23 Safar 1433
KUALA LUMPUR, 17 Jan 2012- MNC Wireless Bhd, melalui syarikat sekutunya, IntJoors Sverige AB, telah melancarkan "Joors", perkhidmatan internet mudah alih berkelajuan tinggi percuma pertama di dunia di Sweden.
Dalam satu kenyataan, pakar mudah alih dan internet media berpangkalan di Malaysia itu berkata ia mereka bentuk dan membangunkan platform yang membolehkan dan segi teknikal bagi perkhidmatan yang baharu dan yang menerujakan itu manakala rangkaian jalur lebar mudah alih disediakan oleh TeliaSonera Mobile Networks AB di Sweden berasaskan jualan borong.
"Kami sangat teruja menjadi syarikat pertama di dunia menawarkan satu perkhidmatan jalur lebar mudah alih yang disokong iklan di dunia di salah satu pasaran telekomunikasi paling maju," kata Ketua Pegawai Eksekutifnya, Chung Jaan Hao.
Katanya Joors adalah unik kerana ia mewujudkan satu platform sangat berkesan bagi menyasarkan iklan digital dan interaksi sambil menyediakan para pengguna dengan komoditi sangat bernilai, iaitu akses internet mudah alih.
Joors menawarkan satu-satunya perkhidmatan sepertinya di dalam pasaran yang mengenepikan fi bulanan atau tempoh langganan kontrak yang lama.
Para pengguna hanya perlu membayar satu fi permulaan sekali sahaja bagi pendaftaran untuk mendapatkan akses internet percuma, bagi penggunaan biasa, bagi setiap 30 hari, pada kelajuan sehingga 10Mbps.
Sumber- BERNAMA
Showing posts with label HSBB. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HSBB. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Jalenas hires foreign professionals to resolve snag
Monday August 2, 2010
By B.K. SIDHU
bksidhu@thestar.com.my
PETALING JAYA: Jalenas Sdn Bhd has hired three foreigners to lead the company to help it deliver its promises of a open access high-speed broadband network to the nation after over a year’s delay.
The company appointed James Angelone as its CEO, Niclas Sonesson as the chief technology officer/chief operating office and Boyan Krosnov, the director for network operations recently.
Angelone has spent nearly 30 years in the telecoms industry of which 22 were in the Asia-Pacific region. He has worked in various positions with different companies.
James Angelone ... ‘We are only looking at US$10mil funding.’
He started with AT&T in the United States, moved to Lucent Technologies Inc and later to PacketFront, Jazz International Marketing and BroadSoft Korea.
His latest post before Jalenas was vice-president, global sales and marketing with Samsung SDS in South Korea. He holds an MBA in Business Management from the Almeda College & University in Idaho, United States.
Angelone is confident that with his expertise and that of his other colleagues, Jalenas will be able to roll out services for consumers in the country.
“With proper network planning and the right partners, we would be able to roll out fibre to 300 homes in Kuantan by end-October,” Angelone said in an interview.
Sonesson, the CTO/COO, was co-founder of PacketFront AB (a open-access solution provider). He had connected and serviced the first 130,000 homes in less than one year for a national deployment of fibre to the home (FTTH) project in Sweden. He is a telecommunications and home electronics engineer.
Krosnov, the man who will be involved in network operation is a network engineer by profession and was involved in the fibre network deployment in Iceland.
PacketFront is one of two partners Jalenas has teamed up for an open access solution. The other is Maipu (Sichuan) Communications of China for equipment supplies. It is also in talks with several other parties such as Cisco to roll out its network. It may use Tenaga Nasional Bhd poles for FTTH.
“We want to work with partners that are willing to be committed with the project. We believe in what we are doing. We will only work with professionals as we cannot afford to make mistakes since this is a privately-funded project,” Angelone said.
On how Jalenas would fund its network build-up, he said: “Funding will always be challenging, but once we have (part of) the network up, we would get there. We are only looking at US$10mil funding for the initial stages, so the outlay is small and we are also working with partners,” he said.
Despite such optimism that it can source funding and deliver FTTH to 300 homes by end of October, the sceptics are not convinced as this is a capital-intensive business that comes with long gestation period and having the financial muscle in this game will be critical.
“Let me put my team in and we will turn everything upside down for the network roll-out. But we have to grow from small to big. We have to grow through the phases and we will source for funding at the same time,” he said.
Jalenas is a joint venture between High Speed Broadband Technology Sdn Bhd (HSBT) and Pahang Government subsidiary Pahang Technology Resources Sdn Bhd. It has a paid-up capital of RM10mil.
Jalenas and its parent company HSBT have an ambitious plan to invest RM10bil to wire up 2.5 million premises in Malaysia.
HSBT pitched to the Government in 2008 for a privately-funded second network but was turned down with the rationale that Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) was the only company capable of rolling out such a capital-intensive project.
In February, Jalenas said it would wire up Kuantan with high-speed broadband, but only a km of fibre had been laid around the city thus far.
On having to work alongside incumbent TM, Angelone said “it will be an uphill battle but the company wants to prove the sceptics wrong”.
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/2/business/6770922&sec=business
By B.K. SIDHU
bksidhu@thestar.com.my
PETALING JAYA: Jalenas Sdn Bhd has hired three foreigners to lead the company to help it deliver its promises of a open access high-speed broadband network to the nation after over a year’s delay.
The company appointed James Angelone as its CEO, Niclas Sonesson as the chief technology officer/chief operating office and Boyan Krosnov, the director for network operations recently.
Angelone has spent nearly 30 years in the telecoms industry of which 22 were in the Asia-Pacific region. He has worked in various positions with different companies.
James Angelone ... ‘We are only looking at US$10mil funding.’
He started with AT&T in the United States, moved to Lucent Technologies Inc and later to PacketFront, Jazz International Marketing and BroadSoft Korea.
His latest post before Jalenas was vice-president, global sales and marketing with Samsung SDS in South Korea. He holds an MBA in Business Management from the Almeda College & University in Idaho, United States.
