Telcos restricted to single equity stake in second 5G network

KUALA LUMPUR: Mobile network operators (MNOs) involved in Malaysia’s second 5G network are restricted to holding equity in only one entity, deputy communications minister Teo Nie Ching said today.

She said this measure aims to foster healthy competition between the two entities in developing Malaysia’s 5G network infrastructure, ensuring high-quality services for the public.

Under the MNOs and Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB) agreement, she said each MNO must choose to invest in DNB (entity A) or that for the second 5G network (entity B).

“After the conclusion of the applicant information package (AIP) process, the successful tenderer will lead entity B, while unsuccessful bidders will remain in entity A.

“Those in entity B will sell their shares in DNB, ensuring the formation of two distinct entities,” she said during a question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today in response to Chong Zhemin (PH-Kampar) about whether the government would prohibit the same telco company from holding equity in both 5G network companies.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission has been tasked with selecting a mobile network service provider to develop Malaysia’s second 5G network, commencing with the AIP process on July 1, 2024.

Four MNOs – YTL Power International, CelcomDigi, Maxis and U Mobile – had finalised a share subscription agreement with DNB and the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MoF Inc) on Dec 1, 2023, paving the way for the transition to the 5G dual wholesale network model.

Regarding the distribution of DNB’s equity to telco companies, Teo said the shareholding structure would be adjusted to 30% for MoF Inc and 14% for each MNO, following Telekom Malaysia’s completion of its share subscription agreement with MoF Inc and DNB by Aug 21, 2024.

You want to hear a prediction?

DNB - TM and YTL
Entity B - CelcomDigi, Maxis and UMobile

Quite possible. Entity B will have the largest user base and they better build it to cater for high traffic. They should also allow all telcos to roam on DNB network.

This post has been edited by YoungMan: Jul 3 2024, 09:11 PM

Malaysia 5G rollout model likely to be more robust - analyst
By Azanis Shahila Aman, S.Birruntha
July 2, 2024 @ 8:03am


KUALA LUMPUR: The adoption of mass-market 5G-powered services is expected to be rapid and robust, as telecommunication (telco) operators will have greater scope and incentive to keep consumer costs fairly low.

According to BMI Research head of technology and telecoms research Andrew Kitson, the Malaysian model – where existing telcos are obligated to take an investment position in the business, is likely to prove more robust.

In comparison, the high cost of building and commercialising competing 3G, 4G, and 5G networks in other markets has weighed on all industry stakeholders' bottom lines.

Kitson noted that profitability has been slow to materialise for many players, while some have not survived to maturity, and these issues were behind recent mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in many Asian markets, including Malaysia (CelcomDigi).

Nevertheless, he said that the Malaysian 5G model raises concerns about conflicting shareholder demands that might affect the pace or direction of deployment plans in specific regions.

Kitson also pointed out that the government's plan to press ahead with a second wholesale 5G network also presents some downside risks.

He said the main risk is a potential oversupply; a second 5G network may not be used to its full potential if the existing operators do not participate in that and try to compete with it for customers.

"It would be helpful if the government were to lay out in some detail the business model and strategy for the second 5G network—will the five telcos be required to invest in that? Will asset duplication occur? Will the second 5G network serve a specific type of customer?

"The ideal would be for the DNB-backed 5G network to serve basic mass-market connectivity needs and for the second network to serve specific enterprise, industry, or government needs that do not overlap with or cannibalise the business of the DNB network," he noted.

Last week Malaysia's four major mobile network operators—CelcomDigi Bhd through Infranation Sdn Bhd, Maxis Broadband Sdn Bhd, U Mobile Sdn Bhd, and YTL Communications Sdn Bhd through YTL Power International Bhd— acquired equity stakes in Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB).

The fifth telco, Telekom Malaysia Bhd ™ has until August 21, 2024, to get shareholder approval to complete its share subscription agreement (SSA).

Under the terms of the SSAs, the five telcos are to collectively acquire a 70 per cent equity stake in DNB, with each telco holding a 14 per cent stake.

The government, represented by Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MoF Inc.), will retain a 30 per cent stake and a special share in DNB for a designated period.

Kitson said that under the DNB scheme, operators will not be able to differentiate in terms of quality of network or coverage.

This post has been edited by OfficiallyAhmad: Jul 3 2024, 11:32 PM

Valid bro

GSA: 5G Experience June 2024




Ironically with existence of DNB, telco in Malaysia can "claim" to have one of the fastest 5G speed in the world. Yet seeing the 4G data, our telco is not even close to the top 4 of fastest 4G telco.

So why 4G with more competitive environment fail to gain ranking or speed? I thought competition should driven telco to be better yet it's DNB that carrying telco name to the top of the world.







