Altel Communications, which secured 4G-suitable spectrum in the 2600MHz band in December 2012, has postponed plans to launch post-paid services until 2015, the Malaysian Reserve reports. With the would-be operator having previously set out its stall to begin offering such tariffs in November 2014, it has been claimed that ‘technical matters’ have forced it to delay its launch plans.
In early July 2013 Altel inked a deal with local mobile network operator Celcom Axiata under which the duo agreed to jointly develop, establish, build, operate and manage shared infrastructure. As per the terms of the agreement each company said they would pool 2×10MHz of 2600MHz bandwidth for LTE deployment, while the deal allowed Altel to appoint Celcom as the exclusive infrastructure and wholesale provider to enable it to operate as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). Subsequently, in April 2014 Altel inked a deal with Huawei Technologies for the installation and commissioning of its 4G infrastructure, which will be rolled out alongside that of its partner Celcom Axiata, with the vendor agreeing to provide the new player with wireless, core, transport and billing services, as well as business consultation service to help the company develop new competitive mobile services.
Meanwhile, with Altel having subsequently begun offering commercial pre-paid services over Celcom’s infrastructure in September 2013, in August 2014 it announced that subscriber numbers had surpassed 150,000 and said it was targeting 300,000 customers by end-2014.