5G services: TM launches first-phase for unifi customers, 5G services by year-end, door still open to Maxis

 TM launches first-phase 5G services for unifi customers

 

KUALA LUMPUR:Telekom Malaysia Bhd TM) launched the first-phase of its 5G services, which includes unlimited data for existing unifi mobile postpaid customers as well as new postpaid and prepaid customers.

TM group chief executive officer Imri Mokhtar said the 5G service would reinforce the company’s leadership in fixed-mobile services for consumer and micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) segments, strengthening its mobile capabilities to provide the widest and fastest all-in-one solution.

“With 5G currently covering more than 33% of populated areas throughout Malaysia, this first phase is key to growing TM’s reach and presents the opportunity for a new push in unifi’s convergence play, riding on its strength of three million households and close to 400,000 MSME customers,” he said in a statement yesterday.

In addition, TM will continue to modernise the country’s fibre network architecture, integrating automation and virtualisation technologies to boost back-end infrastructures that will support the anticipated demand for 5G.

TM recently launched its 5G Sphere, an ecosystem of leading technology and smart solution partners that will accelerate the co-creation of innovative 5G use cases, taking enterprise 5G transformation from ideation to realisation. To date, there are 39 partners in the programme.

TM said its nation-building efforts with the government will also speed up the availability of smart cities, smart industries and 5G-enabled applications, creating a more sustainable and inclusive digital society and economy. — Bernama 

5G services to 12 million hand-phone user by year-end

PETALING JAYA: Some 12 million Malaysians will begin to have access to the fifth-generation (5G) mobile services by the end of this year, says caretaker Communications and Multimedia Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa.

The announcement by Annuar comes after five out of six telcos had met the Oct 31 deadline to ink the reference access offer (RAO)with Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB) for the implementation of the country’s 5G network.

“Before the companies could offer their services to the public, they had to sign the access agreement before the Oct 31 deadline.

“The agreement was signed to enable the companies to fix the bundle or retail prices from DNB and subsequent price offers to the public,” he said at a press conference yesterday.

He said that among the telcos that had met the deadline were Celcom Axiata Bhd, Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd, YTL Communications Sdn Bhd, Telekom Malaysia Bhd and U Mobile Sdn Bhd.

He clarified that there was some confusion among mobile phone users as to the eventual rollout of 5G services in the country.

“Many complain why talk about 5G when they can’t even get the 4G or 5G services yet.

“There was confusion as the earlier mention of 5G was done generally and this referred to the development of the infrastructure where the rollout of services had yet to begin,” he said.

With the conclusion of the RAO, Annuar said that the telcos are expected to begin offering their 5G services by the end of this year to some 12 million handphone users in the country.

He noted that only those using mobile phones with 5G capabilities will be able to access the service.

Malaysia’s 5G network is being rolled out by DNB, with the five telcos taking a stake in the former and by inking access agreements with it.

The telcos are then to compete by using the same infrastructure to roll out their 5G-related services.

Currently, 5G access is available in the Klang Valley, Johor, Melaka, Negri Sembilan, Perak, Penang and Kelantan.

By MARTIN CARVALHO mart3@thestar.com.my

 

5G door still open to Maxis

Malaysia’s largest mobile network operator (MNO),  Maxis Bhd, will not be able to roll out 5G services to its over nine million mobile subscribers until the company signs a network access agreement with Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB)

While the deadline to sign the access agreement expired on Oct 30, DNB chief operating officer Nasution Mohamed told StarBiz that Maxis still had the chance to ink the agreement “anytime” in the future.

“But its capacity commitment will be at a premium to those that had concluded on Oct 30.

“Maxis will have to commit to greater capacity off-take over the next 10 years, not necessarily having to pay more,” he said.

Nasution explained that Maxis had expressed its interest to be part of the country’s 5G journey via the single wholesale network (SWN) model.

“I believe it is sorting out some matters internally. Once it is settled, it can sign the access agreement,” he said.

In a statement issued late evening yesterday, Maxis said it was still assessing the governance requirements for the 5G access agreement.