This post has been edited by OfficiallyAhmad: Jul 14 2024, 01:41 PM

Our 4g where got real competition. If telco A already build infra in 1 area, most likely other telcos will not invest in the same area. Hence coverage differ for each telcos.

speedtest does not reflect the real usage of 5G...
it should consider the stability and also the coverage
I think only Malaysia mostly does not have indoor 5G coverage...

I can imagine if without DNB... Every day i will be frustrating which telco has 5G at which area and port here and there is required if user move from here to there. And now every single site DNB built on the earth, it will be serving all malaysia telco users.

Of coz, y inbuilding has no 5G covered? Coz the spectrum can be used for existing 2G3G4G indoor booster are hold by those legacy telco. As long as they willing to return the spectrum to gov and gov reassign to DNB, then we can have 5G indoor ... (But who will, except the celcomdigi consolidation spectrum return which is year 2026?)

Else, DNB need to get all approval from building owner to build a total new indoor system which may take longer time for setup 5G indoor system which support 3.5Ghz and 700mhz

This post has been edited by prosibu: Jul 15 2024, 04:24 PM

.
DNB should transition from 5G NSA to 5G SA asap, in order to release it's own low-band 700MHz/Band 28 for better 5G indoor coverage.
....... Hopefully, DNB2 can straightaway deploy 5G SA with a low-band 5G frequency in early 2025. .......

https://www.fierce-network.com/5g/standalon...o%20the%20punch. - WIRELESS
Standalone 5G summer: Where's T-Mobile at with 5G SA?
By Dan Jones
Jul 5, 2023
.... T-Mobile was the first mobile network operator in the world to switch on a standalone (SA) 5G network. It turned on its 600 MHz low-band nationwide 5G SA network on August 4, 2020, beating even Chinese operators like China Mobile (SHA: 600941) to the punch.

https://stlpartners.com/articles/network-in...one-deployment/ - Sep 2023 - 5G SA deployment

https://gsacom.com/press-release/115-operat...-5g-standalone/ - 2 Aug 2023 - 115 mobile operators now investing in 5G Standalone networks globally
.... Of these, GSA data confirms that at least 36 operators in 25 countries and territories are now understood to have launched or deployed public 5G Standalone (SA) networks, two of which have only soft-launched their 5G SA networks. Reflecting the growth in 5G SA network deployments, the new 5G Standalone report also confirms that the number of announced 5G SA devices has now risen to 1,750 in July 2023, up from 686 at the end of 2021. As the 5G SA ecosystem grows, it is now supported by 86 announced modems and chipsets, with new features set to widen adoption in the future. ...
.

But I doubt the 2nd network will transition to 5G SA instantly when they are release since 5G SA is about cost issue and the cost to setup standalone network is very expensive. There is a reason why only minority of MNOs have standalone 5G network in the whole world.

MNOs itself is not a charity. They won't bother about investing in SA since they themselves doesn't know how to take advantage of the standalone network other than the talking about nonexistent problem.


https://www.counterpointresearch.com/insigh...ne-yoy-in-2023/

Speed doesn't reflect real 5G usage but it certainly show the incompetence of Malaysia telco 4G network before.

What im trying to say is why DNB can somehow have higher speed globally in 3 years of 5G implementation? Does the telco themselves compete with others 4G telco globally when 4G is released?

I mean during that time also Malaysia lacks 4G indoor coverage yet Malaysia telco still can't compete when in theory, competition between telco should bring Malaysia name to the top right?

5G vs 4G speeds from Digi Bukit Tinggi Klang near SK Batu Unjur.

Even Maxis 5G also same result


Attached thumbnail(s)

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https://nybsys.com/what-is-5g-standalone/ - 24 April 2024
.... Well, 4G to 5G transition involves a critical intermediate step known as 5G NSA. In this network, the 5G networks are built on the existing 4G LTE infrastructure. Through this, the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) leverage their existing network investments. ...

AFAIK, when DNB started deploying it's 5G NSA network in mid 2021, DNB had no existing 4G LTE infrastructure to build on, ie DNB had to start from scratch - hence, the high costs in DNB deploying it's 5G NSA network = RM16.5 billion over 10 years to achieve 99% coverage.
....... So, DNB should have straightaway deployed 5G SA = only slightly higher costs than deploying 5G NSA.

.
Note that 5G has higher download speeds is mainly because DNB has a 200MHz range for it's mid-band 3.5GHz for Carrier Aggregation. In comparison, U Mobile only has a total of 90MHz range for it's sub-3GHz 4G LTE frequency bands. .......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTE_Advanced
.... LTE Advanced Pro (LTE-A Pro, also known as 4.5G, 4.5G Pro, 4.9G, Pre-5G, 5G Project) is a name for 3GPP release 13 and 14. It is an evolution of LTE Advanced (LTE-A) cellular standard supporting data rates in excess of 3 Gbit/s using 32-carrier aggregation. ...
.