Angelone is confident that with his expertise and that of his other colleagues, Jalenas will be able to roll out services for consumers in the country.
“With proper network planning and the right partners, we would be able to roll out fibre to 300 homes in Kuantan by end-October,” Angelone said in an interview.
Sonesson, the CTO/COO, was co-founder of PacketFront AB (a open-access solution provider). He had connected and serviced the first 130,000 homes in less than one year for a national deployment of fibre to the home (FTTH) project in Sweden. He is a telecommunications and home electronics engineer.
Krosnov, the man who will be involved in network operation is a network engineer by profession and was involved in the fibre network deployment in Iceland.
PacketFront is one of two partners Jalenas has teamed up for an open access solution. The other is Maipu (Sichuan) Communications of China for equipment supplies. It is also in talks with several other parties such as Cisco to roll out its network. It may use Tenaga Nasional Bhd poles for FTTH.
“We want to work with partners that are willing to be committed with the project. We believe in what we are doing. We will only work with professionals as we cannot afford to make mistakes since this is a privately-funded project,” Angelone said.
On how Jalenas would fund its network build-up, he said: “Funding will always be challenging, but once we have (part of) the network up, we would get there. We are only looking at US$10mil funding for the initial stages, so the outlay is small and we are also working with partners,” he said.
Despite such optimism that it can source funding and deliver FTTH to 300 homes by end of October, the sceptics are not convinced as this is a capital-intensive business that comes with long gestation period and having the financial muscle in this game will be critical.
“Let me put my team in and we will turn everything upside down for the network roll-out. But we have to grow from small to big. We have to grow through the phases and we will source for funding at the same time,” he said.
Jalenas is a joint venture between High Speed Broadband Technology Sdn Bhd (HSBT) and Pahang Government subsidiary Pahang Technology Resources Sdn Bhd. It has a paid-up capital of RM10mil.
Jalenas and its parent company HSBT have an ambitious plan to invest RM10bil to wire up 2.5 million premises in Malaysia.
HSBT pitched to the Government in 2008 for a privately-funded second network but was turned down with the rationale that Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) was the only company capable of rolling out such a capital-intensive project.
In February, Jalenas said it would wire up Kuantan with high-speed broadband, but only a km of fibre had been laid around the city thus far.
On having to work alongside incumbent TM, Angelone said “it will be an uphill battle but the company wants to prove the sceptics wrong”.
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/2/business/6770922&sec=business
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
TeAM wants HSBB to be more inclusive
Written by TeAM
Monday, 07 June 2010 10:32
The Technopreneurs Association of Malaysia (TeAM) welcomes the initiative by Telekom Malaysia and the Malaysian government to provide HSBB for the Malaysian public. We feel that it is timely that Malaysian citizens and business entities have access to HSBB as this will catalyse and enhance the environment for the digital economy in Malaysia. We are confident that this will also help with the government's initiative to create a New Economic
Model for the nation.
We are however concerned about a few matters:
1. Affordability is still an issue. On a comparative basis, HSBB is still very expensive in Malaysia. For example, per capita incomes in the UK and Australia are above US$35,000 per year and high-speed broadband access costs only around US$600 per year or around 0.02% of the average person's per capita income. In Malaysia, whose per capita income is US$14,500, the average annual HSBB cost is 2.5 times that of Australia and UK at 0.05% of per capita income. In fact, in a country with a lower per capita income we should have even cheaper access so we can encourage uptake. We feel that unless costs are lowered significantly, the benefits envisioned by the government will not be achieved. We therefore propose that HSBB be offered at RM99 for the 10Mbps package.
2. Since the government is subsidising the HSBB effort, Telekom Malaysia should not view HSBB as a pure commercial venture. There should be a social angle to this and this should be reflected in low prices for users.
3. Businesses should also be given better access at lower prices to encourage the growth of a digital economy that can contribute to the national income.
4. TM should also be more flexible with their packages and should allow consumers to select unbundled options. This will give them more choice and should be the way in which HSBB is offered. TM should not force consumers to take what is offered. This does not encourage high uptake as some consumers cannot afford a full package.
5. TM should also open up their infrastructure for use by other parties that can act as ISPs (independent service providers). This will foster healthy competition which is necessary for higher uptake of HSBB. This includes opening up the "last mile" to such ISPs.
6. As urban consumers are already broadband users, TM has to also focus on providing HSBB to suburban and rural areas at low prices. They should also speed up provision in these areas instead of focusing on high-income areas like Bangsar. HSBB should be a more inclusive programme and not only for the middle class or elite.
This article appeared in netv@lue2.0, the technology section of The Edge Malaysia, Issue 802 Apr 19 - 25 2010
http://www.theedgemalaysia.com/technology/167420-team-wants-hsbb-to-be-more-inclusive.html
Monday, 07 June 2010 10:32
The Technopreneurs Association of Malaysia (TeAM) welcomes the initiative by Telekom Malaysia and the Malaysian government to provide HSBB for the Malaysian public. We feel that it is timely that Malaysian citizens and business entities have access to HSBB as this will catalyse and enhance the environment for the digital economy in Malaysia. We are confident that this will also help with the government's initiative to create a New Economic
Model for the nation.
We are however concerned about a few matters:
1. Affordability is still an issue. On a comparative basis, HSBB is still very expensive in Malaysia. For example, per capita incomes in the UK and Australia are above US$35,000 per year and high-speed broadband access costs only around US$600 per year or around 0.02% of the average person's per capita income. In Malaysia, whose per capita income is US$14,500, the average annual HSBB cost is 2.5 times that of Australia and UK at 0.05% of per capita income. In fact, in a country with a lower per capita income we should have even cheaper access so we can encourage uptake. We feel that unless costs are lowered significantly, the benefits envisioned by the government will not be achieved. We therefore propose that HSBB be offered at RM99 for the 10Mbps package.
