Intel Capital, a unit of software giant Intel Corp, has said it will buy a minority stake in Green Packet, owner of Malaysian WiMAX licensee Packet One (P1) Networks. Under the terms of the deal, Intel will invest MYR50 million (USD15.5 million) in the parent company. Packet One was one of the four winners of WiMAX licences awarded by the Malaysian government last year. ‘Intel is committed to the deployment of WiMAX globally and momentum for WiMAX is strong, with more than 280 fixed and mobile WiMAX trials and commercial deployments in 110 countries,’ said Arvind Sodhani, president of Intel Capital.
In January this year P1 selected Alcatel-Lucent to deploy and manage a large-scale commercial WiMAX network using the 2.3GHz spectrum band. The deal is valued at USD71 million for the first phase of deployment, under which the French equipment vendor will supply a complete WiMAX wireless broadband solution, including base stations, wireless access controllers, and an operation and maintenance centre. Alcatel-Lucent also will be responsible for designing, supplying, constructing, installing, testing, commissioning, integrating, optimising and maintaining P1’s WiMAX network. Deployment is already underway in Klang Valley, Penang and Johor and will expand rapidly throughout West Malaysia. P1 plans to provide WiMAX coverage of 25% of the population by the end of 2008, rising to 40% by the end of 2010 and 60% within five years. The company hopes to launch commercially in June 2008.