Reader's Letter: Experience using REDtone WiMAX

Email me your opinion and it might be published here!


Letter from Jonathan:

Hi Mr Kugan,

I'm one of your avid blog reader and want to thank you for an informative telco oriented articles which to be honest is scarce in Malaysia.

I realized that there is not much info about Redtone Wimax in Sarawak so I will share with you my experience so far. This my personal opinion coming from my own experience using Redtone Wimax.

The Redtone wimax here has started around April 2009 (if not mistaken) and initially geared towards to business/Office segment where the lowest price is as high as RM138/month including CPE (modem) rental for 1 Mbps package with dynamic IP and 1 year contract.

As of now, Redtone has offered 2 new packages targeted to home users 1Mbps@RM98 and 2Mbps@RM188 with download caps of 25GB and 45GB respectively.

As for me I got Office Basic Package 1Mbps and paying RM138 for that monthly.

The signal coverage at this moment is understandably quite limited as Redtone is still considered as new kid in town but they are expanding the coverage and actively promoting it as the fastest Wireless Broadband and I think they have the merit to claim that.

When I first got it I must admit I was surprised with the excellent performance. The speed could be considered perfect, really. Streaming youtube was a breeze with no stuttering at all. You could use it with dynamic DNS services like no-ip.org or dydns.org as the CPE (modem) hold true unique public IP Address like Streamyx does.

Since each user gets individual unique public IP Address, you don't have to compete with other user when using rapidshare or megaupload. Compared to Streamyx, celcom and maxis, Redtone Wimax wins hands down.

After several months using it, the performance degradation is now creeping in. I made my measurements and found out the speed in average is slower several hundred kbps than before. Youtube streaming now not as fast as it was. Video streaming stutters occasionally albeit not as bad as celcom's. Nevertheless the performance is still considered very good compared to other telcos.

However starting December 2009, Redtone has made a big mistake (in my opinion) by changing their network configuration. As a result, users does not get unique individual public IP Address anymore, instead they share a same public IP Address. The CPE(modem) now just getting private IP address. This is almost similar to Maxis and Celcom configuration.

So what does this means?

For normal users, the changes means that you cannot download from site like rapidshare or megaupload most of the time as you have to compete for a download free slot. If someone else already downloading from the site, you have to wait until it is finished and then compete for the free slot again. If you are lucky the download will start but most of the time you are out of luck. You will get EXTREMELY annoyed especially if you are already used to streamyx as streamyx DOES NOT have this limitation.

For gamers it means some of your online games might not work correctly as the connection cannot be configured for port forwarding. This is also true for torrent users.

For Office usage, dynamic DNS services are not working anymore. Furthermore you simply cannot access your Office remotely through VPN. You CANNOT do port forwarding if you want to host even a simple website.

The worst thing about this is that the package I got was and is still advertised/sold as Office solution which should at least enable you to access your office remotely through VPN and allow you to utilize dynamic DNS services. However, they literally throw out all the features that make it suitable for Office solution. As matter of fact it is now simply became the home package without download caps.

In all fairness, Redtone Wimax DOES offers you a very good performance but at a slightly high price compared to other telcos. That is the fact right now. However it may change as more user will subscribe and the service will be congested in a similar fashion as other telcos. We will have to see whether Redtone has the ability to handle it better than the other big boys out there.

If you planning to get Redtone Wimax to download files from sites like rapidshare or megaupload it is a BIG NO - NO as you cannot download from those sites most of the time (like when youre using celcom or maxis broadband) since you have to compete with other user for the free slot.

If you are heavy downloader from torrent or rapidshare you might tempted to get Office Basic 1Mbps package due to unlimited cap but trust me it will be a moot point as you probably can’t even reach the home user package cap due to the IP sharing and port forwarding restriction .

If you thinking about getting it for your office please make sure not to choose Office Basic RM138 package as it most probably will not meet your office needs or future needs. Choose at least Bizlite package as it has fixed IP Address but of course you have to spend more.

If you are streamyx user and already satisfied with the current service, this Redtone Wimax is not for you.

I think the most ideal user for Redtone Wimax would be someone who is casual downloader who doesn't mind to pay more to get better speed than other telco and doesn't bother to download from one-click-hosting site like rapidshare and megaupload or even torrents.

That sums up my experience at the moment.

Thanks a lot for reading and I hope you could share this view in you blog.

Roll out your WiMAX network or let other ISP do it!