2. Since the government is subsidising the HSBB effort, Telekom Malaysia should not view HSBB as a pure commercial venture. There should be a social angle to this and this should be reflected in low prices for users.
3. Businesses should also be given better access at lower prices to encourage the growth of a digital economy that can contribute to the national income.
4. TM should also be more flexible with their packages and should allow consumers to select unbundled options. This will give them more choice and should be the way in which HSBB is offered. TM should not force consumers to take what is offered. This does not encourage high uptake as some consumers cannot afford a full package.
5. TM should also open up their infrastructure for use by other parties that can act as ISPs (independent service providers). This will foster healthy competition which is necessary for higher uptake of HSBB. This includes opening up the "last mile" to such ISPs.
6. As urban consumers are already broadband users, TM has to also focus on providing HSBB to suburban and rural areas at low prices. They should also speed up provision in these areas instead of focusing on high-income areas like Bangsar. HSBB should be a more inclusive programme and not only for the middle class or elite.
This article appeared in netv@lue2.0, the technology section of The Edge Malaysia, Issue 802 Apr 19 - 25 2010
http://www.theedgemalaysia.com/technology/167420-team-wants-hsbb-to-be-more-inclusive.html
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
TM sasar lebih 30 saluran di HyppTV menjelang akhir tahun
KUALA LUMPUR 13 Julai - Telekom Malaysia Bhd. (TM) berhasrat menawarkan lebih daripada 30 saluran menerusi perkhidmatan Televisyen Protokol Internet HyppTVnya menjelang akhir tahun daripada 22 saluran pada masa ini.
"Kami kini sedang berunding dengan penyedia kandungan dan mengharapkan lebih daripada 30 kandungan menjelang akhir tahun," kata Naib Presiden Eksekutif Pengguna, Jeremy Kung, dalam taklimat media di sini hari ini.
Kung turut menggesa agar penyedia kandungan tempatan menggunakan platform IPTV sebagai wadah untuk mempertontonkan kandungan mereka, sambil menambah yang kerajaan telah menyediakan wang permulaan bagi membantu mereka mewujudkan kandungan mereka.
HyppTV dilancarkan pada 24 Mac bersama-sama dengan perkhidmatan jalur lebar berkelajuan tinggi (HSBB) TM, UniFi.
HyppTV boleh diperolehi oleh semua pengguna kediaman UniFi HSBB sebagai sebahagian daripada tawaran triple-play terdiri daripada telefon, IPTV dan perkhidmatan internet berkelajuan tinggi.
Kung berkata, para pelanggan UniFi pada masa ini menikmati 22 saluran TV linear percuma dan lebih daripada 20 jodol VoD baru yang menarik, yang ditambahkan setiap bulan sebagai perkhidmatan tambah nilai.
"Kami amat teruja dengan potensi langkauan HyppTV berseiringan dengan pengembangan perkhidmatan UniFi ke lebih banyak kawasan dan TM akan meningkatkan usaha untuk menarik lebih ramai pengguna," kata Kung.
Kung berkata, TM menjangkakan enam hingga lapan peratus daripada 750,000 premis akan dihubungkan ke UniFi menjelang akhir tahun dan menjadi pelanggan kepada HyppTV.
Pada masa ini, TM mempunyai 5,000 pengguna UniFi.
HyppTV ditawarkan menerusi pakej kediamannya - VIP5 pada RM149 sebulan, VIP10 pada RM199 sebulan dan VIP20 pada RM249 sebulan.
http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2010&dt=0714&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Korporat&pg=ko_03.htm
"Kami kini sedang berunding dengan penyedia kandungan dan mengharapkan lebih daripada 30 kandungan menjelang akhir tahun," kata Naib Presiden Eksekutif Pengguna, Jeremy Kung, dalam taklimat media di sini hari ini.
Kung turut menggesa agar penyedia kandungan tempatan menggunakan platform IPTV sebagai wadah untuk mempertontonkan kandungan mereka, sambil menambah yang kerajaan telah menyediakan wang permulaan bagi membantu mereka mewujudkan kandungan mereka.
HyppTV dilancarkan pada 24 Mac bersama-sama dengan perkhidmatan jalur lebar berkelajuan tinggi (HSBB) TM, UniFi.
HyppTV boleh diperolehi oleh semua pengguna kediaman UniFi HSBB sebagai sebahagian daripada tawaran triple-play terdiri daripada telefon, IPTV dan perkhidmatan internet berkelajuan tinggi.
Kung berkata, para pelanggan UniFi pada masa ini menikmati 22 saluran TV linear percuma dan lebih daripada 20 jodol VoD baru yang menarik, yang ditambahkan setiap bulan sebagai perkhidmatan tambah nilai.
"Kami amat teruja dengan potensi langkauan HyppTV berseiringan dengan pengembangan perkhidmatan UniFi ke lebih banyak kawasan dan TM akan meningkatkan usaha untuk menarik lebih ramai pengguna," kata Kung.
Kung berkata, TM menjangkakan enam hingga lapan peratus daripada 750,000 premis akan dihubungkan ke UniFi menjelang akhir tahun dan menjadi pelanggan kepada HyppTV.
Pada masa ini, TM mempunyai 5,000 pengguna UniFi.
HyppTV ditawarkan menerusi pakej kediamannya - VIP5 pada RM149 sebulan, VIP10 pada RM199 sebulan dan VIP20 pada RM249 sebulan.
http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2010&dt=0714&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Korporat&pg=ko_03.htm
Monday, May 24, 2010
The Broadband Catalyst
thestaronline: Saturday April 10, 2010
THERE is no question of the importance that broadband expansion and enhancement will take the country forward the next several decades.
Information, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Utama Dr Rais Yatim says: “Broadband is an integral part of the economy. It is the enabler for change as it affects an increasing number of sectors and activities. The direct benefits from investments in the technology and from rolling out the infrastructure are enormous.''
