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The printing of more American money is likely to drive down the greenback's value. And there's global concern about the knock-on effects.
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Monday, 22 November 2010
Feng shui master: Polls likely before May
By WONG PEK MEI pekmei@thestar.com.my
TweetKUALA LUMPUR: Forget about reading tea leaves or peering into crystal balls. Feng shui master Prof David Koh predicts that the general election will take place before May.
The principal consultant at the Malaysian Institute of Geomancy Sciences said the economic forecast next year indicated that the general election was around the corner.
Future outlook: Koh showing the 2011 Year of the Rabbit Malaysian Institute of Geomancy Sciences Outlook book and the Kansai Environology (Feng Shui) colour book guide at the talk in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.“And this will usually take place before an election,” he told reporters at the 2011 Outlook Talk – Year Of The Rabbit at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre yesterday.
He has a message for the men, too.
“Strong, young women will come to the fore in politics, finance or economy, in the February to March period,” he said.
“Scholars will also gain prominence between April and May. They will either bring fame to Malaysia or contribute to its development,” said Koh.
Asked for their identity, he jokingly said: “I did not ask for their names.”
He also said according to the I-Ching calculations, it was predicted that political leaders were likely to encounter internal problems in their parties.
“Some (problems) are not noticeable now but they are boiling over.
“There will be a lot of pretentious members who will trick their leaders into believing they are good but have their own private agenda,” he said, adding that the internal problems could reach a critical point in August and September.
Contrary to public belief, he said Malaysia would not experience a collapse in the property market next year.
Koh took centrestage when he presented the country’s outlook including the possibility of Doomsday 2012.
Such a doomsday, he said, would not happen.
On natural disasters, he said heavy rains in the period of February to March might lead to floods in the northern region.
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Sunday, 21 November 2010
A new status for Chinese
I often take a long pause when I am asked about what I do in Beijing, especially if the person is from Malaysia.
For the last two decades, more than 90% of Chinese Malaysian families send their children to vernacular primary schools. Those who do not read and write some basic Chinese are clearly the minority these days.
So when I say I am learning Hanyu (the Chinese language) here in the Chinese capital, I see baffled expressions. To them, it seems as ridiculous as an Anglo-Australian learning English in England.
I grew up in an era where my parents definitely did not believe that the vernacular system had any future. It seemed to them that China was going to fail after the Cultural Revolution and Tiananmen Square student uprising.
What’s more, with English being the lingua franca, those who had placed their bets on Chinese education seemed to be on the same slippery slope back to the Chin (Qiang) Dynasty!
However history played out differently and China is an emerging super power and has indeed become a desirable laguage to learn. Even pre-schoolers and elementary schoolchildren in different parts of the world are beginning to see the need to learn Chinese.
Vernacular education is still a thorny subject in Malaysia.
Some live and die by it like Mao’s little red book, while others see it as an obstacle to national unity. But at whichever side of the fence you sit on, it is an undeniable fact that Hanyu, Putonghua, Zhongwen, Guoyu or whatever they call it in China, has become an important global language.
And with China embracing globalisation like a born-again capitalist, the demand for Hanyu classes is skyrocketing faster than the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
The Office of Chinese Language Council International or better known as Hanban is in charge of spreading Chinese language and culture all over the world. Under Hanban is the Confucius Institute (Kongzi Xueyuan) that is responsible of the real action.
The Confucius Institute is the Chinese equivalent to the British Council or Alliance Francaise although it runs the institution differently from the others.
The Institute often works as a conduit for a partner Chinese university and a local institute of higher learning. To date, there are more than 300 Confucius Institutes and an almost equal number of Confucius Classrooms worldwide.
For the many Malaysians who, for whatever reasons, have missed out on an early education in Chinese, learning Hanyu need not entail the arduous task of relocating to China.
The Confucius Institute for Malaysia has just started its maiden part-time Hanyu program at the Universiti Malaya city campus this year. And unlike other programmes, all teachers at the Institute are from the mainland. This helps reduce many of the Hokkien and Cantonese related anomalies in pronunciation that many Malaysians have accepted as the norm.
Its partner is the Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) and it aims to be the premier Mandarin language centre by 2012. BFSU is of course no stranger to Malaysia as it is the only university in China that has a Malay department.
Currently there are more than 100 students pursuing a Chinese course at the BFSU in Beijing under a government scholarship program. Upon graduation they are expected to serve as Chinese teachers with the Education Ministry. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s son Norashman Razak Najib is an alumnus of BFSU after a three-week stint as a language student earlier this year.