Please read "WiMAX licence holders warned to use or lose it" before reading my opinion below.

How many times will the Government give warning to the WiMAX players in this country?

Packet One has been executing well for what it has promised so far(P1 WiMAX coverage stands at 25.4%) while one player called YTL e-Solutions gave Malaysians a wonderful dream about nationwide WiMAX coverage but at the moment they have the worst coverage or none at all among the four WiMAX players.

Why do we have so many jokers in this industry? There should be at least 25% WiMAX by the end of last year(2008), and then it was postponed to some where in March 2009 and now the end of the year. Dear SKMM, you are very good at making jokes for sure!

The old Communication Minister(Dato' Shaziman bin Abu Mansor ) said that he will take action against under-performing WiMAX operators in April 2009, and this was 2 months back!

And now the new Communication Minister(not to miss out Culture as well) Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim says that he will take action by the end of year.

This message goes out to the 3 WiMAX operators(YTL e-Solutions, Asiaspace and Redtone) who has failed the Malaysians, Don't worry, this industry is a joke and it will always be a joke till we resolve the root problem which is to wait for the next election. Till then, have fun!

New Year in 3 weeks time and so does the WiMAX Deadline

All of us will be celebrating the year 2009 with happiness and joy within 3 weeks time, but I don't know whether the country's four WiMAX operators will be doing the same. Here's some of the few things that could take place before or after 2009:

• MCMC might impose a "fine" to these WiMAX operators, but these "fines" will be nothing if compared to the value of the WiMAX license.
• MCMC might just do NOTHING
• MCMC might announce that the WiMAX roll out deadline has been extended to the end of 2009 or;
• MCMC will pull back some of the licenses and give it to the other so called "capable companies" by MCMC

I see either one of the first three things to happen as judging from the history of KTAK and MCMC, so to the four WiMAX operators out there -Don't Worry About It !!

Since there are only three weeks left, lets take a look at what these 4 WiMAX operators has done so far :

P1

Packet One (P1) launched their WiMAX service on August 19, 2008 making its name into the Malaysia Book of Records. They launched four packages with pricing they claimed "competitive". Recently it eliminated the upfront fees and reduced the monthly charges of certain packages.

The company plans to launch a USB dongle in Q1 next year followed by a WiMAX Mobile Internet Device and a PDA.

With its aggressive roll out, P1 is so far the best performer among all the other WiMAX operators out there. It launched WirelessKL and WirelessSunway which uses WiMAX as the backbone. Not only that, P1 is currently involved in the WirelessPenang project. On top of all these, it got the world's attention when Intel invested on their WiMAX business.

Yet with such achievements, it is only targeting 10,000 customes by year end from 40,000 which it planned earlier in August 2008.

P1 has limited WiMAX coverage in the Klang Valley and Johor Bahru, however it managed to rollout the service in more areas as compared to the other WiMAX operators.

AsiaSpace

AsiaSpace's Amax was also launched in August 2008. It currently offers 2 packages for consumer and 1 package for business users. All its packages comes with a 3 months upfront fee and a 12 months contract.

Asiaspace is the first WiMAX operator to launch a USB WiMAX dongle. According to the CEO, a total of 669 people have signed up for amax just two days after its launch.

Although the services is available and has some limited coverage in the Klang Valley, not many people out there who has heard of amax.

On the website, the company claims "The amax network will cover the entire Klang Valley by end 2008"(link) but with 3 weeks before 2009 and limited coverage that it has currently, how would this company keep the promise?

YTL e-Solutions

In June, YTL signed an agreement with XOHM, a unit of Sprint Nextel in the US. During the signing, Tan Sri Dr. Francis Yeoh, Executive Chairman and MD of YTLE said "We will roll out as soon as possible. Our time to market will become faster due to this partnership. We will of course comply with all the necessary regulatory requirements set out by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC)."-source

Until now, I don't really know whether this company has launched the WiMAX service or not but I found this article saying that the WiMAX service will be depoyed in 2 hotels and a Cafe in Bukit Bintang. Recently, I was told that the WiMAX service was being experimented there.

2 weeks back, YTL said that it will go for a nationwide launch next year and not launch it phase by phase. It also partnered with Cisco who 4 years ago said that the business case for WiMax was "not compelling" which later in 2007 it bought a WiMAX startup company called Navini Networks.

As for now, YTL is the only company to not follow the 2008 WiMAX deadline by publicly announcing their full launch that will be in Q4 2009.