Speed is needed for fast connections to the Web, to undertake business transactions, e-commerce, e-learning, e-jobs and all the E-stuff.
Video gets a new face with fast speed broadband and this spurs new areas of businesses such as interactive education, IPTV content, online games and financial services. The content industry gets a huge lift as they now have a bigger channel (or pipe) to transport their creations in video and data format, and that means business for the big and small boys.
For the people, it helps to bridge the information gap and creates a knowledge-based society that can use the broadband to acquire new skills, better paying jobs and create new business opportunities.
Limitless Possibilities
“From advanced nations to developing nations, the arrival of the broadband has led to a change in lifestyle and hike in productivity. Broadband penetration is a catalyst for increased efficiencies in existing economic activities. It also generates new services, which contribute towards increasing the national gross domestic product (GDP),'' Rais says.
If Malaysia achieves 50% broadband penetration, the net effect is a 1% contribution to the GDP.
“In the United States, a similar rate contributed to 4% of their total GDP, 15% penetration in Britain resulted in 0.6% growth in GDP, and 50% in New Zealand resulted in 0.9% contribution in GDP. In Malaysia, the communications and multimedia industry's contribution towards the GDP and gross national product is 6% and 7.6% respectively in 2007, he says.
Of course, Rais also points out that with faster speeds he expects the nation to “attract more foreign investments.''
Competitiveness
But how is our competitive ratings versus our neighbours who are far ahead in fast broadband?
Axiata Group Bhd president & group CEO Datuk Seri Jamaludin Ibrahim believes that “we are ahead in the region in terms of coverage and speed where mobile broadband is concerned and on par with Singapore.
“For fixed-line broadband, we are ahead, but maybe not at the same level as Singapore. Internationally, our broadband speed still has some catching up to do, We are at least 3 years behind developed nations. It will take time to improve but it is also about putting money where the mouth is,'' he says.
Malaysia is the world's 27th most networked economy, according to the Global Information Technology Report 2009-2010 released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) recently.
But let's not forget that Malaysia has had a host of complaints from various industry and chamber groups on the state of our broadband. Often, the complaints are taken lightly, especially by the incumbent and the unhappy investors just go elsewhere where services are better.
“Forget the critics as there are fantastic opportunities with UniFi for investors. We want to invite the MNCs (multinational companies) to locate here. We welcome them and (we assure them) the service is good,'' says Telekom Malaysia Bhd group CEO Datuk Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa.
Fast broadband can be a huge draw for foreign direct investments, and tourist dollars. It is about how we manage and give our visitors what they pay for.
Hunger for speed, price an issue
There are some Malaysians who have access to fast broadband services. The question is, at what price?
Hours after TM announced its UniFi rates for its broadband services, there was a hue and cry on the blogs that the pricing was unreasonable. At what price are we getting the service and are those the best rates?
Zamzamzairani will have his own argument but the Government has said it will look into making broadband affordable. Singapore's StarHub, by comparison, is offering a 100Mbps broadband for only S$86.88 (RM202.85) a month while TM is charging RM249 per month for 20Mbps. TM says “don't compare. That is Singapore.” But TM has to face reality that those are at a rate and speed which are far higher than what it is getting.
Consumers were furious over the cap on speeds and within hours of its launch, TM changed its tune by saying it will lift the cap indefinitely. TM's argument for the cap is that 6% of its TM Streamyx users are hogging 80% of the capacity, thereby causing others to struggle through their connections.
In the past, we have been suffering from bad services from the broadband operators, including TM. The speeds are not to the level that were advertised.
Now Zamzamzairani is promising the “moon'' for UniFi. He says: “We will keep our promises and manage expectations.''
Will there still be downtime, Zamzamzairani says: “We do not plan for a disaster.''
If we are paying, there should be no comprise and we should switch to the operator who keeps a promise. That goes not just for fast speed broadband, but fixed and wireless services as well.
If the FCC is interested to know whether companies are keeping their word and users are getting what they are pay for, then the regulator here must make good their job of monitoring. By so doing, they will be able to check if the delivery is as promised.
Get it right this time around
HSBB is great. It is the way forward and the beginning of new things. As we move along, there are other countries that are ahead of us, and there are others who are behind. But we must remain in the league of those ahead of us. To do that, we have to do more. Having 1.3 million premises passes should just be the beginning.
We should have, by now, learnt the lessons of providing bad and inconsistency speed and services. We must also remember that the universal service provision (USP) fund is for those in the rural areas and there should be proper check and balances to ensure that this resources are used for the specific purpose.
The opportunity to clean up these loose ends, which benefits the rakyat, investors and regional competitors, are right before us,
As an industry expert puts it, you cannot hookwink consumers in the Internet age. The user wants speed, quality and affordable packages and let's not lose the moment to do it right this time around. -By B.K. Sidhu
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/4/10/business/6021777&sec=business
THERE is no question of the importance that broadband expansion and enhancement will take the country forward the next several decades.
Information, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Utama Dr Rais Yatim says: “Broadband is an integral part of the economy. It is the enabler for change as it affects an increasing number of sectors and activities. The direct benefits from investments in the technology and from rolling out the infrastructure are enormous.''
Speed is needed for fast connections to the Web, to undertake business transactions, e-commerce, e-learning, e-jobs and all the E-stuff.
Video gets a new face with fast speed broadband and this spurs new areas of businesses such as interactive education, IPTV content, online games and financial services. The content industry gets a huge lift as they now have a bigger channel (or pipe) to transport their creations in video and data format, and that means business for the big and small boys.
For the people, it helps to bridge the information gap and creates a knowledge-based society that can use the broadband to acquire new skills, better paying jobs and create new business opportunities.
Limitless Possibilities
“From advanced nations to developing nations, the arrival of the broadband has led to a change in lifestyle and hike in productivity. Broadband penetration is a catalyst for increased efficiencies in existing economic activities. It also generates new services, which contribute towards increasing the national gross domestic product (GDP),'' Rais says.
