Celcom, Digi, Maxis, and U Mobile have jointly expressed their support for the Dual Wholesale Networks (DWN) model concerning the 5G rollout in Malaysia. This revelation came just after Communications and Multimedia Minister Annuar Musa said that the position of Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) and SWN/DWN system will be resolved next month via Cabinet Ministers’ memorandum.
All four companies revealed their support for DWN in a response to the open letter by the MP of Bangi, Dr Ong Kian Ming which was published on 14 February. The MP has previously written an open letter to DNB as well, who then subsequently responded with a very detailed reply.
.@DNB_Official issued a 21-page response to my 15 questions on the 5G rollout. The telcos are asking to establish a Dual Wholesale Network (DWN) model and they have issued a 20-line statement to my 10 questions to them.
Who is being more transparent here?#5Grollout pic.twitter.com/4vqkntiwfg
— Ong Kian Ming 🇲🇾 (@imokman) February 18, 2022
The four telcos didn’t explain their DWN proposal in detail through the joint statement, citing that the matter is already on its way to the Cabinet. Nevertheless, the statement did mention that the two wholesale networks would be created and run by two consortiums involving the government, DNB, and telcos themselves.
Additionally, they also pointed out that the DWN model is a “feasible option” that will be leveraging on the telco’s capabilities and existing resources that include infrastructure, supply chain, and technical talents. If this sound rather familiar to you, this is because the existence of the DWN proposal by the four telcos have actually been reported back in December last year.
However, none of them has provided any official comment regarding it at that time. As far as we know, today’s statement to Ong is the first time that Celcom, Digi, Maxis, and U Mobile have publicly talked about the DWN proposal.
Ultimately, the ball is now in the Cabinet’s court. The said memorandum is expected to be tabled in the first week of March, so let’s see what will happen then.
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