KUALA LUMPUR: Communications and Digital minister Fahmi Fadzil said that the signing share subscription agreements (SSAs) between Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) and mobile network operators will now be finalised by the end of this year.
This came after earlier this month he had told the Press that that it will be settled by mid-October.
"InshaAllah," he briefly told reporters after attending the launch of DNB's 5G Experience Centre at Exchange Tower 106 here today.
Justifying the delay, Fahmi said there were minor adjustments in terms of analysis that needed to be done, some assessment from technical point of view, and financial aspects.
"And these things do take a bit of time. But I'm happy to say that we are almost ready to announce a date for signing," he said.
Earlier this month, Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB) and mobile network operators (MNOs) were expected to sign share subscription agreements (SSAs) by the middle of this month.
Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil said currently the government's focus was to execute the SSAs for the MNOs to take up equity in the DNB before furthering discussions on the 5G second network deployment.
On the launch of 5G Experience Centre, Fahmi said based on the latest results from Ookla's Speedtest Intelligence data for Quarter 3 of 2023, Malaysia's median 5G speed is 485.25Mbps, ranking us the fastest amongst Southeast Asian countries, or 3rd globally.
He said that these achievements were testament to the quality and integrity of the world-class 5G network developed by DNB in Malaysia.
"As of end-September, our 5G adoption rate stands at 7.4 per cent, with approximately 2.5 million mobile users subscribed to the 5G network.
"Since the start of the 5G network rollout two years ago, the focus has been on consumer adoption so that enterprises would have access to a growing customer base," he added.