“Maxis is committed to bringing this to a close as soon as possible.

“Meanwhile, the company has already been developing multi-industry use cases and forging partnerships with major players for 5G services and solutions,” it said.

The country’s 5G infrastructure is being rolled out by DNB under the SWN model. Telecommunication companies (telcos) that have signed the access agreement can tap onto the DNB-owned 5G infrastructure and spectrum by paying a wholesale price.

The telcos will then transfer the 5G access to end-users, alongside their other value-added offerings, at a marked-up pricing.

Excluding Maxis, the remaining five MNOs have executed the network access agreement for a 10-year period, confirmed Nasution.

The MNOs are Axiata Group Bhd, U Mobile Sdn Bhd, Digi.com Bhd, Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) and YTL Communications Sdn Bhd (YES).

The signing of the access agreements comes after Axiata, Digi, TM and YES agreed to take up a collective 65% stake in DNB this month.

The government will retain the remaining 35% stake and hold a golden share.

U Mobile and Maxis have declined to take up equity in DNB.

The access agreements were finally executed after multiple rounds of delays previously.

However, this does not mean the MNOs will immediately be able to roll out 5G services nationwide.

With DNB expecting to reach 37.9% 5G population coverage by the end of 2022, compared to the initial target of 40%, most areas in Malaysia do not have access to 5G infrastructure yet.

Currently, 5G access is available in the Klang Valley, Johor, Melaka, Negri Sembilan, Perak, Penang and Kelantan.

YES was the first MNO in Malaysia to roll out 5G services from Dec 15, 2021.

This was followed by TM, which is rolling out 5G services effective yesterday via unifi Mobile.

Meanwhile, Axiata’s Celcom and U Mobile announced that their 5G services will be commercially available to customers from Nov 1 and Nov 3, respectively.

As for Digi, the commercial roll-out date is not known yet.

In a stock exchange filing yesterday, TM said the provisioning of 5G services would enhance TM’s position as the preferred partner in accelerating the adoption of fixed-mobile convergence via 5G and fixed broadband solutions.

The telco has about 2.9 million fixed broadband subscribers as of the first half of 2022.

U Mobile chief executive officer Wong Heang Tuck said in a statement that the company is supportive of the government’s vision of a SWN model for 5G deployment, whereby all operators will have access to the same network without differentiation in terms of speed and quality.

“Hence, we are delighted to have signed the 5G access agreement and be part of this network.

“We have full faith that DNB will honour the mandate of providing quality 5G coverage and capacity on an equitable and non-discriminatory basis,” he said.

U Mobile has launched a line of 5G-ready postpaid plans, namely U Postpaid 38, U Postpaid 68 and U Postpaid 98.

Axiata told Bursa Malaysia yesterday that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Celcom Networks Sdn Bhd, has entered into an access agreement with DNB to allow Celcom wholesale access to DNB’s 5G network.

“Under the agreement, there is no charge to be incurred in 2022.

“The DNB Reference Access Offer (RAO) published on the DNB website sets out the salient terms and conditions subject to which network facilities and network services will be provided by DNB to Celcom.

“The RAO may be updated or replaced from time to time in which case the agreement will be governed by and incorporate the terms and conditions of the RAO published on the DNB website,” it said in a filing.

Meanwhile, Digi said its unit, Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd (DigiTel), has on Oct 30 executed an access agreement with DNB.

Via the agreement, DigiTel will also have the option to purchase future 5G wholesale services to be rolled out by DNB, to develop innovative 5G enterprise and value-added services to serve customer needs.

“The board, having considered the access agreement, is of the opinion that the access agreement is in the best interest of the company,” it said. 

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Telcos and Maxis need to reinvent

Maxis has not been paying much attention to its young local talent, resulting in some of these talents making its competitors look good instead.

IT has been an interesting week for the telecommunications sector locally.

Axiata Group Bhd got pre-qualified to bid for a mobile licence in Myanmar, Packet One Networks (M) Sdn Bhd head honcho Michael Lai quit the company and Maxis Bhd saw some staff departures.

