Telekom Malaysia Trials 3G

January 29, 2004 - source: BWCS

The Asian telco Telekom Malaysia Bhd has announced that it will be offering a trial 3G service to a limited number of customers from this weekend. According to a report from local newspaper The Star, the company will offer trial customers a service within a limited coverage area and with only a small number of applications. The operator is reportedly keen to launch its own 3G service - albeit in a trial state - before rival mobile company Maxis Communications.

Telekom Malaysia will be running the 3G trial until later this year when commercial next-generation services are due to begin. Mohd Khir Harun, Telekom's chief of group restructuring and coordination, commented: "By offering the service we can get customer reaction and so better plan our nationwide rollout, expected to begin by the end of the year."

Telekom Malaysia's mobile unit Celcom is currently Malaysia's largest cellular service provider, claiming around 40% of the total market of more than ten million users. Mergers during 2003 saw the number of its competitors fall from four to just two: Maxis and Digi. Only Telekom and Maxis have licences allowing them to operate 3G networks.