U Mobile says its ULTRA5G network now reaches about 2.3 million people in Sabah, a little over a year after it first switched 5G on in Kota Kinabalu. The part that made it possible sits underground: new fibre laid by Sabah's own CTS Horizon, which lifts the data each tower can carry by ten times.
Quick facts
- ULTRA5G coverage in Sabah: about 2.3 million people
- More than 545 sites now run on upgraded fibre backhaul of up to 10Gbps each, against the 1Gbps typical for 4G
- Coverage beyond Kota Kinabalu now includes Penampang, Tuaran, Papar and Keningau
- Indoor coverage at Wisma Merdeka, Imago Mall and Kota Kinabalu International Airport
Why the fibre matters
A 5G tower is only as fast as the cable feeding it. U Mobile appointed CTS Horizon, formerly Celcom Timur (Sabah), as its main fibre leasing partner in April 2025 for Sabah and WP Labuan. Since then CTS has delivered more than 500 leased fibre circuits across West Sabah, East Sabah and Labuan, which the two companies say arrived on schedule and meet the rollout's capacity and redundancy requirements.
Sabah's terrain has long been the obstacle for anyone building a network there, and the companies credit CTS's local knowledge with getting the cable where it needed to go. The upgraded links also carry redundancy, so a single cut is less likely to take a site offline.
What changes for users in Sabah
Each upgraded site can now move up to 10Gbps, ten times the 1Gbps that a 4G site typically gets. For someone on a U Mobile 5G plan, that is headroom: more people can use the same tower at once before speeds drop, which matters most in busy places like the airport and the malls U Mobile names.
"Strategic infrastructure partnerships such as the one with CTS Horizon Sdn. Bhd. have been instrumental in accelerating our rollout across the state, while strengthening network capacity and reliability," said Woon Ooi Yuen, Chief Technology Officer of U Mobile.
The Sabah figure adds to the national push U Mobile has been reporting all year, including its claim of 90% 5G coverage in Malaysia and the off-grid, solar-powered 5G sites it trialled in rural Sarawak and Sabah. U Mobile has not said how many people in Sabah it plans to cover next or by when. Plan details are on U Mobile's 5G page.
