Hotlink to offer Blackberry Plans as well

This is a follow up on my earlier post "Celcom- 1st to offer Prepaid Blackberry"
Hotlink on last week has also announced that it would offer a prepaid Blackberry plan for the Blackberry Curve 8520, that will be launched within this month.

I don't have much details on the Hotlink Blackberry Prepaid plans, but similar to Celcom you can pre-order the new Blackberry Curve 8520 here.

As for Celcom, three Blackberry Internet Service (BIS) data plans will be available on the Xpax Blackberry plan- day, week and month. Also it is believed that Celcom will subsidise the Blackberry Curve 8520, allowing the price to fall slightly below RM1,000.

I have been using the Blackberry Curve 8520 for almost 3 days now. Although it does not have 3G & GPS, the experience so far has been good with battery life lasting more than a day, on moderate use. However I think Blackberry for the consumer market would be useless if they(consumer) cannot afford the Blackberry data plans. I hope both Celcom & Maxis will offer acceptable pricing for the Blackberry Internet Service and not to forget, education on Blackberry for the consumers.

A new change in Hotlink Data Plans

Remember my older post "Expensive Hotlink Data Plans"?

Some smart people in Maxis has made changes to the new Hotlink Data plans, effective late August 2009.

As you can see from the screenshot above, Maxis has brought down 5 hotlink data plans to only 2. According to a source, Maxis has already started their marketing activities for the 5 new data plans when introduced. I guess Hotlink users will be confused to see 3 of the data plans missing now.

In comparison to Celcom's Broadband Daily for unlimited use at RM6, Hotlink's new Daily Broadband plan is still more expensive at RM8, limited to 500MB usage. While Weekly Broadband is priced higher at RM25 for 2GB versus Celcom weekly data plan at RM20 for 5GB.

The only advantage of Hotlink's data plan is that it is riding on Maxis HSDPA network with maximum speed up to 3.6Mbps-7.2Mbps while Celcom's daily & weekly data plan is limited to 3G speed.

The question here is, do you want to drive a Ferrari in a city like KL where there is always traffic jam or do you want to drive a Proton/Perodua that gives you value in money?

Maxis Prepaid Broadband

Expensive Hotlink Data Plans

I don't know how new or old are these data plans but I just came to know about it recently. For those of you who don't know that Hotlink offers data plans:

You may also visit the Hotlink website.

While Celcom offers Daily Unlimited data plan at only RM6 per day, Hotlink is limiting users to 500MB at a slightly higher price of RM8 per day. Probably the Hotlink product development team is not aware that the Celcom Broadband Daily Unlimited plan has been available for about 2 years now. Perhaps some changes is needed in the team?

Also Celcom is offering RM68 for monthly unlimited 3G and Maxis itself is offering 2GB for RM58 running on HSDPA, I don't understand why they think Hotlink users will pay RM68 for 500MB?

On top of all these, the most confusing part is paying RM88 for 1.5GB when 3GB cost RM98(an additional RM10?).

I think Maxis need to revised their data plans for Hotlink users and stop confusing everyone with their expensive Hotlink Data Plans.

P.s: Maxis might have reduced their Advance Lite Plan to RM48 a month, however no information are available on the website.

3 New Hotlink Plans

Hotlink has launched 3 new plans, namely- Basic Plan, Extra Plan, YouthClub.

The table below explains their new prepaid plans.


Maxis has done a great job by notifying users about the changes below. So, if you are reading this first time(like me), please take note(below).

Note:

To all Hotlink users - Thank you for staying with Hotlink! Please be notified that RM30 Top-up for 33sen flat rate promotion has been discontinued.

For all Total Plan users - Please be notified that the promotion of 50% off normal rates with every RM6 spent has been discontinued.

For all SMS & Talk Plan users - Please be notified that customers can no longer switch between SMS Plan & Talk Plan.


Full info here

Mobile Telecom Predictions for 2009

I know this post is extremely late and there has been lots of email since January about this. I apologize for that as I never had the time to write my predictions for 2009.

Here's a very short list on what to look out for in the local telecom industry this year:

Aggressive 3G services

I know that everyone has been saying that it is a year for 3G since it was launched like back in 2005(Celcom in May, Maxis in July and U Mobile in March, 2008). The reality is, 3G has a goal when it was introduced and I don't see that goal being achieved in Malaysia, yet.

3G was created to to offer high speed broadband services on the mobile phone. But till now, I don't see many people out there who are using 3G services and applications on their 3G phone. The only thing that the mobile operators could pride them self on 3G is the wireless broadband services that they are offering, an alternative broadband service to your fixed broadband service.

