Fixed line incumbent Telekom Malaysia is expected to generate between MYR400 million and MYR600 million (USD123 million-USD184 million) in lease fees over the next ten to 15 years as a result of the TM Next-Gen Backhaul Services agreement signed with Celcom Axiata and DiGi Telecommunications. According to Bernama, which cites TM group CEO Tan Sri Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa, under the terms of the agreement the telco will provide wholesale bandwidth connectivity for aggregation and access sites jointly owned by Celcom and DiGi in Peninsular Malaysia. ‘TM will optimise its extensive nationwide network infrastructure coverage to provide cost-effective and high-capacity bandwidth,’ the executive said. The tripartite agreement is expected to support the transmission requirements for the rollout of 4G LTE services by mobile network operators Celcom and DiGi, while also enabling the two firms to optimise cost and efficiently utilise TM’s infrastructure. It is understood that the collaboration will take place in two phases, the first of which will run over a three-year period starting from 2014, covering between 3,000km and 3,500km in Peninsular Malaysia.
Celcom CEO Datuk Seri Shazalli said of the deal: ‘We’re committed to improving our nationwide network for coverage and speed in the long-run and this represents one of many key investments into network quality that Celcom is currently implementing.’ Meanwhile, DiGi’s chief executive Henrik Clausen noted: ‘Infrastructure sharing among industry players is gaining traction around the world … Our collaborative effort today marks another clear move to be more operationally efficient as an industry and by leveraging on synergies created, we will be able to build and utilise our assets more efficiently, optimise cost and avoid duplicating network infrastructure.’