KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 19): CelcomDigi Bhd’s top level executives have maintained their stance that the current additional charges for subscribers to upgrade to 5G services provides the most flexibility, instead of reducing their prices in accordance with lower cost from the new generation network provided by Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB).

“I think that probably at this point in time, [this] is one of the most flexible ways for them (subscribers) to come in and experience the (5G) service. So, for a small amount, they can have additional capacity and then they have access to the 5G network,” said chief executive officer Datuk Mohamad Idham Nawawi.

“It gives that kind of transition for our customers who do not have enough capacity to opt-in into 5G,” he told reporters here after launching a new corporate brand for the group after last year’s merger.

CelcomDigi, together with Maxis Bhd, are currently charging up to RM20 for subscribers, depending on their subscription plans, to gain access to the 5G network developed by DNB under the single wholesale network model, which aims to provide the country faster internet services while lowering the costs of living for subscribers amid a heightened inflation environment.

Minister of Communications and Digital Fahmi Fadzil previously reportedly said the government will engage with mobile network operators (MNOs) via Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission to potentially waive such additional charges for subscribers to upgrade their services to 5G, via an “opt-out” model, similar to the network transition from 3G to 4G, whereby customers are automatically upgraded unless they opted out from onboarding a new generation network.

Deputy CEO Albern Murty also revealed that CelcomDigi’s access agreement with DNB for 5G network did not stipulate any ceiling price that an MNO can charge on its subscribers.

Albern said the current model of upgrading 5G allows customers to “make a conscious decision to select that they want to try a 5G plan”.

“When they do that, then they get additional 4G and 5G quotas. So, we treat it as a step up of the quota in those plans. So, for us, we don’t see that as an issue and we see that that is the right way of introducing the right customers in the right segments to use 5G,” he said.

Albern also explained that currently, CelcomDigi 5G services are tied along with its 4G network, and there are no standalone packages for 5G, which usually involve higher data usage.

“So, on 4G to 5G, today if you are on 4G plans, you will automatically get 5G if you are on the high-end plans. If you are on a bundle plan with devices and you are signing up for a 5G device bundle today, you will get that,” he said.

“And if you are not, [and are] just [on] a 4G [plan], [we] have boosters that [we] could enable customers to actually try the 5G without having to commit to 5G. 5G is still about 80% coverage by the end of the year. We are not there yet.

“We want to make sure that customers who end up signing up for those plans actually first have the right device. Second, they need to be able to connect to 5G and have 5G where they are. So, that allows them to take two steps to getting there,” he explained.

Following the merger of Celcom Axiata Bhd and Digi.Com Bhd, CelcomDigi has introduced its new corporate logo that aligns with its post-merger mission to find innovative ways to advance its telco products to all Malaysians.

“We are now operating as a single company — so one of the things that we said ... very early [during the merger] was about bringing, first of all, the synergies of all the organisations together and the other one was making sure that we all grow into this merger very quick to get as fast as possible,” said Mohamad Idham.

He also reiterated that the merger entity will give a value accretion of RM8 billion for the group over the next five years, thus he foresees that the group will continue to pay out progressive dividends moving forward.

For the financial year of 2022 (FY2022), CelcomDigi's dividend pay-out stood at RM1.07 billion, or 12.2 sen per share, which was over 100% of the group's dividend pay-out ratio and exceeded its dividend policy of distributing a minimum 80% of net profits.

CelcomDigi shares closed four sen or 0.9% lower at RM4.29, giving it a market capitalisation of RM50.33 billion.