Malaysia Broadband News

TM says UniFi customers to double by year-end

Celcom unveils BlackBerry Messenger plan

iPhone and BlackBerry likely to remain M'sian favourites

AmBank wins award for its wireless ATM services

TM says UniFi customers to double by year-end

Posted: 16 Aug 2010 09:58 PM PDT

JOHOR BARU: Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) expects the number of its UniFi customers nationwide to double or treble by the year-end.

Chief strategy officer Ahmad Azhar Yahya said since the three UniFi packages were launched on March 24, TM had signed up over 10,000 subscribers.

"We are seeing a steep increase in the number of new customers signing for the service daily and the trend is expected to continue," he said on Saturday after the signing of an agreement between TM and Mudra Tropika Sdn Bhd, the developer of the RM330mil Nong Chik Heights here.

TM was represented by its executive vice president (SME) Shanti Jusnita Johari and Mudra Tropika by chairman Datuk Mohd Rashid Mohd Noor. The signing was witnessed by Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman.

Datuk Mohd Rashidi Mohd Noor (left) exchanging signed documents with Shanti Jusnita Johari while Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman (centre) and TM chief strategy officer Ahmad Azhar Yahaya look on.

Under the agreement, both parties would bear the cost of putting up fibre optics offering high-speed broadband (HSBB UniFi) infrastructure and services to house owners in the 14ha housing scheme.

Nong Chik Heights is a 50:50 joint-venture project between the Johor Government's State Secretary Inc, which owns the Malay reserve land, and Mudra Tropika.

"We are going to sign (similar agreements) with 19 more developers in Johor Baru this and next year to equip their housing projects with the HSSB (service)," said Ahmad.

He said the other 19 projects were also in greenfield areas where it would be easier to lay the HSBB infrastructure instead on brownfield areas or places that were already developed.

Ahmad said about 150,000 premises within Iskandar Malaysia would have access to HSBB UniFi within the next two years.

He said the company would continue to evaluate the needs and demand from time to time for the HSBB service for areas in Johor outside Iskandar.

Ahmad said this could include Teluk Ramunia and Pengerang areas in Johor's South East which had been earmarked to become the region's new oil and gas hub spanning over 5,000ha.

source: The Star

Celcom unveils BlackBerry Messenger plan

Posted: 16 Aug 2010 09:59 PM PDT

KUALA LUMPUR: Celcom Axiata Bhd has unveiled a BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) plan for its Xpax prepaid subscribers.

Under the plan, Xpax subscribers who own a BlackBerry device can chat via BBM by just paying 50sen per day. To do this, Xpax subscribers need to type "BB ON" and send it to 28882.

Users can also opt for the company's BlackBerry Social and BlackBerry Advance plans.

BlackBerry Social allows subscribers to access social media applications and instant messaging tools for RM1 per day.

As for the BlackBerry Advance plan, users can surf the Internet, check e-mail and access social media applications for RM2.50 per day.

source: The Star

iPhone and BlackBerry likely to remain M'sian favourites

Posted: 16 Aug 2010 09:59 PM PDT

PETALING JAYA: Apple Inc's iPhone and Research In Motion's BlackBerry are likely to remain a hit with Malaysians for now although sales of Google Android phones have overtaken the two smartphone models in the United States.

Analysts said the mighty iPhone and Blackberry would continue to sell like hot cakes in Malaysia as choices for the Android were still limited locally.

They are not discounting that the Android-powered phone will overtake iPhone or BlackBerry in Malaysia when the market becomes more mature and receptive towards the new operating system used in the Android.

An analyst said the smartphone market remained healthy.

S. K. Wong … 'We're expecting to launch even more Android smartphones this year.'

"Overall sales are buoyant. Google, which has thrown its Android all over the place, is making its presence felt and the market became more competitive," he said, adding that Microsoft would make the competition stiffer with its Windows Phone 7 Series handsets later this year.

Commenting on the commitment needed from local celcos, an analyst said: "Typically, there is a volume commitment that the operators would need to meet but they won't reveal what this volume is."

Both DiGi.Com Bhd and Maxis Communication Bhd, which sell the iPhone locally, have not revealed their volume commitment to Apple.

DiGi started selling iPhone this year and has a three-year commitment to sell iPhones in the country.

Celcom is currently the only operator that does not offer the iPhone but it has been successfully pushing the sales of the BlackBerry.

