Friday, October 21, 2011

Maxis in landmark 3G network sharing with U Mobile

KUALA LUMPUR: Maxis Bhd is providing its 3G radio access network to U Mobile Sdn Bhd under the country's first landmark network sharing and alliance agreement for an initial period of 10 years.

The companies said in a joint statement on Friday, Oct 21 this arrangement also included long-term evolution (LTE) sharing, depending on the availability of the spectrum and TECHNOLOGY [].

Maxis and U Mobile said the collaboration was a milestone in the local telecommunications industry in the sharing of active telco systems and operating frequency spectrum.

They added the collaboration extended beyond the existing physical infrastructure sharing which has been practised for long time between operators in the industry.

Maxis said the collaboration would provide it with a significant new source of revenue and also enhance the utilisation of its network in areas which were currently underused.

Maxis chief executive officer, Sandip Das said: 'As an industry leader in the country, this collaboration is significant for Maxis as it reflects our commitment to promote non-duplication of infrastructure.

'Active sharing results in greater cost savings which in turn translates to increased direct revenue for both companies. More importantly it allows us to focus on providing innovative services and giving more value to customers, while having the benefit of doing all these in a more environmentally friendly manner,' he said.

Sandip said over 54% of Maxis' base stations sites was shared with other operators.

As for U Mobile, this collaboration enabled it to speed up its 3G network rollout by four to five times while achieving significant cost-savings through network sharing with Maxis.

However, the shared locations would exclude urban market centres, such as Klang Valley, Penang, Johor Bahru and Ipoh, where U Mobile is committed to continue providing high speed mobile broadband services.

U Mobile chief executive officer Dr Kaizad B. Heerjee said this active radio access network with Maxis set a new benchmark in the industry.

'This mutually beneficial partnership with Maxis will accelerate the expansion of our current 3G footprint to more than 4,000 3G sites in Malaysia by early-2013,' he said.

''

No comments:

Post a Comment