If Malaysia achieves 50% broadband penetration, the net effect is a 1% contribution to the GDP.
“In the United States, a similar rate contributed to 4% of their total GDP, 15% penetration in Britain resulted in 0.6% growth in GDP, and 50% in New Zealand resulted in 0.9% contribution in GDP. In Malaysia, the communications and multimedia industry's contribution towards the GDP and gross national product is 6% and 7.6% respectively in 2007, he says.
Of course, Rais also points out that with faster speeds he expects the nation to “attract more foreign investments.''
Competitiveness
But how is our competitive ratings versus our neighbours who are far ahead in fast broadband?
Axiata Group Bhd president & group CEO Datuk Seri Jamaludin Ibrahim believes that “we are ahead in the region in terms of coverage and speed where mobile broadband is concerned and on par with Singapore.
“For fixed-line broadband, we are ahead, but maybe not at the same level as Singapore. Internationally, our broadband speed still has some catching up to do, We are at least 3 years behind developed nations. It will take time to improve but it is also about putting money where the mouth is,'' he says.
Malaysia is the world's 27th most networked economy, according to the Global Information Technology Report 2009-2010 released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) recently.
But let's not forget that Malaysia has had a host of complaints from various industry and chamber groups on the state of our broadband. Often, the complaints are taken lightly, especially by the incumbent and the unhappy investors just go elsewhere where services are better.
“Forget the critics as there are fantastic opportunities with UniFi for investors. We want to invite the MNCs (multinational companies) to locate here. We welcome them and (we assure them) the service is good,'' says Telekom Malaysia Bhd group CEO Datuk Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa.
Fast broadband can be a huge draw for foreign direct investments, and tourist dollars. It is about how we manage and give our visitors what they pay for.
Hunger for speed, price an issue
There are some Malaysians who have access to fast broadband services. The question is, at what price?
Hours after TM announced its UniFi rates for its broadband services, there was a hue and cry on the blogs that the pricing was unreasonable. At what price are we getting the service and are those the best rates?
Zamzamzairani will have his own argument but the Government has said it will look into making broadband affordable. Singapore's StarHub, by comparison, is offering a 100Mbps broadband for only S$86.88 (RM202.85) a month while TM is charging RM249 per month for 20Mbps. TM says “don't compare. That is Singapore.” But TM has to face reality that those are at a rate and speed which are far higher than what it is getting.
Consumers were furious over the cap on speeds and within hours of its launch, TM changed its tune by saying it will lift the cap indefinitely. TM's argument for the cap is that 6% of its TM Streamyx users are hogging 80% of the capacity, thereby causing others to struggle through their connections.
In the past, we have been suffering from bad services from the broadband operators, including TM. The speeds are not to the level that were advertised.
Now Zamzamzairani is promising the “moon'' for UniFi. He says: “We will keep our promises and manage expectations.''
Will there still be downtime, Zamzamzairani says: “We do not plan for a disaster.''
If we are paying, there should be no comprise and we should switch to the operator who keeps a promise. That goes not just for fast speed broadband, but fixed and wireless services as well.
If the FCC is interested to know whether companies are keeping their word and users are getting what they are pay for, then the regulator here must make good their job of monitoring. By so doing, they will be able to check if the delivery is as promised.
Get it right this time around
HSBB is great. It is the way forward and the beginning of new things. As we move along, there are other countries that are ahead of us, and there are others who are behind. But we must remain in the league of those ahead of us. To do that, we have to do more. Having 1.3 million premises passes should just be the beginning.
We should have, by now, learnt the lessons of providing bad and inconsistency speed and services. We must also remember that the universal service provision (USP) fund is for those in the rural areas and there should be proper check and balances to ensure that this resources are used for the specific purpose.
The opportunity to clean up these loose ends, which benefits the rakyat, investors and regional competitors, are right before us,
As an industry expert puts it, you cannot hookwink consumers in the Internet age. The user wants speed, quality and affordable packages and let's not lose the moment to do it right this time around. -By B.K. Sidhu
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/4/10/business/6021777&sec=business
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
TM's HSBB spending to hit RM2b
By Goh Thean EuPublished: 2010/04/01
TELEKOM Malaysia Bhd (TM)(4863), the country's largest fixed-line operator, says its high-speed broadband (HSBB) investments will hit its peak this year as it aims to wire up some 750,000 premises by the end of this year.
"The investment in HSBB is going to reach its peak this year ... We are talking about RM2 billion in capital expenditure," said TM group chief executive officer Datuk Zamzamzairani Isa on the sidelines of Invest Malaysia 2010 in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
Currently, the company is ahead of its rollout schedule.
TM was supposed to get about 300,000 premises passed by end-March. However, it achieved its target a week ahead of schedule.
The company launched its HSBB services to home users recently, comprising Internet protocol television (IPTV) service. So far, response has been encouraging.
http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/tm31/Article/
TELEKOM Malaysia Bhd (TM)(4863), the country's largest fixed-line operator, says its high-speed broadband (HSBB) investments will hit its peak this year as it aims to wire up some 750,000 premises by the end of this year.
"The investment in HSBB is going to reach its peak this year ... We are talking about RM2 billion in capital expenditure," said TM group chief executive officer Datuk Zamzamzairani Isa on the sidelines of Invest Malaysia 2010 in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
Currently, the company is ahead of its rollout schedule.
TM was supposed to get about 300,000 premises passed by end-March. However, it achieved its target a week ahead of schedule.
The company launched its HSBB services to home users recently, comprising Internet protocol television (IPTV) service. So far, response has been encouraging.
http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/tm31/Article/
Sunday, March 28, 2010
TM’s UniFi packages cannot be unbundled
By B.K. SIDHU & LEONG HUNG YEE
KUALA LUMPUR: The three UniFi packages launched by Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) on Wednesday cannot be unbundled and consumers have to take what is offered as there is no a la carte options.
