Friday, January 28, 2011

DiGi Q4 profit up on increased subscriber usage

Saturday January 29, 2011
By LEONG HUNG YEE
hungyee@thestar.com.my


KUALA LUMPUR: DiGi.Com Bhd net profit for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2010 jumped 34.7% to RM332mil mainly due to increased usage from a bigger subscriber base.

“Higher usage from an enlarged subscription base of 8.8 million (2009: 7.7 million), the inclusion of handset bundles plus rising revenue contributions from data services were the key revenue drivers for the year,” DiGi said in a note accompanying its results.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, the company said its revenue for the fourth quarter rose 14.5% to RM1.43bil from RM1.24bil previously. Its earnings per share rose to 42.7 sen from 31.7 sen.

For the full year ended Dec 31, 2010 (FY10), DiGi net profit improved 17.7% to RM1.17bil versus RM1bil in the previous corresponding period. Revenue for the full year was up 10% to RM5.4bil while pre-tax profit increased to RM1.59bil.

DiGi has declared a fourth interim dividend of 43 sen single-tier exempt dividend per ordinary share of 10 sen each for FY10.

“We have tapped on the rapid increase in demand for quality Internet access that we saw in Malaysia during the year while at the same time, we continued to make inroads into previously underserved markets,” chief executive officer Henrik Clausen said in a separate statement.

“We have anticipated the needs of our customers well by making access to smart phones easier and affordable, with applications that are relevant to our customer base. This has stimulated increased usage from the larger subscriber base of 8.8 million, which in turn, improved the overall revenue contributions of data services,” he said.

DiGi has 4.2 million Internet users and expects demand to trend up from both existing and new customers. Its data services registered a growth of about 20% year-on-year to RM1.2bil against RM1bil in FY09.

“It was mainly precipitated by high take-up of smart-phone bundles and attractive mobile broadband offerings launched in the year. However, average revenue per user (Arpu) dipped to RM52 (2009: RM55). This was the cumulative result of increased competition on international traffic, a higher proportion of on-net traffic and reduced domestic interconnect revenue following the reduction in mobile termination rate that came into effect in early July 2010,” DiGi said.

Group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) grew 13% to RM2.4bil from RM2.1bil in the previous year.

DiGi attributed the improved Ebitda to the group’s efforts in executing its planned operational efficiency initiatives, coupled with strong revenue momentum. “Correspondingly, Ebitda margin improved to 44.4% in FY10 from 43.3% a year ago,” it added.

On its outlook for 2011, DiGi said it would continue to actively address the rising demand for quality data services in Malaysia.

“We will prioritise network investments, which include growing our 3G/HSPA coverage from the current 50% to accelerate our reach, and cater for higher speed capacity, reliability and quality of service. Capital expenditure will be in line with 2010 to support this,” Clausen said.

DiGi expects to “achieve high single-digit revenue growth” for FY11.

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/1/29/business/7897010&sec=business

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Maxis, DiGi unveil price plans for iPhone 4 in Malaysia Click on the picture for specifications

The war for the iPhone 4 subscriber is currently being battled out in Malaysia between Maxis Berhad and DiGi Telecommunications, both of whom have unveiled their pricing plans and availability.



While both companies are doing a launch event within hours of each other, DiGi is making the phone available on 24 Sept and Maxis will follow two days later on 26 Sept.

Now, unless you´re on a contract, the next question just may well be: "Which plan -- DiGi or Maxis?"

Since there´ll be no difference in the hardware on offer, Maxis & DiGi can only compete based on its coverage, plans and services as well as rebates on the suggested retail price of RM2,390 for the 32GB model and RM2,290 for the 16GB model.

Maxis´ pricing for the iPhone 4 was available online earlier, while DiGi´s plans for the iPhone 4 was officially revealed today.

Maxis is offering the iPhone 4 at eight different price points, depending on one of the four call plans and either a 12- or 24-month contract.

It is even offering the iPhone 4 16GB and 32GB for free if you sign up for the iValue 4 plan (RM375 per month) on a 24 month contract. The phone price can go all the way up to RM1,990 for the iValue 1 plan (RM100 per month) on a 12-month contract.

DiGi has made it simpler, offering the iPhone 4 32GB for RM2,490 and the iPhone 4 16GB for RM2,090. However, it is only available on a 24-month contract but DiGi will be offering the iPhone 4 without a contract for RM2,390 (32GB) and RM1,990 (16GB) from 1 November for current iDiGi subscribers.

