In a media event this morning, Celcom has reemphasised their most premium postpaid yet with its new FIRST Platinum plan. This is the highest tier in the FIRST postpaid family, offering the most amount of data with unlimited calls and SMS at RM150/month.

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	Celcom, Players on the Field
	18GB data plan, Celcom, Celcom Exclusive Benefits, Celcom fibre network, Celcom First, Celcom FIRST Platinum, Celcom home broadband, Celcom home fibre, Celcom Postpaid, Celcom Postpaid Plan, data plan malaysia, High Speed Broadband, HSBB, Malaysia, Malaysia fibre internet, Postpaid

UPDATE: Celcom Home Broadband is now official. Available for FIRST Gold customers in the Klang Valley only.

The fixed fibre broadband scene is heating up as Celcom joins the race with their Home Broadband service offering speeds of up to 10Mbps.

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	Celcom, Players on the Field, Promotions, TM, UniFi
	Celcom, Celcom fibre network, Celcom home broadband, Celcom home fibre, High Speed Broadband, HSBB, Malaysia, Malaysia fibre internet, TM, Unifi

The cost of broadband has always been a hot topic among Malaysians. Even with TM’s new Unifi plans that offer faster speeds for less, many had frown upon the removal of its cheaper 5Mbps option at RM149/month.

For those with the need for speed, it can get ridiculously expensive. Maxis offers 100Mbps broadband for a colossal RM398/month. Alternatively, TIME is also offering 100Mbps at a cheaper RM179/month but it comes with a 100GB cap.

Is there a way for Malaysians to get faster speeds at lower prices? A Singaporean broadband company wants to make it possible when it comes to Malaysia.

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	Industry in General, Players on the Field
	100Mbps Broadband, Broadband, FTTH, High Speed Broadband, HSBB, michael lai, MyRepublic, MyRepublic Malaysia, Unifi

Earlier on TM has teased us that everything is going to be changed on 15th of October. As we are just 2 days to go, TM has released its new microsite which gives us a tiny bit more clues on what to expect on the actual day.

Again toying with the notion of launching a smart phone, the new site reads “A breakthrough device enhanced with Unifi” with the claim of providing the best broadband experience for your device.

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	Players on the Field, TM, UniFi
	Broadband, High Speed Broadband, HSBB, Telekom Malaysia, TM, TM Unifi, Unifi

A week before the iPhone 6s lands officially in Malaysia, TM has teased 15th of October as the day of change. What is a broadband company like TM doing ahead of probably the most anticipated phone launches of the year?

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	Players on the Field, TM, UniFi
	Broadband, High Speed Broadband, HSBB, Telekom Malaysia, TM, TM Unifi, Unifi

Maxis has revised its Home Internet Fibre (FTTH) broadband service which now offers 10Mbps, 20Mbps and 30Mbps option. The baseline 10Mbps plan is now priced higher at RM148/month for Maxis subscribers who have a minimum monthly commitment of RM48/month. Non-Maxis subscribers would need to pay RM168/month for 10Mbps.

For those with the need for speed, they are offering faster 20Mbps and 30Mbps at RM198/month and RM248/month respectively. Non-Maxis subscribers would have to fork out more, almost up to RM50 extra for the 30Mbps which is a carrot for customers to port their mobile service with them.

Apart from internet service, they are giving 100 minutes of calls to Maxis mobile numbers and 100 minutes of IDD calls to selected countries on the 10Mbps option. For each higher plan (20Mbps and 30Mbps), you’ll get additional 100 minutes for each notch higher. As usual, all calls to Maxis fixed lines are free.

The good news is that all plans have unlimited quota until further notice and they are still having the RM200 standard installation fee waived.

For more info, head over to Maxis Home Internet page.

	Maxis, Players on the Field
	fibre, FTTH, High Speed Broadband, HSBB, Maxis, Maxis 10Mbps HSBB, Maxis 10Mbps promo, Maxis 30Mbps, Maxis Broadband, Maxis fiber, Maxis fibre, Maxis FTTH, Maxis high-speed broadband, Maxis Home Broadband, Maxis Home Fibre Internet, Maxis HSBB

Maxis today has announced its partnership with 14 content providers to offer IPTV service on its Maxis Home Fibre Internet. If you’re a Maxis Fibre user, you can look forward to a wide range of HD and 3D content along with catch-up TV and PVR features with your subscription soon.

The 14 content providers that Maxis partnered with are Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM), All Asia Multimedia Networks FZ-LLC, Media Prima Berhad, LI TV International Ltd, Red Bull GmbH, Five Star Production Co. Ltd, Vision Plus Entertainment Sdn Bhd, Travel Channel International Limited, Asa’ad Entertainment Network Sdn Bhd, Brilliant Pictures, Five Star Trading, Trace TV S.A., The Wiggles International Pty Ltd and Classic Media Distribution Limited.

In terms of Free to Air, the channels include TV1, TV2, TVi, TV3, NTV7, 8TV, TV9 along with additional content from LI Space, LI Body, LI Savour, LI Chic, Tonton, Travel Channel, Wiggles, Jump, Classic Media, Trace Urban, Trace Sports, XS, Red Bull, Five Star Trading, Five Star Production, Brilliant Pictures and Asa’ad.

Currently Maxis Home Fibre Internet is available across 1.2 million homes and offices in Malaysia while its 3G Wireless Internet service with its 82% population coverage covers nearly 6 million homes. So far no IPTV subscription and available dates were mentioned.

