Stanley who is the senior procurement officer at DiGi about 3 years ago, is said to have accepted bribes from Syarikat Nakhoda Sistem Sdn Bhd on 14 occasions from Aug 13, 2007 to Oct 22, 2008 as an inducement to choose Nakhoda as the supplier of cables and telecommunication equipment for DiGi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd. He committed the offence at a Maybank branch in Taman Kinrara in Puchong.

The judge however allowed the sentence to be deferred pending appeal to the High Court.

The former DiGi employee was charged under Section 11 (a) of the Anti-Corruption Act 1997 and was liable to be jailed a minimum of 14 days and a maximum of 20 years and fined five times the corrupt amount or RM10,000, whichever is higher.

[Source]- Utusan Online

MalaysianWireless would like to note that DiGi is probably the last operator in the country to express interest on LTE. Earlier this year, P1, U Mobile, Maxis & Celcom have already shown interest to deploy LTE. In fact, we believe that U Mobile & P1 both have a LTE-Ready network pending software upgrades(U Mobile confirmed its network is LTE-Ready).

I hope DiGi could make a correction on what it claims.

My Experience using DiGi 3G

Back in May, I expressed my view that DiGi has the worst 3G network in the country. By writing it, I thought DiGi would make a change by improving its 3G network and listen to customer complaints, but I was wrong. Its almost 7 months now since writing that comment and DiGi 3G still remains the same.

In summary, these are the problems with the DiGi 3G network(in my opinion):

• Frequent drop calls, poor call quality
• Slow download speeds between 700Kbps-1Mbps
• Unstable network- 3G data not available/connection reset/frequent switch between 3G&EDGE..etc
• Poor Coverage nationwide, especially outside KL. Nearly no indoor coverage, even at major shopping malls.
• VPN does not work
• DiGi does not resolve or have no interest on complaints related to poor 3G coverage

Maybe this is just me and my experience but consider digging up all the old post in Lowyat.net forum, you will discover lots of disappointing DiGi customers as well. Of course DiGi Broadband is cheap if not the cheapest, but that does not mean that customers get “cheap experience” as well. DiGi claims to own a “Turbo 3G Network” with download speeds up to 14.4Mbps, why can’t customers enjoy a faster speed? All DiGi Broadband competitors such as Maxis, Celcom, P1, U Mobile are giving consumers the option for faster broadband speeds.

Network

I’ve only talked about experience and pricing so far but a good 3G broadband network must have good coverage. DiGi claims to have 5,000 base stations(2G and 3G). In comparison, Maxis & Celcom in a statement told MalaysianWireless that they each have close to 13,000 base stations(2G & 3G combined). Meanwhile U Mobile has about 1,300 3G base station and customers can also roam on close to 7,000 Celcom 2G base station. U Mobile said it is working with Maxis to further expand its 3G base station numbers to 4000 by 2013.

Celcom & DiGi both signed an advance network collaboration sometime in June 2010. The companies now agreed to share some 200 base stations, however an insider told me that there has been less progress on this. I would talk about it in another post.

DiGi has nearly zero 3G coverage in buildings especially in major shopping malls in this country. Based on my experience using both DiGi 3G and U Mobile, I’ve noticed that U Mobile have better indoor coverage compared to DiGi.

While writing this article, I want to believe that DiGi is trying to improve its network by upgrading to LTE, but then LTE is not here yet and this upgrade does not resolve current 3G issues.

To me, LTE is important but DiGi has got to serve 9.6 million customers out there mostly on 3G & EDGE. Both Maxis and Celcom each are spending at least RM1 billion annually to improve their network or expand coverage. In comparison, DiGi is only spending in the millions a year on network expansion. Doesn’t it seems that DiGi is too ambitious for LTE when it already have existing 3G issues not being resolved(for almost 1-2 years).

This brings up to another question. How capable is DiGi in moving to LTE if it can’t afford to build a proper 3G network?

P.s: MalaysianWireless has in the past tried a number of times to get in touch with DiGi, however all efforts have failed. We have yet to give up as we still have hope on DiGi.

__________________________________________________________

Below are some comments from Readers via MalaysianWireless Facebook:

Alan Teh says 3G speed test in Subang Jaya – usually about 700 kbps, coverage could be better, sometimes drops to Edge. Not the fastest 3G network out there obviously.