I am not going to talk about this further, but I hope to see more 3G service for mobile phones this year, such as services that make use of video call, maps/navigation services on phone, enhanced location based services, better online mobile payment, shopping services, music streaming, social networking and thousands of other services when you look at i-mode.

I know that most of these services are available, but I hope to see it coming from our very own telcos and more than 500 content developers in Malaysia out there.

World Economy: Impact on the Local Telecom Industry

I predict that the current world economy situation will have no impact on our local telecom industry. I don't see any reason why people will not SMS or talk less on their phone. That being said, however, people might not change phone as frequent as they did during the previous years.

In general, they should be no impact on our local mobile operators unless they have any business relationship with US-based companies.

WiMAX Heats Up

I have high hopes on P1 to drive the WiMAX and broadband adoption in Malaysia. You will see more WiMAX coverage areas as P1 expands their wireless coverage. On top of this, P1 will be launching their USB modem(MIMO supported) by Q3 this year(about June) and their new fixed WiMAX modem with VoIP support, replacing the current DS 300 model.

P1 does not seem to only focus on providing broadband service but also on content as well. Expect to see more content and services from Ruumz, an online social networking site created by Green Packet, the parent company of P1.

As for the other WiMAX players, personally, I don't expect and don't see much development from them although I must say that I do have a little hope for Asia Space since they are working on Digital Media Broadcasting (DMB) services. It is really interesting to see them trialling the service but I doubt that they could take it further since it involves a lot of investment while they are trying hard to expand their WiMAX coverage.

Asia Space DMB Receiver

It will also be great to see YTL e-Solutions to meet their own deadline this year but personally, I doubt it.

IPTV Services

Well, it is true that IPTV has nothing to do with mobile telecom. The reason I am talking about this is because it could drive the adoption of broadband services in this country. I like what Malaysian based-Syqic has to offer and their partnership with Hypp.TV. I believe that that they are working on a mobile IPTV application. Although they don't have high hopes on it, I hope to see them launching it with a mobile operator later this year.

Other local technology companies working on IPTV services includes MOL, TM , TIME, REDtone, WorldIP.TV and more.

Hope on MVNOs

I have not seen any serious impact from the current MVNOs players yet. When I last spoke to Jason Lo, the CEO of Tune Talk, he said that Tune Talk will be launching the services later this year. I am still trying to get more details about Celcom's investment on Tune Talk.

Another MVNO player appears to have some new developments too. Sumitomo Corporation of Japan has invested RM30 million in Merchantrade Asia Sdn Bhd. And why would a Japanese company do so, especially during the recession period?

As of January 2009, Merchantrade appears to have over 94,000 active subscribers and this is something positive. Hope to hear more about them this year.

Don't know whether if you still remember Happy, looks like Happy makes you sad afterall.

HSBB to Become Reality

As scheduled, TM should be rolling out the High Speed Broadband (HSBB) for wholesale on second quarter and for retail in the fourth quarter this year.

Speed should be starting from 10Mbps to 100 Mbps for residential customers and up to 1Gbps for businesses for high economic impact areas delivered via fibre optic infrastructure.

More Choices on Mobile Broadband

There has been many talks about 3G/LTE technology competing with WiMAX. I predict there will be more competition in the mobile broadband market once P1 launches their USB Modem. At the moment, only Asia Space offers a WiMAX USB modem, but it has limited coverage areas.

If the signs are right, I see that Celcom Broadband will be focusing more on their 3G broadband offering this year while Maxis Broadband could be coming up with more content and services. Competition between the 3G players will also heat up with DiGi 3G coming into the picture, however, DiGi needs to be aggressive in expanding their 3G coverage this year.

I don't have any predictions for U Mobile as for now. I believe there will be not much impact from U Mobile on the local mobile industry this year, unless if they are able to offer more broadband packages, expand their 3G coverage areas and also launch their much awaited DVB-H services.

NetBook is the Killer Mobile Device

I expect to see more Netbook offerings this year to complement the mobile broadband services. The attractive offerings should be coming from the mobile operators and also the WiMAX operators. If things goes as plan, there should be WiMAX-powered notebook/netbook devices sometime this year.

The Dell Inspiron Mini 9 with Maxis Broadband is a good bundle but I hope to see something more attractive with complete wireless broadband service(Maxis Broadband is included for the first 6 months only). Also expect to see some attractive netbook offerings from Celcom within the next few weeks.


P/s: If you think I have missed something, kindly post a comment.

New Maxis Caller Ringtone "Renewal Fee"

For those who are not aware, Maxis has started charging RM2 every month per Caller Ringtone since Dec 17, 2007.

In other words, if you have purchased a Caller Ringtone after Dec 17, then you will be paying RM2 a month for each Caller Ringtone stored for your Maxis number. For example, if you have 5 Caller Ringtones for your number, then you will be paying a monthly fee of RM10(RM2 x 5) every month or RM120 year.

