Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB), the company managing Malaysia’s single wholesale 5G network, received approval to continue its rollout to achieve 80 per cent population coverage by year-end before the country shifts to a dual network model in early 2024, local newspaper The Star reported.

The newspaper stated Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil told a press conference a new entity will be created to deploy a second wholesale 5G network to increase overall capacity and avoid a single point of failure,.

He insisted DNB will continue to function and four of five mobile operators will become part of of the wholesale provider.

Celcom Axiata, Digi, YTL Communications and and Telekom Malaysia agreed to acquired a 65 per cent stake in DNB.

In separate statements, CelcomDigi and Maxis welcomed the government’s decision to move to two networks, with both looking forward to playing a more direct role in the country’s 5G implementation.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim previously called for a review of the nation’s approach to 5G due to concerns about the transparency of the process of awarding the equipment contract to Ericsson.