While the price of the iPhones by DiGi are higher that Maxis´, their call plans start at a lower point.

Being a data intensive phone, it is important to see what kind of data package you can get with the iPhone 4. When comparing the plans, it does seem that DiGi offers a better data deal, even though the price of the iPhone 4 is higher.

DiGi´s giving 1GB of data under the iDiGi 88 plan (RM63 a month), 3GB of data under the iDiGi 138 plan (RM88 per month) and 5GB worth of data under the iDiGi 238 plan (RM158 per month). If you choose auto-billing the monthly fees are reduced by RM5.

On the other hand, for Maxis, 1GB of data comes under the iValue 1 plan (RM100 per month), 2GB of data is offered in the iValue 2 plan (RM155 per month) and 4GB of data is offered in the iValue 4 plan (RM375 per month). It also has the iValue 3 plan offering 3GB of data at RM250 per month.

As for SMS and MMS messaging, there´s not much of a difference in the offers but Maxis also offers more free local calls when compared to DiGi (at least 200 minutes for DiGi vs a minimum 333 minutes for Maxis).

So it basically boils down to coverage and whether you want to pay a lower monthly fee or a lower price for your iPhone 4.


by Aimie Pardas

Published Date : 23 September 2010



Read more: http://gadgets.emedia.com.my/product.php?id=1163/Article/index_html#ixzz1BkrFHrlV

Telekom beefs up WiFi service

By JEEVA ARULAMPALAM
jeeva@thestar.com.my


It intends to increase Streamyx hotspots and hotzones to 10,000 by year-end

KUALA LUMPUR: Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) will focus on strengthening its wireless solution by growing its WiFi hotspots as market competition intensifies in the mobile broadband space.

We are strong in the fixed network, both in copper and fibre, but alongside this network, we will need some form of a wireless solution to help our customers enhance their experience when they buy services from us, TM group chief executive officer Datuk Seri Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa told StarBiz in an interview on Tuesday.

He said TM would focus on increasing its TM Streamyx hotspots and hotzones to 10,000 from 8,800 by the year-end.

Eighty per cent of the time when people are mobile and want to access the Internet, they would be seated somewhere, either in a cafe, hotel lobby or at an airport, Zamzamzairani said. This means these people are located in a building and that gives us the opportunity to serve those customers using our WiFi solutions.


Datuk Seri Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa … ‘We are strong in the fixed network, both in copper and fibre.’

However, he said customers would seek both mobile and fixed broadband solutions, depending on their needs. Customers want mobile solutions when they are moving around while fixed-line services would be ideal for home or office needs.

The latest wireless solutions provider in the market is YTL Communications Sdn Bhd, which launched its 4G Mobile Internet service with voice last month.

TM, which initially dominated the local Internet market share with Streamyx, has seen its retail market share erode with the entry of other mobile and wireless players.

Market share is important to us and when you start at 100%, the only way to go is down. So the challenge for us is to try to slow down that reduction, Zamzamzairani said. While we note that the pie has gotten bigger, we have gone down to 63% (in market share) and will continue to see erosion.

While TM works to preserve its retail market share, he said the company would also focus on other business opportunities in the wholesale segment as well as in new media.

We have opportunity in the wholesale side and in the global side. No one else is investing in capacity, i.e. submarine cables systems and so on.

We have been investing for many years and will continue to do so, giving us the ability to provide global connectivity such as IP transits, not just for Malaysian customers but for surrounding markets like in Indonesia going out to the US and North Asia, he added.

On potential tie-ups for TM's high-speed broadband (HSBB) wholesale services, Zamzamzairani said the company was still in talks with telecommunications operators.

Wholesale is not like selling retail, as the scale for wholesale is big in terms of volume and term commitments. You are also dealing with other operators and they have their own plans, he added.

To date, TM's residential HSBB services, Unifi, has closed some 30,000 orders and premises have surpassed 700,000.

By next week, we would roll out Unifi to cover 34 exchange areas and hit 48 by the year-end. In terms of premises, we are on track to meet our 750,000 target by the year-end, Zamzamzairani said.

