Malaysia’s second 5G operator wants startups to do something telcos across the region have struggled to make happen: build for its network before anyone has agreed to pay for the result.
U Mobile said on Friday that its Enterprise Innovation Platform (EIP) is deepening its collaboration with Cradle Fund, the government-linked startup agency, to help Malaysian startups develop and validate 5G-Advanced (5G-A) and AI solutions for real business use.
The split of duties is simple. Cradle brings the startup pipeline, its programmes and possible funding routes. U Mobile brings a 5G-A and AI sandbox, its engineers and introductions to enterprise buyers.
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For the uninitiated, 5G-A is the next layer of 5G standards, promising lower latency, faster uplink and more precise device positioning. That matters far more to a factory robot or a fleet of connected trucks than to someone streaming football on their phone.
The fine print deserves a second read. U Mobile said access to specific sandbox capabilities depends on engagement and technical requirements, and that funding and commercial opportunities are not guaranteed.
In plain terms, this is a test bench and a networking room, not an investment vehicle.
A fast network still hunting for paying use cases
U Mobile has a point to prove. It was named the winner of Malaysia’s second 5G network bid on 1 November 2024 and received its letter of award on 31 March 2025, setting it up as the challenger to state-backed Digital Nasional Berhad. By the end of September 2026, it said its network covered 90 per cent of populated areas, up from 80 per cent in March. It also cites recognition from Ookla as Malaysia’s fastest 5G network, a joint win with Opensignal for reliability, and a Malaysia Book of Records entry for the fastest 5G rollout.
Coverage, however, is the easy part to announce. Monetisation is harder. Operators across Asia have spent heavily on 5G only to find that consumers will not pay much more for faster phones. The real money, if it arrives, sits in enterprise: private networks, edge computing and industrial IoT. Those markets need applications, and applications need developers who understand the network. That is where startups come in.
“Malaysia has no shortage of bold ideas and talented innovators. Startups need the right environment to test their solutions and understand how they can address real business needs,” said Woon Ooi Yuen, Chief Technology Officer of U Mobile.
He added that the Cradle partnership would connect more innovators with EIP’s 5G-A and AI capabilities, technical expertise and industry engagement, helping them “demonstrate their potential to businesses”.
Cradle wants startups with passports, not just pitch decks
For Cradle, the deal is another corporate bridge. Norman Matthieu Vanhaecke, its Group CEO, said the agency’s focus is on building an ecosystem that lets Malaysian companies grow beyond domestic markets. “Ultimately, we want to see more Malaysian startups develop the scale and competitiveness to succeed regionally and globally,” he said.
Partnerships have become Cradle’s default mode. It previously teamed up with Invest India to link the two countries’ startup ecosystems, and this tie-up has been running since September 2026 through the Cradle Roadshow in Sarawak, the MYStartup Pre-Accelerator Demo Day hosted at the EIP Hub on 28 October, and Cradle LIVE! Summit 2026.
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The Sarawak leg is a quietly useful detail. Much of Malaysia’s startup support still orbits the Klang Valley, and East Malaysian founders working on agriculture, energy or logistics are precisely the ones who could use a connected-industry testbed.
Policy tailwinds, with a funding caveat
The timing suits both sides. Budget 2027 hands startups US$110.4 million, while the government’s AI Nation 2030 plan is pushing B2B adoption. Yet investors have warned that Malaysia’s startup money has a matching problem, with public capital struggling to find enough private co-investment.
That is why a sandbox has real value for early-stage founders. Buying test equipment, edge compute and network access to prove a 5G-A use case is expensive, and a free bench can save months of runway. For U Mobile, every startup that builds on its stack is a potential channel into an enterprise contract it would otherwise have to win alone.
Rivals are writing bigger cheques
U Mobile is hardly alone in courting founders. Singtel launched a US$250 million AI fund to turn its regional footprint into an AI deployment platform, while the Philippines’ Globe has pitched its ecosystem as a fast track to market entryfor startups. At home, CelcomDigi and Maxis chase the same enterprise customers with deeper subscriber bases.
The contrast is stark. Singtel offers capital; U Mobile, for now, offers infrastructure and introductions. Meanwhile, telcos everywhere are racing to put AI into their own apps, which raises a fair question for founders: will the operator be a customer, a partner or eventually a competitor?
There is a local opportunity, though. As Malaysia leans into sovereign AI and local context as a startup moat, solutions validated on a domestic network with domestic enterprise data could carry an edge that imported tools lack.
Demo days are cheap; purchase orders are not
The scorecard that matters will not be the number of demo days or summit panels. It will be how many sandbox pilots turn into paid enterprise contracts, and how quickly.
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Neither party has disclosed how many startups are in the pipeline, what share of the sandbox they can use, or how intellectual property developed on EIP is treated. Those details will tell founders whether this is a genuine launchpad or a showroom for U Mobile’s network.
Until then, Malaysian startups get a fast network to play with. Whether anyone pays them to keep playing is the real test.
The post U Mobile opens its 5G-Advanced sandbox to Cradle’s startups, but the cheques are not part of the deal appeared first on e27.