\tLIVE FROM MOBILE 360 DIGITAL SOCIETIES, KUALA LUMPUR: The chairman of Malaysia’s communications regulator credited progressive legislation and operators for fuelling a rapid national transformation, from being an internet laggard into one of Southeast Asia’s most competitive markets.<\/p>\n
In a report released in September 2018, World Bank slated Malaysia for lagging in broadband coverage and adoption, along with a lack of competition because a single provider held a high market concentration.<\/p>\n
Al-Ishsal Ishak (pictured), chairman of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), said it and the industry acted quickly, releasing a National Fibre and Connectivity Plan, and setting up a 5G task force a month later.<\/p>\n
In the three quarters to end-June, fibre access prices fell 48 per cent, uptake increased 21 per cent, and operators introduced higher-speed mobile and fixed broadband packages.<\/p>\n
Despite the sharp price reductions, the total market capitalisation of five telecoms companies in the country increased 25 per cent between October 2018 and August 2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve proved in one year that nothing is impossible,\u201d he said, adding the government now sees internet access is not a privilege or a luxury, but a necessity and an economic driver. \u201cThis is the first step and we need to learn. But we are well on the way.\u201d<\/p>\n
5G plan
\nThe 5G task force will submit a final report to the ICT minister in the last quarter of the year. The timeline for commercial 5G launches is 2021 or 2022, with plans to start a 5G testbed and showcase in Q4 2019, which will run for six months.<\/p>\n
A priority for the fibre plan was to accelerate network deployments. Top of the list was optimising spectrum allocation to enable introduction of high-speed services. The regulator is exploring assignments in six bands, and will start a public inquiry for the 700MHz, 2300MHz and 2600MHz bands in Q4.<\/p>\n
Ishak said the average processing time for a tower approval is four-to-six months, with an average of 20 forms to complete and a fee of $2,000 per tower. The country has 150 local governments and 15 states, one of which charges $16,000 in fees per site.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LIVE FROM MOBILE 360 DIGITAL SOCIETIES, KUALA LUMPUR: The chairman of Malaysia’s communications regulator credited …<\/p>\n
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