Another part-time option is at the Hanban-sanctioned Shanghai Jiaotong University - Global Hanyu and Culture Centre (SJTU-GHCC) in Three Two Square, Petaling Jaya. They have the Baby Panda classes to cater for pre-primary school kids all the way to the completion of the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK).
The HSK examination is for Chinese what TOEFL and IELTS are for English and comes under the purview of Hanban. It is the only Mandarin Chinese proficiency test for foreign students in China. The HSK was recently revised and now consists of only six levels — with Level One being elementary and Level Six being advanced. Most Chinese universities would require at least a Level Four for science subjects and Level Six for other language intensive degrees.
The HSK exams are held almost every other month in China to cater for the ever growing number of foreign students learning Hanyu. In Malaysia the HSK exams are held twice a year but this would largely depend on the school and the enrolment number.
Mandarin is one of the most difficult languages to learn as an adult. My former Russian classmate once said that learning Hanyu was harder than building the Great Wall.
And this is coming from someone who writes Cyrillic for a living. I often thought that being Malaysian gives me an advantage over the other laowai (foreigners). But after two months in Beijing, I changed my mind.
> For more information on dates and prices for the Confucius Institute – University Malaya Mandarin lessons please visit their website at www.umcced.edu.my/kzium/index.htm or
www.globalhanyu.com for the same at Shanghai Jiaotong University – Global Hanyu and Culture Centre).
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For the last two decades, more than 90% of Chinese Malaysian families send their children to vernacular primary schools. Those who do not read and write some basic Chinese are clearly the minority these days.
So when I say I am learning Hanyu (the Chinese language) here in the Chinese capital, I see baffled expressions. To them, it seems as ridiculous as an Anglo-Australian learning English in England.
I grew up in an era where my parents definitely did not believe that the vernacular system had any future. It seemed to them that China was going to fail after the Cultural Revolution and Tiananmen Square student uprising.
What’s more, with English being the lingua franca, those who had placed their bets on Chinese education seemed to be on the same slippery slope back to the Chin (Qiang) Dynasty!
However history played out differently and China is an emerging super power and has indeed become a desirable laguage to learn. Even pre-schoolers and elementary schoolchildren in different parts of the world are beginning to see the need to learn Chinese.
Vernacular education is still a thorny subject in Malaysia.
Some live and die by it like Mao’s little red book, while others see it as an obstacle to national unity. But at whichever side of the fence you sit on, it is an undeniable fact that Hanyu, Putonghua, Zhongwen, Guoyu or whatever they call it in China, has become an important global language.
And with China embracing globalisation like a born-again capitalist, the demand for Hanyu classes is skyrocketing faster than the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
The Office of Chinese Language Council International or better known as Hanban is in charge of spreading Chinese language and culture all over the world. Under Hanban is the Confucius Institute (Kongzi Xueyuan) that is responsible of the real action.
The Confucius Institute is the Chinese equivalent to the British Council or Alliance Francaise although it runs the institution differently from the others.
The Institute often works as a conduit for a partner Chinese university and a local institute of higher learning. To date, there are more than 300 Confucius Institutes and an almost equal number of Confucius Classrooms worldwide.
For the many Malaysians who, for whatever reasons, have missed out on an early education in Chinese, learning Hanyu need not entail the arduous task of relocating to China.
The Confucius Institute for Malaysia has just started its maiden part-time Hanyu program at the Universiti Malaya city campus this year. And unlike other programmes, all teachers at the Institute are from the mainland. This helps reduce many of the Hokkien and Cantonese related anomalies in pronunciation that many Malaysians have accepted as the norm.
Its partner is the Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) and it aims to be the premier Mandarin language centre by 2012. BFSU is of course no stranger to Malaysia as it is the only university in China that has a Malay department.
Currently there are more than 100 students pursuing a Chinese course at the BFSU in Beijing under a government scholarship program. Upon graduation they are expected to serve as Chinese teachers with the Education Ministry. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s son Norashman Razak Najib is an alumnus of BFSU after a three-week stint as a language student earlier this year.
Another part-time option is at the Hanban-sanctioned Shanghai Jiaotong University - Global Hanyu and Culture Centre (SJTU-GHCC) in Three Two Square, Petaling Jaya. They have the Baby Panda classes to cater for pre-primary school kids all the way to the completion of the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK).
The HSK examination is for Chinese what TOEFL and IELTS are for English and comes under the purview of Hanban. It is the only Mandarin Chinese proficiency test for foreign students in China. The HSK was recently revised and now consists of only six levels — with Level One being elementary and Level Six being advanced. Most Chinese universities would require at least a Level Four for science subjects and Level Six for other language intensive degrees.
