Boost to Maxis Revenue

Friday April 1, 2011

By B.K. SIDHU
bksidhu@thestar.com.my


Home Services to contribute to celco over the long term

KUALA LUMPUR: Maxis Bhd does not expect significant contributions from its “home services” in the near term, but for the longer term it would become a major revenue generator since voice revenues are falling.

“We can't say how much but the next bit of revenue will be coming from there (home services),'' Maxis chief executive officer Sandip Das said.

For now its non-voice revenue accounts for 40% of total revenue and Sandip said he would be surprised if the contributions would kick in this year.

The launching of its home services, which it also calls multi-play services, marks a significant shift in the way Maxis will conduct its business in the future. It is not longer a mere mobile company but has transformed into an integrated player, something it has been aspiring to do for a long time.


Deputy Information, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum (left) and Sandip Das at the launch of Maxis Home Services yesterday.

This new phase opens a lot more opportunities for the company at a time when voice traffic is falling and globally operators are monetising their dump pipes so as to avoid an erosion in earnings.

What it is offering is a gamut of product and services, not just for the user but also for the entire family.

Yesterday Maxis launched its home services which will operate on many access modes, be it fibre or wireless, and on multiple devices such as mobile phones, computers, television and tablets, and the content carried on the access networks and devices will be varied.

Initially it would just be broadband access and 15 different services including music, security, television. Sandip said new products and services would be added every other week.

“We will aggregate the best content (for our users) and by the third quarter of this year, customers will receive a full suite of services that improve their lives by having every service category brought to their homes,” he said.


Its e-learning offering will be made available by end-April.

To provide the services, it will ride on its existing wireless and fibre infrastructure while it is buying capacity on Telekom Malaysia Bhd's high speed broadband network and Tenaga Nasional Bhd's fibre network. Presently, the fibre is available to limited houses and multi-dwelling units, but Maxis will continue to look into ways to extend its reach as its aim is to reach out to urban and rural centres including kampungs.

Its capex investment last year was RM1.4bil. This year it will spend the same amount to expand and improve its network.

Maxis also launched its pricing packages for the home services RM128 per month for 4 Megabits per second in speed and 30GB in quota package; RM158 per month for 6Mbps/60GB and RM218 for 10Mbps/100GB respectively. It comes with some free calls.

Asked whether Maxis can get users since its pricing packages and services are somewhat similar to that of TM's Unifi, Sandip said: “We have 10,000 users who have expressed interest and with the kind of content richness and inter-operability that we will offer, it will be a completely new experience and we are confident we will have the customers.''

Also yesterday Time dotCom Bhd announced to Bursa Malaysia that it had signed a definitive 10-year agreement with Astro to provide its fibre infrastructure for Astro IPTV solution bundled with Time fibre broadband and voice telephony services across the Klang Valley and Penang to apartment blocks, multi-dwelling units or commercial buildings.


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