The head of Malaysia’s stock exchange appeared to criticise a government decision to cancel a 5G spectrum allocation by highlighting the economic benefits offered by the technology, Free Malaysia Today reported.
Bursa Malaysia chairman Abdul Wahid Omar said 5G could contribute an additional MYR12.7 billion (US$3.1 billion) to GDP between 2021 and 2025, and create 39,000 jobs, the newspaper stated.
Citing a Malaysian Institute of Economic Research study, Omar called for collaboration between businesses,”regulators and financiers” to captialise on Industry 4.0, arguing listed companies in the country must be at the “forefront” of technology innovation.
Malaysia’s government backtracked on a plan to bypass a 5G tender process and hand out spectrum to five companies in June, citing technical and legal problems.
Maxis CEO Gokhan Ogut said last month it is ready to deploy 5G “as soon as the spectrum is made available”. The operator previously teamed with rival Cellcom Axiata on trials of the technology.