This could potentially be an issue for some users who may not want all UniFi offers. UniFi’s packages priced at RM149, RM199 and RM249 per month come with high-speed broadband, IPTV (Internet protocol TV), free voice calls and some other offerings.
With the pricing viewed as being on the high side, many wonder if TM could have priced the packages lower by unbundling these offerings.
“It is all bundled together, there is (no a la carte),” TM group chief executive officer Datuk Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa said.
An industry source said: “There could be potential issues about TM’s packaging if the end-users do not want the IPTV and it cannot be unbundled. It is not really free but part of the package, so shouldn’t TM have an unbundled option?”
Consumers may wonder if they are actually subsidising the IPTV and voice offerings, which under the packaging are free or whether TM is subsidising the cost of the items under its three packages.
Zamzamzairani said: “It is not about subsidy, there is just too much suspicion. It is all about us moving to a lifestyle offering and this is all about triple play.”
A triple-play network is one in which voice, video and data are all provided in a single access subscription. Globally, the trend is for telcos to move into triple-play to mitigate the flat revenues from fixed-line networks.
Zamzamzairani said the UniFi plans came with an additional 8Mbps of bandwidth for IPTV, so subscribers, say for the 5Mbps packaging, would actually be getting 13Mbps.
That aside, the market is abuzz over the cap issue that TM has imposed on its UniFi packages. The tweeters on Twitter were vociferous with their comments as they are disappointed with the cap on the download speed. They are even more furious that the data download caps are calculated on a daily basis.
TM in a statement yesterday said it would not implement the cap on downloads for UniFi immediately.
Earlier, Zamzamzairani told StarBizWeek: “To us it is not a cap, it is a trigger point. We want to implement a fair usage policy for this new service, it will not be done immediately, we will monitor usage first.”
UniFi’s 5Mbps service is capped at 60GB of data per month, 10Mbps service at 90GB while the 20Mbps service has a 120GB cap.
Zamzamzairani said fair usage policy was a standard practice that allowed all users to have the same surfing experience rather than one party hogging the network and the others experiencing throttling speeds.
He cited the case of TM Streamyx where 6% of its 1.45 million users were using 80% of Streamyx’s download capacity and the rest had to do with the remaining 20%.
UniFi is now available in four areas in the Klang Valley with 311,000 premises passed and it has 500 trial users. Since Wednesday the service is commercially available in those areas. TM has received “positive” feedback on its services but Zamzamzairani did not reveal the number of new users that have signed up since.
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/3/27/business/5946623&sec=businessFriday, March 26, 2010
The price for fast Internet connection
Friday March 26, 2010
FRIDAY REFLECTIONSBy B.K. SIDHU
IS RM149 a month for 5-megabits per second (Mbps) a steal or pricey?
It comes with free voice calls, some TV channels and other stuff. That is UniFi, Telekom Malaysia Bhd’s latest offering in high speed broadband (HSBB).
In the fast lane of broadband, speed is king. Without speeds of 5-50Mbps, and capacity, don’t call it HSBB.
Your waiting time to surf and download with 5Mbps is lower than 1Mbps. It is as though you are driving a Mercedes sports at top speed. If you want faster speed, say 10Mbps, pay RM199 a month and you may feel you are at the wheel of a Ferrari or Porsche.
But if you are one of those speed-hungry surfers, fork out RM249 a month for 20Mbps and you can tell Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes that your speed may surpass his Lotus 1 car.
In comparison, Time dotCom Bhd’s (TdC) offer is RM149 for 2Mbps, RM249 for 5Mbps and RM329 for 10Mbps per month and all come with a 50Mbps booster.
Today, high speed is here on fixed networks, from TM and rivals TdC and Maxis Communications Bhd in some areas. However, only a small pocket of the population can enjoy speeds of up to 50Mbps. The majority still has a long time to wait as they still have to contend with 256-, 512-kilobits per second or 1Mbps.
But change has come, and TM and TdC’s efforts for bringing that change should be lauded.
TM is probably the only player globally that sped up the entire process of bringing fibre-to-the-home (FTTH). It also marks the beginning of the end of the copper wire era although the entire phasing out of copper may take up to two decades.
What is important the first step has been taken.
Even rival TdC CEO Afzal Abdul Rahim is singing praises of TM as to him, a “lethargic and slow moving organisation is able to bring FTTH in record speed time. It says a lot of the thinking that went into it and this is cutting-edge.’’
Both Afzal and REDtone Interna-tional Bhd chief executive Zainal Amanshah were surprised at the competitive pricing. They are not the only two that had expected TM to outprice itself like it normally does. However, those tweeting on Twitter do not think TM’s pricing is reasonable.
Whatever the strategy that went into packaging UniFi, it is a clever one; bundling a lot of things without IPTV is not enough for TM to fully monetise its fixed line assets.
The assets have been left parked for too long and fixed line voice revenue is flat so this new broadcasting business or triple play, if done right, can be one of TM’s revenue generators. That may bode well for TM but an analyst feels that since the pricing is very competitive, the “endgame may be in sight for over-eager wireless broadband start-ups.”
Zainal also believes it would be tough for players to compete with TM on the retail end if they do not have value-add, including IPTV as TM offers a lot of free stuff for its UniFi packages. But he believes there is hope for those who want to offer high speed using TM’s network to corporate users.
Expect teething problems with UniFi over the next six to nine months. But let’s just hope the era of complaints and disgruntled users of TM service will be truly over from now, and TM keeps to its promise of quality and speed.
B.K. SIDHU is deputy news editor and hopes the government will intervene to bring down broadband prices for the benefit of the consumers.
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/3/26/business/5937566&sec=business
FRIDAY REFLECTIONSBy B.K. SIDHU
IS RM149 a month for 5-megabits per second (Mbps) a steal or pricey?
It comes with free voice calls, some TV channels and other stuff. That is UniFi, Telekom Malaysia Bhd’s latest offering in high speed broadband (HSBB).
