WHAT is with our infatuation with monopolies? Have we not learnt anything?

If you’ve ever been through the exhausting process of being on hold in a phone complaint to get your home broadband up and running or wait hours in line to get your vehicle checked before going to the Road Transport Department, you would know how horrible monopolies can be.

Recently, our former prime minister cum former national father figure, Muhyiddin Yassin defended the decision to set up Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB), the vehicle of which Malaysia will be used to implement the wholesale model with regard to our 5G rollout. We shall be following the footsteps of other high tech and high income nations such as Mexico, Rwanda and Belarus.

In his statement he mentioned that one of the key factors in his government’s decision to take the wholesale rollout model are the differing interests – “perbezaan kepentingan” as he puts it – between telco companies, which resulted in the failure of the 5G rollout report prepared by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).

But isn’t that what market competition is all about? Of course those companies would have differing interests and priorities as each is owned and managed by a different set of people with each adopting their own approach in their business models. After all, they are competing with each other.

It is these differences that allow consumers like you and I the freedom to choose which product and services that are worthy of our ringgit.

No matter how you spin it, DNB is a monopoly. The argument that telco companies will still exist and that they will compete with each other is invalid as all of them will be forced to use the same infrastructure owned and operated by a single body.

There’s not much room for innovation or competitiveness as they all are beholden to the same entity, it all ends up in the same place, going through the same bottleneck.

We have gone through this again and again; an entity that does not respond to the market will reek of bureaucracy and incompetence.

Why would this entity go out of their way to respond to complaints by small-fry consumers like you and I. It is not like the telco companies can go anywhere else for 5G services.

Our former PM presses on that if the government backtracks on its decision with regard to DNB it will send the wrong signal to investors, especially foreign ones. He even added that cancelling DNB will result in massive loss of opportunities, mainly tens of thousands of jobs that would be created through the 5G rollout.

The thing is wouldn’t competition create more job opportunities than a monopoly? Let’s take the aviation industry as an example. Did opportunities for pilots, ground and cabin crew grow during the 1990s when MAS was the only player in town or were there more when new players such as AirAsia and Malindo came into the picture?

If he is worried about the perspective and sentiment of investors, wouldn’t an open, competitive and transparent auction of our 5G spectrum send a much better signal to the global market than a monopoly by a government entity? 

And please stop using the protecting Bumiputera interest excuse. The public and the Bumiputeras are sick and tired of it. More often than not, these so-called Bumiputera corporate initiatives benefit the connected few at the expense of the rest of us.

I do admit that there are instances when we do need a centralised or a controlled system especially in managing strategic assets such as water or setting up a national electric grid system. Petronas played that role as well in consolidating our natural resources to maximise its potential.

But we are talking about products and services, which by now we know are much better implemented in a competitive market.

If indeed the government’s main concern is the coverage especially to rural areas, they can always put conditions in awarding the licensing, penalise those who fail to do so. After all, isn’t that what MCMC is supposed to do – managing the needs of the market while balancing national interests?

It really is difficult for us to swallow the logic behind DNB. So the government is giving monopoly to a newly formed government entity and at the same time the government also owns Telekom Malaysia and Axiata. On top of that, to make the rollout happen, that entity then would have to amass a large amount of debt. It is as if we are getting 1Malaysia Development Bhd flashbacks here. 

In fact, speaking about monopolies, Muhyiddin more than anyone should realise the importance of a competitive market, after all the entire purpose of Bersatu is to break Umno’s monopoly on Malay politics. – December 13, 2021.

* Zaidel Baharuddin is Muda information chief.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.