No need for govt to review U Mobile's appointment - Fahmi

The government would not be reviewing the decision to appoint U Mobile as the country’s second 5G network operator, said government spokesperson Fahmi Fadzil.

He stressed the decision pertaining to U Mobile was made unanimously by the commissioners from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) without interference from the administration.

“No (revision). In terms of the appointment, it was vetted independently by its technical team (MCMC) and decided unanimously by the commissioners.

“The administration wasn’t involved and will not intervene… and I must stress that it is not a contract,” the communications minister said during his weekly press conference in Putrajaya today.

Earlier, telecommunications operator Maxis said it would engage the MCMC on why its bid to run the second 5G network got passed over for U Mobile.

“We will engage with MCMC to understand the rationale for their decision and we will consider our options after discussions with all stakeholders,” it said.

U Mobile’s largest shareholder is Singapore’s Temasek-linked Straits Mobile Investments Pte Ltd with a 48.3 percent stake.

In addition, the company’s second-largest shareholder is Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar - the current Yang di-Pertuan Agong - who has a 22.3 percent stake in the company.

U Mobile has said it would divest its foreign ownership and bring it down to 20 percent.

On Nov 6, MCMC said U Mobile was chosen based on factors like business and technical plans, complaint records, customer satisfaction, and its track record in infrastructure projects - without specifying why other competitors got bypassed.

Former Bangi MP Ong Kian Ming drubbed MCMC’s explanation, adding that if Pakatan Harapan was still in the opposition, the coalition would not have accepted the answer.

No public funds

Elaborating, Fahmi said U Mobile’s appointment did involve awarding a licence and the instrument that would be utilised is a 3.6GHz spectrum, also known as F2 which would be used to establish the second 5G network.

He also stressed that no public funds would be used for this and in terms of governance, everything is running smoothly without interference from other parties.

“Some may ask, does this party deserve this appointment? Well, they are qualified to compete because one of the conditions imposed on the bidders was, they must have share-holding agreements.

“And that narrowed it down to Celcom-Digi, Maxis and U Mobile

“Generally, all three can bid and win but as I explained in the Parliament yesterday, consideration was also given in terms of business planning, technical plans to develop the network and performance,” Fahmi stated.

The Lembah Pantai MP added that MCMC also evaluated current customer satisfaction and the company’s ability to complete the work.

“Overall, in terms of comparison, Celcom-Digi will have 18,000 towers after completing the integration works and Maxis has 12,000. U Mobile has 10,000 towers. So, the difference is not much.

“In any case, MCMC has decided on U Mobile and I respect that,” said Fahmi.

Whether U Mobile would be imposed with some conditions, Fahmi said it was premature to speak of it.

“There are (conditions) but I feel it’s premature for me to say anything now.

“Based on experience, for example, the merger between Celcom and Digi, MCMC did impose some conditions.

“Even for the Digital Nasional Berhad’s first 5G network operations, there were conditions involved.

“So, there will be conditions for the second 5G network plan but it would go through several processes (for scrutiny).”

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