The HSK exams are held almost every other month in China to cater for the ever growing number of foreign students learning Hanyu. In Malaysia the HSK exams are held twice a year but this would largely depend on the school and the enrolment number.
Mandarin is one of the most difficult languages to learn as an adult. My former Russian classmate once said that learning Hanyu was harder than building the Great Wall.
And this is coming from someone who writes Cyrillic for a living. I often thought that being Malaysian gives me an advantage over the other laowai (foreigners). But after two months in Beijing, I changed my mind.
> For more information on dates and prices for the Confucius Institute – University Malaya Mandarin lessons please visit their website at www.umcced.edu.my/kzium/index.htm or
www.globalhanyu.com for the same at Shanghai Jiaotong University – Global Hanyu and Culture Centre).
Saturday, 20 November 2010
Berners-Lee: Facebook 'threatens' web future
Zuckerberg rains on 20th birthday bash
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Tim Berners Lee has dubbed Facebook a threat to the universality of the world wide web.
Next month marks the twentieth anniversary of the first webpage – severed up by Berners-Lee at the CERN particle physics lab in Geneva – and in the December issue of Science American, he celebrates the uniquely democratic nature of his creation, before warning against the forces that could eventually bring it down. "Several threats to the Web’s universality have arisen recently," he says.
He briefly warns of cable giants who may prevent the free flow of content across the net. "Cable television companies that sell internet connectivity are considering whether to limit their Internet users to downloading only the company’s mix of entertainment," he says. And then he sticks the boot into social networking sites, including Mark Zuckerberg's net behemoth. "Facebook, LinkedIn, Friendster and others typically provide value by capturing information as you enter it: your birthday, your e-mail address, your likes, and links indicating who is friends with whom and who is in which photograph," Berners-Lee writes.
"The sites assemble these bits of data into brilliant databases and reuse the information to provide value-added service—but only within their sites. Once you enter your data into one of these services, you cannot easily use them on another site. Each site is a silo, walled off from the others. Yes, your site’s pages are on the Web, but your data are not. You can access a Web page about a list of people you have created in one site, but you cannot send that list, or items from it, to another site."
This is just the complaint Google made earlier this month as it banned Facebook from tapping Gmail's Contacts API. Mountain Views won't allow netizens to export email addresses to Facebook unless it reciprocates.
"The isolation occurs because each piece of information does not have a URI," Berner-Lee continues, referring to his original name for the url. "Connections among data exist only within a site. So the more you enter, the more you become locked in. Your social-networking site becomes a central platform — a closed silo of content, and one that does not give you full control over your information in it. The more this kind of architecture gains widespread use, the more the Web becomes fragmented, and the less we enjoy a single, universal information space.
"A related danger is that one social-networking site—or one search engine or one browser—gets so big that it becomes a monopoly, which tends to limit innovation." The threat here is not Friendster. It's Facebook, which now boasts over 500 million users worldwide.
Berners-Lee urges the adoption of more democratic services, including Facebook alternatives GnuSocial and Diaspora as well as the Status.net project, which gave rise to a decentralized incarnation of Twitter. "As has been the case since the Web began," he says, "continued grassroots innovation may be the best check and balance against any one company or government that tries to undermine universality."</p.
Entitled "Love Live the Web," the Scientific American piece goes to promote the use of, yes, open standards. If you don't use open standards, Berners-Lee says, you create "closed worlds." Like Apple's iTunes. "Apple’s iTunes system," he says, "identifies songs and videos using URIs that are open. But instead of 'http:' the addresses begin with 'itunes:,' which is proprietary. You can access an 'itunes:' link only using Apple’s proprietary iTunes program.
"You can’t make a link to any information in the iTunes world—a song or information about a band. You can’t send that link to someone else to see. You are no longer on the Web. The iTunes world is centralized and walled off. You are trapped in a single store, rather than being on the open marketplace. For all the store’s wonderful features, its evolution is limited to what one company thinks up."
He also bemoans the proliferation of net-connected apps on the Apple iPhone and other smartphones. "The tendency for magazines, for example, to produce smartphone 'apps' rather than Web apps is disturbing, because that material is off the Web. You can’t bookmark it or e-mail a link to a page within it. You can’t tweet it. It is better to build a Web app that will also run on smartphone browsers, and the techniques for doing so are getting better all the time."
Dredging up Comcast's BitTorrent busting, he then warns against threats to so-called net neutrality. This includes Google for the FCC filing it laid down this summer in tandem with US telco giant Verizon. "Unfortunately, in August, Google and Verizon for some reason suggested that net neutrality should not apply to mobile phone–based connections," he says.
