COMMENT | In Emir Research’s opinion, the question to proceed with the single wholesale network (SWN) or dual wholesale network (DWN) as per ongoing discussion is a wrongly formulated question because both options will lead to the absolutely identical inimical impact to the Malaysia telecom industry and the nation as a whole.

That is very fundamental because a healthy telecom industry ecosystem is one of the critical pillars of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) and beyond. So, the real danger of making the wrong decision now is not in potentially losing billions of ringgit but a destroyed ecosystem with long-term consequences for the nation.

Therefore, the policy decision-makers right now should aim at identifying an alternative 5G rollout model (not SWN or DWN) that would sufficiently disrupt the telecom industry’s “status quo” to unlock the desired effects such as greater network quality and a more even network coverage nationwide, without the heavy expense of adversely affecting the telecom industry development as a whole.

Also, note that...