U Mobile has received the letter of award from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to build the nation’s second 5G network, a significant milestone for the orange telco since its inception 17 years ago while the company has already launched its 5G SA network early this month for selected subscriptions.

As the second 5G network in Malaysia, the telco promises to build a state-of-the-art 5G network, while it also commends the government’s effort to move away from a Single Wholesale Network (SWN) model to enhance competition and drive innovation. Most importantly, consumers can finally benefit from great value subscription plans on a great 5G network.

However, there are things that are unclear about U Mobile’s future plans as in whether it will divest its interests in Digital Nasional Berhad, which still has its NSA network running on the telco’s towers; there’s also no timeline and how many sites the telco will build, not to mention percentage of coverage area and plans to provide RAO to other telcos.

Nonetheless, this is an exciting time for U Mobile and its subscribers, and we certainly look forward to actual real-world 5G applications in the scene once the telco fully enables its 5G SA access for all customers.