5G, JENDELA and the Dual-Network Model in Malaysia

Ask two Malaysians how the country’s mobile networks are run and you will often get two different, half-right answers — because there are actually two separate stories tangled together. One is a broadband coverage plan with a name most people have seen on a government banner. The other is a fast-moving fight over who gets to own the 5G pipe. Understanding modern Malaysian connectivity means keeping these two stories straight.

What is JENDELA, and why did Malaysia need it?

JENDELA — Jalinan Digital Negara, or National Digital Network — is Malaysia’s national broadband plan. It was launched in August 2020 as a coordinated push to fix a patchy connectivity map: strong coverage in cities, thin or absent coverage across rural areas, East Malaysia, and the country’s long stretches of plantation and interior land.

Crucially, JENDELA is a plan, not a company. It is run through the Communications Ministry and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), and it sets targets that the telecommunications operators and fixed-line providers are expected to deliver. It bundles together several strands of infrastructure:

• 4G expansion to raise mobile coverage of populated areas.
• Fibre rollout to pass more homes and businesses with high-speed fixed broadband.
• Satellite / broadband wireless access (BWA) for remote locations that towers cannot economically reach.
• 5G readiness, laying the groundwork for the next-generation mobile layer.

JENDELA was deliberately structured in phases, each with hard numerical targets against a September 2020 baseline. That is what makes it possible to grade.

What did JENDELA Phase 1 actually deliver?

Phase 1 ran from 2020 to the end of 2022, and it closed having beaten its headline targets. When the Communications Minister summarised the final Q4 2022 figures, the numbers came in above plan across the board.

Metric	September 2020 baseline	Phase 1 target	Phase 1 result (end-2022)
4G coverage of populated areas	91.8%	96.9%	96.92%
Fibre premises passed	4.96 million	7.5 million	7.74 million
Mobile broadband speed (Ookla mean)	—	35 Mbps	116.03 Mbps
Satellite / BWA locations	—	839	839 (all deployed)

A few of these deserve a second look. The fibre figure represents roughly 2.78 million new premises passed over about 27 months — a large fixed-broadband build in a short window. The mean speed of 116.03 Mbps (with a median of 43.46 Mbps) blew past the 35 Mbps target, though the mean figure blends both 4G and 5G traffic. And the 839 satellite sites were concentrated where they were needed most: 523 in Sarawak, 138 in Sabah, and 178 in Peninsular Malaysia.

Phase 1 also produced the first real 5G footprint. The Phase 1 final report recorded 5G coverage of about 47.1% of populated areas at the close of Q4 2022; by February 2023, DNB had built 4,363 5G sites and coverage had climbed to about 54.7% — coverage that existed, even if consumer adoption was still low at that point.

What is JENDELA Phase 2 aiming for?

Phase 2 shifts the emphasis from “most of the country” to “all of it.” The stubborn last few percent of the population — deep rural, interior and island communities — is expensive to serve, and that is exactly where Phase 2 points.

The Phase 2 targets, set to be reached by the end of 2025, are:

• 100% internet coverage in populated areas, using a mix of towers and broadband wireless access.
• 9 million premises passed with gigabit-capable access.
• 100 Mbps mobile broadband speed, leveraging 5G.

Progress has tracked ahead on the fixed-broadband side: fibre premises passed had reached about 9.82 million by end-January 2026, already past the 9 million target. On the mobile side, 5G coverage of populated areas had climbed to 82.4% by August 2025 (on 7,489 DNB transmitter sites), with overall internet and communications coverage of populated areas at 98.82% and 5G mobile-broadband penetration of 82.7 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants.

The rollout also continued into a further “JP2” tranche: the federal government allocated RM780 million under Budget 2026, with MCMC issuing requests for proposals on 31 March to extend coverage — including expanding 4G and 5G where possible and using satellite-delivered connectivity for the hardest-to-reach spots, across a planned 2,700 sites.

One caution when reading these numbers: JENDELA measures coverage of populated areas, not landmass. A “98.82% covered” headline does not mean 98.82% of Malaysia’s territory has a signal — it means almost everywhere people actually live does.

Why did Malaysia switch from one 5G network to two?

Here the second story begins — and it is a governance story as much as an engineering one.

When Malaysia decided how to build 5G, it rejected the usual approach of letting each telco build its own network. Instead, it created a single wholesale network (SWN). Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) was established in 2021, owned by the Ministry of Finance, and designated the sole 5G infrastructure provider under Ministerial Direction No. 3 of 2021 (issued on 31 May 2021). Every mobile operator would buy 5G capacity from this one shared network at regulated wholesale prices.

The logic was efficiency: one network avoids duplicated towers, speeds up national coverage, and gives smaller operators access on equal terms. And on coverage, it worked — DNB built out quickly.

But the single-network design attracted persistent criticism on three fronts:

• Pricing and transparency of the wholesale deal the telcos were being asked to accept.
• Concentration risk in putting a strategic national asset inside one entity.
• Governance, including how a state-owned monopoly would be held accountable.

That pressure produced a policy U-turn: rather than one network everyone shares, Malaysia would have two networks that compete.

How was the second 5G network awarded — and to whom?

The transition to the dual-network model unfolded quickly across 2024:

• 21 June 2024 — a Ministerial Direction set out the spectrum a second-network winner would receive.
• July 2024 — MCMC issued its Applicant Information Package, formally opening the tender.
• 1 November 2024 — MCMC named U Mobile as the second 5G network provider.
• 31 December 2024 — Ministerial Direction No. 4 of 2024 revoked the 2021 single-wholesale-network direction, ending DNB’s monopoly and enshrining the dual-network model.

