Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB), the government-owned entity that owns exclusive rights to build the 5G network infrastructure in Malaysia, has told The Star in an interview its pledges its 5G network to offer at least 100Mbps of speed at cell edge, as compared to 18Mbps on current networks.
While this means that users can expect usable internet speeds while connected on weak 5G coverage areas, DNB has said that it would still depend on the operators if they would want to offer that bandwidth, as they can potentially throttle the speed to differentiate their product and service offerings, even as to save operating expenditure.
As for this, DNB has been in talks with MCMC on this issue to mandate those who wants to tap into their 5G network to agree to ‘a complete pass-through of the speed’, as failing to hit that minimum speed threshold will result them in a fine by MCMC just like any other telcos.
Malaysia’s 5G network is expected to rollout by December this year, with the shutting down of 3G networks already in progress, DNB aims to have 500 sites deployed across Cyberjaya, Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur. You can read more about the interview with Ralph Marshall, CEO of DNB, here.