KUALA LUMPUR: Saying that YTL is known for building world-class infrastructure at third world prices, Tan Sri Francis Yeoh, managing director, YTL CORPORATION BHD [] and executive chairman of YTL Communications has thrown the gauntlet to the existing telco players with his upcoming 4G launch of mobile voice and data services on Nov 18.
The service will immediate cover 65% of populated areas from 1,000 base stations with close to RM1 billion invested thus far, he said. A triple play service, it will morph into the world's first nationwide quad play service by the end of next year with a mobile TV offering that will work across devices and not be locked into any one proprietary platform.
'We will become the world's most advanced nation for communications services by then,' says Yeoh on Monday, Oct 11.
Firing a broadside at the established telcos, he says the telco model is not sustainable. 'Even their 3G is voice centric and they are hanging on with a lot of profit and not innovating. That I think is to a certain extent, irresponsible to the public.'
He believes the Internet should be made available to all Malaysians. 'That is our vision. We have to give the power [of the Internet] to the people.'
Not revealing pricing yet for next month's 4G launch, Yeoh gives a hint of the prices to come when he says, 'people forget that we were among the pioneers in bringing the cost of voice calls [international] down by 93% in the late 1990s with our Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) company Extiva. Our pricing will be very competitive.'
Yeoh believes the launch of the 4G service can quickly help Malaysia move out of the middle income trap it is in. 'Look at World Bank research which points to every 10% increase in broadband subscription giving GDP a 1.35% boost. Imagine when we boost broadband penetration to 70% in Malaysia.'
Listen to a snippet of the interview with Francis Yeoh on why telcos have acted irresponsibly:
The service will immediate cover 65% of populated areas from 1,000 base stations with close to RM1 billion invested thus far, he said. A triple play service, it will morph into the world's first nationwide quad play service by the end of next year with a mobile TV offering that will work across devices and not be locked into any one proprietary platform.
'We will become the world's most advanced nation for communications services by then,' says Yeoh on Monday, Oct 11.
Firing a broadside at the established telcos, he says the telco model is not sustainable. 'Even their 3G is voice centric and they are hanging on with a lot of profit and not innovating. That I think is to a certain extent, irresponsible to the public.'
He believes the Internet should be made available to all Malaysians. 'That is our vision. We have to give the power [of the Internet] to the people.'
Not revealing pricing yet for next month's 4G launch, Yeoh gives a hint of the prices to come when he says, 'people forget that we were among the pioneers in bringing the cost of voice calls [international] down by 93% in the late 1990s with our Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) company Extiva. Our pricing will be very competitive.'
Yeoh believes the launch of the 4G service can quickly help Malaysia move out of the middle income trap it is in. 'Look at World Bank research which points to every 10% increase in broadband subscription giving GDP a 1.35% boost. Imagine when we boost broadband penetration to 70% in Malaysia.'
Listen to a snippet of the interview with Francis Yeoh on why telcos have acted irresponsibly:
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