Four Malaysian mobile operators said on Monday they had agreed to use the government’s state-owned 5G network, paving the way for the rollout of 5G services to customers after talks dragged on for months.

Malaysia’s 5G plans have suffered repeated setbacks since last year. The government stalled with major carriers over pricing and transparency, including concerns that a single state-run network would lead to nationalised monopolies.

The government says a single shared network will reduce costs, increase efficiency and speed up infrastructure development.

Celcom Axiata, DiGi Telecommunications, Telekom Malaysia and U Mobile said on Monday that they had signed an agreement to access the 5G network operated by state agency Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) for 10 years. In a statement, U Mobile said it would begin commercialising 5G services to customers on Thursday.

DiGi said the access agreement included “improvements to several key terms” in the government’s “Reference Access Offer” (RAO) – a document released earlier this year setting out pricing for DNB’s wholesale 5G model, service commitments and other details.

DiGi said the updated RAO is expected to be released upon approval by the Malaysian communications regulator.
Four major telecom companies had asked the government to review RAO, saying its pricing model was “not commercially viable,” Reuters reported in May.

Before signing the access agreement, Celcom, DiGi, Telekom and a fourth company, YTL Communications, agreed to hold a 65% stake in DNB this month. Two other major operators – U Mobile and Maxis Bhd – declined to take a stake in DNB.

YTL started offering 5G services to customers last year. Maxis did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether it would register to access the DNB network.