"Many people in rural areas from Utah to Uganda have access to the Internet only via mobile phones; exempting wireless from net neutrality would leave these users open to discrimination of service. It is also bizarre to imagine that my fundamental right to access the information source of my choice should apply when I am on my WiFi-connected computer at home but not when I use my cell phone."</p.
Eric Schmidt now says that Google's proposal omitted wireless simply because this makes it easier to reach a compromise with the likes of Verizon on wireless lines. Wireless net neutrality, he indicates, will come later. But Berners-Lee is right to be, shall we say, skeptical.
He also warns against Phorm-style snooping and governments that restrict free speech on the web. But ultimately, he's optimistic. "Now is an exciting time," he says. "Web developers, companies, governments and citizens should work together openly and cooperatively, as we have done thus far, to preserve the Web’s fundamental principles, as well as those of the Internet, ensuring that the technological protocols and social conventions we set up respect basic human values. The goal of the Web is to serve humanity. We build it now so that those who come to it later will be able to create things that we cannot ourselves imagine." ®
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Tim Berners Lee has dubbed Facebook a threat to the universality of the world wide web.
Next month marks the twentieth anniversary of the first webpage – severed up by Berners-Lee at the CERN particle physics lab in Geneva – and in the December issue of Science American, he celebrates the uniquely democratic nature of his creation, before warning against the forces that could eventually bring it down. "Several threats to the Web’s universality have arisen recently," he says.
This is just the complaint Google made earlier this month as it banned Facebook from tapping Gmail's Contacts API. Mountain Views won't allow netizens to export email addresses to Facebook unless it reciprocates.
"The isolation occurs because each piece of information does not have a URI," Berner-Lee continues, referring to his original name for the url. "Connections among data exist only within a site. So the more you enter, the more you become locked in. Your social-networking site becomes a central platform — a closed silo of content, and one that does not give you full control over your information in it. The more this kind of architecture gains widespread use, the more the Web becomes fragmented, and the less we enjoy a single, universal information space.
"A related danger is that one social-networking site—or one search engine or one browser—gets so big that it becomes a monopoly, which tends to limit innovation." The threat here is not Friendster. It's Facebook, which now boasts over 500 million users worldwide.
Berners-Lee urges the adoption of more democratic services, including Facebook alternatives GnuSocial and Diaspora as well as the Status.net project, which gave rise to a decentralized incarnation of Twitter. "As has been the case since the Web began," he says, "continued grassroots innovation may be the best check and balance against any one company or government that tries to undermine universality."</p.
Entitled "Love Live the Web," the Scientific American piece goes to promote the use of, yes, open standards. If you don't use open standards, Berners-Lee says, you create "closed worlds." Like Apple's iTunes. "Apple’s iTunes system," he says, "identifies songs and videos using URIs that are open. But instead of 'http:' the addresses begin with 'itunes:,' which is proprietary. You can access an 'itunes:' link only using Apple’s proprietary iTunes program.
"You can’t make a link to any information in the iTunes world—a song or information about a band. You can’t send that link to someone else to see. You are no longer on the Web. The iTunes world is centralized and walled off. You are trapped in a single store, rather than being on the open marketplace. For all the store’s wonderful features, its evolution is limited to what one company thinks up."
He also bemoans the proliferation of net-connected apps on the Apple iPhone and other smartphones. "The tendency for magazines, for example, to produce smartphone 'apps' rather than Web apps is disturbing, because that material is off the Web. You can’t bookmark it or e-mail a link to a page within it. You can’t tweet it. It is better to build a Web app that will also run on smartphone browsers, and the techniques for doing so are getting better all the time."
Dredging up Comcast's BitTorrent busting, he then warns against threats to so-called net neutrality. This includes Google for the FCC filing it laid down this summer in tandem with US telco giant Verizon. "Unfortunately, in August, Google and Verizon for some reason suggested that net neutrality should not apply to mobile phone–based connections," he says.
"Many people in rural areas from Utah to Uganda have access to the Internet only via mobile phones; exempting wireless from net neutrality would leave these users open to discrimination of service. It is also bizarre to imagine that my fundamental right to access the information source of my choice should apply when I am on my WiFi-connected computer at home but not when I use my cell phone."</p.
Eric Schmidt now says that Google's proposal omitted wireless simply because this makes it easier to reach a compromise with the likes of Verizon on wireless lines. Wireless net neutrality, he indicates, will come later. But Berners-Lee is right to be, shall we say, skeptical.