Redtone

Not much developtments from REDtone but it said that it launched the WiMAX service in Sabah for corporate users in August 2008.

It also said that it partnered with Motorola and their offering starts at RM588 a month for 1Mbps

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

"Generally, three (of the companies) have done a good job while one is slightly behind,” said Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor

“If they can’t give a good reason why they can’t give the business plan as what they have proposed, we would like to take the licence and give to those people who are really interested and serious in that particular industry,” he added. -source

The Minister knows which company is not doing a good job and so does the WiMAX company itself.

2 years ago, the Minister keeps his word and smaller companies get a go at WiMAX, and now we see the results.

Maybe it is time for that player to step aside and give way to someone else who are more capable in handling these national resources(WiMAX spectrum).

REDtone launched WiMAX

REDtone launched their WiMAX service for business users.

Price start from RM588 per month for 1 Mbps (shared) connection. For the premium dedicated lines, packages start from RM2,488 per month for 1Mbps, RM3,388 for 1.5Mbps and RM4,288 for 2 Mbps.

More here and here.

MCMC: WiMAX deadline on August

MCMC said that all 4 WiMAX operators(P1, Asiaspace, Redtone, YTLe) must launch WiMAX before September this year.

If the operators don't launch, they can be fined and later has the risk of losing the 2.3Ghz license.

Full Story here.

REDtone to launch WiMAX this year

REDtone will launch WiMAX in August this year. Places like Kuching will be covered first, trials are taking place right now.

REDtone Mobile will be launch too, monthly fee as low as RM38, cheap calls and targeted to business users.

What to expect from the year 2008

Here are the list of what to expect in 2008:


Nine Mobile operators

The number of Mobile operators in Malaysia will probably reach nine. Here is the list:

1. Celcom
2. Maxis
3. DiGi
4. Merchantrade-(MVNO on Celcom network)
   
5. REDtone-(MVNO on Celcom network)
6. Tune Talk-(MVNO on Celcom network)
7. U Mobile
8. Time/DiGi
9. XOX.Com-MVNO
   

Mobile Number Portability

The Mobile Number Portability(MNP) is expected to launch by second quarter next year. Although Malaysia is late to offer this service-Singapore started in 1997, Hong Kong in 1999 and Australia in 2001- it would still be an advantage for Malaysia to learn from these countries as MNP has resulted bad damages to the mobile industry in certain counties.

With MNP, you could remain your number while switching your mobile operator. This gives a clear message to the mobile operator that the best services/offering wins the biggest pie of the market. In other words, as an example, DiGi could lead the market overnight although it is cuurently the smallest mobile operator.

WiMAX

Four 2.3Ghz operators will launch their WiMax service this year.

• Packet One- They are expected to sign an agreement with their suppliers this Tuesday and will launch their service between first quarter or second quarter this year.

• Asiaspace- This company has the expertise of building the infrastructure. They plan to launch their service by the end of the year. They will invest RM500 million in the next three to five years.

• REDtone- This company will launch their service in East Malaysia. They will first target business users with speed up to 155Mbps. -Read here
  

• YTL e-Solutions- Not much news from them but they recently joined the WiMAX Spectrum Owners Alliance (WiSOA) . Read more here. However, they are not excepted to launch their service this year.
  

The 2.5Ghz and 3.5Ghz spectrum will soon be taken back by the Government due to poor planning by the related Government bodies, failure of the service providers to commercially laucnch the service and the interference issues with Measat-3.

Do expect WiMAX hardwares this year. Soon, new notebooks with Intel and Mac will carry WiMAX chip on it. WiMAX routers and WiMAX PC cards will also be available soon.

Mobile TV

This year is guaranteed to be a mobile TV year. U Mobile will soon launch its DVB-H service and more phones with mobile TV capability such as DVB-H are expected to be launched in Malaysia this year.

Fibre-to-the-Home(FTTH)

Telekom Malaysia plans to launch its Fibre to the home service by the fourth quater this year. It will offer super fast broadband service up to 100Mbps. Read here.

Android

This Google OS for mobile phone is set to take off on the second half on this year. 34 companies joined the Open Handset Alliance, to develop the Android OS for mobile phone. Read more here.

Through the power of the alliance, it is possible that Android will land in Malaysia this year.

Faster Streamyx

With Telekom Malaysia leading the consortium of companies in building the new undersea fiber optic cable between Southeast Asia and the United States, I believe streamyx will be faster this year. This new undersea cable is expected to be ready on December 2008. Read more.