Why Lai left is a mystery. Hopefully, he will show up at another telco because he knows the marketing game well.

At Maxis, several personnel have left, with more expected to head for the exit door. Most senior, and some middle-level executives, may also bid their adieus. Those whose contracts are up for renewal may leave because Maxis is on a massive clean-up mode.

Some call it a clean-up, while others say it is a reorganisation. Essentially, it is re-shaping itself to respond better to market demands in view of the challenging times ahead. The consumer is discerning and its competitors have cleaned up their acts.

It might be the biggest company by revenue and subscriber base, but it has competitors who are nimble and agile.

Surprisingly, Maxis has not been paying much attention to its young local talent, resulting in some of these talents making its competitors look good instead. Indeed, Celcom Axiata is looking attractive, and DiGi.Com Bhd, savvy.

What Maxis is facing is a battle both within and without the company.

It has no chief executive officer (CEO), a bloated workforce of 3,500, 24 units/divisions, a seemingly lack of young talent at the top, operational and cost inefficiencies, and it could do better in some market segments by lowering prices and bringing to market more innovation.

“It is hard to find a unit with large numbers of people below 30,” said a person familiar with the company.
The clean-up is the first step in addressing the problem, but is it skin-deep or merely surface-scratching?

Still, all is not lost.It has a great brand, brand loyalty, a wide network - although some hard decisions could have been made - a huge subscriber base, much to the envy of its rivals, and a multitude of products and services.

It also enjoys pole position in the market place.

The key now is to sharpen its focus, reinvent itself, harness its local talent and move forward fully energised. This may take anything from six to nine months, but worth every second in its bid to transform itself.

Next week, the new organisation structure will be out, although the search for a CEO is still on. Succession planning should be considered because at some point of time, the CEO will have to be homegrown. That gives hope to the team.

The future is about a real convergence of mobile and fixed networks, resulting in greater convenience for customers, with portals that can be accessed with all devices, independent of the technology used, says a report.

Making that right call on technology is, therefore, critical, as networks of the future will need a high degree of reliability whilst cleaning up, and at the same time, keeping costs under control, which is vital.

Friday Reflections by B.K. Sidhu

*Business editor (news) B K Sidhu says improve the call quality and there will be happier and loyal customers.

IPTV market in Malaysia

The more the merrier in the IPTV market

Hopefully the battle gets fierce so that quality and content will improve to offer more choices to consumers.

IT has taken two companies - Astro and Maxis - within the same stable a long time to come out with their Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) offering.

The Maxis/Astro IPTV/broadband services were originally expected to be launched by end-2012 but were postponed to the end of the first quarter in 2013.

Astro and Maxis entered into partnership for IPTV/broadband collaboration in September 2012.

The good news is that both companies launched the Astro B.yond IPTV offering this week, riding on Telekom Malaysia Bhd's (TM) high speed broadband (HSBB) network.

Now there is another choice in the market place and Astro/Maxis will compete head-on with TM for market dominance in the IPTV segment. There are several other smaller players offering IPTV but not on the scale of these two.

A report said the continuous improvement on the speed of broadband and the availability of interactive applications would play a crucial role in the expansion of IPTV market around the globe.

Broadcasters and telecoms players globally have a new way to increase customer average revenue per user with the expansion of broadband and IPTV. The forecast is that the global IPTV market will rise to about US$106mil (RM323mil) in 2014. European countries are the biggest markets for IPTV, with France, the UK, and Germany leading the growth.

Asia is also responding strongly to this new phenomenon. This week, South Korea's SK Telecom saw its earnings rise, with its media business securing 600,000 paid subscribers for its mobile IPTV service in the first quarter. Astro claims to have a subscriber base of 3.5 million households representing 52% of Malaysia's total households of 6.7 million.

It is entrenched in the market place and TM's UniFi subscribers are readily accessible market for the Astro B.yond IPTV product as both are carried on the same HSBB network.

The caveat is that TM UniFi residential subscribers are locked in a two-year contract.

