PETALING JAYA: U Mobile Sdn Bhd and Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate and explore network sharing opportunities using TM’s 5G demonstration project (5GDP) Langkawi network as the platform.
Under the partnership, both parties will be exploring on several network infrastructure sharing models such as Multi-Operator Core Node (MOCN) or Multi-Operator Radio Access Network (MORAN).
In regard to the MoU, TM group CEO Datuk Noor Kamarul Annuar Nuruddin commented that the group has been a strong advocate of infrastructure sharing, which had become the norm in many countries, including for 5G.
“As the industry gears up for the next wave of infrastructure investments to support innovative 5G use cases and ever-growing customer demand for mobile broadband, telcos are eyeing new ways of accelerating the deployment of an otherwise daunting investment,” he said in a press release.
“This is where collaboration will be key for telcos in an era of shared 5G networks.”
Kamarul pointed out that collaboration with other telcos would bring great savings in capital and operating expenditure, enable the players to extend coverage at a lower cost and achieve faster rollout as well as optimise resource utilisation.
He stated that infrastructure sharing not only makes economic sense but would also help address community concerns regarding the visual impact of the small cells and equipment to deliver 5G’s benefits.
“It will enable us to further test and provide us with a holistic view of how far we can go and move forward with network sharing and interoperability that we just announced recently,” said the group CEO.
U Mobile’s CEO, Wong Heang Tuck stated that it is delighted to partner with TM to explore network sharing opportunities for 5G.
“At the core of 5G deployment is infrastructure and we are keen to explore network sharing as it accelerates deployment and is extremely suitable for greenfield deployment,” he said.
With the MOU, the CEO said that it hope to establish a win-win partnership with TM in the coming months as it approach 5G commercial availability this year.
