The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has formed the Malaysia 5G Taskforce (5GT) and it held the first meeting at MCMC headquarters late last month. The meeting was chaired by Dato’ Mohd Ali Hanafiah, the Chief Officer for Communications and Digital Ecosystem Sector, MCMC, together with the taskforce’s deputy chair, Muniff Kamaruddin from Celcom.
MCMC said the taskforce now has 31 permanent members comprising of service providers, business associations, communications equipment vendors, academia, ministries and agencies. All members have agreed to establish 4 working groups and each group was asked to appoint its own chairperson. These focus groups are intended to move rapidly and efficiently and present their findings and recommendations to the taskforce.
YB Minister of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia made an announcement in October 2018 for a 5G test bed in Putrajaya and Cyberjaya from November 2018 until 31 October 2019. The aim is to explore the practical uses and modes of implementation of 5G as well as to learn and iron out policies, regulations and spectrum planning of 5G.
MCMC will facilitate in allocating appropriate spaces in Cyberjaya and Putrajaya for a demonstration of 5G use cases. Two 5G showcases have been planned in 2019 with the 1st one tentatively scheduled on March 2019.
Malaysia 5G Taskforce Working Groups
| No | Group | Areas | Chair | Members |
| 1 | Business Case | User trends, requirements and demand study, 5G adoption, job creation, GDP growth, etc. | Representative from the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) | FMM, Crest, MyIoTA, MARDI, MAI, MPOC, MAMPU, MDEC, MIGHT, MOE, MMU, UTM |
| 2 | Spectrum Management and Allocation | Allocation at ITU, APT and Malaysia, required bandwidth to support national targets, identify spectrum bands for Malaysia, etc. | Representative from Celcom | Celcom, Digi, Ericsson, Huawei, Maxis, TM, Umobile, ZTE |
| 3 | Infrastructure | Requirements and coverage for optimum 5G deployment for different services, gaps analysis on current networks, costs, challenges, right-of-way, etc. | Representative from Maxis | Maxis, Celcom, Cyberview, Edotco, JKR, PJC, TIME, TM, TNB, TNB-IT, Umobile, Digi |
| 4 | Regulatory | Technical standards to be adopted, optimum number of mobile operators, accommodating future business models for network providers and relevant stakeholders | Representative from Digi | Digi, Celcom, Cyberview, Edotco, Khazanah, JKR, MTFSB, Maxis, KKMM, KPKT, Perbadanan Putrajaya, TIME, TM, Umobile |
Permanent members of the Malaysia 5G Taskforce
| No. | Organisation |
| 1 | Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) |
| 2 | Collaborative Research in Engineering, Science & Technology (Crest) |
| 3 | Malaysia IoT Association (MyIoTA) |
| 4 | Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) |
| 5 | Malaysian Automotive Institute (MAI) |
| 6 | Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) |
| 7 | MAMPU |
| 8 | MDEC |
| 9 | MIGHT |
| 10 | Ministry of Education (MOE) |
| 11 | Multimedia University Malaysia (MMU) |
| 12 | University of Technology Malaysia (UTM) |
| 13 | Maxis |
| 14 | Celcom |
| 15 | Cyberview |
| 16 | Digi |
| 17 | Edotco |
| 18 | Malaysian Public Works Department (JKR) |
| 19 | Perbadanan Putrajaya |
| 20 | Time |
| 21 | TM |
| 22 | TNB |
| 23 | TNB IT |
| 24 | UMobile |
| 25 | Khazanah |
| 26 | Malaysian Technical Standards Forum Berhad (MTFSB) |
| 27 | Ministry of Communications and Multimedia (KKMM) |
| 28 | Ministry of Housing and Local Government (KPKT) |
| 29 | Ericsson |
| 30 | Huawei |
| 31 | ZTE |
“There are many more organizations that have expressed interest to participate. We welcome them to share their expertise in the specific sub-working groups,” said Dato’ Ali Hanafiah.
“The Taskforce will produce a monthly report to the Communications and Multimedia Minister to keep him abreast with the latest development made by the working groups. It is expected to prepare a comprehensive report on the 5G Key Challenges and 5G Nationwide Implementation Plan by Q3 2019,” he added.
[PDF]– MCMC Media Statement
