THE Finance Ministry (MOF) insisted on giving the 5G spectrum to Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB) despite protest from the Communications and Multimedia Ministry, Zahidi Zainul Abidin said today. 

“We were instructed by MOF to give the contract to DNB without any consultations,” the deputy minister told Parliament today. 

“We raised questions about the pricing as DNB will be selling to telecommunication companies (telcos) but DNB assured us that the price will be cheaper than 4G. That was their guarantee. 

“It’s quite a miracle that DNB will be selling the 5G spectrum at a lower price to telcos but we had to agree,” said the Padang Besar MP. 

The deputy minister was responding to Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh (Ledang-PH) on when DNB was going to brief Parliament on its plans for 5G. 

Unlike other countries that let telcos set up their own 5G infrastructure, the government had decided to form a special purpose vehicle, DNB, to build the new spectrum.

Telcos had also complained of a lack of transparency on the project by DNB.

According to Zahidi, the ministry had wanted to consult with DNB but MOF steamrolled the decision and they had to accept it. 

“We have, however, told DNB to work with Telekom Malaysia as they have the IT backbone. We didn’t see what DNB could do as it had nothing and had to start from scratch. 

“DNB doesn’t even have any (telecommunication) poles,” said Zahidi. 

Fahmi Fadzil (Lembah Pantai-PH) then asked how DNB secured the project when it had nothing. 

“You have to ask MOF on the investments needed as we didn’t invest. Our work is communications but MOF wants to do our job. 

“As such, we will let them do it and question them. We wanted to give the 5G spectrum to telcos as they already have the backbone and would be faster but DNB wanted to do it and said that the 4G infrastructure is incomplete as it was done by telcos.” 

In July, DNB signed a contract with Ericsson to design and build the 5G infrastructures for RM11 billion. Neither DNB nor MOF has told the public how it plans to finance the project. – December 9, 2021.