Vinod Naidu Munikrishnayya says I think service is not bad… Been on digi last few years.. Data speeds are fine as they promised not 2mbps but 1mbps. Only thing their 3g coverages bit limited. Probably among the ceapest data plan in town too besides umobile.

Chee Yi Ong says 3G speed is so-so, still acceptable but the coverage is terrible. Only in town areas and maybe a bit further outside but Maxis has 3G in Cameron Highlands and highway but Digi doesn’t have coverage. Very inconvenient, but the bills are cheaper and no bill shock.

Izudeen Idrus says
BB Coverage – Only works well in Major town and only selected spots with 3G coverage ( even in town ) mostly will be on Edge; while on 3G the average speed is slighty less than 1Mbps ; now what i expect from a 3G connection

Phone Coverage – Works in almost all town in peninsular; comparable to other telco, however at the small town; the signal bar/strentgh is slow; at rural area the coverage is non-existence (Celcom still have signal)

Ow Yeong Mun Yew says I was very happy when I ported to digi a year ago. Stable data service. Started few months back, their call quality is really bad, I often drop calls and having problem making calls while my iPhone showing at least 3 bars of signal. As for their data, the coverage is really weak, places like 1 utama mall, I can get EDGE only.

Arvin Mogana says switched to DiGi a year back from Maxis. coverage is ok-ok mostly on EDGE and their 3G is not that fast after all. a lot of drop calls in many places. even called and complained to them the hot-spots but no action has been taken so far. being in the telco industry i know how things work around here. just cause their entire network is shifting over to full ZTE for radio doesnt mean you dont have to maintain your current network quality.once my contract is done shifting over to celcom for better coverage and stable network and their pricing is quite cheap if you dont mind paying abit more but at the same time make alot of calls also. Digi goes for the cheapest plan and what not and gives crap quality of service.

Hun Keat Wong says DIGI Speed too slow!! Poor Coverage… But CHEAP!!!

The ambitious project includes expanding the current 3G and 2G network to cover 95.8% of the human population in Malaysia.

At present, the DiGi Turbo network promises speeds between 700Kbps to 1Mbps. DiGi claim its upcoming LTE-ready network will offer fibre speeds allowing customers to use social networking, online video streaming, digital music downloads and cloud services.

As the upgrade involves physical change of hardware at DiGi’s network towers, customers might experience up to 4 hours downtime per day, over a period of 7 days at areas where the upgrades are taking place. During this period which includes peak and off peak hours(office hours might be affected), customers will experience service disruption including the difficulties to make or receive calls, and use the Internet.

MalaysianWireless is not sure how DiGi plans to compensate customers for the downtime.

The upgrade has already started last week(Dec 13). The areas affected are Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam and Subang Jaya for the month of December 2011. As the upgrade will take place nationwide throughout 2012, DiGi customers are advised to check the upgrade schedule here, unfortunately, there are no details on the exact time or hours.

DiGi defines LTE with download speeds of up to 300Mbps and upload speeds of up to 75Mbps. It claims to be the first fully LTE-equipped network in Malaysia by the end of 2012.

[Source]- DiGi The Tomorrow Network

If you look closely in the picture, the privilege card states “iPhone 4S Black 32GB GSM”. The problem here is, Apple has set the iPhone 4S Malaysia launch/availability on December 16 but DiGi has already delivered the latest iPhone today(Dec 15).

We checked with one of our source in Apple and it appears that DiGi might have broke the rules it signed with Apple. Since customers can now purchase the DiGi iPhone 4S online, we are guessing that GDexFedex probably delivered the iPhone 4S ahead of schedule. Good job GDex!

It is not the 1st time DiGi has upset Apple. In the past, it associated iPhone with animal(“kambing”) and promoted the white iPhone 4 before it was announced by Apple. We believe Apple took action against DiGi but we are not sure what are the punishment this time if DiGi is found to be guilty. Apple has a strict guideline on how Telcos can promote the iPhone.

We know two Telcos will be really upset with DiGi, if this is found to be true.

We would like to thank the reader who sent us this and will be updating more on this.

On top of that:

• DiGi 360° SoHoKL outlet which will be open 24 hours on 16 & 17 December
• DiGi has extended the operating hours of selected DiGi outlets to 9am – 8pm daily from 16 – 18 December 2011

View the full list of the DiGi outlets here, these outlets have the iPhone 4S.

Thanks Kent Lim & Kelven Chew for tipping us.

