MEDIA STATEMENT
THE GOVERNMENT’S RM15 BILLION SPV TO BUILD THE NATION’S 5G INFRASTRUCTURE SUSCEPTIBLE TO ABUSE AND CORRUPTION
28th FEBRUARY 2021
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Recently, the government announced the MyDIGITAL initiative that seeks to achieve a slew of targets in 3 phases until 2030.
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While we commend the government’s efforts to expedite 5G in order to strengthen the country digital economy and improve the competitive edge of local startups and relevant industries, there is great concern surrounding the RM15b plan to build a 5G infrastructure nationwide within 10 years and to deploy it through a government-owned special purpose vehicle (SPV) instead of through an open tender process. Furthermore, this entity will be allocated with 5G spectrums to own and manage all 5G-related infrastructure.
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Not to mention, such high expenditure will only yield 4.6% increase of the digital economy’s contribution to the GDP which currently stands at 18% (RM270 billion) whereas the size of the global digital economy has already reached more than USD12 trillion according to some estimates.
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The government’s plan to develop a 5G infrastructure amounting to RM15 Billion through a government owned Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) without an open tender is worrying and has raised many concerns. The same SPV is then also given the responsibility to own, deploy and manage the 5G infrastructure.
