Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
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.
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/4/1/business/8393752&sec=business
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.
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/4/1/business/8393752&sec=business
Maxis Tawar Khidmat Kediaman Pertama
KUALA LUMPUR 31 Mac - Maxis Bhd. telah melancarkan perkhidmatan pelbagai jenis (multi-play), Perkhidmatan Kediaman Maxis pertama di Malaysia.
Ketua Pegawai Eksekutifnya, Sandip Das berkata, pelanggan Maxis yang berada di kawasan yang mempunyai rangkaian gentian optik di seluruh negara boleh menikmati perkhidmatan itu mulai suku ketiga tahun ini.
Perkhidmatan Kediaman Maxis adalah kepelbagaian perkhidmatan yang merangkumi akses kepada suara, Internet berkelajuan tinggi, perkhidmatan nilai tambahan serta kandungan.
Pelanggan boleh mengakses pelbagai aplikasi, video muzik, permainan dan sebagainya menerusi pelbagai saluran termasuklah telefon pintar, komputer riba, tablet dan televisyen di mana-mana sahaja.
" Pelanggan kini semakin bijak berbelanja walaupun pada masa yang sama mahu menjalani gaya hidup moden yang menggunakan gajet-gajet yang lebih moden, " katanya selepas majlis pelancaran Perkhidmatan Kediaman Maxis di sini hari ini.
Majlis disempurnakan Timbalan Menteri Penerangan, Komunikasi dan Kebudayaan, Datuk Joseph Salang.
Menurut Sandip, untuk fasa pertama, Perkhidmatan Kediaman Maxis menawarkan pelbagai akses yang dipakejkan bersama tiga pelan Internet berkelajuan tinggi yang berbeza.
Tiga pelan tersebut bermula dari harga RM128 sebulan untuk pakej standard, RM158 untuk pakej nilai dan RM218 untuk pakej termaju.
http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2011&dt=0401&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Korporat&pg=ko_04.htm
Ketua Pegawai Eksekutifnya, Sandip Das berkata, pelanggan Maxis yang berada di kawasan yang mempunyai rangkaian gentian optik di seluruh negara boleh menikmati perkhidmatan itu mulai suku ketiga tahun ini.
Perkhidmatan Kediaman Maxis adalah kepelbagaian perkhidmatan yang merangkumi akses kepada suara, Internet berkelajuan tinggi, perkhidmatan nilai tambahan serta kandungan.
Pelanggan boleh mengakses pelbagai aplikasi, video muzik, permainan dan sebagainya menerusi pelbagai saluran termasuklah telefon pintar, komputer riba, tablet dan televisyen di mana-mana sahaja.
" Pelanggan kini semakin bijak berbelanja walaupun pada masa yang sama mahu menjalani gaya hidup moden yang menggunakan gajet-gajet yang lebih moden, " katanya selepas majlis pelancaran Perkhidmatan Kediaman Maxis di sini hari ini.
Majlis disempurnakan Timbalan Menteri Penerangan, Komunikasi dan Kebudayaan, Datuk Joseph Salang.
Menurut Sandip, untuk fasa pertama, Perkhidmatan Kediaman Maxis menawarkan pelbagai akses yang dipakejkan bersama tiga pelan Internet berkelajuan tinggi yang berbeza.
Tiga pelan tersebut bermula dari harga RM128 sebulan untuk pakej standard, RM158 untuk pakej nilai dan RM218 untuk pakej termaju.
http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2011&dt=0401&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Korporat&pg=ko_04.htm
Innity Reaches 75.5% of Malaysia’s Internet Population
Wednesday March 30, 2011
KUALA LUMPUR: Innity, a leading Southeast Asian ad network, ranked highly in comScore's latest reports revealing the top ad networks in the region.
The company recently deployed comScore's tagging technology allowing for web tags to be placed on the website content of participating publishers, advertising networks and content creators which is in turn recorded by comScore servers every time the tagged content is accessed guaranteeing more accuracy in reporting.
In Malaysia specifically, Innity reaches 75.5% of Malaysia's 10.6 million internet audience.
Additionally, according to the report, Innity's results exceeded that of the scores of the Content Network of the first ranking network by a mile.
