Our coverage on the Baraka-DiGi fallout caught the attention of one very interesting reader – the CEO of Baraka Telecoms, Ishsal Ishak.

We wrote that the mutually terminated agreement with DiGi was a sign that the Islamic telco would not be making a debut in the local Market. But Ishsal claims otherwise, saying that Baraka is looking at a different approach and is “reconsidering the MVNO business in Malaysia” and the role that the company wants to play in the local telco industry.

In the comment Ishsal added that Baraka is currently in talks with “a number of parties at the moment” to partner with to launch its mobile services; but the CEO tells us that it is too soon to divulge any details.

Though Ishsal did put out a timeline on when Baraka will be able to give us more details, saying that it will be around three to four weeks, “at the earliest“.

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	Players on the Field
	Baraka Telecoms, Ishsal Ishak, Islamic Mobile, Malaysian MVNO, mvno

Bernama reports that Baraka Telecom, a MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) under DiGi Telecommunication’s network has mutually ceased their MVNO roaming agreement. The reason behind the termination is due to Baraka Telecom’s reconsideration in the MVNO business.

This was quite a surprise to us as Baraka Telecom’s CEO, Al-Ishsal Ishak announced on February 2010 that they will be rolling out within 3 months time with various voice, data and mobile commerce services. Obviously things didn’t turn out as planned.

For those who didn’t know, Baraka Telecom is Malaysia’s 1st Islamic Mobile operator guided by Syariah Principles. It hardly made any waves in our local telco industry while other MVNOs such as Happy and TuneTalk gaining traction in the market.

A quick check on their site revealed very little info except for a 2 campaigns that we hardly heard of. Too bad we never get to see any products or services from them.

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	DiGi, Players on the Field
	Baraka Telecom, DiGi, Islamic Mobile, Malaysia MVNO, mvno