Gobind said the board, which has five new members, is scheduled to begin their onboarding next Tuesday.

“And after that, they (DNB board) have a period of 20 days to come up with recommendations as to what they think the way forward (with the rolling out of 5G) should be,” he told reporters after the memorandum of understanding signing ceremony between Ericsson Group and DNB.

When asked if a decision on the second 5G network would be made after 20 days, Gobind replied that the board had a process it was undertaking and he would be updated once that was completed.

Last May, Putrajaya agreed to a second 5G service provider, with the shift to a dual network to commence in Phase 2 of the network’s roll-out.

This was contingent on DNB reaching 80% coverage in populated areas, a target achieved last December.

As of March this year, DNB’s 5G coverage stood at 80.3%.

Gobind said last week that the appointment of new DNB board members was a step towards fulfilling the government’s commitment to implementing the dual network.

He also said the board members would convene a meeting soon to review the due diligence findings and work towards fulfilling the remaining conditions and finalising the share subscription agreements (SSA) signed on Dec 1 last year.

A total of five mobile network operators entered into SSAs with DNB and the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc): CelcomDigi, Maxis, Telekom, U Mobile and YTL Communications.

The SSAs were established to put into effect the government’s policy on the transition from a single wholesale network model to a dual network model.