I agree with you on that, its mind boggling to know that DNB is still rolling out as NSA when they can just go directly to SA and get advantage of low band for 5G.
Edit: @tropik explain how DNB implement the MOCN clearly.
---
Just for clarification, when I'm comparing the speed, the context is 4G vs 4G or 5G vs 5G. Not 4G vs 5G to be precise.

Like on the data below, we can see how big the gap is between Malaysia 4G and top 4 country 4G speed.

Its not like Malaysia get cheaper 4G internet while having slow 4G speed. I literally can find faster (in context of global 5G speed ranking) and cheaper 5G plan and still doesn't get punish with coverage or speed limit because all 5G in Malaysia is the same.



This post has been edited by OfficiallyAhmad: Jul 18 2024, 02:19 AM

Maxis mulling U Mobile buyout, Bloomberg reports

(July 16): Maxis Bhd (KL:MAXIS), a Malaysian telecommunications firm controlled by billionaire T Ananda Krishnan, is considering buying out U Mobile Sdn Bhd to help it expand in the Asian country, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Kuala Lumpur-listed Maxis has expressed interest in U Mobile and talks are at an early stage, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information.

Malaysian businessman Tan Sri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun and Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd-backed Singapore Technologies Telemedia Pte Ltd are among U Mobile’s major shareholders.

Pricing could be a hurdle to a potential buyout, with U Mobile’s owners seeking a valuation of more than RM10 billion, according to the people. There’s no guarantee that a deal will be reached, they said.

In a message to Bloomberg News on Monday, Tan said U Mobile was rejecting the buyout offer and planning to file for an initial public offering (IPO) at the end of July. U Mobile has been considering an IPO since 2021.

“We are rejecting Maxis' offer,” Tan wrote in response to a query from Bloomberg. “We are submitting for an IPO at the end of this month.”

A representative for U Mobile said the company wouldn’t comment on market speculation. “We are very focused on delivering more innovative 5G products and services to our customers, and doing the prep work required to respond to the Applicant Information Package issued by Malaysia’s government to participate in the tender for building the nation’s second 5G network,” she said.

Representatives for Maxis and ST Telemedia declined to comment.

Founded in 2006, U Mobile is Malaysia’s youngest telecom company, according to its website. It has more than 4,000 4G websites and a network ready for 5G, the website shows. It also offers services including fintech and digital payments. Last month, it signed an agreement for an undisclosed equity stake in state-owned Digital Nasional Bhd, which is building 5G infrastructure in the country.

Maxis shares have fallen 9.4% this year, giving it a market value of RM27.3 billion. The company has over 13 million customers and a fibre network of more than 22,000km, according to its annual report.

Ironically, I already highlight the potential "merging" situation in Malaysia telco industry on previous post.

[quote=OfficiallyAhmad,Jul 16 2024, 07:38 PM]
Ironically, I already highlight the potential "merging" situation in Malaysia telco industry on previous post.
But in reality, telco themselves already being push by the society to push down the prices, what DNB do is giving these MNOs breathing space to continue exist because what gonna happen otherwise is something that already happen before, which is the merging of the MNOs company.[/quote]

[/quote]
u know why the original merger between digi & celcom took place?
bcoz experts agree that too many saturated telecom providers in m'sia.
in contrast, USA being a big country by area, with 10x the population of m'sia also has like 3 real bug players only.
now look at smaller country Singapore, technically only 2 real big players, hence the competition is there.
m'sia size & population, ideally u'll want 2-3 big players for competition


DNB, while sounds good & fair on paper, but it totally eliminate any 5G competition whatsoever.
every1 gets the same coverage, the same speed.
we need a 2nd 5G network where telecom players has more control, hence driving competition & innovation.
i'm waiting to see which telco will introduce true SA 5G first.
current DNB NSA 5G is nvr true 5G & always just a stop gap solution.

But the same thing also sound good on paper for the telco "competitions" I even show the data not hearsay about how slow Malaysia 4G is in context of others 4G speed on other country.

Can you tell me what innovation that telco do in 4G days other than coverage? Like that is the only "innovation" the telco can think of and then rip Malaysian money off because they have better coverage while the Malaysian until now still have broken congested 4G services 10 years later?

Im a person of facts and the facts is DNB has proven their worthy in only just 3 years.

What data should I see or believe that Malaysia telco is competent in the" competitions"? Because like I said before, I literally can find cheaper 5G plan with unlimited speed and FUP than 4G.

This post has been edited by OfficiallyAhmad: Jul 16 2024, 08:14 PM