TM inks US$475mil deal with DNB to provide fibre for Malaysia’s 5G network

• 10 year lease to speed up deployment of national 5G network
• DNB leverages TM’s fibre network of 640,000km across Malaysia

Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) today announced the signing of a Fibre Leasing Service agreement with Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB) to speed up the deployment of the Government-owned 5G network nationwide.

The term sheet agreement with a total contract value of (RM2 billion) over 10 years was signed by Imri Mokhtar, Group Chief Executive Officer of TM and Amar Huzaimi Md Deris, Executive Vice President, TM Wholesale while DNB was represented by Ralph Marshall, Chief Executive Officer and Dushyanthan Vaithiyanathan, Chief Operating Officer.

Commenting on the signing, Imri said: “Today’s signing further reinforces the Government’s aspiration of putting in place Malaysia’s digital infrastructure and network. We have always been a strong advocate of infrastructure sharing in providing connectivity services and end-to-end solutions, to enable excellent wireless solutions and services.”

DNB will be able to leverage on TM’s extensive fibre and network infrastructure, and subscribe to TM’s 5G RAN-to-Edge Fronthaul and Backhaul solution for the provision of fibre connectivity, enabling DNB to provide 5G network services nationwide.

Under the agreement, TM will provide DNB with 5G fibre leasing services for connectivity between DNB’s 5G mobile sites and nodes, leveraging on TM’s domestic fibre cable network spanning over 640,000 km across Malaysia. Prior to this, TM along with other fibre providers in Malaysia had participated in the 5G Fiber Leasing Request for Quotation (RFQ) exercise conducted by DNB in June 2021.

“As DNB’s selected partner in implementing the Government’s 5G network rollout plan in Malaysia, the signing of this Fibre Agreement is testament to our advanced network technology and workforce capabilities in delivering fibre solutions throughout the country. Critical in executing this mission is to ensure our network is robust to support the future requirements of 5G and further fuel technological innovation in Malaysia,” Imri added.

“In delivering the fibre connectivity for DNB’s 5G network, the local telecommunications vendors and suppliers’ ecosystem shall benefit too, in areas such as engineering services, supply of fibre, accessories, poles, manholes and premise equipment. Based on our current fibre implementation, we expect more than 70% of the work to involve and benefit bumiputera and local companies.”

“TM is also excited to utilise DNB’s 5G network to provide 5G services and solutions to our home, SME, enterprise and public sector customers. With the launch of DNB 5G network services yesterday, we will be able to test the 5G network and offer services on a trial basis in selected areas across Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Cyberjaya,” Imri concluded.

Today’s signing is in tandem with the implementation of Jalinan Digital Negara’s (JENDELA) action plan and cements TM’s commitment of enabling Digital Malaysia through MyDigital. It is also in support of the Government’s other digital plans encompassing digital connectivity (domestic fiberisation, international connectivity), digital infrastructure (cloud, data centre and cybersecurity) and digital talent (via Multimedia University and TM Digital Academy).