Telekom Malaysia (TM) announced on Monday that it has been appointed by the country’s second 5G operator U Mobile as a fibre backhaul partner in a deal valued at MYR2.4billion (almost US$570 million) over the next ten years.
Under the partnership deal, TM will provide U Mobile with backhaul infrastructure services including fibre leased-line access for U Mobile’s 5G RANs, data centre and TM Edge Facility leasing for points of interconnect, and trunk leased lines for inter-regional connectivity.
U Mobile CEO Wong Heang Tuck said the partnership will help expedite its nationwide 5G rollout by taking advantage of TM’s existing fibre footprint that spans over 740,000 km and provides the widest fibre backhaul coverage in Malaysia.
“Together with TM and other partners, we are committed to reaching 80% coverage of populated areas within 12 months, while ensuring a superior 5G experience that is highly reliable, supports massive capacity and delivers ultra-fast speeds to benefit enterprises and consumers across Malaysia,” he said in a statement.
In July 2024 – before being officially selected as Malaysia’s second 5G operator – U Mobile struck a similar deal with Time dotCom. Under that deal, U Mobile and Time are developing customised backhaul solutions to support U Mobile’s 5G deployment strategy and technical requirements.