Innity also ranked as the largest ad network in Vietnam reaching more than 85% of the internet population and the largest in Indonesia reaching more than 77% of the internet audience aside from reaching nearly 78% of the internet users in Singapore where the company also continues to be one of the largest ad networks.
“We firmly believe in the growth potential and increasing dynamism within the Southeast Asian region.
"The comScore ratings reinforce our industry and technological leadership and the potential for this market in Malaysia.
"Innity is committed to continue providing marketers with the best and most innovative online interactive marketing solutions in the industry,” said Inity CEO Phang Chee Leong.
“Advertising networks are gaining popularity amongst advertisers and marketers across the world spurring growth within this area and is seen today to be a key component within the marketing mix,” said Joe Nguyen, VP, comScore, Southeast Asia.
“Innity's adoption of comScore's tagging technology across a number of South East Asian countries provides them with access to the completeness and granularity of comScore's Unified Digital Measurement giving them access to more precise tracking, avoids confusion arising from differences in reporting resulting from estimates and provides an integrated view of web activity across the breadth of the Internet universe”.
Innity is the leading provider of interactive online marketing platforms and technologies for advertisers and publishers.
Established in 1999, Innity has a strong foothold in the South East Asian market spanning over 10,000 websites, including major newspaper portals and premier sites in more than 16 content interest channels such as technology, lifestyle, automotive, business and entertainment.
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/3/30/business/20110330113411&sec=business
KUALA LUMPUR: Innity, a leading Southeast Asian ad network, ranked highly in comScore's latest reports revealing the top ad networks in the region.
The company recently deployed comScore's tagging technology allowing for web tags to be placed on the website content of participating publishers, advertising networks and content creators which is in turn recorded by comScore servers every time the tagged content is accessed guaranteeing more accuracy in reporting.
In Malaysia specifically, Innity reaches 75.5% of Malaysia's 10.6 million internet audience.
Additionally, according to the report, Innity's results exceeded that of the scores of the Content Network of the first ranking network by a mile.
Innity also ranked as the largest ad network in Vietnam reaching more than 85% of the internet population and the largest in Indonesia reaching more than 77% of the internet audience aside from reaching nearly 78% of the internet users in Singapore where the company also continues to be one of the largest ad networks.
“We firmly believe in the growth potential and increasing dynamism within the Southeast Asian region.
"The comScore ratings reinforce our industry and technological leadership and the potential for this market in Malaysia.
"Innity is committed to continue providing marketers with the best and most innovative online interactive marketing solutions in the industry,” said Inity CEO Phang Chee Leong.
“Advertising networks are gaining popularity amongst advertisers and marketers across the world spurring growth within this area and is seen today to be a key component within the marketing mix,” said Joe Nguyen, VP, comScore, Southeast Asia.
“Innity's adoption of comScore's tagging technology across a number of South East Asian countries provides them with access to the completeness and granularity of comScore's Unified Digital Measurement giving them access to more precise tracking, avoids confusion arising from differences in reporting resulting from estimates and provides an integrated view of web activity across the breadth of the Internet universe”.
Innity is the leading provider of interactive online marketing platforms and technologies for advertisers and publishers.
Established in 1999, Innity has a strong foothold in the South East Asian market spanning over 10,000 websites, including major newspaper portals and premier sites in more than 16 content interest channels such as technology, lifestyle, automotive, business and entertainment.
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/3/30/business/20110330113411&sec=business
AT&T Buys T-Mobile for US$39bil and Becomes Largest US Mobile Telco
Published: Monday March 21, 2011 MYT 8:54:00 AM
Updated: Monday March 21, 2011 MYT 8:55:26 AM
NEW YORK: AT&T Inc. said Sunday it will buy T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom AG in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $39 billion that would make it the largest cellphone company in the U.S.
The deal would reduce the number of U.S. wireless carriers with national coverage from four to three, and is sure to face close regulatory scrutiny. It also removes a potential partner for Sprint Nextel Corp., the struggling No. 3 carrier, which had been in talks to combine with T-Mobile USA, according to Wall Street Journal reports.
AT&T is now America's second-largest wireless carrier and T-Mobile USA is the fourth largest. The acquisition would give AT&T 129 million subscribers, vaulting it past Verizon Wireless' 102 million. The combined company would serve about 43 percent of U.S. cellphones.
