Altel Malaysia gets more spectrum

Details: Shailaja Pai; Category: Regulation; 15 June 2021; 5507 views

Altel Communications has been awarded a new allocation of 2x5MHz, totaling 10MHz of the 900MHz band for five years, reported Malaysian newspaper The Star quoting ministerial orders/direction (MO).

The government has again issued a new MO in a surprise move for spectrum allocation and tenure extension, a year after its controversial move that resulted in an abrupt revocation of spectrum then, the report said.

This is in addition to the paired (2x20MHz or 40MHz) 2, 600MHz spectrum it already has. The new MO and determinations were actually published at the end of last month on the regulator’s website, albeit without fanfare, the report noted.

However, the rest of the players did not get any new spectrum this time around. They have been only given a five-year tenure extension for the blocks of the spectrum they already have on the 2, 600MHz band.

Altel is also a beneficiary of the five-year tenure on the 2, 600MHz band and it holds the biggest block of 40MHz spectrum on the 2, 600MHz band, while the rest of the players only have 20MHz blocks each.