KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 19): Malaysia’s 5G network rollout has reached 27% as at the second quarter of this year (2Q22), but the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) foresees challenges ahead at state-level rollouts due to red tape by local authorities.

“At the moment, there are rollout challenges. [As] Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB) [is] an operator, they are not [excluded] from facing these challenges,” said MCMC chief operation officer Datuk Mohd Ali Hanafiah Mohd Yunus in the quarterly update for Phase 1 of Jalinan Digital Negara (Jendela).

“The initial rollout in Klang Valley, Cyberjaya and Putrajaya might not be so much of a challenge, but now once they go down into the states, they are actually [facing] similar challenges that have been faced by all other telcos.

“Meaning dealing with local councils, with the states, they are [facing] bureaucracy issues, meeting the requirements of one-stop agencies and centres and so on. Whenever they need any assistance from MCMC, we will assist at state level,” he told reporters at the briefing on Monday (Sept 19).

Mohd Ali Hanafiah said although the rollout of 5G is progressing, there is still room for improvement, and MCMC is also working with DNB — the special-purpose entity tasked to roll out 5G in Malaysia — to begin implementing in-building coverage.

DNB has begun rolling out 5G network since 4Q21, and it aims to reach 37% population coverage by the end of this year.

“Progress is ongoing. There was a slight glitch at the beginning of the year, when there was shortage of materials that was affecting not only here [but also] throughout the world, and this is one of the things that DNB is addressing,” said Mohd Ali Hanafiah.

Jendela Phase 1 updates

Mohd Ali Hanafiah said as at 2Q22, 4G population coverage has reached 95.85% versus the Jendela Phase 1 target of 96.9% by the end of 2022, while premises passed has reached 7.2 million versus the 7.5 million target.

In terms of speed, he said average speed has reached 47.04 megabits per second (Mbps) as at 2Q22, surpassing the targeted 35Mbps.

“We are in sync towards the targets for Jendela Phase 1. We are quite confident that we can achieve these targets come 4Q22,” he said.