Earlier this week Yes announced that it had signed an agreement with Japanese WiMAX operator UQ Communications to “further enhance both entities’ leadership positions in the 4G space and to advance the development and adoption of next-generation WiMAX technologies.

The signing coincides with the completion of the world’s first WiMAX2 field test conducted by UQ on July 8 in Tokyo. The test demonstrated a mobile WiMAX2 network delivering a downlink speed of over 130mbps in a moving vehicle.

In a statement announcing the signing Yes CEO, Wing K. Lee said that “WiMAX is the most matured and widely adopted in the world.” In the same statement, Yes claims WiMAX2 “performs better than current LTE technologies while maintaining full compatibility with existing WiMAX devices.”

We’re not fans of press releases announcing “successful” tests proclaiming crazy speeds like 130mbps over a wireless network because there is a major difference between theoretical and practical network speeds. Most of the time, these tests are conducted in a closed network where there’s virtually no network load. Realistically, you’re not going get these kinds of speeds anytime soon. So you have to take these announcements of 100+mbps download speeds with a grain of salt.

The interesting thing to note here is Yes’ decision to stick with WiMAX while almost all of the other operators in the country (including the once WiMAX posterboy, P1) are looking at building next-generation networks based on LTE.

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	Players on the Field, Yes
	UQ, WiMAX, WiMAX2, Yes, Yes, YLT Communications

First up, today marks the end of the free 10GB usage for Yes 4G subscribers who’ve signed up with the service before December 19. That means Yes subscribers will now be charged for data usage.

Moving on the to topic of this post. The Yes portal was brought down from 2300hrs on Saturday, December 18 and came back up at 0600hrs on Sunday, December 19 for maintenance and for the implementation of some improvements to the website.

From our own experience, we can see that the improvements brings a better flow for the users and information looks to be much better organized now. The previous version of the Yes website lacked any flow and had users clicking through a virtual maze to even begin understand what Yes has to offer. So this is a good thing.

That is not to say that this new version has completely solved the navigation and usability issues on the Yes website but at least the improvements are steering the site to the right direction.

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	Players on the Field, Yes
	Yes, Yes, yes 4g, yes 4g plans, yes 4g price, yes 4g rates

In the wake of the Yes search engine marketing farce, the WiMAX operator’s media agency, Carat has stepped up and taken full responsibility clarifying in an official statement that an error when utilsing a feature called Dynamic Keyword Insertion was the root cause and that the agency had made an “oversight”

In the unfortunate online advertising campaign, competitors’ names were advertised in the headline of a search result but the links led back to the Yes 4G website.

Carat Media Services, the media agency responsible for all of YTL Communications’ media buy, claimed that it rectified the error within five minutes but as many have already seen, it was five minutes too long with tremendous damage already being done to the Yes brand.

Carat today, MD Roy Tan stated in an official stated:

We regret that due to an error made by us the paid search campaign has caused confusion among users of search engines. We would like to extend our apologies over this incident to them, our Client and those affected and explain what transpired.

This error was wholly unintentional and should in no way be taken as a reflection of the YES Brand or YTL Communications. At no time did YTL Communications require or instruct us to carry out the activities. It was done purely by us and in this regard YTL Communications is innocent of such an action.

What remains unclear is, how was the oversight made as veteran agencies like Carat would have processes in place to ensure that such an error doesn’t happen. It is unfortunate for a new brand like Yes to be caught up in this as it is adding unnecessary stress to an already botched up launch.

[source]
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	Players on the Field, Yes
	4g, 4g wimax, Advertising, Carat, Carat media, deception, google, online advertisement, Search Engine Marketing, WiMAX, Yes, Yes, yes 4g, yes 4g problems, yes advertising, yes malaysia, yes ytl, ytl comms, YTL WiMAX, YTL yes

Earlier on, YTL has revealed Yes, the new name for its “4G” mobile service in Malaysia which will be commercially launched on 19th November. As mentioned earlier, they will offer a land grab of mobile numbers with the prefix of 018 as part of the YesID registration. At time of posting, the 018 numbers starts with 018-331 XXXX. You’ll also get a personalised email with the yes.my domain.

Registration starts NOW, so grab your username and prefered 018 number before they are taken. Like they say, the early bird catches the worm.

Head on to http://www.yes.my.

	Players on the Field, Yes
	018, 4g, 4g wimax, WiMAX, Yes, Yes, yes 4g, yes buzz, yes go, yes huddle, yes malaysia, yes ytl, yes zoom, ytl comms, YTL WiMAX, YTLcomms

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.

[ SOURCE ]

	AMAX, Celcom, DiGi, Industry in General, LTE, Maxis, P1, Players on the Field, REDTone, Technologies, U Mobile, Yes
	3G, 4g, 4G LTE, 4G LTE Malaysia, 4G Malaysia, 4g wimax, amax, asiaspace, Celcom, Celcom Axiata, DiGi, Long Term Evolution, lte, LTE Malaysia, Maxis, P1, P1 WiMAX, REDTone, REDtone WiMAX, U Mobile, WiMAX, Yes, YTLcomms

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?