In the fast lane of broadband, speed is king. Without speeds of 5-50Mbps, and capacity, don’t call it HSBB.
Your waiting time to surf and download with 5Mbps is lower than 1Mbps. It is as though you are driving a Mercedes sports at top speed. If you want faster speed, say 10Mbps, pay RM199 a month and you may feel you are at the wheel of a Ferrari or Porsche.
But if you are one of those speed-hungry surfers, fork out RM249 a month for 20Mbps and you can tell Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes that your speed may surpass his Lotus 1 car.
In comparison, Time dotCom Bhd’s (TdC) offer is RM149 for 2Mbps, RM249 for 5Mbps and RM329 for 10Mbps per month and all come with a 50Mbps booster.
Today, high speed is here on fixed networks, from TM and rivals TdC and Maxis Communications Bhd in some areas. However, only a small pocket of the population can enjoy speeds of up to 50Mbps. The majority still has a long time to wait as they still have to contend with 256-, 512-kilobits per second or 1Mbps.
But change has come, and TM and TdC’s efforts for bringing that change should be lauded.
TM is probably the only player globally that sped up the entire process of bringing fibre-to-the-home (FTTH). It also marks the beginning of the end of the copper wire era although the entire phasing out of copper may take up to two decades.
What is important the first step has been taken.
Even rival TdC CEO Afzal Abdul Rahim is singing praises of TM as to him, a “lethargic and slow moving organisation is able to bring FTTH in record speed time. It says a lot of the thinking that went into it and this is cutting-edge.’’
Both Afzal and REDtone Interna-tional Bhd chief executive Zainal Amanshah were surprised at the competitive pricing. They are not the only two that had expected TM to outprice itself like it normally does. However, those tweeting on Twitter do not think TM’s pricing is reasonable.
Whatever the strategy that went into packaging UniFi, it is a clever one; bundling a lot of things without IPTV is not enough for TM to fully monetise its fixed line assets.
The assets have been left parked for too long and fixed line voice revenue is flat so this new broadcasting business or triple play, if done right, can be one of TM’s revenue generators. That may bode well for TM but an analyst feels that since the pricing is very competitive, the “endgame may be in sight for over-eager wireless broadband start-ups.”
Zainal also believes it would be tough for players to compete with TM on the retail end if they do not have value-add, including IPTV as TM offers a lot of free stuff for its UniFi packages. But he believes there is hope for those who want to offer high speed using TM’s network to corporate users.
Expect teething problems with UniFi over the next six to nine months. But let’s just hope the era of complaints and disgruntled users of TM service will be truly over from now, and TM keeps to its promise of quality and speed.
B.K. SIDHU is deputy news editor and hopes the government will intervene to bring down broadband prices for the benefit of the consumers.
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/3/26/business/5937566&sec=business
HSBB deployment a boost to country’s competitiveness, say industry players
Friday March 26, 2010
PETALING JAYA: Industry players applaud the Government’s National Broadband Initiative (NBI) and the deployment of high speed broadband (HSBB) by Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM).
In a statement yesterday, Intel Malaysia country manager Ryaz Patel said the launch of HSBB boded well for Malaysia’s global competitiveness. “With this new infrastructure and all the incentives announced, we are more bullish on Malaysia achieving and even exceeding the 50% household penetration target.
“The ecosystem has all the necessary building blocks to deliver. We now have to put them in motion and execute to plan,” Patel said.
Nokia Siemens Networks Malaysia chairman Tan Sri Rainer Althoff said the initiatives looked set to drive the nation’s social and economic growth and competitiveness, increasing investor confidence and promoting innovative thinking, helping to place Malaysia firmly on the global map.
“With broadband penetration at only 32.2%, there is still much to be done to bring the country in line with the likes of South Korea, Singapore and Japan. It’s therefore reassuring to see that the Government has introduced specific measures to address this,” he said.
Althoff said the latest initiatives would surely help improve livelihood, create jobs and drive innovation towards national transformation.
“Making broadband a national priority will definitely help us become more competitive globally and help us see firsthand how new jobs, businesses and even new business models can be enabled by better access to web connectivity and technology,” Cisco Malaysia managing director Anne Abraham said.
She said connectivity alone was not sufficient. “A holistic initiative should integrate measures, resources and tools to help these rural communities adopt, use and leverage next generation technologies and HSBB to improve their lifestyles.”
Meanwhile, Red Hat Asia Pacific Malaysia country sales manager Basheer Ali Majeed said the initiative allowed more Malaysians and small and medium enterprises to connect and participate in an increasingly borderless world and opened up an incredible new array of information opportunities.
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/3/26/business/5938883&sec=business
PETALING JAYA: Industry players applaud the Government’s National Broadband Initiative (NBI) and the deployment of high speed broadband (HSBB) by Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM).
In a statement yesterday, Intel Malaysia country manager Ryaz Patel said the launch of HSBB boded well for Malaysia’s global competitiveness. “With this new infrastructure and all the incentives announced, we are more bullish on Malaysia achieving and even exceeding the 50% household penetration target.
“The ecosystem has all the necessary building blocks to deliver. We now have to put them in motion and execute to plan,” Patel said.
Nokia Siemens Networks Malaysia chairman Tan Sri Rainer Althoff said the initiatives looked set to drive the nation’s social and economic growth and competitiveness, increasing investor confidence and promoting innovative thinking, helping to place Malaysia firmly on the global map.
“With broadband penetration at only 32.2%, there is still much to be done to bring the country in line with the likes of South Korea, Singapore and Japan. It’s therefore reassuring to see that the Government has introduced specific measures to address this,” he said.
Althoff said the latest initiatives would surely help improve livelihood, create jobs and drive innovation towards national transformation.
“Making broadband a national priority will definitely help us become more competitive globally and help us see firsthand how new jobs, businesses and even new business models can be enabled by better access to web connectivity and technology,” Cisco Malaysia managing director Anne Abraham said.
