Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz has implied that telcos torpedoed plans for a consortium to set up 5G access nationwide, amid backlash over the government's push for a single wholesaler model.

According to a chronology he provided, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) had published a report in 2019 suggesting that a 5G consortium of telcos be established instead of awarding individual 4G spectrums to individual companies.

"However, because of...