For T-Mobile USA's 33.7 million subscribers, the news doesn't immediately change anything. Because of the long regulatory process, AT&T expects the acquisition to take a year to close. But when and if it closes, T-Mobile USA customers would get access to AT&T's phone line-up, including the iPhone.
The effect of reduced competition in the cellphone industry is harder to fathom. Public interest group Public Knowledge said that eliminating one of the four national phone carriers would be "unthinkable."
"We know the results of arrangements like this - higher prices, fewer choices, less innovation," said Public Knowledge president Gigi Sohn, in a statement.
T-Mobile has relatively cheap service plans compared with AT&T, particularly when comparing the kind that don't come with a two-year contract. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said one of the goals of the acquisition would be to move T-Mobile customers to smart phones, which have higher monthly fees. AT&T "will look hard" at keeping T-Mobile's no-contract plans, he said.
AT&T's general counsel, Wayne Watts, said the cellphone business is "an incredibly competitive market," with five or more carriers in most major cities. He pointed out that prices have declined in the past decade, even as the industry has consolidated. In the most recent mega-deal, Verizon Wireless bought No. 5 carrier Alltel for $5.9 billion in 2009.
Stifel Nicolaus analyst Rebecca Arbogast said the deal will face a tough review by the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department. She expects them to look market-by-market at whether the deal will harm competition. Even if regulators approve the acquisition, she added, they are likely to require AT&T to sell off parts of its business or T-Mobile's business. Verizon had to sell off substantial service areas to get clearance for the Alltel acquisition.
To mollify regulators, AT&T said in a statement Sunday that it would spend an additional $8 billion to expand ultrafast wireless broadband into rural areas. Instead of covering about 80 percent of the U.S. population with its so-called Long Term Evolution, or LTE network, AT&T's new goal would be 95 percent, it said. That means blanketing an additional area 4.5 times the size of Texas. The network is scheduled to go live in a few areas this summer, but the full build-out will take years.
The offer would help the FCC and the Obama administration meet their stated goals of bringing high-speed Internet access to all Americans. They see wireless networks as critical to meeting that goal - particularly in rural areas where it does not make economic sense to build landline networks.
AT&T said its customers would benefit from the cell towers and wireless spectrum the deal would bring. In some areas, it would add 30 percent more capacity, AT&T said.
"It obviously will have a significant impact in terms of dropped calls and network performance," Stephenson said.
AT&T would pay about $25 billion in cash to Deutsche Telekom, Germany's largest phone company, and stock that is equivalent to an 8 percent stake in AT&T. Deutsche Telekom would get one seat on AT&T's board.
Like Sprint, T-Mobile has been struggling to compete with much larger rivals AT&T and Verizon Wireless, and its revenue has been largely flat for three years. Bellevue, Wash.-based T-Mobile USA's subscriber count has stalled at just under 34 million, though it posts consistent profits.
Deutsche Telekom has been looking at radical moves to let it get more value out of its U.S. holding, including a possible combination with a U.S. partner.
There was a big hurdle to a T-Mobile USA-Sprint deal: The two companies use incompatible network technologies. The same hurdle would apply in a Verizon Wireless-T-Mobile USA deal. But the networks of AT&T and T-Mobile use the same underlying technology, so to some large extent, AT&T phones can already use T-Mobile's network, and vice versa.
The deal has been approved by the boards of both companies. Dallas-based AT&T can increase its cash portion by up to $4.2 billion, with a reduction in the stock component, as long as Deutsche Telekom receives at least a 5 percent equity ownership interest in the buyer.
The agreement doesn't leave room for other buyers to jump in with a higher bid, AT&T said.
AT&T would finance the cash part of the deal with new debt and cash on its balance sheet and will assume no debt from T-Mobile. - AP
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/3/29/business/20110329084751&sec=business
Updated: Monday March 21, 2011 MYT 8:55:26 AM
NEW YORK: AT&T Inc. said Sunday it will buy T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom AG in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $39 billion that would make it the largest cellphone company in the U.S.
