PETALING JAYA: CelcomDigi Bhd has commenced its full-scale programme to build Malaysia’s future digital network – integrating and modernising the largest 4G network in Malaysia with the latest LTE and 5G-ready technologies.
This marks one of the largest network deployment projects in the country involving a total of 18,000 sites, following the merger of Celcom and Digi in December 2022.
CelcomDigi CEO Datuk Idham Nawawi said: “This new integrated and modernised network unlocks the benefits and strengths of the merger between Celcom and Digi. We are excited to embark on this project for the country, to build the largest, most modern digital network using the latest in mobile telecommunications technology. We have successfully deployed pilots in five clusters recently, namely in Sitiawan, Rawang, Bercham, Port Dickson, and Kuantan, and we are pleased to report that the upgrades were managed without any disruption to customer experience.
“We are committed to build a faster, more robust network to provide Malaysians with an unrivalled digital experience, built on the highest standards of connectivity, speed, reliability, and stability. Together with our wide menu of product offerings, we hope to enable customers with the best combination of choice, value and network experience to power their increasingly digital lives.”
The new digital network will integrate the two existing strong networks that have a combined footprint of 96.4% for 4G LTE and 90.3% for 4G LTE-A, and both are most awarded in Opensignal’s latest industry report – Malaysia: Mobile Network Experience Report March 2023.
“This new network is also designed to be able to potentially transition seamlessly into a new 5G network with an 18,000-site reach – the right infrastructure to usher Malaysia into the era of ultra-high speeds, low latency, and the opportunities of a more connected future. This is a significant development for CelcomDigi and the country, and we are excited to be leading the way to realise the potential of our shared digital future,” said Idham.
When completed, the new network will offer customers a significantly elevated quality of experience almost everywhere across the country, improving reach from 96% to 98% of Malaysians nationwide. Upgraded sites and capacity expansion will make for a faster, more efficient network engine with enhanced capabilities to deliver higher throughput. This will serve customers with faster and reliable connectivity, for supporting bandwidth-intensive applications and enabling smooth performance across multiple devices concurrently.
This future-proof network will strengthen CelcomDigi’s ability to better meet customer expectations, stay competitive, and keep pace with the data demands of an evolving digital landscape, simultaneously paving the way for 5G. The company said the modernised network will be a critical piece in driving CelcomDigi’s ambitions to be the new digital growth engine for the nation.
According to its first-quarter 2023 financial report, the company plans to reinvest 15% to 18% of total revenue in capital expenditure to support existing networks and the new integrated and modernised network. It also plans to keep a strong pace of integration execution to complete the network exercise in the next 2½ to 3 years’ time.
