Digital Nasional

Last updated
Digital Nasional Berhad
Industry Telecommunications
Founded1 March 2021;3 years ago (2021-03-01)
Founder Ministry of Finance
HeadquartersLevel 12, Exchange 106 Lingkaran TRX, Tun Razak Exchange,
55188 Kuala Lumpur
,
Malaysia
Owner Government of Malaysia
Website www.digital-nasional.com.my

Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB; English: National Digital Limited) is a Malaysian special-purpose vehicle company owned by the Ministry of Finance Malaysia and is regulated by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission. DNB was established in early March 2021 to drive the development of the 5G (fifth-generation) infrastructure in Malaysia. It offers 5G as a wholesale network service to other telecommunication companies. [1] [2]

Contents

The first rollout of the 5G services in Malaysia was launched on 15 December 2021, with TM and YTL as its operators upon rollout. [3] [4]

On October 7, 2022, four major telcos took up 65% in shares of DNB, with the remaining 35% held by the government with a golden share. The four major telcos with their respective stakes in DNB were TM (20%), YTL (20%), Digi (12.5%), and Celcom (12.5%), [5] which was subsequently merged with Digi to form CelcomDigi on 1 December 2022. [6]

Deployment of 5G

DNB had announced that it would launch and rollout the country's first 5G network with a total of 500 sites in areas within Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Cyberjaya by the end of December 2021 which is expected provide about 10% population coverage. [7] The Malaysian government had also appointed Ericsson as the sole network equipment provider at a cost of RM4 billion as well as to build the infrastructure estimated at a cost of RM11 billion. [8]

Digital Nasional chief executive officer, Augustus Ralph Marshall, said that the country's first 5G base station installation at Bukit Tunku has been powered on which aims to deliver 500 5G-enabled sites in Kuala Lumpur, Cyberjaya and Putrajaya upon rollout. [9]

Frequencies used on DNB network in Malaysia
BandFrequencyFrequency widthProtocolNotes
28700 MHz (703-743, 758-798)2*2 x20 MHz LTE for NSA 5G anchor
783.5 GHz (3410.4 MHz and 3511.2 MHz)200 MHz 5G NR Govt assigned 200 MHz to DNB
25728 GHz 5G NR Govt assigned 1600 MHz to DNB

It has also planned to deploy 5G in major cities and districts in Johor, Penang, Selangor and Sabah in 2022. [10] As at May 31, 2023, the rollout of the 5G network had achieved 62.1% coverage of populated areas involving 5,058 5G sites, with the aim of achieving 80% coverage of populated areas nationwide by the end year 2023. [11]

Criticisms

DNB faces criticism from a number of individuals. These individuals want the government to also allow a competing provider, if not switch to a telco alliance-based deployment model as used in Singapore, a sentiment shared by a number of telcos operating in the country. [12] Initially, only two companies- YTL's YES and TM's UniFi Mobile- have agreed to the DNB's term, while the others have publicly protested the plan. Additionally, the network will not allow all 5G phones and will only allow connection from "tested and authorized" handsets. This has raised concerns with early adopters of 5G phones as the network is, as of 2023, blocking all Sony handsets as well as older Asus, Samsung and iPhone 5G handsets, as well as lesser known handsets like the TickTock from Unihertz, but on the other hand most Chinese-made phones like Oppo, ZTE and Huawei are allowed onto the network unimpeded.

In December 2022, newly appointed Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said his administration would review the plan for DNB's 5G network introduced by his predecessor, [13] and on September 27, 2023, he said that the government would allow a second 5G network to operate by Huawei from 2024 to break a monopoly held by DNB. [14]

As of 2024, the company has relaxed its stance on approved devices and began allowing more 5G devices onto the network. Additionally, all telcos are now on board after the government announced that telcos are now allowed to buy a stake in the company. However, the plan for a second 5G network is still on the table.

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References

  1. ↑ "RM15b 5G infrastructure cost to be borne by private sector, says MoF". The Edge Markets. 2021-03-09. Retrieved 2021-10-29.
  2. ↑ "Bringing 5G to the Country". Digital Nasional Berhad. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
  3. ↑ Wong, Alexander. "DNB provides free 5G access to telcos in Malaysia until 31st March 2022". SoyaCincau. Retrieved 2021-12-06.
  4. ↑ Ong, Shazni (2021-12-15). "TM, YTL first operators to offer 5G access in Malaysia as DNB's 5G goes live". The Edge Markets. Retrieved 2021-12-16.
  5. ↑ "Four major telcos take up equity stakes in DNB".
  6. ↑ "Historic merger marks new chapter in Malaysia's digitalisation journey - Telenor Group". www.telenor.com (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2023-10-03.
  7. ↑ "DNB to minimise 5G rollout complexity". The Edge Markets. 2021-12-03. Archived from the original on 2021-12-06. Retrieved 2021-12-06.
  8. ↑ "Trillions at stake if 5G company fails, warns Najib". Free Malaysia Today. October 16, 2021.
  9. ↑ Wong, Alexander. "DNB promises to deliver 500 5G sites by end-2021, 100Mbps at weakest coverage point". SoyaCincau. Retrieved 2021-10-29.
  10. ↑ "MOF says no need to sell stake in Digital Nasional to finance 5G rollout as no govt funding involved". The Edge Markets. 2021-09-22. Retrieved 2021-10-29.
  11. ↑ "Fahmi: Malaysia's 5G coverage now at 62.1%". The Star. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
  12. ↑ "Malaysian cellcos call for second 5G wholesale operator as DNB switches on its first sites". TeleGeography. 2021-12-15. Archived from the original on 2021-12-15. Retrieved 2021-12-15.
  13. ↑ Latiff, Rozanna (2022-12-06). "New PM Anwar says Malaysia to review plans for 5G network". Reuters. Retrieved 2022-12-08.
  14. ↑ "Malaysia's switch to dual 5G network can allow participation of China's Huawei, prime minister says". Reuters. 2023-09-27. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
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