KUALA LUMPUR – There is a need to have transparency in the workings of Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB), mobile network operators (MNOs) involved and the Finance Ministry, said DAP’s Bangi lawmaker, following the government’s decision to go ahead with the single wholesale network (SWN) for the national 5G rollout.
Ong Kian Ming said that DNB should be transparent on whether it has achieved its aim of 40% population covered by 5G, including the quality of coverage, and delivery of 5G at less than 20 sen per gigabyte (GB).
“At the same time, DNB should be transparent in controlling costs on the technical side of the 5G rollout that is currently estimated at RM11.5 billion over 10 years, as well as its own internal corporate costs that are estimated at RM4 billion over 10 years.
“DNB must state its cost structure to avoid any speculation that the special purpose vehicle (SPV) is being inefficient and unfairly passing down higher rollout costs to the MNOs that may translate into higher prices for consumers,” he said in a statement.
He then suggested that the MNOs should continue to focus on improving its 4G service, as consumers should not be satisfied with a “single bar” of 4G coverage, which many are experiencing even in urban areas like the Klang Valley.
He also called for transparency on Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission’s (MCMC) part, especially on the Universal Service Provider (USP) funds being deployed for the 4G rollout in the semi-rural and rural areas.
He said the Finance Ministry, being the only shareholder of DNB, must not allow the MNOs to take over DNB and dictate the pace of the 5G rollout, even though they are offered up to a 70% stake in the SPV.
“A conflict of interest cannot be allowed whereby the MNOs use their majority stake in DNB to slow down the 5G rollout so that they can have more time to ‘sweat’ their 4G assets and decrease their payments to DNB because of a slower 5G rollout timeline.
“The agreement to allow the Big 4 (Celcom, Digi, Maxis and UMobile) to buy up to 70% of DNB should not disallow other smaller operators from having similar access to the 5G network, even after DNB is no longer majority owned by the ministry.”
Lastly, he said it makes sense that the ministry retains a golden share or controlling stake in DNB for policy implementation purposes or even delay the selling of DNB’s stakes until the end of 2023 or 2024.
Two days ago, Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz announced that the government decided to implement a SWN for the national 5G broadband roll out, with MNOs being given the opportunity to own up to 70% stake in DNB.
He added that DNB had been instructed to keep the wholesale price of the 5G network to below 20 sen per GB.
“With the new ownership structure, the government will hold 30% equity in DNB that will be monitored by the Communications and Multimedia Ministry, which is also responsible for the industry through MCMC.
“The Finance Ministry will continue to monitor DNB in terms of administration and as the 30% stakeholder.” – The Vibes, March 18, 2022