He also warns against Phorm-style snooping and governments that restrict free speech on the web. But ultimately, he's optimistic. "Now is an exciting time," he says. "Web developers, companies, governments and citizens should work together openly and cooperatively, as we have done thus far, to preserve the Web’s fundamental principles, as well as those of the Internet, ensuring that the technological protocols and social conventions we set up respect basic human values. The goal of the Web is to serve humanity. We build it now so that those who come to it later will be able to create things that we cannot ourselves imagine." ®
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YTL launches converged 4G network, Extending Internet coverage; cheapest & survive?
YTL launches converged 4G network
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KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 19, 2010): YTL Communications Sdn Bhd today launched the world's first fully converged 4G mobile Internet service with voice offering the industry's lowest rates at nine sen a minute, per SMS or per 3MB of data through its pay-as-you-go plan.
YTL Communications executive chairman Tan Sri Dr Francis Yeoh said: "Every Yes account comes with high-speed Internet access and a mobile phone number, making the convergence of data and voice seamless. Our subscribers will have not only high-speed mobile data access but will also enjoy voice, online chat and SMS services that can be accessed from anywhere in the world, through the Internet."
The Yes plan, which offers nine sen per minute/SMS/3MB is up to three times lower than current prepaid mobile Internet and voice packages, and combines voice, mobile Internet and mobile broadband into an integrated plan so that consumers do not have to pay multiple bills.
YTL Communications chief executive officer Wing K Lee said there is no throttling of data services and there is no wastage as customers are charged only for what they use.
He said there is no contract or lock-in period and there is no expiry for the credits.
Yes also offers up to 30% rebate to power users who consume a high amount of data that reduces the rates to as low as two sen per MB or RM20 per GB.
Yes is also a SIM-less service that comes with a user ID and telephone number that works across all devices, turning any device connected to the Internet into a phone.
During the launch today, YTL Communications and Samsung introduced the first all-4G mobile phone, the Yes Buzz. Other Yes 4G devices include Yes Huddle (4G mobile router), Yes Go (4G USB dongle) and Yes Zoom (4G WiFi router).
At the launch, the Yes 4G covers 65% of the population in Peninsular Malaysia and the company aims to increase the coverage to at least 80% by end- 2011.
Yeoh said that it currently has the licence for only Peninsular Malaysia but will extend the service to Sabah and Sarawak at the right time.
He said Malaysians travelling abroad can also keep in touch with friends and family at home through Yes at local rates without worrying about roaming charges.
He added that it would be giving 300MB of data or 100 minutes of voice calls a month free to every student registered under its Education Partner programme. "I am also pleased to announce that we will be extending the Education Partner programme to all government-sponsored scholars abroad."
Speaking at the launch, Muhyiddin said the service would help the government improve the household broadband penetration which is currently at 54.5%.
"I am confident that we can reach even more households and help establish high quality and affordable broadband network that will reach 95% of the population by 2020," he said.
He added that it is critical for the nation to balance market-friendly environment to drive private investments with maintaining its inclusive policy aims, particularly on affordability of access and quality of service in rural areas.
Its Yes service will cover 80% of population by end-2011 from 65% now.
KUALA LUMPUR: YTL Communications Sdn Bhd (YTL Comms) will roll out its 4G mobile Internet-with-voice service, Yes, to cover 80% of the population by end-2011.
YTL Comms, a unit of YTL Power International Bhd, currently has a coverage of 65%. To date, it has invested some RM2.5bil in the Yes 4G infrastructure.
We will extend to Sabah and Sarawak at the right time, executive director Datuk Yeoh Seok Hong told a briefing prior to the service launch by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin yesterday.
Seok Hong said that with 1,500 base stations, the event marked the largest network ever launched in the country.
We still have 1,000 base stations to be deployed. By then, 80% of the population will be covered, he said.
Chief executive officer Wing K. Lee said Yes was the most affordable 4G mobile Internet-with-voice service in Malaysia.
He said its pay-as-you-go rate of nine sen for 3MB (megabit) data, one-minute call or one short-messaging service was the cheapest in town.
Lee said Yes also offered up to 30% rebate to power users who consume high amounts of data.
The saving starts at 2.5GB (gigabit). The more you use, the less you pay, he said, adding that for usage of 4GB and above, subscribers would get a 30% rebate for every GB used.
Yes subscribers will receive a rebate of RM9 for data usage of 2.5GB while usage of 3GB will get RM23 rebate.
The rebates will reduce Yes' rates to as low as two sen per MB or RM20 per GB while giving users the power to self-manage by setting temporary data caps.