TM has to date activated more than 548,000 UniFi subscribers on the back of 1.39 million premises passed, covering 102 exchanges nationwide which translates to a 38% take-up rate. TM offers IPTV via HyppTV.

The choice is out there today, hopefully the battle gets fierce so that quality and content will improve to offer more choices to the consumers. As for pricing, it is still steep despite the value propositions and for a wider mass market appeal, the rates need a review.

And while Astro/Maxis claim they have a value proposition, TM may want to look to getting a bigger content library, and certainly, a cellular tie-up is recommended to counter the bundling that Astro/Maxis is offering.

Celcom Axiata is waiting on the sidelines. It also needs to get into the IPTV game and both TM/Axiata should begin talking seriously.

Friday Reflections - By B.K. Sidhu  
Deputy news editor B.K. Sidhu is still thinking about how and when the digital cable TV operator will enter the fray.


Astro upgraded on IPTV potential 

Target price: RM3.38 

ASTRO Malaysia Holdings Bhd has finally launched its Astro B.yond Internet protocol TV (IPTV) with Maxis Bhd, which could complement its services to subscribers with more value proposition and significant savings.

Although the Maxis-Astro IPTV offering enjoys lower earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) margin compared to Time-Astro IPTV, synergistic benefits to be reaped from this collaboration should be more than enough to offset the shortfall.

It was reported that Astro Malaysia Holdings has officially launched its Astro B.yond IPTV with Maxis Bhd as an alternative for consumers to have access to home fibre broadband internet and home voice services.

On this Maxis-Astro IPTV offering, we understand that the fibre broadband packages provided by Maxis will range from 10Mbps to 30Mbps.

The B.yond IPTV content packages provided by Astro will be on SuperPack, Value Pack and Family Pack with prices ranging from RM37.95 to RM100 per month with an optional Home Voice Package of RM20 per month.

We understand that Astro will recognise 100% of the average revenue per user (ARPU) from this IPTV collaboration.

For instance, assuming customer A subscribes to the basic 10Mbps broadband package with a SuperPack1 content selection, the total ARPU will be RM248 per month (RM148 from the broadband package and RM100 from the content package) and Astro will recognise 100% of this total ARPU of RM248

Subsequently, in the cost of sales component, Astro will recognise 75% of the broadband ARPU (which is equivalent to RM111 in this case) as the cost to be distributed back to Maxis.

Based on our back-of-the-envelope calculation, the EBITDA margin of the Maxis-Astro IPTV collaboration will be circa 29% versus the circa 38% of the Time-Astro IPTV's EBITDA margin.

This implies that with a likely increasingly higher take-up for the Maxis-Astro IPTV offerings, the EBITDA margin of the group on the overall will be diluted on a percentage basis.

As this Maxis-Astro IPTV will be complemented by Maxis' extensive reach of 1.3 million homes compared to Time's reach of 100,000 homes, we believe that it could immediately give a boost to its revenue.

This should increase its absolute profit despite the EBITDA margin dilution should the product be well taken up.

We also understand that 1.1 million (or 85%) of the current high-speed broadband (HSBB) home premises are on Astro's subscribership.

That said, for current Astro subscribers who are also having the TM Unifi package, they could achieve better value propositions and cost savings by subscribing to this new IPTV packages.

We are sanguine on this collaboration as it has bundles of win-win benefits for the subscribers and synergistic benefits for Astro and Maxis.

In conjunction with that, we are assuming circa 65,000 and circa 175,000 subscribers to take up this IPTV offering (mainly on SuperPack packages), taking cues from the management's guidance of circa 60,000 to 70,000 and 170,000 to 180,000 subscribers in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

Consequently, our net profit has been increased by 2.4% to 9.9% in 2014 and 2015 despite a lower EBITDA margin of 32.4% (from 32.7%) and 33.4% (from 34.2%) for the two years.

Consequently, our DCF-derived target price has now been increased to RM3.38 from RM3.10.

As the target price offers a decent capital upside of circa 15%, we are upgrading our “market perform” call on Astro to an “outperform.”

By Kenanga Research

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