Malaysian mobile network operator (MNO) U Mobile has notified rival cellco Maxis that it is terminating their radio access network (RAN) share agreement. In explaining its reasoning behind the decision, it said: ‘With our growing subscriber base, U Mobile has decided that it will be more appropriate to focus on expanding our own network, especially with the additional spectrum of 2×15MHz of 1800MHz bands and 2×5MHz of 900MHz bands that were awarded by the government last year.’ With U Mobile’s extra 1800MHz frequencies having been made available on 1 April 2017, and its new 900MHz spectrum due to be released to it on 1 July 2017, it noted that it is currently upgrading its own infrastructure to ‘progressively to support these new spectrum bands so that our customers can enjoy an enhanced network experience when the spectrum bands are turned on and the upgrade is complete’.
As noted in TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, U Mobile inked a ten-year deal under which it agreed to share Maxis’ 3G radio access network (RAN) in October 2011. Now, in a press release confirming its intention to discontinue the agreement, U Mobile has said it expects the termination process to have been completed by December 2018.