It’s the new year, and as promised, we’ll be seeing the mass deployment of 5G connectivity in the country this year. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has announced the allocation of 5G spectrum bands to be used by local broadband companies for the country-wide rollout of the new connectivity standard.
In a Final Report published by the regulating body notes that the allocation will be made to entities in a consortium that consists of several entities. By doing so, MCMC claims that it will help in make the adoption and deployment of 5G more affordable, as it prevents the duplication of infrastructures.
The MCMC will allocate 700MHz and 3.5GHz bands – both bread-and-butter mid-band and low-band frequency spectrums; this would make sure 5G coverage reaches a wider area.
According to Digital News Asia, the body will make available the 2x30MHz of the 700MHz band and the 100MHz of the 3.5GHz band to the consortium this Q1 2020, through a tender process. The availability of 5G to consumers should come in Q3 of 2020. The remaining frequencies will be assigned at later stages.
As it’s made available through a tender process, we expect big name players to emerge on top – and therefore we can expect to see familiar names offer their 5G offerings much sooner. Plus, MCMC’s cost-saving method should see pricing trickle down to consumers too, saving us a buck wherever possible.
The existing allocation of 4G spectrums are still maintained and will continue until December 2021 – making the gradual adoption of 5G technologies in the country more seamless.