Network Evolution | Malaysia's Maxis Selects Huawei to Embrace 5G

In a significant step towards superior connectivity for Malaysia, Maxis and Huawei Technologies Malaysia (Huawei) have signed an agreement for the provisioning of 5G network in the country.

The signing ceremony was witnessed by Yang Amat Berhormat Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad, the Prime Minister of Malaysia at Yayasan Kepimpinan Perdana, Putrajaya.

Accompanying the Prime Minister at the signing were Yang Berhormat Tuan Eddin Syazlee Shith, Deputy Minister of Communication and Multimedia and Yang Berusaha Encik Al-Ishsal Ishak, Chairman of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC). Also present at the signing were Maxis’ Chairman, Yang Mulia Raja Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Arshad bin Raja Tun Uda, Ryan Ding, Executive Director, CEO of the Carrier BG, Huawei and Jeffery Liu, President of South Pacific Region, Huawei.

The agreement marks an important milestone in Maxis’ 5G journey as it commits to deliver the best 5G innovation to benefit the people and businesses in Malaysia. 5G will be the fastest network and far more advanced in terms of robustness, latency, peak speed and reliability with potential speeds reaching 10Gbps.

With this agreement, Maxis has committed to work with its long-term network partner, Huawei, to launch 5G in Malaysia. As part of the agreement, Huawei will be supplying 4G/LTE and 5G radio equipment and services. Besides having access to 5G technologies, Maxis will able to modernise its existing LTE network to be 5G-ready. Leveraging on existing investments and footprint, Maxis will be able to facilitate faster rollout of 5G services when spectrum is available.

Additionally, Maxis will have access to insights, standards, products and solutions that would make 5G easier to deploy and operate and introduce new use cases in Malaysia. Huawei will also be putting together a strong team of experts to support Maxis on a series of technical training programmes on planning, operations and maintenance of the 5G network.

Yang Amat Berhormat Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia, said, “The impact of advanced technologies on our progress as a nation is inevitable and we cannot afford to be left behind, especially with Industry 4.0 already upon us. There is no doubt that 5G will be a key driver to connecting everyone in Malaysia and transforming key industries such as manufacturing, agriculture and healthcare so that we can remain globally competitive. Collaboration between global players and local vendors is important to support a thriving technology ecosystem in Malaysia. I am pleased to see Maxis and Huawei taking advantage of this environment and supporting the growth of Malaysia’s digital economy.”

YM Raja Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Arshad bin Raja Tun Uda, Chairman of Maxis, said, “This is an important moment not just for Maxis, but for everyone in Malaysia as we prepare ourselves for an exciting future of next generation connectivity. Today’s signing therefore represents significant progress in our journey and commitment to accelerate 5G in Malaysia. We are pleased to be working with global technology leader and our long term partner, Huawei, whose experience, expertise and capabilities in 5G complement our ambitions to be Malaysia’s leading converged solutions company. We would like to thank the Government for its instrumental role in driving the 5G national agenda, and we look forward to continue working with the Ministry of Communication and Multimedia and MCMC throughout our journey.”

Ryan Ding, Executive Director, CEO of the Carrier BG, Huawei, said that “Malaysia has been making tremendous progress in connecting the unconnected and embracing new ICT infrastructure development. With 5G technology deployment, we foresee Malaysia will go through a phase of rapid digital transformation. 5G technology is expected to accelerate the adoption of Internet of Things (IoT), which will be a part of implementation of an end-to-end solution that covers the supply chain to meet the requirements of building a smart nation. Our vision is aligned with the Government of Malaysia in bringing digital to every person, home and organisation for a fully connected, intelligent world. Maxis has always been at the forefront in introducing new technologies to Malaysia. It was the first to bring 4G to the market and continues to invest significantly in this area to maintain its 4G network leadership in terms of speed, performance and experience, as attested by MCMC’s 2018 Network Performance Report as well as independent studies. Huawei has supported the deployment of 5G by many operators globally. The company brings with them years of expertise and research in 5G, having set up a platform for operators and industry partners to incubate 5G applications together. Working together for over 10 years, Huawei has supported Maxis to become the undisputed network leader in the country.”

Maxis’ 5G journey

Maxis has long started its 5G journey. Over the last few years, Maxis has been assessing the technology and conducting demo trials in its test lab. Maxis has been upgrading its transport network to support the gigabit speeds and at the same time virtualising its core network elements for flexibility and scalability for the capacity demands of this technology.

In February, Maxis and Huawei signed an MoU to cooperate on full-fledged 5G trials. Following this, Maxis commenced the first 5G live trials in the country, where it recorded close to 3Gbps download speeds. Maxis also participated in MCMC’s #5GMalaysia showcase in Putrajaya, demonstrating how 5G can enable Government and corporations to make informed decisions using the technology. Most recently, Maxis and Huawei brought its 5G showcase to Kuching at IDECS 2019.