Malaysian telco U Mobile said it has established a strategic backhaul partnership with Time dotCom as it continues its preparations to help build the country’s planned second 5G network.
Under a memorandum of understanding signed on Monday, U Mobile and Time will develop customised backhaul solutions using Time’s extensive fibre backhaul network to support U Mobile’s 5G deployment strategy and technical requirements.
U Mobile and Time will also develop and implement processes and integration strategies to optimise network compatibility and enable high performance for all 5G customer segments, including consumers, enterprises and the public sector.
“By leveraging on Time’s extensive fibre backhaul network, U Mobile is not only able to expedite coverage of 5G across Malaysia, we will also be able to deliver a 5G network that features high availability, good resiliency, ultra-low latency and high bandwidth,” said Woon Ooi Yuen, chief technology officer of U Mobile. “These performance traits will benefit all users but are especially critical to enable reliable automation and IoT applications across industries.”
U Mobile already uses Time’s fibre infrastructure to expand availability of its fibre broadband offering, particularly for high-rise buildings along the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia.
The two companies have also collaborated on 5G before. In 2019, U Mobile and Time signed an MoU under which U Mobile used Time’s backhaul network to support live 5G trials.
Monday’s deal is the latest move by U Mobile to assert itself as a leader in development of Malaysia’s next 5G network, which has been in the works since May 2023.
U Mobile – along with Maxis, U Mobile, YTL and CelcomDigi’s Infranation – finalised its share subscription agreement (SSA) to take a stake in 5G operator Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) in June. The SSAs come with an option that allows each telco to sell their DNB stake in order to take a stake in the second 5G network. They are not allowed to own stakes in both.
U Mobile has said it’s committed to play a role in the second network. Earlier this month, U Mobile signed an MoU with telecoms infrastructure company Edotco accelerate the rollout of the second 5G network.