YTL Comms and Samsung have also introduced the world's first all-4G mobile phone, Yes Buzz, which will be available next month.
The 4G network will be SIM-less with the 018 prefix.
YTL Comms chairman Tan Sri Francis Yeoh declined to give a specific target of pre-registered subscribers but said the numbers were healthy.
He said the response to the pre-registration had exceeded the group's expectations by three times.
Yeoh said the group was keen to cooperate with telecommunications service providers in China and other Asian countries to offer 4G services.
Prior to the launch, Yes 4G faced interconnectivity issues with other networks as it was unable to interconnect with the operators. However, the group managed to sign interconnectivity agreements with them yesterday.
We're now finally interconnected with everybody. We have received full cooperation (from other telcos), Seok Hong said, adding that other operators had welcomed them onboard.
At the launch, Muhyiddin spent five minutes on a video call with Malaysian students in London.
Also present were YTL Corp executive chairman Tan Sri Yeoh Tiong Lay; Information, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Utama Dr Rais Yatim; Tun Lim Kheng Yaik; and Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek.
YTL : [Stock Watch] [News]
YTL is promising the cheapest communication rates in the country with a simple integrated plan that combines voice, SMS and mobile data. There is also talk that YTL could offer Internet protocol TV soon.
YTL’s Yes launch, however, is reminiscent of a couple of other launches of telecommunications-related services in the past by newcomers attempting to break into the scene.
Those following the telco or broadband scene will remember that in the last 10 years or so, there have been many players who have come into the wireless broadband scene.
Alas, despite their ambitious and sometimes colourful ad campaigns, many have not been able to sustain their businesses.
Here are some examples:
EB Capital Bhd launched its wireless broadband service in 2001, got listed in 2005 and went into major financial difficulties by 2008, when it was de-listed.
At one point, had more than 1,500 corporate and retail customers for its wireless broadband service and had even done trials on WiMAX.
AtlasOne Sdn Bhd, started by a bunch of former Celcom employees around 2000. It was hailed as the new broadband player in town when it announced that it had garnered a significant amount of funding. < At one point, it was said to have raised RM370mil partly from the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah and partly from Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Bhd. But AtlasOne fizzled out and little has been reported about whether its funders had got their money back.
Time dotCom Bhd (TdC) in 2004 launched its wireless broadband service called Webbit in certain areas of Petaling Jaya. It is believed that TdC had not even managed to move beyond its pilot phase for various reasons, the bulk of them being technical in nature.
MiTV Corp Sdn Bhd, launched in 2005 as the country’s second pay-TV operator, had expected to sign up 100,000 subscribers for the first year.
It failed to gain a foothold in the pay-TV market and suspended its new subscription activities in late 2006, only to morph its business model into a cellphone service provider in the country. < It changed its name to U Mobile Sdn Bhd, and operates the 018 prefix service and is now running trials on a wireless broadband service. Singapore’s STT Communications Ltd and Multi-Purpose Holdings Bhd have bought stakes in U Mobile.
Green Packet Bhd, the most significant licensed WiMAX player in Malaysia (considering its widest coverage), has so far reported losses over the last few years due to its high capital expenditure in rolling out its network.
It promises profitability, at least from an Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) calculation, by next year.
No doubt, many players are driven to the industry by the attractive Ebitda margins achieved by the entrenched players, such DiGi.Com, Celcom and Maxis. But those starting afresh face major challenges and this is why many have failed.
First, you are up against some serious competition the incumbents are not about to give up a customer easily and these players have to some extent, sunken costs that put them in a better position to fight on price.
Then there are the huge costs involved in rolling services, on multiple fronts actually. Firstly, there is the network itself, which includes not only the equipment costs but also having pay real estate owners a rental for using their area to put up base stations and other equipment.
Then you have to continuously ensure your service is up and running and of a certain quality. It can cost a lot of money to deploy a sufficient number of technically competent staff.
Then there are the other fixed costs such as paying for billing systems, the call centres to handle customer queries and complaints and in some instances, having to pay what is called a device subsidy.
This is where players absorb some of the cost of devices sold that use their network so as to entice customers. One of the world’s leading WiMAX players, US-based Clearwire, is still reporting losses.
Still, perhaps a time will come when WiMAX players will achieve healthy Ebitda margins. And perhaps then they will enjoy the kind of investor interest that DiGi.Com and Maxis have today, due to their massive cash flows. Time will tell.
Deputy news editor Risen Jayaseelan says that despite the lack of visibility of profits of WiMAX players, the entry of new service providers can only mean good news to consumers, who should enjoy better rates for their telecommuncation needs.
