COMMENT | Malaysia’s 5G debate has now crossed a threshold where consequences are no longer abstract or deferrable.

The recent twin developments in Malaysia’s 5G saga - the stark revelation of plummeting network speeds and the Finance Ministry’s financial exit - are not mere coincidences.

They are structurally linked, direct, predictable, and costly outcomes of a policy experiment that Emir Research has been persistently warning against since its inception.

The data now speaks with unequivocal clarity: the Single Wholesale Network (SWN) model, as executed by Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB), has failed on its own terms, validating years of evidence-based policy advocacy and urging by Emir Research to align Malaysia’s 5G strategy with global evidence, economic rationality, and public interest.

The weaknesses were identified early, debated extensively, but, unfortunately, ultimately ignored.

Two recent developments crystallise what Emir Research warned, repeatedly, across nearly two dozen op-eds...