Celcom Networks Sdn Bhd and DiGi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd have signed a wholesale bandwidth collaborative deal with Telekom Malaysia Berhad, or TM, for next-gen Backhaul services. In this groundbreaking collaborative deal, TM will provide wholesale bandwidth connectivity via TM Next-Gen Backhaul services for aggregation and access sites jointly owned by Celcom (via Celcom Networks) and DiGi, covering a span of between 3,000 and 3,500 kilometres in Peninsular Malaysia. This forms an important part of the ongoing network collaboration initiative between Celcom and DiGi announced in early 2011, particularly with regards to the joint ambition to roll out more than 10,000 kilometres of fibre network nationwide.

TM will support Celcom and DiGi's transmission requirements, whilst enabling both companies to optimise cost and efficiently utilise its infrastructure. In line with regulatory requirements for service providers to have a robust backhaul network for LTE rollout, this collaboration will help to avoid unnecessary duplication of network infrastructures and it is a strategic move by the operators to be more operationally efficient as the industry matures.