Malaysia is set to be one of the world’s pioneer markets when it comes to the rollout of 5G. As reported previously, Malaysia is on track to rollout commercial 5G by Q3 2020; that’s a mere 6 months away at this point. Having shown off 5G’s potential in many use cases at the 5G Malaysia conference, Malaysia now faces its largest hurdle yet – the actual roll out.

While Malaysia is one of the first in the region to explore and rollout 5G, we still stand behind the first world countries in Asia; namely Japan and South Korea who are already on the verge of developing 6G connectivity. Having said that, the technologies behind 5G are still in their infancy. That said, being an early adopter, Malaysia can learn from the hurdles faced by these countries.

At the 5G Malaysia conference, we had a chance to sit down with Mr Choi Woo Hyuk from the South Korean ICT Policy Bureau. South Korea has already deployed commercial 5G back in April 2019. These were a few things he highlighted as hurdles that the South Korean government faced when investing and rolling out 5G.

1. 5G is about Collaboration

The first hurdle that came up with 5G in South Korea was the alignment of everyone’s interests to roll out 5G. There are many parties involved in 5G’s roll out including vendors such as Samsung, Telcos such as SK Telecom and LGPlus, Consumers and the Government. That said, each party has their own interests to guard. The ongoing negotiations between the parties necessitates mediation and compromise.

In Malaysia, the government has already brought together all the players to form a Consortium. This Consortium and the 5G task force has been a first step towards dealing with the issue. However, the government faces a huge hurdle thanks to a legacy of monopoly with players such as TM. Even now, we see TM lobbying heavily to be the main provider for 5G when it hasn’t even completed the roll out of fiber connectivity across the nation. In fact, we have sources who confirm that the High Speed Broad Band (HSBB) roll out is severely delayed due to TM.

The government will face a similar challenge when it comes to mediating the interests of all the players in the local telecoms and connectivity industry with not only Maxis, DiGi (Telenor), Celcom, TM, TIME and even companies like edotco involved. The government will need to take into consideration the interests of all the parties involved including the interests of its electorate to ensure smooth rollout of 5G and the report from the 5G task force which was handed over at the 5G Malaysia Conference.

2. 5G is a Balancing Act between Privacy, Data Security and Industry

This will be the case the world over as the public grows increasingly cognizant of how they are being tracked. However, with 5G, the amount of data that can and will be collected is increasing by at least tenfold. In South Korea, the government has passed Personal Data protection laws in addition to Financial Protection and Online Privacy acts. That said, policymakers are beginning to realise the nuances that 5G presents when it comes to data and privacy.

Malaysia is on-track with our policies thanks to the implementation of the Personal Data Protection Act 2010, more commonly known as PDPA. However, with security and connected cities being some of the use cases being investigated by our 5G Consortium, the question then arises is “How much data should be collected?” and when it comes to security, “how much data is too little?”.

That said, the advent of 5G may necessitate new data protection policies to govern the quantum leap in the amount of data that can be collected by industry. It may also pose a threat to national security given the interconnectedness of smart cities and the security applications of 5G.

3. 5G Coverage and Consumer Applications May Take Time

5G is all about industrial applications and the collection and processing of the immense amount of data that can be transferred through more efficient and stable wireless connectivity. As evidenced by the limited rollout of 5G in Langkawi, the roll out of the new connectivity technology will be a hurdle that can only be solved with consistent investment.

South Korea initially rolled out their 5G network with 30,000 base stations and has recently completed about 100,000 base stations. This initial rollout not only posed challenges to Telcos, but also caused a very disrupted, inconsistent experience for consumers. With the limited amount of devices at the time, mainly the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, consumers in South Korea faced issues when it came to battery life as the phones would jump between 5G and 4G networks due to limited coverage.

While players such as Maxis, DiGi and Celcom are touting 5G readiness in Malaysia, it would not be surprising if we see the same issues crop up when 5G hits commercial availability. The increased hype and anticipation could be the biggest hurdle as the implication of 5G are more focused in industry rather than consumer technologies.

With these lessons in mind, it seems like the road to 5G is still quite bumpy and it will take a herculean effort from all the players to ensure that we have an open, unadulterated 5G in Malaysia. However, the success of Malaysia’s 5G rollout will depend on the government, its policies and mediation.