5 days after the Communications & Digital Minister announced on 3 May 2023 that the country will transition from a Single Wholesale Network (‘SWN’) model to a Dual Wholesale Network (‘DWN’) model, on 8 May 2023 at an interview with Bernama TV, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), Dato’ Mohd Ali Hanafiah Mohd Yunus said another entity will take over Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) once it achieves 80% 5G population coverage. After the takeover, the government will withdraw its holding, making DNB a fully private company.
The COO further stated that two entities would be formed – one to take over DNB’s operations, and the other to set up the second 5G network once DNB achieves 80% 5G coverage.
The privatization of DNB will mean that the owners of both 5G infrastructure networks in Malaysia will be privately owned.
Recently, quoting sources, a news blog reported that PLUS’s x CEO Azman Ismail, S Vell Paari, and former Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) chairman Al-Ishsal Ishak are being considered for the post of CEO at DNB.
The post of CEO at DNB has remained vacant with the departure of its former CEO, whose contract was not renewed after it had expired on March 11, 2023.
Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil announced on 29 Aug 2023 that he hopes to announce the new leadership for DNB by the end of the business day of 30 Aug 2023.
From its initial conception of being a wholly owned subsidiary of the government into a company that was to include an additional four shareholders consisting of mobile network operators to finally evolving into a company devoid of Government shareholding, it appears that no one in the government has any clear idea on what they want to do saddle with this behemoth named DNB.
DNB is currently a state-owned single wholesale network and it was established as a special purpose vehicle under the Ministry of Finance during Muhyiddin’s administration.
In October 2022, four telcos – Celcom, Digi, Telekom Malaysia, and YTL Communications signed a share subscription agreement (SSA) to get a combined 65% equity stake in DNB while the Ministry of Finance holds the remaining 35% stake.
Shortly after the announcement by the Communications & Digital Minister on 3 May 2023 that the country will transition from a single wholesale network to a dual wholesale network, Celcom, Digi and Telekom Malaysia terminated their equity deal with DNB.
On 10 Sept 2023, the Communications & Digital Minister was quoted to have said all telcos in the country will sign a share subscription agreement (SSA) on equity stakes in Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB) in the near future.
Effectively, the Communications & Digital Minister confirmed that DNB will be owned by all the telcos in the country.
Even though the COO of MCMC had on 8 May 2023 said that the government would withdraw from owning any shares in DNB, the statement from the Communications & Digital Minister on 10
Sept 2023, however, was silent on the representation stated by the COO earlier.
If DNB is to be privatized eventually, why does the Communications and digital Minister deem it his responsibility to search for a new CEO for DNB?
Shouldn’t the search and the determination of who will be appointed as the new CEO be left to the telcos as eventually they will be the new shareholders of DNB?
The telcos might have a different set of requirements for their candidate who might be more attuned to the working and operations of a telco.
Looking at the profiles of those potential candidates named in the report by the news blog, one wonders whether they were considered due to their experiences or solely because of their network and connections.
The country has 22 million adults.
And it is baffling to find that whoever is responsible for appointing the CEO has difficulty in finding other Malaysians with the talent and experience who are equally capable in leading DNB?
The 5G landscape is indeed getting more confused and appears to be heading nowhere.
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