Four Companies Win WiMax Licences

KUALA LUMPUR, March 16 (Bernama) -- Four companies -- Bizsurf (M) Sdn Bhd, MIB Comm Sdn Bhd, Asiaspace Dotcom Sdn Bhd and Redtone-CNX Broadband Sdn Bhd -- have won the 2.3GHz broadband wireless access spectrum or WiMax licences.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) announced Friday that all the licences, except that of Redtone-CNX, would cover areas in Peninsular Malaysia.

Redtone-CNX has been awarded the licence to operate in Sabah and Sarawak.

Bizsurf is a unit of YTL e-Solutions while MIB Comm is owned by Green Packet Bhd.

The MCMC said all the winners are expected to quickly roll out the service to 25 percent of the population in the area given to them by end of this year, with a service provision of at least 1MBps at affordable rates.

"At the end of third year, it is expected that they will be able to roll services to at least 40 percent of the population in the areas given to them," it said in a statement.

Each of the companies is expected to invest between RM250 million and RM300 million in the first three years of the WiMax implementation.

According to the MCMC, the evaluation of applicants for the licences took into consideration several factors, including the multiple technology strategy that will be used in expanding broadband, which is fixed line (fibre to the home), wireless broadband as well as 3G High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA).

Another factor was the wireless broadband spectrum on 2.3GHz, 2.5GHz and 3.4GHz that have been allocated to last-mile operators (small and medium enterprises or SMEs) in the past few years.

The evaluation also took into consideration that 2.3GHz similar to 2.5GHz and 3.4GHz is designated more for SMEs, the commission said.

The MCMC said the roll-out of the 2.3GHz band will complement the implementation of the MyICMS 886 strategy whereby it is targeted that broadband penetration reaches 75 percent of households by 2010.

"The MCMC hopes that the provision of lines by way of wireless technology, which is faster and more affordable, would assist in meeting the targets of the MyICMS 886 strategy," it said.

According to the commission, the roll-out of WiMax service will also support secured and reliable networks compared to the use of WiFi (wireless fidelity).

"As consumers are demanding more reliability and availability, service providers have to use spectrums that can give bandwidth and speed," it said

WiMax, which stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is described as a "standards-based technology enabling the delivery of last-mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL (direct subscriber line)".

While it allows for triple play (voice, video and Internet), it is expected to include quad play as well (voice, video, Internet and mobility).

WiMax enables deliverables of bandwidth between two points or between a point to multipoint to consumer.

The usage of WiMax requires certain bandwith of spectrum to be allocated to the service provider, in accordance to the channelling plan approved by MCMC.

-- BERNAMA