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/12/2/business/7538955&sec=business

Telekom Malaysia launch newly enhanced interactive website

Wednesday December 1, 2010


TELEKOM Malaysia Berhad’s (TM) youth-oriented website www.everyoneconnects.net recently celebrated its first anniversary with a fresh look and feel as well as the introduction of new features and applications.

At the event, TM unveiled The World of EveryoneConnects, the newly enhanced interactive website of www.everyoneconnects.net where fans will be able to interact within their own communities, send greetings to one another, listen to music, view sporting events and movies as well as participate in more interactive and upcoming events.

The anniversary celebration was graced by Group Chief Executive Officer of TM Datuk Sri Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa, Chief Marketing Officer of TM Rozalila Abdul Rahman and executive vice president, Consumer of TM Imri Mokhtar.

According to Rozalila, EveryoneConnects has been a huge success in connecting TM to its users.

“The EveryoneConnects campaign and website has brought TM closer to our customers. Thanks to this campaign, having more than 65,000 Facebook fans is testament that broadband brings people, social groups and communities of diverse backgrounds together. With our newly-enhanced EveryoneConnects website, we aim to continue with more interactive features and activities for our users in 2011.”


Good response: The crowd at TM’s EveryoneConnects birthday celebration at The Curve, Mutiara Damansara.
Among the features of the newly-enhanced website include the Stadium, the Jamming Garage, Open House and Sini Maa, representing diverse communities and interests of EveryoneConnects’s fans.

The Stadium is designed as a sports locker room. From here, fans will be able to access “hot off the pitch” features which showcase news, highlights, interviews and videos from Manchester United TV or MUTV. These rich football content are offered by TM in collaboration with Manchester United as the official Integrated Telecommunications Partner of Manchester United in Malaysia. Another feature of the webpage is a game play board that also serves as a chat room for fans.

The Jamming Garage emulates aspects of a garage music studio. This studio features “Camp Bunkface”, where fans can get all the information they need about Bunkface, listen to their songs and watch video previews as well as exchange music information.

Sini Maa is a playful webpage for movies. This webpage highlights movie trailers and videos available on Hypptv (UniFi) and Hypp.tv (web channels) including video clips from Pilih Kasih, the acting reality programme sponsored by TM. The webpage also features Movie Buzz, a chat room for film buffs.

To provide further opportunities for fans to connect, communicate and collaborate, Open House is the perfect place for fans of EveryoneConnects to extend various messages and wishes for birthdays, festivals and celebrations. The Open House is designed to appeal to all Malaysians and features video wishes, a wish board called Spread Some Love and a selection of personalised e-cards for the user’s selection.

The EC Hall of Fame webpage is a walk down memory lane for all the activities that have occurred since EveryoneConnects first launched in November 2009. The webpage highlights previous content of www.everyoneconnects.net and fans can sign the guestbook and view videos and photos of past events and activities.

In addition to the featured webpages, The World of EveryoneConnects brings out the personalities of EC fans who love music, movies, sports and more as they can select their own personalised avatars as they enter the website. Via their online avatars, fans can truly connect, communicate and collaborate with each other online in real time.

To commemorate the first year of Everyoneconnects, TM celebrated the occasion with various exciting activities in collaboration with Sony, Universal Music and other partners.

Among the activities were PS3 competitions, balloon busting event, a birthday celebration for EveryoneConnects, an online gaming face-off with pro-gamer Summer and a special performance by Bunkface. The event was hosted by Hunny Madu and Ben from Flyfm, who hyped things up with their funny antics and lively banter with the crowd.

TM also launched its UniFi high speed broadband service new TV Commercial at the Everyone Connects event. The TVC, titled “We love the UniFi VIP lifestyle” features the award-winning indie band, Bunkface downloading music through UniFi high speed Internet connection; Summer, a professional online gamer defeating her rivals on Sudden Attack thanks to UniFi stability and Zeffri Yusof, a UniFi customer and his family watching HyppTV via their UniFi connection.

When www.everyoneconnects.net was first launched in November 2009, it began with a song entitled “Through My Window” performed by Bunkface and other celebrity artistes. The videos were screened via the EveryoneConnects website and users were encouraged to upload their own cover versions of the song and vote for their favourite cover selections.

For more information on TM’s EveryoneConnects campaign, visit www.everyoneconnects.net. For further details on TM, visit www.tm.com.my.

http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2010/12/1/central/7504113&sec=central