Leaving wholesale behind and taking full control

U Mobile has turned the page on third-party dependency for 5G. Effective 1 July 2026, the Malaysian operator completed moving all its subscribers to its own nationwide ULTRA5G network, ending the wholesale access agreement with Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB). The move hands the provider full control over every layer of the infrastructure – from capacity planning to security and advanced service enablement. It’s a change that goes far beyond radio coverage.

Malaysia’s dual-network play and what’s at stake

U Mobile’s exit from the Single Wholesale Network model is part of a government-driven restructuring: in May 2023, Malaysia announced a shift to a dual-network model. Previously, DNB supplied a single national 5G network that all licensed operators accessed on a wholesale basis. Under the new framework, U Mobile won the contract to build the country’s second 5G network, running in parallel with the existing one. MCMC data shows 5G subscribers rose from 4.6 million in November 2023 to 28.7 million by November 2025, while DNB had deployed 7,489 transmitter sites covering 82.4% of populated areas by 31 July 2025.

U Mobile started its own rollout in mid-2025. Today ULTRA5G exceeds 85% Coverage of Populated Areas (CoPA), hitting the 80% mark in under nine months and earning a spot in the Malaysia Book of Records as the country’s fastest 5G rollout. The timeline demonstrates the ability to build a proprietary infrastructure under tight deadlines, with Huawei and ZTE as technology partners.

Under the hood: 5G-Advanced and Standalone

The ULTRA5G network was deployed using 5G-Advanced-ready equipment, ready for future upgrades without hardware swaps. Its Standalone architecture (5G SA) – with a dedicated core independent of the 4G network – paves the way for services like network slicing, defined by 3GPP as a logical network tailored to specific service or customer requirements. U Mobile has not announced commercial launch dates for slicing, but owning an SA core already creates a differentiation path that a wholesale arrangement would never have allowed.

Current performance has been validated by independent benchmarks: Opensignal’s November 2025 report gave U Mobile the 5G Availability award (57.8% score) and recorded average download speeds of 226.6 Mbps, statistically tied with Unifi Mobile (229.5 Mbps). The company also cited Ookla Speedtest Intelligence data for Q3–Q4 2025, naming it Malaysia’s fastest 5G network, though underlying values were not disclosed.

Lessons for on-premise infrastructure decisions

U Mobile’s story isn’t just a telecoms chronicle. It offers a telling parallel for enterprises evaluating whether to rely on cloud services or build their own on-premise inference stack for Large Language Models. The wholesale agreement with DNB ensured service continuity without massive capital outlay, much like using cloud APIs for LLMs. But surrendering control of a critical asset means giving up the ability to fine-tune latency, customize security policies, introduce value-added services, or manage traffic prioritization during congestion – all capabilities U Mobile now claims for its own 5G network.

In the AI world, those choosing a self-hosted deployment embrace a similar logic: full data sovereignty, model customizability, vendor independence, and often more favorable TCO over the long run, especially for stable workloads. The ULTRA5G network is effectively an extreme case of end-to-end proprietary infrastructure: radio, core, transport, indoor coverage, and security all remain under the provider’s control. For those facing analogous decisions around language models, trade-offs between flexibility and management complexity are real; AI-RADAR provides analytic frameworks designed to navigate choices across cloud, edge, and on-premise scenarios.

Financing and outlook

The financial commitment was substantial. U Mobile secured RM4.3 billion in syndicated financing from CIMB, Maybank, AmBank, and UOB Malaysia, with a 10-year tenure. The Edge Malaysia described it as one of the largest ringgit-denominated syndicated financings by an unlisted company. The capital will largely fund CapEx and working capital for network deployment, which already includes over 190 indoor coverage sites (with a target of more than 600) to tackle signal penetration issues in complex buildings – a challenge highlighted by Ericsson’s Mobility Report, where 37% of macro traffic in dense urban high-rises could serve indoor users.

Beyond coverage: services and security

With migration complete, U Mobile now has full control to roll out differentiated services such as network prioritization during peak times, reserved network capabilities, built-in security features, and, eventually, network slicing-based offers on its Standalone core. CEO Wong Heang Tuck stressed that the transition enables “new services for consumers and businesses,” turning the network into an innovation platform. Expansion will continue in coverage, quality, and product portfolio, cementing U Mobile’s role as a full-fledged network operator, not merely a reseller of wholesale capacity.