This is more expensive then the previous charging system where customers pay RM3 to buy a Caller Ringtone and later pay RM3 per month no matter of how many Caller Ringtones they have.

With the new system, customers pay RM3-RM4 to purchase a Caller Ringtone and later has to pay a "renewal fee" every month for EACH Caller Ringtone they bought.

However, Maxis and Hotlink customers are given an option to choose between the old and new charging method.

The down part, customers who wish to remain on the old charging method(RM3 per month for unlimited Caller Rintones) are not allowed to purchase any new Caller Ringtones after Dec 17.

Customers who opt for the new charging method will have to pay the "renewal fee" for all Caller Ringtones(including the old Caller Ringtones purchased before Dec 17, 2007) under their number.

In a media report, "We made it simpler" said T. Kugan, head of products and infotainment business at Maxis' products and new business division. “Just download the song you want and pay the rental fee each month” he said.

The option given are inconvenient as I believe both old and new charging methods are using the same Caller Ringtones system. I wonder how fast Mobile Number Portability will arrive?

Maxis will also offer new packages such as purchasing 3 songs at RM5 in the future.

Read the Caller Ringtones FAQ here.


Last checked DiGi was still charging a monthly fee of RM3 for their Caller Tunes no matter the number of Caller Tunes purchased under its mobile number.

Mobile Number Portability coming soon

With mobile number portability in Malaysia just months away, Telcordia and Unified Communications have joined forces to bring their world-class number portability solution to the country.

In March, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission announced that the consortium of Talian Gerak Alih, Unified Communications and Telcordia was selected to build, operate and manage the mobile number portability clearinghouse in Malaysia.

The proven solution, which will be implemented in the first half of 2008, enables carriers to comply with the country’s timeline for the implementation of mobile number portability.

At the core of the comprehensive solution is Telcordia’s number portability clearinghouse solution.- TelecomAsia.net

Will Malaysians be free from SMS spamming?

Since last year, there are hundreds of complaints out there from users who received SMSes or charged for SMS that they never requested, probably there are some thousand of users out there that choose to ignore these SMSes and was not aware that they were charged for it.

How long will these carry on? Is MCMC just watching or benefiting from these issues? or they are not capable of handling it? Whatever the reasons are, hundreds of Malaysians out there still get spammed today.

Maxis in a recent press release claims that they have successfully installed Anti-spam and Anti spoofing solution operational since July 2007.Read here.

According to a recent article from Jeff Ooi, Mr Lim CH, a Malaysian and a Maxis Postpaid user, has been charged for receiving spam, 24 times, from a company called Matrix Internet & Wireless Sdn Bhd.The itemised bill dated September 07, 2007.

If Maxis claims its Anti-Spam and Anti Spoofing has been installed since July 2007, and managed to stop over 1.2 million intrusive SMS from reaching customers, then I think the "solution" is not good enough!!!

List of cases compounded by MCMC this year until 15 September 2007(click image)

So compound is effective? Which is aimed to stop content providers from doing their illegal activities. It is believed that some of these companies are repeated offenders, up to 4 times. If its true, then it proofs that fines or compound has failed to meet its goal.

Why MCMC is holding itself from taking serious action against content providers with repeated offense and Telcos in the country? What or who does it fear? Why does these repeated offenders still doing business in Malaysia?

By the end of this month, Maxis and Celcom will soon implement online billing for its prepaid customers. Will these help reduce spamming and spoofing? Postpaid customers with bills are still being scammed.

MCMC has got a good track record in the country. Last heard, the interference between the 3.5Ghz frequency and Measat 3 is still not solved. The question here is, why was the license issued at first place?? Internet users has raised a lot of issues regarding quality of internet service in the country for years, yet it is still not solved. Since there are still no proper and strict guideline on internet service, we still don't get to achieve the internet speed that was promised.Thanks to best effort, and MCMC.

In Malaysia, license are worth up to millions.

I believe, if we have a good Commission and a good Ministry, we are guaranteed to enjoy world class telecommunication service. In the US, license are worth billions, and they can handle it. We can't even solve SMS spamming and spoofing.-Telco Talk Malaysia

Hotlink:Supersaver to Supercheater

Readers email:

Hi,

I would like to highlight the gimmick behind Hotlink's Supersaver which offers 400 SMS for 1/2 sen. It also mentions that the SMS is valid from 1am - 7pm. Amazing deal isn't it considering it covers peak hours during the day.

I've activated mine in the late afternoon and I was shocked that the 400 SMS credited would expire at 7pm on the same day. Now I'm left with 400 SMS worth RM2 and I have to finish using it in a few hours.