She said connectivity alone was not sufficient. “A holistic initiative should integrate measures, resources and tools to help these rural communities adopt, use and leverage next generation technologies and HSBB to improve their lifestyles.”
Meanwhile, Red Hat Asia Pacific Malaysia country sales manager Basheer Ali Majeed said the initiative allowed more Malaysians and small and medium enterprises to connect and participate in an increasingly borderless world and opened up an incredible new array of information opportunities.
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/3/26/business/5938883&sec=business
Telekom Malaysia suspends download cap for UniFi
Published: Friday March 26, 2010 MYT 3:41:00 PMUpdated: Friday March 26, 2010 MYT 3:48:09 PM
By JO TIMBUONG
intech@thestar.com.my
PETALING JAYA: Good news. The download cap on Telekom Malaysia’s UniFi high speed broadband service packages has been suspended.
The telco made the announcement on the Twitter microblogging site today and said it made the decision after taking into account public feedback on the cap.
“NO volume cap 4 all #unifi packages 4 now. Decision due to public feedback. TM will only monitor usage pattern 4 time being (sic),” read the tweet.
A spokesman for Telekom Malaysia told In.Tech that the telco, however, does still reserve the right to enforce a download limit to ensure all UniFi subscribers receive equal service quality.
Yesterday, many Malaysians complained on Twitter about the cap. They were disappointed because the cap would restrict the daily amount of data they can download via the high speed broadband service. (See report at http://bit.ly/ddk67k.)
They were also disappointed to learn that if the cap was exceeded, their connections would be throttled down to about 10% of the purchased speed. UniFi is available in 5Mbps (megabits per second), 10Mbps and 20Mbps packages.
With the latest announcement by Telekom Malaysia, many people are rejoicing. Among them is communications consultant Justin Then, who said he’s happy to note that Telekom Malaysia listens to consumers.
“Capping our high speed Internet access doesn’t make sense, if the Government wants Malaysians to seek out knowledge and be innovative,” he said.
A Twitter user, who asked to be identified only as Flo, said she’s glad Telekom Malaysia has decided not to employ the cap for now.
“We are paying a premium for technology that offers super high bandwidth, so a daily cap shouldn’t be applied. There’s no value in that; we would be better off with regular broadband,” she said.
http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2010/3/26/technology/20100326154537&sec=technology
By JO TIMBUONG
intech@thestar.com.my
PETALING JAYA: Good news. The download cap on Telekom Malaysia’s UniFi high speed broadband service packages has been suspended.
The telco made the announcement on the Twitter microblogging site today and said it made the decision after taking into account public feedback on the cap.
“NO volume cap 4 all #unifi packages 4 now. Decision due to public feedback. TM will only monitor usage pattern 4 time being (sic),” read the tweet.
A spokesman for Telekom Malaysia told In.Tech that the telco, however, does still reserve the right to enforce a download limit to ensure all UniFi subscribers receive equal service quality.
Yesterday, many Malaysians complained on Twitter about the cap. They were disappointed because the cap would restrict the daily amount of data they can download via the high speed broadband service. (See report at http://bit.ly/ddk67k.)
They were also disappointed to learn that if the cap was exceeded, their connections would be throttled down to about 10% of the purchased speed. UniFi is available in 5Mbps (megabits per second), 10Mbps and 20Mbps packages.
With the latest announcement by Telekom Malaysia, many people are rejoicing. Among them is communications consultant Justin Then, who said he’s happy to note that Telekom Malaysia listens to consumers.
“Capping our high speed Internet access doesn’t make sense, if the Government wants Malaysians to seek out knowledge and be innovative,” he said.
A Twitter user, who asked to be identified only as Flo, said she’s glad Telekom Malaysia has decided not to employ the cap for now.
“We are paying a premium for technology that offers super high bandwidth, so a daily cap shouldn’t be applied. There’s no value in that; we would be better off with regular broadband,” she said.
http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2010/3/26/technology/20100326154537&sec=technology
Sunday, March 21, 2010
New Era Digital Lifestyle
What's HSBB
High Speed Broadband (HSBB) is a broadband service that offers bandwidth delivered at network speeds of 10Mbps and above. Unlike normal broadband connections which deliver bandwidth at network speeds ranging between 384kbps and 4Mbps, basic HSBB packages will eventually allow Malaysians to experience high speed Internet of up to 100 times faster than the usual rate while businesses will be able to have maximum speeds of up to 1,000 Mbps (1Gbps).
HSBB will initially be deployed via fiber in the inner Klang Valley, Iskandar Malaysia and key industrial zones throughout the country. It is expected that 1.3 million premises will have the ability to access HSBB coverage by end 2012.
Digital Lifestyle
With the bandwidth provided by HSBB, a whole new lifestyle experience will open up for Malaysians in terms of providing greater opportunities and access to rich content like never before in entertainment, gaming, education, business, work, health, communications, services and much more.
What will HSBB mean to consumers?
What will HSBB mean to business?
Sources : www.tm.com.my
High Speed Broadband (HSBB) is a broadband service that offers bandwidth delivered at network speeds of 10Mbps and above. Unlike normal broadband connections which deliver bandwidth at network speeds ranging between 384kbps and 4Mbps, basic HSBB packages will eventually allow Malaysians to experience high speed Internet of up to 100 times faster than the usual rate while businesses will be able to have maximum speeds of up to 1,000 Mbps (1Gbps).
HSBB will initially be deployed via fiber in the inner Klang Valley, Iskandar Malaysia and key industrial zones throughout the country. It is expected that 1.3 million premises will have the ability to access HSBB coverage by end 2012.
Digital Lifestyle
With the bandwidth provided by HSBB, a whole new lifestyle experience will open up for Malaysians in terms of providing greater opportunities and access to rich content like never before in entertainment, gaming, education, business, work, health, communications, services and much more.
What will HSBB mean to consumers?
What will HSBB mean to business?
Sources : www.tm.com.my
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