Malaysia’s 5G plan review will not yield easy fixes

MALAYSIA’S decision to review an unpopular state-owned 5G network plan may score some points among those who had panned the idea in the first place. But there will be no quick fixes, given that the rollout is already a third of the way through.

One possibility is for the government to allow a second 5G network to be built alongside the state-owned one – a plan that had been proposed in February but was later rejected. However, analysts said doing so would be complicated, as spectrum for this second network would have to be allocated from the first.

According to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), the state-owned 5G network has already reached 33.2 per cent of populated areas as at Sep 30 this year.