implementation of the 5G network, with the objective of encouraging the use of 5G.
“The government will be offering up to 70% of Digital Nasional Bhd’s (DNB) equity to MNOs. It will hold the remaining 30%,” he said.
He added that DNB would be regulated by the communications and multimedia ministry, which was responsible for the telecommunications industry through the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, and the finance ministry would continue to monitor it on governance and as a shareholder.
DNB, an agency wholly owned by the finance ministry, has been tasked with building and managing the 5G network, but has run into problems with poor take-up by MNOs.
The MNOs had recommended that the government allow a second 5G provider, sources told Reuters in December, following an impasse between them and DNB over pricing and other issues.
They were worried that the plan would result in a nationalised monopoly more costly than deploying 5G on their own, though DNB had said it would charge MNOs less to access its 5G network than the cost they incurred for 4G.
On March 10, the government said DNB received RM1.7 billion in funding from financial institutions for the 5G network rollout.
In a reply to Fahmi Fadzil (PH-Lembah Pantai) in the Dewan Rakyat, the finance ministry said the government would not be involved in providing any guarantees or funding to DNB, as alleged by certain parties.
“The loans will be repaid after the company receives income from its wholesale capacity sales,” it said.
“Up to January, DNB had spent RM544 million on network infrastructure, network hardware and working capital.”
Fahmi had asked the government whether public funds had been given, directly or indirectly, to DNB since last year and how much the company had spent.
The ministry also said 5G network services were currently available in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Cyberjaya, and would be expanded to Penang, Johor, Sabah, Sarawak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Melaka this year.
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