	Maxis, Players on the Field
	fibre, FTTH, High Speed Broadband, HSBB, IPTV, Maxis, Maxis 10Mbps HSBB, Maxis 10Mbps promo, Maxis 30Mbps, Maxis Broadband, Maxis fiber, Maxis fibre, Maxis FTTH, Maxis high-speed broadband, Maxis Home Broadband, Maxis Home Fibre Internet, Maxis HSBB, Maxis IPTV

Maxis has expanded its business fibre broadband offerings with a range of dynamic IP plans for businesses that do not require a fixed IP connection. There are three plans to choose from and the operator has been very clever in pricing the plans to place them close to what the competitors are offering while at the same time appear to have plans that provide a better value proposition.

Take the mid-range plan for example. Maxis charges RM308/month for its 16Mbps dynamic IP business fibre plan while P1 charges RM329 for its 15Mbps dynamic IP business fibre package. At the same time, the plans from Maxis and P1 sit in between TM’s UniFi for business offering with its 10Mbps plan costing RM289/month and the top of the line 20Mbps plan costing RM359.

Obviously the example above does not take into consideration the various value added services offered by the three service providers and this is because, in this market, with the way the operators have structured their plans, choosing the best plan for you will ultimately come down to how your business utilizes communications. Will you be making a lot of calls to fixed line numbers? Will you be making a lot of calls to mobile number? Is a plan with bundled webhosting something that’s important to you? Will your business be doing a lot of SMS blasts?

These are all things that you need to consider when looking at the dynamic IP fiber plans being offered for businesses. Most important is, how much speed you would need for your operations because at the end of the day, the level of performance that the three operators offer in terms of broadband speed will be almost identical. The dynamics in the fibre broadband landscape has certainly changed significantly with more operators offering the service giving consumers the power to choice. So in this case it all comes down to which brand is able to serve you the best.

For more information on the Maxis dynamic IP fibre plans for businesses, click here.

Thanks Paul Tan for the tip.

	Maxis, Players on the Field
	Dynamic IP, Dynamic IP business fibre internet plan, FTTH, High Speed Broadband, HSBB, Maxis, Maxis Broadband, Maxis Dynamic IP business fibre internet plan, Maxis fiber, Maxis fibre, Maxis FTTH, Maxis high-speed broadband, Maxis UniFi

Maxis has slashed its 10Mbps Home HSBB plan almost by half from RM218/month to a newly reduced RM118/month. This makes it the most affordable 10Mbps HSBB Fibre plan in the market, which is even lower than UniFi’s VIP 5Mbps at RM149/month and P1’s F1 OneFibre 5Mbps plan at RM169/month.

Even with the reduced price, Maxis is still pre bundling Unlimited free calls within Maxis fixed lines, 600 minutes free calls to Maxis Mobile numbers, 200 minutes of IDD calls and additional 150 minutes on your Maxis mobile subscription. The 10Mbps plan comes with 100GB of data quota which is currently unlimited until further notice.

To add more pressure to drive sign ups, the RM200 installation fee waiver is valid until 30th of June 2012. Those that sign up will be bound by 24 months contract. For existing subscribers, the FAQ mentions that you can migrate to this new plan as long as you’ve completed 12 months of your existing contract. Once you’ve moved to this new plan with the cheaper subscription fee, your contract will be automatically renewed to 24 months as a contract extension. If you decide to terminate earlier, you are required to pay the balance of the subscription fees within the contract at RM118/month.

Earlier on, Maxis has a total of 4 HSBB plans for home ranging from 4Mbps to 30Mbps and now it appears that they have reduced their offering with just 2 plans – 10Mbps & 30Mbps. For the 30Mbps plan, the subscription remains unchanged at RM398/month with 300GB of quota, which is also currently unlimited until further notice.

For more information, head over to Maxis HSBB page.

	Maxis, Players on the Field
	fibre, FTTH, High Speed Broadband, HSBB, Maxis, Maxis 10Mbps HSBB, Maxis 10Mbps promo, Maxis 30Mbps, Maxis Broadband, Maxis fiber, Maxis fibre, Maxis FTTH, Maxis high-speed broadband, Maxis Home Broadband, Maxis Home Fibre Internet, Maxis HSBB

After introducing its 32Mbps FTTH plan for office users, Maxis has also introduced a higher speed plan for home users with the need for speed.

They have introduced a 30Mbps plan at RM398 per month which comes with 300GB data quota. This comes out to RM1.33 per GB, the lowest ever cost per GB even in our last broadband comparison update. According to the details above, the quota is only enforced in 2012 which means unlimited downloads for now. Overall, this is 3X the speed and 3X the quota of Maxis Home Broadband Advance at RM218/month.

Also included is 1000 minutes of calls to Maxis Mobile and 300 minutes of calls to IDD. For existing Maxis mobile users, you’ll get 200 minutes too. Calls to Maxis fixed lines are free.

As comparison, the highest home plan for TM’s UniFi is VIP 20 which offers 20Mbps with 120GB quota at RM249 a month. This comes out to RM2.08 per GB. At the present moment, TM is yet to enforce their download quota fully. We wonder if TM Unifi will respond with a higher speed and quota package.

To register for more info, head over to Maxis home broadband page.

	Maxis, Players on the Field
	fibre, FTTH, High Speed Broadband, HSBB, Maxis, Maxis 30Mbps, Maxis Broadband, Maxis fiber, Maxis fibre, Maxis FTTH, Maxis high-speed broadband, Maxis Home Broadband, Maxis HSBB