Smarter Mobile Phones

I believe mobile phones will be smarter this year. As the competition heats up, mobile phone makers will definitely create better phones. This will include mobile phone with advance connectivity, better interface, more features and better capabilities.

Credit Card inside your mobile phone

Soon, mobile phones will have Near Field Communication(NFC) chip in it. With this chip, users can make payments by waving their mobile phone over the merchant’s contactless card reader. Maxis has been trialling this service between their high rank staffs since last year. Trials of this service is also taking place in Australia, read here.


If you think there are more things coming up in 2008, drop me a comment. Also do comment on this article.

New MVNO

Another MVNO is about to launch its service this year. Check out XOX.COm Sdn Bhd at http://www.xox.com.my/

This will be the fourth MVNO in Malaysia after Redtone, Merchantrade and Tune Talk.

Any ideas which operator that it has signed agreement with?

More updates on this very soon on Telco Talk Malaysia.

Note: The website is under construction

REDtone now an MVNO

REDtone has signed an MVNO agreement with Celcom to offer postpaid mobile services to the enterprise market using the 013 prefix.

Telco Talk Malaysia welcomes REDtone's participation in the Malaysian mobile market as a MVNO.

Read more here.

WiMAX roll-out is a joke

The Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik has announced that the WiMAX roll-out has been delayed till next year.

The earlier plan was to have at least 25% coverage at the given area with at least a minimum 1Mbps speed at affordable rate.

The reason of the delay was due to the fact that the Government wants all WiMAX operators to share the cost and infrastructure of rolling out the service.

What might be next?

Source: Business Times

We want better wireless coverage-Malaysian Government

The Energy, Water and Communication Ministry wants to see more telecommunication towers built to enhance coverage of services like 3G, WiMax and wireless Internet.

Its Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik said 94 percent of the 1,628 towers slated for construction in two years had been completed.

"However, this is still inadequate as coverage for some areas is still poor," he told reporters when opening the Beruas Gerakan division annual general meeting here today.

More towers were needed to support 3G, WiMax, wireless Internet and Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB).

He attributed the poor response to 3G services to the lack of telecommunication towers thus limiting the coverage.

Lim said only about 60,000 people had signed up for 3G services since it was launched two years ago.

Japan has some 100 million 3G users.

Internet broadband penetration was also low at only 10 percent compared with South Korea (80 percent), Singapore (50 percent), Taiwan (60 percent) and Hong Kong (75 percent).-Bernama

REDtone now the WIDEST and of of the LARGEST WiMAX operator

REDtone has formed a partnership with eB Technologies that enables REDtone to use the 2.5Ghz and 3.5Ghz in Peninsular Malaysia.

On March 17 last month, REDtone was awarded a 2.5Ghz spectrum to operate WiMAX in Sabah and Sarawak. With this partnership, it makes REDtone the ONLY WiMAX operator with access to all 3 WiMAX spectrum that enables it to cover entire country.

REDtone Group chief executive officer Zainal Amanshah in a press statement says "We will offer high-speed broadband of up to 100 mbps (megabit per second) for consumers and corporate Internet service of up to 155 mbps for corporate customers and small- and- medium enterprises over a wider geographical area by combining both REDtone's and eB's base stations and network capabilities".

“We will be able to offer both fixed and mobile WiMax services in the near future. It opens the door for more possibilities including content and the much talked about triple play services,” he added.

The partnership also enables immediate access to 100 WiMAX based station in the Klang Valley, Penang and Johor Bahru that belongs to eB Technologies, to deploy wireless broadband services.

Lets hope that the Malaysians would be able to have more choices and better service of broadband in this country.

Note: Please vote for the pole on the right sidebar of this post.

An Interview with REDtone by Bizweek

REDtone’s managing director Wei Chuan Beng sheds some light on what to expect from the group with TheStar's Bizweek.

BIZWEEK: How different are things for REDtone now as opposed to a year ago?

Wei: It’s been pretty good for us of late. What we have been planning over the past year is beginning to bear fruit. We laid the groundwork to transform REDtone and it seems to be showing positive signs. We are now on track.

If you look at our past releases, you will see that we planned two things quite specifically. One was our foray abroad and second, to have balanced growth in Malaysia by having a few products and services, while maintaining the existing discount call business.

The new areas we have gone into include travel phones, and the provision of data and broadband services. This gives us a balance in business, earnings stream and revenue for the company. This transformation with the two-pronged strategy is now beginning to show ... early fruits, which we can reap.

