Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB;

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

: ''National Digital Limited'') is a Malaysian

special-purpose vehicle A special-purpose entity (SPE; or, in Europe and India, special-purpose vehicle/SPV; or, in some cases in each EU jurisdiction, FVC, financial vehicle corporation) is a legal entity (usually a limited company of some type or, sometimes, a limite ...

company owned by the Ministry of Finance Malaysia and is regulated by the

Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (Abbreviation: MCMC; ms, Suruhanjaya Komunikasi dan Multimedia Malaysia) is a regulatory body whose key role is the regulation of the communications and multimedia industry based on the po ...

. DNB was established in early March 2021 to drive the development of the 5G (fifth-generation) infrastructure in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. It will offer 5G as a wholesale network service to other

telecommunication Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

companies. The first rollout of the 5G services in Malaysia was launched on 15 December 2021, with TM and YTL as its operators upon rollout. On June 30, 2022 Communications and Multimedia Minister

Annuar Musa Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Annuar bin Musa ( Jawi: أنور بن موسى; born 18 May 1956) is a Malaysian politician who served as the Minister of Communications and Multimedia in the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration under former ...

said that the Malaysian government would announce a plan for the sale of a 70% equity stake in Digital Nasional Berhad the following week.

Deployment of 5G

DNB had announced that it would launch and rollout the country's first 5G network with a total of 500 sites in areas within

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

Putrajaya Putrajaya (), officially the Federal Territory of Putrajaya ( ms, Wilayah Persekutuan Putrajaya), is a planned capital city which functions as the administrative capital and the judicial capital of Malaysia. The seat of the federal government ...

and

Cyberjaya Cyberjaya (a portmanteau of ''cyber'' and ''Putrajaya'') is a city with a science park as the core that forms a key part of the Multimedia Super Corridor in Malaysia. It is located in Sepang District, Selangor. Cyberjaya is adjacent to, and deve ...

by the end of December 2021 which is expected provide about 10% population coverage. The

Malaysian government The Government of Malaysia, officially the Federal Government of Malaysia ( ms, Kerajaan Persekutuan Malaysia), is based in the Federal Territory of Putrajaya with the exception of the legislative branch, which is located in Kuala Lumpur. Malay ...

had also appointed

Ericsson (lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in informat ...

as the sole network equipment provider at a cost of RM4 billion as well as to build the infrastructure estimated at a cost of RM11 billion. Digital Nasional chief executive officer, Augustus Ralph Marshall, said that the country's first 5G

base station Base station (or base radio station) is – according to the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) Radio Regulations (RR) – a "land station in the land mobile service." The term is used in the context of mobile telephony, wireless com ...

installation at

Bukit Tunku Bukit Tunku is an upper-class residential area in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This hill is named after Tunku Abdul Rahman's house located here. It was formerly known as Bukit Kenny or Kenny Hills. Bukit Tunku hosts many luxury condominiums and villas ...

has been powered on which aims to deliver 500 5G-enabled sites in Kuala Lumpur, Cyberjaya and Putrajaya upon rollout. It has also planned to deploy 5G in major cities and districts in

Johor Johor (; ), also spelled as Johore, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. Johor has land borders with the Malaysian states of Pahang to the north and Malacca and Negeri Sembilan ...

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...

Selangor Selangor (; ), also known by its Arabic language, Arabic honorific Darul Ehsan, or "Abode of Sincerity", is one of the 13 Malaysian states. It is on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is bordered by Perak to the north, Pahang to the east ...

and

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...

in 2022, with the aim of achieving 80% nationwide population coverage by the year 2024.

Criticisms

DNB faces criticism from a number of individuals. These individuals want the government to also allow a competing provider, if not switch to a telco alliance-based deployment model as used in Singapore, a sentiment shared by a number of telcos operating in the country. Currently only two companies- YTL's YES and TM's UniFi Mobile- have agreed to the DNB's term, while the others have publicly protested the plan. Additionally, the network will not allow all 5G phones and will only allow connection from "tested and authorized" handsets. This has raised concerns with early adopters of 5G phones as the network is as of 2022 blocking Asus, Sony, Samsung and Apple iPhone devices, but on the other hand most Chinese-made phones like Oppo, ZTE and Huawei are allowed onto the network unimpeded. In December 2022, newly appointed Malaysian Prime Minister

Anwar Ibrahim Anwar bin Ibrahim ( ms, انور بن ابراهيم, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset, IPA: ; born 10 August 1947) is a Malaysian politician who has served as the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia since November 2022. He served as the 12 ...

said his administration would review the plan for Digital Nasional Berhad's 5G network introduced by his predecessor.

References

External links

* {{Official website, www.digital-nasional.com.my 2021 establishments in Malaysia Government-owned companies of Malaysia Economy of Malaysia