[ SOURCE ]

	AMAX, Celcom, DiGi, LTE, Maxis, P1, P1, Players on the Field, REDTone, Technologies, U Mobile, WiMAX, Yes
	3G, 4g, 4G LTE, 4G LTE Malaysia, 4G Malaysia, 4g wimax, amax, asiaspace, Celcom, Celcom Axiata, DiGi, Long Term Evolution, lte, LTE Malaysia, Maxis, P1, P1 WiMAX, REDTone, REDtone WiMAX, U Mobile, WiMAX, Yes, YTLcomms

The devices shown above are for dramatisation only. We have no info on the exact devices that YTL will offer.

Little bits and bytes have been streaming into our modems and telling us that YTL Comms — the Malaysian WiMAX no show — is working on something epic.

Sources deep inside YTL have revealed that the aspiring 4G conglomerate is will be bringing Android powered 4G mobile phones and 4G MiFi devices.

All this sounds exciting but looking at YTL’s many no shows in the past, we’re sceptical that they will be able to deliver the goods. A 4G mobile phone is a big ask, YTL will need a bucket load of coverage areas to pull this one off and assuming that YTL doesn’t have the coverage, they will have to work with a telco partner to make up for the 4G blindspots. And if we know the telco boys, they don’t play nice together, so it’s going to be interesting how YTL is going to do this nationwide mobile 4G network thing.

We’re not too sure bout the 4G mobile phone but we’re pretty excited about a 4G MiFi. We’re perplexed as to why P1 have yet to introduce one if the market. From our observations, there is a great deal of interest for such a device here. And it sure is a hell of a lot easier to sell then a WiMAX laptop.

Anyways, we’ll be keeping a close eye on YTL in the coming most, already the are on a huge hiring drive, so something is definitey a brewing. If they do pull this off, its going to be awesome for all of us, but that’s a big IF.

	Players on the Field, Technologies, WiMAX, Yes
	4g, 4G devices, 4G MiFi, 4G mobile phone, WiMAX, Yes, ytl comms, YTL Communications

We’re all wondering what’s cooking at YTL. Frankly speaking, we’re not too impressed with their this and that excuses. Bottom line is there’s still no network and they’ve been pushing deadlines on their network lunch so many times that we’ve lost count.

But a posting on Twitter has got us intrigued. Officially, YTL Communications, the self proclaimed soon to be creator of the country’s first nationwide 4G network, is on a recruitment drive. They will be holding walk-in interviews for a whole list of positions from Management Trainees to Business Analysts and almost everything in between. If you’re interested you can check out the details here and attend the walk-in interview at JW Marriot KL from 14 to 24 August, 10am to 4pm.

If there’s a hiring drive, then that’s means the company that’s doing all the hiring is gearing up for something big. Could we be looking at a possible YTL 4G network launch within this year?

Though we remain skeptical that YTL will deliver the goods, we’re not discounting the fact. Come on YTL, show us what you got!

	Players on the Field, Technologies, WiMAX, Yes
	positions in YTL, Yes, YTL 4G, ytl comms, YTL Communications, YTL hiring drive, YTL is hiring, YTL network, YTL Twitter, YTL WiMAX

YTL Communications has signed a MoA (Memorandum of Agreement) with UTAR (Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman) Kampar, Perak to offer in-campus WiMAX coverage. Similar to its announcement with UTM, Skudai in Johor, this will be the 2nd campus under YTL’s Education Partner Programme (EPP) which offers Free 4G WiMAX service of 300MB/month to university students. The Kampar campus has 12,000 students and it is believed that the programme with extend to other campuses as well.

YTL is one of the 4 WiMAX operators in Malaysia alongside P1, AMAX and RedTone. They believe in launching Malaysia’s first nationwide WiMAX service as oppose of other operator’s roll out in phases. While they have yet to launch WiMAX commercially, they have focused instead on university collaboration in these recent months. Nobody knows when they are going to launch as we foresee them failing to meet its coverage targets again.

We believe everybody is waiting for YTL’s hyped up WiMAX experience but sadly they haven’t delivered anything to date. We sincerely hope YTL can prove themselves capable of rolling out WiMAX else their 4G promise is nothing but hot air.

[ SOURCE ]

	Players on the Field, WiMAX, Yes
	4g, 4g wimax, Education Partner Programme, student broadband, UTAR, WiMAX, Yes, ytl comms

YTL Communications, another 4G WiMAX operator in Malaysia has announced a Education Partner Program (EPP) for students. This program allows free internet access for 3 years per student with a quota of 300MB per month.

YTL has formed its first EPP partnership with UTM, Skudai in Johor and they plan to create more 4G Campus networks in all public universities by end of 2010. We all have heard promises of commercial launch which has yet to materialise. This could be YTL’s early test site for its 4G WiMAX network and at the same time use it as a showcase of what YTL can deliver.

However even if YTL manages to cover all public universities, they will still fall short of WiMAX deployment targets behind P1, AMAX and Redtone. After all the publicity stunts and PRs, we are still waiting to see YTL’s WiMAX to be launched commercially.

On the EPP plan, 300MB per month which calculates to 10.8GB for 3 years is barely enough for average student use. But who are we to complain if it is free? We wonder if YTL would come out with a paid student package for those who are serious about subscribing if the service is good.

If you’re studying at UTM Skudai, you can sign up here and do let us know your feedback.

You can check out photos from the EPP launch on their Facebook page.

[ SOURCE ]

	Players on the Field, WiMAX, Yes
	4g, 4g wimax, student broadband, utm, WiMAX, Yes, ytl comms