After years of phone makers trying to sell Malaysians smartphones with 5G, we are finally getting the actual 5G network.
The Communications and Multimedia (KKMM) Minister, Tan Sri Annuar Musa said yesterday (9 Nov) that 5G will be rolled out in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, and Cyberjaya. It will then be expanded to densely populated states including Penang, Selangor, Johor, Sabah, and Sarawak in the first year.
Annuar said the 5G services are a game changer for the economy.
5G networks promise faster speeds and higher capacity, depending on how it’s implemented by the service provider.
On one hand 5G could be configured to be faster than 4G but the coverage may not be great. On the other hand, 5G could handle more traffic and have a wider coverage, but would be no speedier than 4G.
For the 5G rollout in Malaysia, the government owns the 5G spectrum and infrastructure and telcos will have to share. This is handled by Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB).
This is the first time that Malaysia is doing something like this and the effects are unknown.
We can only hope that it will result in an affordable and reliable 5G service, but the rollout seems to be slow for now.