[Farid Yunus, Chief Strategy and Business Transformation Officer of Celcom Axiata Berhad (far left) sealing the partnership with a firm hand shake with Brett Savill, Director, Strategy and Corporate Development of Broadcast Australia (second from left). Witnessing this momentous occasion are Dato’ Joseph Salang, Deputy Minister of Information Communications and Culture (second from right) and Dato’ Sri Shazalli Ramly, Chief Executive Officer of Celcom Axiata Berhad (far right)]

An agreement signed yesterday sees Celcom and Broadcast Australia forming a partnership that will bid for the design, construction and long term operation of the digital television infrastructure project. Together the companies will use their local knowledge of sites, local construction expertise, project management, design and operational expertise and planning as well as experience in satellite and terrestrial fibre distribution systems for the implementation of this project.

The consortium it  will invest some RM500mil over the next 3-5 years. It will bid for the tender that is expected to be announced by Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) soon.

Celcom will build the network while Broadcast Australia will focus on content. MalaysianWireless was told that DTTB will use T2 technology.

Malaysia is scheduled to migrate from analogue to digital by 2015.

DiGi iPhone 4S pricing below:

• 16GB- RM2090
• 32GB- RM2390
• 64GB- RM2690

Customers must choose one the iPhone 4S above and sign up a 24-months contract with either iDiGi 88, iDiGi 138 or iDiGi 238. There is no 12-months contract.

DiGi iDiGi 88 iPhone 4S:

DiGi iDiGi 138 iPhone 4S:

DiGi iDiGi 238 iPhone 4S:

Comment: The DiGi iPhone 4S price appears to have low subsidy or no subsidy at all from DiGi.

To pre-order the iPhone 4S from DiGi, visit the link below.

[Source]- DiGi iPhone 4S

Google’s Gmail SMS is a service that allows Gmail users to send text messages to their friends on mobile phone. Replies and responses to the text message will appear as a reply in Chat.

For selected DiGi customers, the service requires no subscription; chat messages sent via SMS from their mobile phones are billed at RM0.10 per SMS. Unfortunately the service is not available for DiGi port-in customers(012,019,017,018,013).

Only these DiGi pre-fix mobile numbers are supported- 016, 014-3,014-6,014-9, 010-2,010-36 to 010-39,010-46,010-56,010-66,010-76,010-82,010-88,010-90 to 010-98.

This strategic partnership announcement is made on the back of a global agreement between Google and Telenor announced recently. Its intention is to roll out a global Android Market initiative in stages to stimulate further growth of the Android ecosystem in all 11 international markets of Telenor, including Malaysia.

More details visit the DiGi Gmail SMS page.

These offer comes with contract or Malaysia customers can choose to purchase the device(only) at special price:

• BlackBerry Torch 9800(White/Charcoal)- RM979(Contract), RM1600(Device Only Price)
• BlackBerry Bold 9780(Black/White)- RM879(Contract), RM1312(Device Only Price)
• HTC Desire HD-RM729(Contract), RM1529(Device Only Price)
• BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300- RM379(Contract), RM876(Device Only Price)
• LG Optimus One- RM179(Contract), RM635(Device Only Price)

*For Contract: DG Smart Plan 68 & 24-months contract applies

[Source]- DiGi

Runs on the latest BlackBerry OS 7, the BlackBerry Curve 9360 has a 2.44-inch, 480 x 360 resolution display, 800MHz processor, 512MB of RAM, 5 megapixel fixed-focus camera with LED flash and VGA video recording, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 802.11n, A-GPS, HSPA and NFC.

Details of the plans and pricing of the BlackBerry Curve 9360 below.

DiGi BlackBerry Curve 9360

BlackBerry Curve 9360 with DG Smart Plan 68

• RM 599 for 24-month contract
• RM 899 for 12-month contract

BlackBerry Curve 9360 with DG Smart Plan 48

• RM 799 for 24-month contract
• RM 999 for 12-month contract

Customers will have to add-on RM10/month to subscribe for BlackBerry Internet Service(BIS) as the DG Smart Plan does not include it.

[DiGi Website]

Celcom BlackBerry Curve 9360

Celcom is offering the BlackBerry Curve 9360 for as low as RM838 with a 12-months contract and at RM168/month. There are also 3 other packages available at RM88/month(RM988), RM108/month(RM939) and RM138/month(RM888). More details hit the Celcom website link below.

[Celcom Website]

The BlackBerry Curve 9360 has retail price of RM1288 in Malaysia.