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Maxis and Redtone in Malaysian 4G rollout deal
16 July 2012
Malaysian companies to share infrastructure and spectrum for 4G
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Maxis
Redtone
Sandip Das
Malaysia
4G
LTE
network sharing
Malaysian mobile
network operator Maxis Berhad and broadband service provider Redtone
International have entered into an agreement to share infrastructure and
spectrum in the country. The deal will allow the companies to fast track their
rollout of 4G networks throughout Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur-based Maxis said in a
release.
The companies are
looking to launch their 4G LTE services early in 2013 in selected areas of the
Klang Valley, with other regions to follow closely thereafter. The partnership
is in line with the government’s call for telecom companies to reduce
duplication of network assets, allowing operators to deliver better services.
Selangor-based Redtone
is anticipated to introduce its mobile broadband services and products
operating on the shared network next year. This will provide an additional
source of revenue to the group.
Maxis CEO, Sandip Das
said: “We have been at the forefront of promoting networks to be shared as we
have recently commissioned active network sharing on 3G with U Mobile. Data
networks are onerous and have to be built carefully. The demand for data is not
disputed, but the inflection point is some time away. Sharing will get REDtone
up and running quickly and also fetch adequate returns on our investments,
besides conserving spends at a national industry level. We are looking to set a
new benchmark in data service quality as this will help us design a more
effective infrastructure.”
Redtone, managing
director, Dato’ Wei Chuan Beng, added: “The network sharing and alliance
agreement with Maxis is a significant development for Redtone as we build on
our broadband business. It will help to address Redtone’s rollout obligation to
cover 50% of the country’s population. For Redtone to comply with the 50%
rollout requirement, our capex would have been 390 million Malaysian ringgits
($120.4 million) as is stated in our detailed business plan (DBP). However,
this has been mostly replaced by riding on Maxis’ existing infrastructure and
leasing the necessary capacity from Maxis.”
Maxis has invested 3.7
billion Malaysian ringgits ($1.1 billion) in capital expenditure in the past
three years covering 95% of the population with 2G and 81% with 3G. GTB