Another update on 4G LTE in Malaysia. The Star reports that majority of the earlier mentioned 9 companies have been informed via fax that they have been allocated the 2.6GHz spectrum for 4G LTE use. This will only take effect on 1st January 2013 which is a long way to go, and time is something that the players need to roll out commercially. As mentioned earlier, the 9 companies are Maxis, DiGi, Celcom, U Mobile, P1, AMAX, YTL, REDtone and a new comer. Each of them will be getting 20MHz block of the spectrum.

2 years should give the players sufficient head start to evaluate vendors, conduct trials and plan out their coverage expansion. By 2013, we should have more 4G LTE devices in the market. Hopefully better than the Samsung Craft, the first 4G LTE phone.

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The Star reports that the Malaysian government is expected to release 9 blocks of spectrum for 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) to 9 players soon.

The 9 companies are believed to be:

• 4 Mobile telcos – Celcom, DiGi, Maxis & U Mobile
• 4 WiMAX operators – AMAX, P1, REDtone & YTL
• a company believed to be linked to Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukary

According to the paper’s source, each player will be getting 20MHz block of 2.5GHz and 2.6GHz spectrum which comprise the 70MHz and 120MHz blocks respectively, or a total of 190MHz.

Awarding 4G LTE to 9 companies is a big number and we wonder based on what merit that the spectrum is given. Looking at WiMAX itself, only half of the awarded operators are in commercial service while U Mobile, the newest mobile telco is still struggling to roll out its own 3G coverage nationwide. With the current scenario, we’re baffled to see them getting LTE spectrum when they can’t get their current 3G or WiMAX service covered properly. According to the report, the spectrum will be given to all so that nobody will be deprived from participating in rolling out 4G LTE. Strangely our very own Telekom Malaysia is not on the list.

Although we love competition, 9 seems to be too much for a country like Malaysia. Just recently Maxis & Celcom had started their own 4G LTE testing with its partners while DiGi says that they will focus on 3G first at the time being. We also wonder, what will happen to the WiMAX operators? Will they abandon WiMAX for LTE in future?

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The Star has reported that REDtone International, one of the 4 licensed WiMAX operators in Malaysia is waiting for additional spectrum to roll out in West Malaysia. Just to recap, P1, AMAX & YTL were licensed to operate in West Malaysia while REDtone is the sole operator in East Malaysia. Among the 4, P1 and REDtone we’re the first to launch WiMAX in August 2008.

When we read this piece of news, we’re a little surprised by REDtone’s eagerness to venture into West Malaysia. Currently, REDtone is enjoying some sort of exclusive monopoly in Sarawak to operate WiMAX since 2008. It has been 2 years since launch but REDtone has failed to cover all major towns and cities of Sabah and Sarawak. This of course attracted a RM200,000 fine by MCMC for failing to achieve 25% target penetration in 2009.

With the current situation, it doesn’t make any sense for REDtone to step into West Malaysia. With AMAX struggling and YTL no where at sight, we are unconvinced that REDtone would fare any better. There are many Sabah and Sarawak residents who are in dire need of alternative to TM Streamyx as other wireless broadbands including 3G are still not widely available. REDtone should just focus their resources in East Malaysia instead of getting into a bullfight with other operators.

Currently P1 and REDtone are the only 2 WiMAX operators in Malaysia that are in commercial service. AMAX is still undergoing re-engineering while YTL is yet to launch commercially.

Check out our previous posts on REDtone WiMAX here.

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REDtone, another WiMAX operator has quietly launched its portable USB WiMAX offering. The portable USB WiMAX modem comes with 2 plans, the Flexi50 and Flexi80.

Flexi50 offers 512kbps download and 128kbps upload with 8GB quota at RM50/month, while Flexi88 offers 1Mbps download and 384kbps upload with 15GB quota at RM88/month. The packages looks similar with the recent P1 WiMAX Wiggy postpaid plans of WiGGY 59 and WiGGY 89.

Subscribers will have a choice of a 12 month contract with what looks like a free USB Modem or a contract free option that requires RM239 up front for the device. A RM100 deposit is required for the device on the 12-month contract. REDtone didn’t provide much details on the modem except that it looks like a red little box that fits in your pocket. We also wonder that since Intel has launched a new range of laptops and netbooks with WiMAX built-in, REDtone should have look into offering their WiMAX service on them as well. Since the WiMAX module supports 2.3GHz, there shouldn’t be a problem for it to work as long as REDtone’s network is ready for it.

In addition, we noticed that REDtone has expanded its coverage beyond the capital cities of Kuching and Kota Kinabalu. At the moment, we are seeing coverage in Miri, Sarawak as well as Sandakan and Tawau in Sabah.

