PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia has achieved its goal of 80 per cent 5G coverage in populated areas, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said.
The country's 5G coverage in populated areas, he said, was now at 80.2 per cent as of Jan 1 this year, slightly exceeding the target set by the Prime Minister during the revised 2023 Budget in Feb 24 last year.
He said the task force would be meeting with Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB), the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), and mobile network operators on Friday to discuss the way forward.
"After that, the decision from the task force will be considered by the cabinet and we expect the government to announce the transition from a single wholesale network (SWN) to a dual network (DN), within a month.
"Only then can a second 5G network be introduced," he told reporters here today.
The 5G task force was established on May 9, 2023, with the objective to ensure the smooth transition from SWN to DN.
DNB is entrusted with the rollout of the 5G network, and would complete the integration and onboarding of 7,509 sites, maintain the network in terms of performance and service level agreements in the signed access agreements, as well as serve all of its customers.