Binariang all out for high-tech
Binariang all out for high-tech
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Politically well-connected Binariang unveiled ambitious plans yesterday to introduce advanced telecommunications systems and confirmed a December launch for Malaysia's first satellite.
"We are on schedule to launch the satellite in late December and once the satellite stabilizes in orbit by around March we can begin leasing the transponders," said Duffy Swan, chief operating officer of Binariang, a consortium associated with local tycoon Ananda Krishnan.
Binariang was granted a license in 1991 to launch the country's first satellite, another in 1993 to operate a digital cellular system, and a host of related permits last year as the government moved to liberalize its telecommunications industry.
State-owned Telekom Malaysia dominates the sector although other new players like Celcom and Mobikom are making inroads as cellular telephone providers.
Swan said the company had lined up launch dates for a range of ground-breaking services from later this year through to 1997.
Binariang's digital cellular network using the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) technology will be introduced in the third quarter of this year while its Malaysia East Asia Satellite (MEASAT) is set to launch its first satellite in late December.
Swan said five local and regional firms had made a "firm commitment" to lease capacity from MEASAT.
One confirmed customer is sister company Measat Broadcast Network Systems Sdn. Bhd. which will operate Malaysia's first satellite television service.
A second satellite will be launched six months later to complete the system, he said.
A high-tech fixed network was also being laid in the Kuala Lumpur area and would be extended to southern Johore state in the next two months, Swan said.
"The network will have a wider band width than the usual copper lines, offering multiple services on a single line," he said.
Swan said the network would use an advanced fiber-optics system pioneered in the United States by Binariang's U.S.-based partner US West.
US West, one of seven Baby Bell units created in the United States after the break-up of AT and T, has a 20 percent stake in Binariang.