Kota Kinabalu and Kuching Galaxy Tab 10.1 fans, you can now celebrate. Regular tipster Rakyat Biru tells us that a reliable source has revealed that Celcom is expected to organise the RM999 Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 firesale to Kuching and Kota Kinbalu starting this Friday.

Details are scarce at the moment, but Rakyat Biru but has never been wrong before, so we’re inclined to believe that there is a lot of truth to this. We can’t confirm on whether Celcom will be doing the RM99 lucky draw stunt as well but once we know we will let you know. As always, only a limited quantity is available though you can expect similar Celcom pricing plan to be on offer

It’s good that Celcom is expanding the firesale deal to markets outside the Klang Valley. It’s an example that other operators can do not wrong in following.

Thanks for the tip Rakyat Biru!

Celcom, Mobile Devices, Players on the Field, Samsung

Celcom, Celcom firesale, Celcom Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, firesale, Galaxy Tab 10.1 Celcom Plan, sabah, Samsung, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Celcom, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Kota Kinabalu, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Kuching, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Malaysia, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Malaysia price, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 price Malaysia, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Sale, Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, Samsung Galaxy Tab II, sarawak

According to TheStar, YTL Communications is in the process of securing licenses to roll out its Yes 4G services in the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak. Its CEO Wing K. Lee had mentioned that YTL has received acknowledgement from the Government and they are now requested to submit their business plan.

Currently REDtone is the only WiMAX operator in East Malaysia and they haven’t been expanding much since its launch 3 years ago. About 2 years back, P1 too had showed intention of expanding to East Malaysia but this hasn’t materialise until today. We’re not sure what was holding them up but we believe expanding to Sabah/Sarawak is much more complicated compared to other states in Peninsular Malaysia due to different local/state regulations.

If Yes is able to roll out, this will give Sabah/Sarawak consumers more broadband choice as 3G providers are still struggling to cover all major towns. It would be impressive if Yes can cover the trunk road from Kuching to Miri and from Lawas to Kudat – the tip of Borneo.

For YTL, moving into Sabah/Sarawak is crucial for them to claim nationwide 4G coverage as no WiMAX operator has coverage on both sides of the South China Sea. REDtone too has tried to enter Peninsular Malaysia but so far we haven’t heard anything from them.

In terms of coverage, it was also reported that YTL aims to double up its network sites from 1,200 base stations during launch, to 2,500 by year end. This includes expansion of sites at Johor, Kelantan, Pahang and Terengganu.

[ SOURCE ]

	Players on the Field, Technologies, WiMAX, Yes
	sabah, sarawak, Yes, yes 4g, yes coverage, Yes East Malaysia, Yes Sabah, Yes Sarawak

DiGi is now offering Free WiFi service for existing Broadband customers in the next few months. For starters, they have begun such service at 2 universities – Unimas in Sarawak and UMS in Sabah starting from 18th April 2011 onwards. This Free WiFi service however is only for postpaid DiGi Broadband users and those on prepaid internet, enterprise broadband and mobile data are not eligible.

This seems to be a good move for DiGi users as they can offload their data usage to WiFi. As a result, this will reduce their monthly broadband quota usage. Just recently, Maxis did something similar with its Maxis WiFi Hotspot subscription service. To use this Free WiFi service, you would need to login using your DiGi Broadband account and they have warned that multiple logins are not allowed. Speed is not guaranteed and it is mentioned as being delivered as trial and best-effort basis only.

Do check out their FAQ for more details. For more information, head on to DiGi’s WiFi page.

	DiGi, Players on the Field
	DiGi, DiGi WiFi, Free WiFi, sabah, sarawak, UMS, Unimas, WiFi

REDtone, the other WiMAX operator which operates in East Malaysia is also doing a Chinese New Year Promotion for its Home Broadband packages. From now until 28th February 2011, they are giving 1 month free subscription, free 12 months modem rental, free activation waiver (worth RM100) and a 7 days money back guarantee.

Plans and packages wise, they are pretty much the same as before with their entry Home-Lite going at RM98/month with 1Mbps download speeds and 384kbps upload. The monthly quota for their Home-Lite is 25GB/month. More details on the promotion at their website.

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	Industry in General, Players on the Field, REDTone, WiMAX
	CNY, Redtone Free Modem, REDtone WiMAX Coverage, RedTone Wimax Plans, REDTone WiMAX Promo, Revised Redtone WiMAX Plans, sabah, Sabah Sarawak WiMAX, sarawak, WiMAX

DiGi plans to invest RM75 million over the next three years to roll out 3G broadband in Penang and Sabah.

DiGi’s Head of Strategy and New Business, Albern Murty said DiGi’s broadband coverage now stands at 31% of Penang’s population with plans to cover the whole of Penang by August.

DiGi 3G broadband covers Tanjung Tokong, along Gurney Drive, Penang International Airport, Queensbay Mall and parts of Georgetown.

DiGi says it has invested in High-Speed Packet Access technology to deploy a 14.4 Mbps for fast download and upload speeds of up to 2Mbps.

We’re a bit sceptical about the 31% population coverage in Penang though, as the source didn’t specifically say if its 3G or DiGi’s EDGE service combine. Remember, before 3G, DiGi claims EDGE service as broadband as well.

No words on other states in the report.

Read SoyaCincau’s coverage on DiGi Broadband:
DiGi 3G Network Discovered
DiGi to Launch 3G Services by End March 2009
DiGi 3G Broadband: 7.2Mbps Mobile Internet Revealed
DiGi 3G Broadband Official Packages
DiGi 3G Broadband Extends Pre-Promo Coverage in PJ
DiGi 3G Broadband Now with 50GB Quota

More onfo on DiGi Broadband plans and packages HERE.

[Source, Source II]

	DiGi, Players on the Field
	3G, Broadband, DiGi, penang, sabah

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

	P1, Players on the Field, REDTone, WiMAX
	Broadband, Internet, Malaysia WiMAX, Official Launch, P1, P1 WiMAX, REDTone, sabah, WiMAX, Wireless

Happy, a no-frills prepaid on DiGi’s network has finally introduced direct debit payment thru Maybank2u. Previously Happy accepts only credit card transactions which limits its online subscription audience. Currently, it is estimated that there are 2.7 million credit card holders in Malaysia which is equivalent to only 10% of the population. With this new payment channel, we believe they are now capable to acquiring a larger subscriber base.

At the same time, Happy has also spread its wings about a week ago to Sabah! It was reported that they have been organising roadshows at strategic locations in Kota Kinabalu. As MNP is drawing near, it is obvious that Happy needs to spread its presence around Malaysia in other to secure its footprint in the prepaid segment.

	DiGi, Happy, Players on the Field
	direct debit, Happy, maybank2u, sabah

Update 3rd July 2008: Maxis Service in Sabah is reported to be back to normal since this morning.

Since Monday, Maxis subscribers in Sabah were caught with a surprise when their phone starts showing No Network or Emergency Calls only. This leaves Sabah Maxis subscribers disconnected causing frustration and inconvenience for several days now.

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	Hotlink, Maxis, Players on the Field
	Hotlink, Maxis, outage, sabah