Four operators bid: CelcomDigi, Maxis, U Mobile and Telekom Malaysia. MCMC said it selected U Mobile after detailed deliberations on the technical and commercial merits of each plan. Winning came with a hard condition: because the four telcos collectively held a stake in DNB, U Mobile had to divest its DNB shareholding and offboard from that network in order to concentrate on building its own.

U Mobile launched its second network, branded ULTRA5G, on 18 August 2025, going live first at Berjaya Times Square (billed as the country’s first fully 5G-enabled shopping centre). It is built as a 5G standalone (SA) network with network slicing, using Huawei and ZTE as technology partners, and U Mobile set a target of 80% population coverage by the second half of 2026.

Which spectrum underpins the two networks?

Spectrum is the scarce raw material of any mobile network, and the second-network award was, at its core, an award of spectrum. The Ministerial Direction of 21 June 2024 specified exactly what the winner would get:

Band	Block	Primary role
700MHz	2 × 20MHz (paired)	Wide-area and in-building coverage — low frequency travels far and penetrates walls
3.5GHz (C-band)	100MHz	Capacity and speed — mid-band delivers the high throughput associated with 5G

The pairing of these two bands is deliberate and standard for a modern 5G network. The 700MHz layer does the heavy lifting on reach: it is what lets a network claim wide population coverage, especially indoors and in rural areas. The 3.5GHz layer does the heavy lifting on performance: it is where the fast download speeds and low latency live, best suited to dense urban and high-traffic locations. A network with only one of the two struggles — coverage without capacity feels slow, capacity without coverage has dead zones.

DNB, as the original single wholesale network, was already operating 5G across coverage and capacity bands before the second network arrived, which is how it reached 82.4% of populated areas by August 2025. The dual-network model therefore means two operators each holding their own coverage-plus-capacity spectrum, competing to build out.

What happened to DNB after the government stepped back?

DNB survived the policy shift, but its ownership flipped from public to private in stages.

As the model transitioned, the telcos that use DNB took equity in it. Before the government’s exit, the reported structure was:

Shareholder	Stake
Ministry of Finance (MoF Inc)	41.67%
CelcomDigi	19.44%
Maxis	19.44%
YTL	19.44%

The final step was the state’s departure. On 7 March 2026, CelcomDigi and Maxis each completed the purchase of MoF Inc’s shares, paying RM327,872,640.28 apiece. That transaction marked the government’s exit from the 5G wholesale business and turned DNB into a fully private entity owned by the telcos and YTL.

So Malaysia ended up with two 5G networks under different ownership: DNB, now collectively owned by CelcomDigi, Maxis and YTL; and U Mobile’s ULTRA5G, owned and run by U Mobile alone.

How should you tell all of this apart? A quick decision framework

If you are trying to place any piece of Malaysian connectivity news, ask three questions in order:

1. Is it about coverage targets, fibre, 4G or “populated areas” percentages? → That is JENDELA, the national broadband plan. The relevant authority is the Communications Ministry / MCMC.
2. Is it about who builds or owns the 5G network, spectrum, or wholesale pricing? → That is the 5G network question — DNB and, since 2024, U Mobile’s second network.
3. Is it about your own phone plan? → That is your retail operator (CelcomDigi, Maxis, U Mobile, and their prepaid brands). Which 5G network you actually ride on depends on which operator you buy your SIM from — CelcomDigi and Maxis customers run primarily on DNB; U Mobile customers run on U Mobile’s own network.

Keeping those three layers — plan, network, operator — separate is the single most useful habit for reading this topic correctly.

Common mistakes and misconceptions

• Treating JENDELA and DNB as the same thing. They are not. JENDELA is a multi-year broadband plan covering 4G, fibre and satellite; DNB was a company set up specifically to build 5G. JENDELA outlives whatever happens to any single network operator.
• Assuming “dual network” means consumers pick a network. The dual-network model is about wholesale infrastructure competition, not a menu at the phone shop. You still buy a plan from a retail operator; the network underneath is determined by that operator.
• Reading “populated areas” as “the whole country.” Coverage figures like 82.4% (5G) or 98.82% (internet) are measured against where people live, not total landmass. Malaysia’s forests, highlands and open sea are not in that denominator.
• Confusing 5G coverage with 5G adoption. A high coverage percentage means the signal is available; it does not mean most people are using 5G. At the close of Phase 1 (Q4 2022), 5G coverage of about 47.1% of populated areas coexisted with low actual uptake.
• Believing DNB is still government-owned. As of March 2026 the Ministry of Finance has exited; DNB is fully private.

What’s next

Both stories are still moving. On the JENDELA side, the challenge is the arithmetic of the last mile: the final few percent of unconnected communities is the most expensive to serve, which is why satellite and broadband wireless access feature so heavily in the later tranches. Watch the “populated areas” coverage figure edge toward 100% and the mobile speed target settle around 100 Mbps.

On the network side, the dual-network era is young, and its central test is competition. U Mobile has to build a second network that genuinely rivals DNB’s coverage and quality, while DNB — now privately held by the very telcos that buy from it — has to prove a sustainable commercial model outside government ownership. MCMC will keep shaping spectrum, pricing and coverage obligations across both.

Because the hard numbers here move every quarter, treat the figures in this article as the structural shape of Malaysia’s connectivity, not a live scoreboard. For the latest coverage percentages, site counts and subscriber figures, check MCMC and Communications Ministry statements directly. For a closer look at the retail operators and how the merger reshaped the market, see the companion guide on Malaysia’s telcos and 5G.