I felt this is a very dirty and cheap gimmick to play around with consumers. What's the point of offering so many SMS when you are forced to finish them in a few hours depending on activation time.

Who sends 400 SMS in 19 hours!? That's like sending an SMS every 3 minutes between 1AM - 7PM. I think MCMC or Consumer Associations should take action on this tactic. Perhaps you should highlight it on your blog to make more people aware of this and to avoid being deceived like me.

Frustrated Hotlink Customer

Facts about Maxis(Edited)

Here are some facts about Maxis:

• Claimed to have more than 500,000 3G subscribers
• Claims that 150,000 users have tried out its Maxis TV
• Claims to do the first DVB-H trial in Malaysia with 100 users( 70% of them will buy a DVB-H phone and 80% will use their service which all of these 100 users are BELIEVED TO BE Maxis staffs)
• Claims to be one of the first in the world to launch HSDPA for large scale residential broadband service
• Claims that they are first in the world to develop lower cost and fastest HSDPA home modem
• Claims to have 2 million ACTIVE data users
• It will have the fastest HSDPA network, 14.4Mbps, in the country by year end

Any more facts which is yet to be known? Write to me in the comments section.....

Hotlink strikes again, this time at East cost

Starting this Friday, frequent bus commuters in Sarawak and Sabah will be able to get a ride at a subsidised rate of 35 sen, equivalent to the Hotlink prepaid call rate for East Malaysians.

Maxis Communications Bhd's head of Sarawak region, Janice Cheah, said under the "35 sen-a-ride Hotlink Day" campaign, Maxis' postpaid and prepaid subscribers would enjoy the subsidised rate on selected Fridays from Aug 17 to Sept 14.

"The 35 sen rides over the four Fridays during the period will remind our customers of the cheapest mobile call rates available in Sarawak and Sabah each time they board a bus" she said after the launch of the campaign at the Kuching Waterfront here Tuesday.

Cheah said during the period, Hotlink promoters will be boarding buses and vans that have been plastered with the Hotlink logo and colour, offering lucky commuters 35 sen a ride provided they are Maxis' postpaid and prepaid subscribers.

She said in conjunction with the 50th Merdeka celebrations this month, Maxis will launch its "Hotlink Merdeka Free Rides" on Aug 31 and Sept 16, offering residents of Kuching and Kota Kinabalu free rides on selected buses, vans and water taxis that have been plastered with the Hotlink logo and colour.

A total of 70 buses, 100 vans and 100 water taxis have been selected to take part in Kuching while 80 buses and 50 vans in Kota Kinabalu will offer similar facilities from 6am to 10pm on the two days.

"Maxis is happy to celebrate Merdeka with the people of Sarawak and Sabah through this special initiative. We hope they (postpaid and prepaid subscribers) will take advantage of this to enjoy the celebrations," Cheah said.

In a statement today, Maxis announced that Hotlink subscribers could now reload their prepaid cards through 100 commercial van drivers who have been appointed as Hotlink mini-agents.

"This allows the drivers to sell Hotlink reload coupons and starter packs on their vehicles," the company said.-Bernama

Maxis upgrades 3G to HSUPA

Maxis announced its successful implementation of High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) technology in a live network.

In a statement, it said HSUPA will enable a three-fold improvement in uplink data speeds, up to 1.4Mbps compared with 384kbps previously.

"We see this significant wireless broadband coverage expansion and introduction of HSUPA as key factors in differentiating us from other 3G and wireless broadband operators," said chief executive officer Jon Eddy Abdullah.

He said HSUPA will improve the performance of applications which require faster uplink such as e-mails and photo sharing.

This HSUPA data transmission and planned rollout are made possible through strong collaboration with Ericsson, Maxis's key 3G network supplier.

Ericsson Malaysia's president and country manager Krishna Kumar said with future network upgrades and more advanced devices, the HSUPA will be able to support upload peak speeds higher than 5Mbps.-Bernama

Notice: Maxis and Hotlink customers

Please be cautious that an unsolicited SMS is being sent or circulated informing recipients that they have won a sum of cash from Maxis/Hotlink. Please DO NOT respond to it.

Example of messages:
Congratulations! Anda memenangi CEK TUNAI RM11,000 dari MAXIS.Info sila hubungi perkhidmatan MAXIS 006281xxxxxxxxx. http://www.maxis.com.my. From +6281xxxxxxxxx

This message is neither sent nor authorised by Maxis / Hotlink.

Maxis Sports TV: 3 Package

The Maxis Sports TV from Maxis now has two new package. Click here.

Celcom3G Mobile Eye

Celcom 3G Mobile Eye, know more here.

Maxis has a similar service here.