Wednesday March 16, 2011
By LEONG HUNG YEE
hungyee@thestar.com.my
KUALA LUMPUR: U Mobile Sdn Bhd will be expanding its base stations to cover 85% to 90% of the population nationwide in the next 12 to 18 months.
Chief executive officer Dr Kaizad Heerjee said it currently had some 1,000 base stations and would roll out 2,000 to 3,000 more base stations. He did not disclose the amount of investment needed for the roll-out.
“Based on our assumptions, 4,000 stations should cover 85% to 90% of the population. Since we have a domestic roaming arrangement with Celcom Axiata Bhd, we would basically cover 100%,” Heerjee said after an agreement signing ceremony between U Mobile and China-based ZTE Corp to build a 100Mbps wireless network in Malaysia.
Also present at the signing ceremony were Information, Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Utama Dr Rais Yatim, China Ambassador to Malaysia Chai Xi, ZTE Corp Asia-Pacific region president Zheng Bang and U Mobile chairman Tan Sri Vincent Tan.
From left: Datuk Seri Utama Rais Yatim, Zheng Bang, Dr Kaizad Heerjee, Tan Sri Vincent Tan and Chai Xi at the agreement signing.
Heerjee said U Mobile might swap some of its current base stations and upgrade its network from the current 3G to HSPA+ and beyond.
To a question, he said it currently had less than 1% market share and was looking at increasing it to 3% to 5% this year with more new products and better service.
On the agreement, ZTE will provide end-to-end solution including hardware and equipment to support latest technology to U Mobile including long-term evolution (LTE).
The agreement will see U Mobile extending its 42Mbps mobile network in the Klang Valley, Negri Sembilan and the northern region by the second half of 2011 and the installation of LTE platforms which have the potential of achieving 100Mbps.
“U Mobile and ZTE have successfully conducted a LTE pilot run in our lab. It is ready to be rolled out,” Heerjee said.
However, the LTE or 4G roll-out will depend on the spectrum award by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission.
“We have submitted our application for the spectrum in January. We are hopeful to get something,” he said.
Meanwhile, Zheng said Malaysia was an important market for ZTE in the Asia-Pacific region, “ZTE is committed to working with U Mobile to offer the fastest speed mobile broadband service in Malaysia and make U Mobile a showcase through our state of the art technology and solutions.”
He said the cooperation would also enhance bilateral trade between the two countries.
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/3/16/business/8276201&sec=business
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