It was the largest BlackBerry seller in South-East Asia in 2008.

"We like the iPhone but we believe in getting an agreement that is fair to us. We do not think the current arrangement is fair to us. But things can change, it can be today, tomorrow or next year when we can roll out," Axiata Group Bhd president and group CEO Datuk Seri Jamaludin Ibrahim told StarBiz recently.

According to new reports, sales of the Google Android phones in the United States are rising so quickly that the devices have outsold iPhones for the first time on record.

The Nielsen Co said new smartphone subscribers choosing Google phones accounted for 27% of US smartphone sales, nudging past the 23% share held by Apple.

Locally, analysts expect the iPhone and BlackBerry to still fly off the shelves.

Both Maxis and DiGi have pre-registered their users for the soon-to-be-launched iPhone 4.

"All the three major celcos - Maxis, DiGi and Celcom Axiata Bhd - are also pushing for the sales of BlackBerry," an analyst said, adding that DiGi had been very aggressively pushing sales of smartphones.

DiGi has introduced the country's most affordable plan for iPhone, starting from only RM60 per month while Maxis competes by reducing the price of its iPhone for a 24-month contract.

Apart from iPhone, both also offer competitively priced BlackBerry packages. While both celcos claim that the sales of iPhones had been very encouraging, they did not disclose the figures.

However, analysts said the number of pre-orders for iPhone 4 that Maxis and DiGi received showed there was a huge market for smartphones.

All the three major celcos also offer Google's open-source Android operating system phones such as Samsung Galaxy S, HTC Legend, HTC Desire, Sony Ericsson Xperia 10 and Motorola Milestones, amongst others. Android phones may not be getting as much attention as the BlackBerry and iPhones, but they are definitely catching up.

HTC currently has the most comprehensive of Android phones as it started developing the hardware and software with Google for the latter's first phone, the G1.

HTC Malaysia country manager S. K. Wong said the company had managed to achieve double-digit growth in the last few quarters but did not disclose the numbers.

"We're expecting to launch even more Android smartphones this year, so growth is expected to be encouraging. Currently, HTC is experiencing a local and global supply shortage for our Android smartphones and we are accommodating the healthy demand increase as best as we can," he told StarBiz.

Wong said the current trend lay in the ability to customise each smartphone according to a specific individual needs.

"There are other manufacturers who are beginning to adopt the Android operating system. However, we believe that HTC currently offers the most comprehensive line-up of Android smartphones (as we were) the first to enter the Android market plus our commitment to this platform."

Wong said local customers were getting more responsive after some initial challenges in promoting the Android.

"Our local consumers are starting to recognise our superior features and potential which can be seen from the fast-growing demand for HTC Android smartphones even with other brands coming into the mix.

"Our marketing strategy and partnership with SiS Distribution (M) Sdn Bhd has been fruitful so far and we are confident the Android platform will revolutionise the smartphone market with HTC at the helm, as proven in the US and Europe.

"Today as we continue to lead the growth in the Android market, everyone has come to expect innovative high-quality phones from HTC as well as great after-sales support," Wong said.

The latest version of Android 2.2, released last week, includes 10 new voice commands that can be used to operate phones without using a keypad.

Android is now being touted as the operating system of tomorrow, not only for mobile phones, but also for tablet computers.

source: The Star

AmBank wins award for its wireless ATM services

Posted: 16 Aug 2010 09:59 PM PDT

KUALA LUMPUR: AmBank (M) Bhd (AmBank) has bagged the award for Enterprise Security Excellence in the SHARE/GUIDE Association (M) (SGAM) ICT Awards 2010. The award recognised AmBank's commitment to provide secured wireless connectivity that utilised existing wireless signals like 3G, provided by Celcom and DiGi, for its automated teller machines (ATMs).

"AmBank, one of the leading banks in Malaysia, is aggressively following a strategy to improve services by giving wider and easier access to self-service machines such as ATMs and cash deposit machines in off-premise locations," Managing Director of Retail Banking, AmBank Group, Mohamed Azmi Mahmood said in a statement today.

He said the wireless ATM technology was key to the bank's strategy of meeting the above objective and AmBank was the first to roll out the innovative solution.

To date, AmBank has 806 ATMs nationwide of which 400 were installed in 7-Eleven outlets. - Bernama

(Image from davie's blog)