REDtone Mobile is a MVNO(Mobile Virtual Network Operator) powered by Celcom Axiata, launched its mobile service in July 2009 targeting the small and medium-sized enterprises(SME) and SoHo.

Teh and Tee are shareholders of Elepoint Sdn Bhd, the largest Celcom re-seller for the corporate segment in Malaysia.

Chief Executive Officer Lau Bik Soon said new shareholders for REDtone Mobile were necessary to sharpen the company’s focus and competitive advantage to make its MVNO services more appealing.

Back in November, Celcom CEO Dato’ Sri Mohammed Shazally bin Ramli told MalaysianWireless that REDtone is restructuring its MVNO business. He said that among the Celcom MVNOs, REDtone & XOX are revising their mobile offerings while Tune Talk & Merchantrade are doing pretty well.

More details soon.

[Source]- Bernama

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.

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!

• 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).

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.

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

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.

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

Read more here.