3G has arrived in Malaysia; when is it Indonesia's turn?
Zatni Arbi, Contributor, Singapore
"My office is in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta, and most of our customers and government offices are in Central Jakarta. If only I could use the traveling time to read and answer my e-mail or do some work on my notebook (computer)," a country manager of a world-leading telecommunications vendor for Indonesia, said recently.
His Kuala Lumpur-based colleague immediately replied. "I've been able to do that in KL for some time."
The colleague was referring to yet another reason for us Indonesians to envy the Malaysians, one of our closest neighbors. Not only do the Malaysians have access to more advanced telecommunications services than we do here, but the services are also more widely available.
Today, they can make video calls, enjoy video and audio streaming and even watch TV programs on their cellular phones thanks to the 3G Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) services offered by Celcom 3G, a subsidiary of Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) and Maxis.
More importantly for business people is certainly the mobile access to Internet, which enables them to stay connected to the Internet at broadband speed wherever they are.
Celcom launched its 3G WCDMA service last May. Its competitor, Maxis Communications Berhad, is expected to launch their full- scale WCDMA mobile services in July.
Thus, the Malaysians will have a choice of two 3G operators this year, allowing them to get high speed data connection to the Internet as well as other mobile communication services.
At the recent CommunicAsia in Singapore, Celcom showcased its broad range of services for individual as well as business customers.
The Celcom 3G service were just a month old, so the number of subscribers was still picking up. The operator will have the broadest coverage in the country, claimed Abd Haris Abu Bakar, who manned the Celcom booth during the Singapore event.
"We now provide 3G service in Klang Valley, Penang, Johor Bahru and Malacca. The services are also available in Kulim Hi- Tech and Sungai Petani," he said.
Clearly, the operator is targeting areas where a lot of high- tech industries are located or a lot of tech-savvy tourists from neighboring Singapore come for their holiday getaways.
3G is not the only hot item at TM's booth. One of the other interesting services showcased during the event will enable people to talk using a satellite connection. When they enter an area where a GSM service is available, they can switch right away to the cheaper service.
The great thing about this service is that the users can use the same handset and only need a single SIM card for both services.
The handset itself is interesting. When you use it to access the satellite-based network, you have to attach the extra antenna. When you are in the GSM coverage area, you can do without the antenna. The handset is more than double the size of your everyday cellphone because you need a larger battery to transmit signals all the way to the low orbiting satellites.
Clearly, this service, which has a large footprint in the region, can be very useful during disasters when other telecom infrastructure may have been destroyed.
TM, as the company is usually called, offers a slew of other services. TMNet, for example, offers Internet Access Services, Commerce and Application Services and Content Aggregation Services.
One of its newest service is TMNet Online Guard, which includes anti-virus protection, real-time scanning, firewalls, anti-spyware protection and continuous virus monitoring.
TM is aggressively investing in other countries as well.
Through its TM International Sdn. Berhad, it has shares in telecommunications companies in emerging markets like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand, Cambodia, Malawi, Guinea and Ghana.
As a matter of fact, it has bought 27.3 percent of the shares of the third largest cellular operator in Indonesia, PT Excelcomindo Pratama, which has the XL brand.
Its latest strategy is to expand its investment portfolio closer to the region. Certainly, XL is one of the hot spots for its investments in the region.
As of the end of last year, XL had approximately a 12-percent market share in Indonesia's cellular market with around 3.8 million subscribers. TM is planning to increase its stake in XL to up to 52.7 percent with a total value of US$606.1 million.
TM's shareholders approved the investment plan during its Annual General Meeting on May 17. Clearly, a lot of changes are currently underway at Excelcomindo but Christian Manuel de Faria, XL's CEO, was unable to share much of the company's latest growth strategy with the press during the Singapore event.
Meanwhile, there have been laments back in Indonesia that the country's telecommunications operators are being bought out and therefore are now owned and controlled by foreign investors. Aside from the nationalistic sentiments, perhaps we have to accept that this is a trend of the future. The telecommunications industry is becoming global, much like the automotive industry.
Besides, it was our own mistake that our telecommunications industry was left in a state of neglect for such a long time that now we badly need foreign help to expedite the expansion of the much needed services.
It should not really matter who owns the domestic operators, as long as they create new jobs, pay taxes and significantly shorten our wait for the more advanced, more widely available and more affordable services -- such as the 3G WCDMA that the Malaysians are already enjoying today.