Miri

Sandakan/Tawau

REDtone has been quite slow in its WiMAX roll out but currently it stands as the 2nd WiMAX operator in commercial service after P1. AMAX, the other WiMAX operator has temporary suspended its service for reengineering purposes until further notice. P1 previously had mentioned that they will be entering East Malaysia around this year. We hope that happens soon to give REDtone some competition in this underserved region.

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Meanwhile, YTL E-Solutions say their commercial launch of its WiMAX service is scheduled for next year.

We say, whatever.

Stop talking about it and show us the goods.

Our thoughts on AMAX
Ok, to be fair, AMAX has a shop in Tmn Tun and we’ve seen some buntings around town and a few ads in the papers. BUT we’re not convinced. The website looks bad (actually, we wanted to say “crap” but we don’t want to be mean) and the marketing effort is half baked at best.

If you go to the AMAX website, under the coverage section you will find this very interesting note:

The AMAX network will cover the entire Klang Valley by end 2008. By the end of 2010, the entire nation will be one big AMAX hot spot.

Sounds like wishful thinking to us as obviously what the website claims hasn’t yet materialised, far from it actually.

And apparently there’s a reason for all the “low-key” marketing.

Asiaspace chairman Datuk Abdul Ghani Abdullah says: “We are not shouting about (the WiMAX services) but we are reaching out to the public,”

He said the company was relatively quiet in terms of promoting its services, but this was to ensure the necessary infrastructure was in place first before offering it to customers.

“We are already in business with our wireless product called ‘amax’ and have a number of subscribers using our services,” Abdul Ghani added.

If we were there we would ask him to reveal the subscriber base and also the company’s expected growth for this year.

For all we know “a number of subscribers” could consists of Asiaspace’s staff, suppliers, vendors and their extended families.

Our thoughts on REDtone
REDtone’s approach is to forgo key market centre’s in West Malaysia altogether and provide WiMAX coverage in East Malaysia, where internet penetration is lower.

On the positive, WiMAX would be perfect for East Malaysia where hardlines are an issue accessing remote areas. This could lead to increased internet penetration in that region. That could be good (the operative word here being “could”).

But then…the company can’t expect to operate a sustainable long term business just concentrating on East Malaysia alone and the by the looks of it, the coverage is really not that good either. East Malaysia is bigger than West Malaysia ok. We could only imagine how the performance would be like.

In the end…
Please forgive us if we’re being too critical but please hear us out. We welcome new players with open arms because more players means more competition. More competition means more choice and better value. This means consumers win.

But so far, the only WiMAX ISP that’s looking capable of providing this choice and value is P1. We’d love to give credit where credit is due but at this point the other WiMAX license holders really have nothing much to show for themselves.

By the way, anyone subscribed to AMAX or REDtone? Please share your experience with us. We genuinely would like to know what’s the performance like.

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WiMAX is officially available in Malaysia next week! We will be witnessing not just one, but TWO WiMAX operators rolling out their services in the country.

Packet 1 will be having their official launch on next Tuesday August 19th in Kuala Lumpur while another operator REDtone will be launching theirs on the next day August 20th in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

Both operators will be launching at different ends in the country and its obvious that the two won’t be competiting heads-on in the same market segments for now. We are unsure on the reason behind such roll out strategy but both would have different challenges to face.

What to expect?

P1 W1MAX by Packet 1 has been showcased to the public several times namely at WCIT and the recent PC Fair. We are aware that they have a working LAN based WiMAX modem and initial feedbacks we seen have been encouraging.

Before this, Packet 1 has been actively promoting its trial programme and recently it has also mentioned that Packet 1 managed to sign up its first subscribers. This not only incidates that Packet 1′s W1MAX is ready for service but it also marks as Malaysia’s 1st ever WiMAX subscription in the country.  At present time, we are still unsure of their current coverage areas and we hope to find out soon during the launch.

It is rumoured that P1 W1MAX would be available at 4 packages with competiting speed offerings with different price ranges. Their biggest competitor would be Streamyx at the moment and judging on evaluations we’ve seen, the performance of P1 W1MAX is something existing Streamyx users would look forward to.

As for REDtone, they have not given any clues on their WiMAX devices or offerings. There was nothing tangible to date and we are interested to see what sort of devices and packages available for subscription during launch in Sabah.

After much hype in the press, 2 operators have finally came out to launch officially in the market. The other 2 WiMAX operators, YTL and AsiaSpace have yet to make announcement on their commercial services to date.

Watch this space for more updates!

Related Links
REDtone to roll out WiMAX by month end
P1 W1MAX
LiewCF’s WiMAX Experience at PC Fair