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Also Related previous post: 4G service from YTL upbeat, Lower prices for Internet services?
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KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 19, 2010): YTL Communications Sdn Bhd today launched the world's first fully converged 4G mobile Internet service with voice offering the industry's lowest rates at nine sen a minute, per SMS or per 3MB of data through its pay-as-you-go plan.
The Yes service incorporates fully converged data and voice services, speeds of up to five times faster than 3G, new devices and a unified communication tool. The Yes service was officially launched by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (Pic).
YTL Communications executive chairman Tan Sri Dr Francis Yeoh said: "Every Yes account comes with high-speed Internet access and a mobile phone number, making the convergence of data and voice seamless. Our subscribers will have not only high-speed mobile data access but will also enjoy voice, online chat and SMS services that can be accessed from anywhere in the world, through the Internet."
The Yes plan, which offers nine sen per minute/SMS/3MB is up to three times lower than current prepaid mobile Internet and voice packages, and combines voice, mobile Internet and mobile broadband into an integrated plan so that consumers do not have to pay multiple bills.
YTL Communications chief executive officer Wing K Lee said there is no throttling of data services and there is no wastage as customers are charged only for what they use.
He said there is no contract or lock-in period and there is no expiry for the credits.
Yes also offers up to 30% rebate to power users who consume a high amount of data that reduces the rates to as low as two sen per MB or RM20 per GB.
Yes is also a SIM-less service that comes with a user ID and telephone number that works across all devices, turning any device connected to the Internet into a phone.
During the launch today, YTL Communications and Samsung introduced the first all-4G mobile phone, the Yes Buzz. Other Yes 4G devices include Yes Huddle (4G mobile router), Yes Go (4G USB dongle) and Yes Zoom (4G WiFi router).
At the launch, the Yes 4G covers 65% of the population in Peninsular Malaysia and the company aims to increase the coverage to at least 80% by end- 2011.
Yeoh said that it currently has the licence for only Peninsular Malaysia but will extend the service to Sabah and Sarawak at the right time.
He said Malaysians travelling abroad can also keep in touch with friends and family at home through Yes at local rates without worrying about roaming charges.
He added that it would be giving 300MB of data or 100 minutes of voice calls a month free to every student registered under its Education Partner programme. "I am also pleased to announce that we will be extending the Education Partner programme to all government-sponsored scholars abroad."
Speaking at the launch, Muhyiddin said the service would help the government improve the household broadband penetration which is currently at 54.5%.
"I am confident that we can reach even more households and help establish high quality and affordable broadband network that will reach 95% of the population by 2020," he said.
He added that it is critical for the nation to balance market-friendly environment to drive private investments with maintaining its inclusive policy aims, particularly on affordability of access and quality of service in rural areas.
YTL Comms extending Internet coverage
TweetIts Yes service will cover 80% of population by end-2011 from 65% now.
KUALA LUMPUR: YTL Communications Sdn Bhd (YTL Comms) will roll out its 4G mobile Internet-with-voice service, Yes, to cover 80% of the population by end-2011.
YTL Comms, a unit of YTL Power International Bhd, currently has a coverage of 65%. To date, it has invested some RM2.5bil in the Yes 4G infrastructure.
We will extend to Sabah and Sarawak at the right time, executive director Datuk Yeoh Seok Hong told a briefing prior to the service launch by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin yesterday.
Seok Hong said that with 1,500 base stations, the event marked the largest network ever launched in the country.
We still have 1,000 base stations to be deployed. By then, 80% of the population will be covered, he said.
Chief executive officer Wing K. Lee said Yes was the most affordable 4G mobile Internet-with-voice service in Malaysia.
He said its pay-as-you-go rate of nine sen for 3MB (megabit) data, one-minute call or one short-messaging service was the cheapest in town.
Lee said Yes also offered up to 30% rebate to power users who consume high amounts of data.
The saving starts at 2.5GB (gigabit). The more you use, the less you pay, he said, adding that for usage of 4GB and above, subscribers would get a 30% rebate for every GB used.
Yes subscribers will receive a rebate of RM9 for data usage of 2.5GB while usage of 3GB will get RM23 rebate.
The rebates will reduce Yes' rates to as low as two sen per MB or RM20 per GB while giving users the power to self-manage by setting temporary data caps.
YTL Comms and Samsung have also introduced the world's first all-4G mobile phone, Yes Buzz, which will be available next month.
The 4G network will be SIM-less with the 018 prefix.
YTL Comms chairman Tan Sri Francis Yeoh declined to give a specific target of pre-registered subscribers but said the numbers were healthy.
