THE 5G network roll-out in the country has reached almost 50% in populated areas as of the end-2022, surpassing the initial target of 40%, Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB) chief operating officer Nasution Mohamed said.

He said the network has now reached 15 million Malaysians involving 3,900 sites and will reach more than 30 million people and businesses when fully implemented.

“DNB is now fully focused on achieving the commitment of 80% of populated areas by the end of 2024 or earlier,” he said in a statement today.

Nasution said DNB received full support from state and local authorities in accelerating the approval to continue with the implementation

He said it has managed to complete 5G network implementation at delayed sites over the past month.

So far, he said, DNB has achieved more than 90% of coverage in populated areas throughout Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Selangor, in addition to about 50% in Johor, Malacca and Negri Sembilan.

“Other states are currently in various stages of implementation and will also achieve full network implementation by 2024 or earlier,” he said, adding that DNB is working closely with mobile network operators (MNOs) and device manufacturers to promote 5G usage nationwide this year.

He said so far, five MNOs – Celcom Axiata Bhd, Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd, Telekom Malaysia Bhd, U Mobile Sdn Bhd and YTL Communications Sdn Bhd – have started providing 5G retail services to more than 20 million of their customers, after signing the access agreements with DNB on October 31 last year while Maxis Bhd’s customers are expected to have access to the service this month.

On 5G compatible devices, Nasution said about eight million devices had been owned by users as of last month and it is expected to double this year and reach 40 million devices by 2030.

“There are 15 device brands that currently offer more than 100 5G compatible devices to users in the Malaysian market, from major models to more economical ones,” he said, adding that this offering coupled with the retail 5G data provided by the MNOs will speed up the use of the 5G network among consumers in the next few years.

He said the use of the 5G network has increased eightfold from 32TB to 253TB per day, with 90,000 simultaneous users as of December 30 last year since the respective launch by the five MNOs.

The 5G network has an average download speed of 380 Mbps (which is equivalent to other reported global benchmarks), as opposed to the average 4G download speed of 35 Mbps, he said. – Bernama, January 2, 2023.