The deal would reduce the number of U.S. wireless carriers with national coverage from four to three, and is sure to face close regulatory scrutiny. It also removes a potential partner for Sprint Nextel Corp., the struggling No. 3 carrier, which had been in talks to combine with T-Mobile USA, according to Wall Street Journal reports.
AT&T is now America's second-largest wireless carrier and T-Mobile USA is the fourth largest. The acquisition would give AT&T 129 million subscribers, vaulting it past Verizon Wireless' 102 million. The combined company would serve about 43 percent of U.S. cellphones.
For T-Mobile USA's 33.7 million subscribers, the news doesn't immediately change anything. Because of the long regulatory process, AT&T expects the acquisition to take a year to close. But when and if it closes, T-Mobile USA customers would get access to AT&T's phone line-up, including the iPhone.
The effect of reduced competition in the cellphone industry is harder to fathom. Public interest group Public Knowledge said that eliminating one of the four national phone carriers would be "unthinkable."
"We know the results of arrangements like this - higher prices, fewer choices, less innovation," said Public Knowledge president Gigi Sohn, in a statement.
T-Mobile has relatively cheap service plans compared with AT&T, particularly when comparing the kind that don't come with a two-year contract. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said one of the goals of the acquisition would be to move T-Mobile customers to smart phones, which have higher monthly fees. AT&T "will look hard" at keeping T-Mobile's no-contract plans, he said.
AT&T's general counsel, Wayne Watts, said the cellphone business is "an incredibly competitive market," with five or more carriers in most major cities. He pointed out that prices have declined in the past decade, even as the industry has consolidated. In the most recent mega-deal, Verizon Wireless bought No. 5 carrier Alltel for $5.9 billion in 2009.
Stifel Nicolaus analyst Rebecca Arbogast said the deal will face a tough review by the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department. She expects them to look market-by-market at whether the deal will harm competition. Even if regulators approve the acquisition, she added, they are likely to require AT&T to sell off parts of its business or T-Mobile's business. Verizon had to sell off substantial service areas to get clearance for the Alltel acquisition.
To mollify regulators, AT&T said in a statement Sunday that it would spend an additional $8 billion to expand ultrafast wireless broadband into rural areas. Instead of covering about 80 percent of the U.S. population with its so-called Long Term Evolution, or LTE network, AT&T's new goal would be 95 percent, it said. That means blanketing an additional area 4.5 times the size of Texas. The network is scheduled to go live in a few areas this summer, but the full build-out will take years.
The offer would help the FCC and the Obama administration meet their stated goals of bringing high-speed Internet access to all Americans. They see wireless networks as critical to meeting that goal - particularly in rural areas where it does not make economic sense to build landline networks.
AT&T said its customers would benefit from the cell towers and wireless spectrum the deal would bring. In some areas, it would add 30 percent more capacity, AT&T said.
"It obviously will have a significant impact in terms of dropped calls and network performance," Stephenson said.
AT&T would pay about $25 billion in cash to Deutsche Telekom, Germany's largest phone company, and stock that is equivalent to an 8 percent stake in AT&T. Deutsche Telekom would get one seat on AT&T's board.
Like Sprint, T-Mobile has been struggling to compete with much larger rivals AT&T and Verizon Wireless, and its revenue has been largely flat for three years. Bellevue, Wash.-based T-Mobile USA's subscriber count has stalled at just under 34 million, though it posts consistent profits.
Deutsche Telekom has been looking at radical moves to let it get more value out of its U.S. holding, including a possible combination with a U.S. partner.
There was a big hurdle to a T-Mobile USA-Sprint deal: The two companies use incompatible network technologies. The same hurdle would apply in a Verizon Wireless-T-Mobile USA deal. But the networks of AT&T and T-Mobile use the same underlying technology, so to some large extent, AT&T phones can already use T-Mobile's network, and vice versa.
The deal has been approved by the boards of both companies. Dallas-based AT&T can increase its cash portion by up to $4.2 billion, with a reduction in the stock component, as long as Deutsche Telekom receives at least a 5 percent equity ownership interest in the buyer.
The agreement doesn't leave room for other buyers to jump in with a higher bid, AT&T said.
AT&T would finance the cash part of the deal with new debt and cash on its balance sheet and will assume no debt from T-Mobile. - AP
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/3/29/business/20110329084751&sec=business
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