He said the response to the pre-registration had exceeded the group's expectations by three times.
Yeoh said the group was keen to cooperate with telecommunications service providers in China and other Asian countries to offer 4G services.
Prior to the launch, Yes 4G faced interconnectivity issues with other networks as it was unable to interconnect with the operators. However, the group managed to sign interconnectivity agreements with them yesterday.
We're now finally interconnected with everybody. We have received full cooperation (from other telcos), Seok Hong said, adding that other operators had welcomed them onboard.
At the launch, Muhyiddin spent five minutes on a video call with Malaysian students in London.
Also present were YTL Corp executive chairman Tan Sri Yeoh Tiong Lay; Information, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Utama Dr Rais Yatim; Tun Lim Kheng Yaik; and Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek.
YTL : [Stock Watch] [News]
Can YTL keep promise to be cheapest mobile phone service and survive?
AS expected, the mobile Internet service from YTL Communications Sdn Bhd, Yes, was launched last Friday with much fanfare. Some consumers are excited and rightly so.YTL is promising the cheapest communication rates in the country with a simple integrated plan that combines voice, SMS and mobile data. There is also talk that YTL could offer Internet protocol TV soon.
YTL’s Yes launch, however, is reminiscent of a couple of other launches of telecommunications-related services in the past by newcomers attempting to break into the scene.
Those following the telco or broadband scene will remember that in the last 10 years or so, there have been many players who have come into the wireless broadband scene.
Alas, despite their ambitious and sometimes colourful ad campaigns, many have not been able to sustain their businesses.
Here are some examples:
EB Capital Bhd launched its wireless broadband service in 2001, got listed in 2005 and went into major financial difficulties by 2008, when it was de-listed.
At one point, had more than 1,500 corporate and retail customers for its wireless broadband service and had even done trials on WiMAX.
AtlasOne Sdn Bhd, started by a bunch of former Celcom employees around 2000. It was hailed as the new broadband player in town when it announced that it had garnered a significant amount of funding. < At one point, it was said to have raised RM370mil partly from the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah and partly from Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Bhd. But AtlasOne fizzled out and little has been reported about whether its funders had got their money back.
Time dotCom Bhd (TdC) in 2004 launched its wireless broadband service called Webbit in certain areas of Petaling Jaya. It is believed that TdC had not even managed to move beyond its pilot phase for various reasons, the bulk of them being technical in nature.
MiTV Corp Sdn Bhd, launched in 2005 as the country’s second pay-TV operator, had expected to sign up 100,000 subscribers for the first year.
It failed to gain a foothold in the pay-TV market and suspended its new subscription activities in late 2006, only to morph its business model into a cellphone service provider in the country. < It changed its name to U Mobile Sdn Bhd, and operates the 018 prefix service and is now running trials on a wireless broadband service. Singapore’s STT Communications Ltd and Multi-Purpose Holdings Bhd have bought stakes in U Mobile.
Green Packet Bhd, the most significant licensed WiMAX player in Malaysia (considering its widest coverage), has so far reported losses over the last few years due to its high capital expenditure in rolling out its network.
It promises profitability, at least from an Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) calculation, by next year.
No doubt, many players are driven to the industry by the attractive Ebitda margins achieved by the entrenched players, such DiGi.Com, Celcom and Maxis. But those starting afresh face major challenges and this is why many have failed.
First, you are up against some serious competition the incumbents are not about to give up a customer easily and these players have to some extent, sunken costs that put them in a better position to fight on price.
Then there are the huge costs involved in rolling services, on multiple fronts actually. Firstly, there is the network itself, which includes not only the equipment costs but also having pay real estate owners a rental for using their area to put up base stations and other equipment.
Then you have to continuously ensure your service is up and running and of a certain quality. It can cost a lot of money to deploy a sufficient number of technically competent staff.
Then there are the other fixed costs such as paying for billing systems, the call centres to handle customer queries and complaints and in some instances, having to pay what is called a device subsidy.
This is where players absorb some of the cost of devices sold that use their network so as to entice customers. One of the world’s leading WiMAX players, US-based Clearwire, is still reporting losses.
Still, perhaps a time will come when WiMAX players will achieve healthy Ebitda margins. And perhaps then they will enjoy the kind of investor interest that DiGi.Com and Maxis have today, due to their massive cash flows. Time will tell.
Deputy news editor Risen Jayaseelan says that despite the lack of visibility of profits of WiMAX players, the entry of new service providers can only mean good news to consumers, who should enjoy better rates for their telecommuncation needs.
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