Things are definitely looking up for your ventures in Pakistan and China. Can you elaborate?

Wei: They have improved tremendously. Moving forward, for the Pakistan venture, we are in negotiations with a potential new investor. But nothing is firmed up yet.

We have been in Pakistan for two years; we have a very strong network in the country.

The management is one of the important factors for the turnaround in the Pakistan venture. Stability at a senior management level is a factor.

We are already making profits in China, where we are now looking to balance our revenue contribution. Besides voice, we are also actively looking at data business. For this, we are in negotiations for certain acquisitions which can enhance our presence.

China is going to be interesting with the contribution from voice, data, broadband and the Internet in the near future.

What brought about the turnaround?

Wei: Most new ventures will initially be loss making. They have a gestation period. Two years ago, we ventured into Pakistan and last year, we went into China.

Since last month, we have been recording EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) profits. This month onwards, China will contribute about 8 million or about RM4mil a month.

For the new financial year (FY08) starting June, China will contribute more than RM50mil. The margins may not be that high but we have the economies of scale. To record a profitable EBITDA position within a year is remarkable, especially in the telco business, considering the competition.

But China can be very competitive. How do you see REDtone competing with the local players?

Wei:I think REDtone as a company is able to withstand competition. It just needs an environment where it can fully expand its capabilities. We must seize the opportunity and move along.

We have our core competencies, our technology and our innovative products and packages, which allow us to add value to the customers, support the channel well and serve the market effectively. This also allows us to grow in a particular market ... this is how we grew in China amidst the competition amidst the well-educated Shanghai consumers.

It must have been a trying time for you these past few years when things were not going too well.

Wei: People used to say that REDtone is so dependant on the long distance calls, discounted calls and is subject to competition. They said REDtone is vulnerable and so on.

We agree that was the impression in the past. The management has thoroughly assess the market(s) and we've done the changes accordingly. Admittedly, some of these changes take time to show itself in a positive way.

This is our transition year and we will be back on a higher growth path in the new financial year.

Quarter-on-quarter, revenue has come down, then stabilised, and tapered off a little bit. So, we foresee Q4 and Q1 next year to start to show growth. I think it’s a very important indication to us.

If we merely dependent on one product line, we wouldn't have been able to do this.

There is speculation that REDtone may list its travel phone business. Is this on?

Wei: There is a lot going on. In fact the telco business is a very international business; it has to integrate with the world’s telco structure, the connectivity and the network of different entities.

Our travel phones presence in Malaysia, Singapore, China and Pakistan will allow us to have connectivity with more than 70 to 80 carriers across the world. In the telco business you must have connectivity with other telco’s. There must be inter connectivity as you cannot live on your own.

Our presence in all these countries also gives us the economies of scale. We are in talks with telcos for other opportunities such as voice, data or international links.

The listing of the travel phone business is still very preliminary. The business can be very substantial, but I think it hinges on a few factors, one of which is how soon we can get a strategic partner on board, to expand the business. We plan to form a tie up and penetrate markets.

A tie up can benefit the strategic partner tremendously as well as you are looking at bringing subscribers from outside their network to them.

When this takes off, we will be looking at a different phase of growth. But until then, it's still an integral part of REDtone.

The entity that seems more ready to go to the market is the Chinese venture ... it is seems more ready.

What about the recently awarded WiMax licence, many say that with a high capex (capital expenditure) of about RM300mil, it will be difficult for REDtone considering its focus will be on East Malaysia. Can you comment?

Wei: Most of the business has been in Peninsula Malaysia. Chances are when they do roll out more broadband data services, peninsula is likely to make a lot more monetarily.

For the time being, we are actively making assessments on what could be the appropriate plan for Sabah and Sarawak. But there are still a lot more plans in the pipeline, which should become clearer over the next two weeks. Some important initiatives have yet to be announced. WiMax is part and parcel of our data and broadband strategy. -The Star

REDtone back in the spotlight

THESE days, REDtone International Bhd’s office in the IOI Business Centre in Puchong is bustling with activity. The pace has visibly picked up and there is a palpable feel-good element in the air.

But that's putting it mildly.

After two far-from-stellar years, REDTone regained its spot in the limelight recently, when it was revealed that it is one of the four to have successfully bagged the much-coveted WiMAX licence. With that REDTone will be able to provide such services in Sabah and Sarawak.

Continue reading here, at The Star.