Malaysian fixed line incumbent Telekom Malaysia™ has announced that services offered over its High Speed Broadband (HSBB) network, which it markets under the UniFi banner, are now available to more than 750,000 homes across 48 of the country’s exchange areas, the Malaysian Insider reports. The telco has also said it is on track to reach its self-imposed target of covering 1.3 million premises by the end of 2012, by which date the first phase of the deployment of the new infrastructure is due to be completed. In terms of subscriber numbers the telco continues to examine means of driving uptake, with TM CEO Datuk Seri Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa noting: ‘In conjunction with UniFi’s phased service expansion to more areas nationwide, TM is in the midst of a more aggressive go-to-market campaign to educate consumers and attract new subscribers.’ The executive also confirmed that his company had signed up more than 30,000 UniFi subscribers, adding that the number of orders being closed currently averaged 2,500 per week.
As previously reported by CommsUpdate, TM inaugurated commercial services over the new network in March 2010 and offers triple-play bundles including fixed line voice, high speed internet at downlink rates of up to 20Mbps, and IPTV. Initially services were only available in the four exchange areas of Shah Alam, Subang Jaya, Taman Tun Dr Ismail and Bangsar. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database the MYR11.3 billion (USD3.39 billion) HSBB contract was officially awarded by the government to TM in August 2008, and signed the following month; under the terms of the deal TM is investing MYR8.9 billion in the network rollout, while the state has put up MYR2.4 billion.