Tan: Don't make wild accusations against Agong about U Mobile

Tycoon Vincent Tan has come to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s defence amid controversy over the appointment of U Mobile - which both are involved in - as the country’s second 5G network operator.

The U Mobile chairperson said Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar had been a shareholder in the telco since 2015, nine years before becoming the Agong.

“As we encourage healthy public discourse, we must also urge any comments involving His Majesty our king be done responsibly based on facts, not wild accusations.

“U Mobile has been and will always be open to engaging with the public in a constructive and transparent manner. 

“After all, U Mobile owes its success to unwavering and growing public support,” Tan (above) said in a statement published by Business Today, today.

Sultan Ibrahim is the second biggest U Mobile shareholder with a 22.3 percent stake in the company.

The biggest shareholder is Straits Mobile Investments Pte Ltd - a subsidiary of Singapore’s Temasek-owned ST Telemedia - with a 48.3 percent stake.

It was announced today that Straits Mobile Investments will be paring down its shareholding to 20 percent.

It is not clear who will take the Singaporean firm’s remaining 29 percent stake, but unless it is taken up by one single shareholder, Sultan Ibrahim could end up as U Mobile’s largest shareholder after the exercise.

‘U Mobile on par with competitors’

Besides the involvement of the Agong, the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission’s (MCMC) decision to appoint U Mobile as the second 5G network operator had also raised questions about why other more seasoned telcos were passed over.

Tan, in his statement, however, painted his company as being on equal footing with major players.

“At 95 percent network population coverage, U Mobile is on par with CelcomDigi and Maxis,” he said.

He also said that U Mobile was the first telco to offer 5G service at no additional cost, while consistently offering services at 20 to 25 percent cheaper than competitors.

MCMC previously said that U Mobile was chosen based on several factors such as its business and technical plans, record on rates of complaints and customer satisfaction, and its performance in other infrastructure initiatives.

However, it did not explain how U Mobile’s bid was better than its competitors.

No taxpayers’ funds involved

Tan also took the opportunity to take a swipe at the previous Muhyiddin Yassin administration for trying to set up a 5G monopoly through Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB).

He alleged that the move had put taxpayers’ money at risk.

In contrast, he said no taxpayer money will be involved in the U Mobile network.

“There is no multi-billion contract that involves taxpayers’ money awarded to U Mobile, contrary to wild accusations. 

“U Mobile will fully fund the entire rollout of this second network. 

“Not a single sen of our taxpayers’ money will be committed, a vast difference from the Muhyiddin’s administration monopoly model which was funded by taxpayers and has put our taxpayers’ money at risk,” he added.

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