Malaysian mobile operator Celcom has contracted Motorola to expand and upgrade its GSM 900/1800 network in the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak. The deal provides for the upgrade of the network with GPRS and EDGE technology, which will enhance call quality and allow users in the region to access value-added services such as MMS. Motorola has already begun deploying its Reach GSM solution, and the upgrade is expected to be complete by March 2007.
Meanwhile, local news sources report that Celcom is currently expanding its HSDPA network to Malaysia’s east coast. The cellco’s W-CDMA networks in a number of major peninsula towns and cities have already been upgraded to the 3.5G technology. Nokia is supplying its HSDPA solution with 3.6Mbps download capability, a radio access network and transmission from its radio network portfolio. From its Unified Core Networks portfolio, Nokia is providing its MSC Server mobile softswitch, IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) and Flexi Intelligent Service Node (ISN).