I READ with great interest this report published recently in The Star: “Govt mulls creating single netco to drive 5G rollout” (Nov 30; online at bit.ly/star_5G) as I recently wrote a letter about shared fibre infrastructure (“A monopoly to open up competition”, The Star, Nov 26; online at bit.ly/star_fibre).
For an independent entity to manage shared infrastructure, it must have shareholders, management and office premises that are all independent from customers. Otherwise its neutrality will be affected and conflicts of interests will arise. A few years ago we had a consortium to provide wholesale IP transit services. Eventually, it ceased operations primary due to conflicts of interest among its shareholders who were also the customers.