[Opinion] RE: By the numbers: P1 4G vs Yes 4G

This post is my personal opinion in response to an article called “By the numbers: P1 4G vs Yes 4G” published by SoyaCincau over here. I am writing this post to educate the writer behind that blog.

Let’s talk about Packet One(P1) and WiMAX. P1 is probably the only WiMAX operator in the region to be appointed as a board member in the WiMAX Forum. It is only over 2 years old and P1 is well known in the telecommunication space, specifically the WiMAX industry. Not to forget that and Korea’s SK Telecom invested in them and Intel too Intel RM50 million. P1 even rolled out the free Wireless KL hotspot backed by the Malaysia Government back in 2008.

Not only that, over 60 operators from 55 countries around the world visited P1 to learn more about WiMAX technology. That makes us Malaysian proud.

As a WiMAX operator, it is practical for the CEO of P1 to say that it will “live and die with WiMAX” and it is true back then that LTE is late to evolve because that was in 2008-2010! The first commercial LTE network was only launched in late 2009 and only now LTE is starting out to take off.

Now let’s talk about YTL. What has YTL Communication achieved so far?  Let’s not forget that YTL was awarded the WiMAX license in 2007 but it only launched a commercial service towards the end of 2010. Spectrum is a precious national resource and it is as important as water and electricity. And guess what, no fees was paid for that YTL WiMAX license.

On top of that, YTL caused confusion in the market about 4G and WiMAX back then when there’s no finalised standard for 4G, even until today.

YTL also said that it has spectrum in the 700Mhz, but went quite after the Government said NO. It was very embarrassing and I don’t feel proud at all.

YTL vs P1 in the WiMAX space? P1 gets full points, YTL YES 4G gets zero point because it did not nothing for WiMAX nor make this nation proud. Although the Malaysian government ruled that all WiMAX telcos must start utilizing the spectrum and launch the WiMAX service in 2008, YTL did nothing much with the spectrum and had gone to waste in the last 3 years or so.

Why P1 is upgrading to LTE-TDD?

It is a simple answer.  Which operator doesn’t want to have the latest technology out there for its customers? Maybe YTL is going stick to its self claimed 4G WiMAX technology forever.

Plus P1 did not say that it is shutting down WiMAX completely. P1 has said that it will combine LTE and WIMAX in its network(20Mhz for LTE, 10Mhz for WiMAX). Maybe this SoyaCincau should step back for a while and read the press release properly before getting too excited about this. Toyota is not stopping production of its current cars just because it is producing hybrid cars.  Dear SoyaCincau, get you facts right please.

Now let’s talk about P1 vs YTL. First of all, P1 built its WiMAX network for the home users and YTL built its “4G” WiMAX network for mobility. SoyaCincau has compared Yes 4G & P1, similarly, how do you compare Streamyx with a mobile broadband service such as from DiGi, Maxis, and Celcom? (Dear Soyacincau, please contact me if you need some education on this matter, I can consult you free of charge).

P1 does offer devices for users on the go but it never branded it self as a mobile service provider. There is a big difference between a wireless service and a mobile service. (Again, call me if you need to be educated on this topic, SoyaCincau).

If the 65% YES 4G coverage is to be considered true, then YTL does have a better coverage compared to P1. And that is exactly what a mobile service should have. But then again, P1 does not offer a mobile service at this point of time.

On top of that, I personally feel that the utility model(pay-per-use) by YES4G is not “consumer friendly” and it doesn’t seem to work because the operator(YTL) later offered Valuepack packages. YTL shouted about how the utility model will change the way people are charged for broadband, but then why offer new packages now?

At the end of the day

I don’t want to write further because the whole comparison is wrong and it will only make it look like I am totally supporting P1(I can talk about slow P1 broadband speed and the lack of proper coverage but I will keep that for another day).

The person behind this article is a very good writer but he doesn’t understand the things that he is talking about. Now I wonder how did he(Soyacincau) land a job at P1(corporate communications)?

By the way, if you look at the article, SoyaCincau said that P1 doesn’t have a mobile number. P1 does have a mobile number, in fact it was the only operator that I know managed to do interconnection with all operators within a short time period(usually take years). Maybe YES 4G wants to disclose the operators that it hasn’t made interconnection with? If you look back, YES 4G 018 services was launched without full interconnection with our telcos.

So in that respect and based on our own user experience, we feel that Yes is the better 4G operator. In fact, when it comes to mobile data, Yes probably is one of the best service providers out there.

Not bad for a brand that’s not even six months old.

Mr. SoyaCincau should really disclose about where he works instead of hiding behind this name. Or maybe he is just too shy?

At the end of the day, how can you credit a writer which is not credible, dare attend media launches, talk bad about other companies but dare not reveal his real name on his blog?

I look forward to see how far would SoyaCincau go to damage the name of P1 and the industry.

 

P.s: Dear P1(Corporate Communication Department), hope to get a response from you on this matter

 

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