Malaysian experts say that the country is now ready to deploy the fifth-generation (5G) mobile technology and its diverse level of use cases is one of its strengths.
The Director of a telecommunication-based think-tank stated that Malaysia should expedite the initial use case successes in order to be the frontier in 5G deployment as countries like Singapore and South Korea are fast approaching.
5G really means ubiquitous connectivity, ubiquitous access, so the business model is fundamentally important. One of the strengths that Malaysia brings to this is its diverse level of cases and being able to ensure that as the country moves towards 5G era, how these case studies are developed and accelerated, the expert noted.
The cooperation between the government and research institutes are important in supporting local carriers to perform during the experiments. Experimentation needs to be enabled to see where it is working and connecting.
Under the 2020 Budget, the government has introduced a 5G Ecosystem Development grant worth RM50 million to encourage technological innovation in the country.
Currently, there are a total of 55 use cases under the demonstration phase across 32 sites in six states involving nine verticals for a six-month period from 1 Oct 2019 until 31 March 2020.
The total investment of the 5G demonstration projects funded by the industry players is RM116 million.
5G is expected to deliver 10 times higher speed than the current 4G technology, with speeds going beyond 1Gbps (gigabits per second), and will offer far superior user experience and capacity.
The one-day symposium, themed “Malaysia on the Cusp of Hyper-connectivity”, was aimed at capturing the central thrust of a digitally connected nation which also explored the implication of hyper-connectivity made possible by today’s high-speed 4G and fibre connectivity.
According to an earlier report by OpenGov Asia, Malaysia is currently working to fully adopt 5G technology by 2023, the country’s Deputy Foreign Minister had said.
Malaysia believes it will greatly facilitate the government’s efforts to improve the livelihoods of Malaysians and catalyse Malaysia’s development.
Malaysia is also one of the first few countries in the region to welcome 5G technology.
In 2018 the government established the 5G Task Force. The Task Force has already submitted its mid-term report on Malaysia’s process towards the adoption of 5G, the Minister noted during his speech at the Regional Conference on Digital Diplomacy (RCDD) in Jakarta.
RCDD gathered ministers, government officials, members of think-tanks and academic fraternity from all ASEAN countries as well as Australia, India, Japan, New Zealand, China and South Korea to deliberate and share the best practices on the use of the new media for effective diplomacy.
It will also provide an opportunity for participating countries to look into new initiatives and methods in enhancing further the conduct of diplomacy, and in fostering regional cooperation in digital diplomacy, which Malaysia regards as the driving factor for innovation and growth in many important areas.
OpenGov later reported that The Malaysian Nuclear Agency (Nuclear Malaysia) will conduct a thorough study together with stakeholders — the Ministry of Health included — on the impact and benefits of 5G technology on people, beginning the end of the year.
The agency will be conducting the study in Malaysia because they have only been disseminating information on 5G benefits and impact based on research from overseas.
The aim of the three-day gathering which started yesterday and with the participation of over 100 researchers, academicians, local and international industry players and others, is to shed light on non-ionizing radiation (NRI) utilisation in various fields like medical, telecommunications and electronics.
