TUNE Talk Sdn Bhd, Tune Group’s mobile telecommunications unit, will roll out its mobile services “in a few months“, after stamping its presence almost two years ago.

The company had initially planned to commercially launch its service by end-2007.

“Things were put on hold for a while, partly due to the demerger (of Telekom Malaysia Bhd),” chief executive officer Jason Lo told Business Times in an interview.

However, the competition landscape has changed. If the company had launched its services in end-2007, it would have been competing in a market that has an over-80 per cent penetration rate, dominated by the incumbents.

Today, penetration rate is about 100 per cent with entrant of new players in the market like U Mobile, XOX Dot Com Sdn Bhd and Merchantrade. Over the next one to two years, the market is expected to be flooded with a few more new players such as Redtone and Baraka, an MVNO tied up with DiGi.Com Bhd.

Despite the slight delay, Tune Talk, a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), is unfazed.

“We believe our products, which will be launched soon, will still be relevant to the market. It will give our customers a good value proposition,” said Lo, but did not elaborate.

Besides launching its services in the local market, Tune Talk is also in talks with foreign partners on launching mobile services in Southeast Asia. This could pave the way for Tune Talk to become the country’s first MVNO brand that has overseas presence.

The overseas expansion plan, which is the firm’s second phase of expansion, could materialise as early as six months from its domestic launch.

When launched, Tune Talk customers in Malaysia and Thailand, for example, may be able to call each other for as low as local call rates.

“We view Asean as our market. In our phase two expansion, we aim to deliver better roaming proposition,” Lo explained.

Lo did not reveal which overseas market the company will launch first, but that it will likely be one of the neighbouring countries.

As part of the Tune Group – which has a suite of businesses, from financial services, hospitality to aviation — Lo knows that it is critical for Tune Talk to synergise with Tune Group’s other businesses.

“We believe we can deliver more value to our customers through synergising,” he said.

For now, Tune Talk plans to focus on its prepaid business. Unlike XOX Dot Com Sdn Bhd – an MVNO which plans to offer both postpaid and prepaid services – Tune Talk has no immediate plans to launch postpaid services.

“Malaysia is still predominantly a prepaid market, that’s where our focus will be for now,” he said.

An MVNO is a mobile service operator that does not have its own licensed spectrum and infrastructure to provide mobile service to its customers. Instead, MVNOs lease wireless capacity from existing mobile service providers and establish their own brand names different from the providers. In Tune Talk’s case, it rides on Celcom (Malaysia) Bhd’s network.

Source: Business Times

If you are reading this, do drop by to the exhibition that starts on 21st November 2008(next friday) till 23rd November 2008, 11am-9pm.

There will be four main areas in the exhibition- Device & Accessories, Innovation, Learning, Entertainment.

Here’s something to expect from Go Mobile 2008:

Clique Card- For those who already applied the GoMobile Clique, there is a gift for you and it can be anything, including a phone or maybe an MP4 player, so drop by to the Go Mobile Clique booth!!!

Subscribe to MW- If you are one of the first 50 to subscribe to Mobile World Magazine (12 months subscription) for the day, you will walk away with a free LG phone. So there are 3 days and 150 LG phones are awaiting you!!

Treasure Hunt- There will be a treasure hunt contest in Go Mobile 2008, lots of prizes to be given away.

Hitz.Fm Cruiser- Hitz.FM will broadcast live from PWTC!!! Join Ean(DJ) and there are mobile phones to be given away. Also check out the Go Mobile 2008 ad on the Hitz.fm website.

Hip Hop Dance Competition- There will be a Hip-Hop dance competition and Nokia is giving out RM2,000 to the first prize winner. More here.

Go Mobile 2008 also has huge support from the Government and full media coverage from major newspapers.

You can buy phones for as low as RM50 and also get discounts and goodies from the exhibitors. Some of the big names will be there, including Maxis, U Mobile, MOL, Nokia Malaysia, Sony Ericsson, LG, Jaring, TM, Celcom, Mobile Wallet and more.

(Floor Plan-Click image for larger view)

The Go Mobile 2008 sales team is closing all sales by the end of this week. There a few booths left so hurry up and call(0196780600) if you are interested in taking up booths.

Lastly, don’t panic if the organizer randomly gives out phones or gift while you are in the exhibition hall.

See you there!!!

U Mobile Sou does not surprise me at all because with most of the head department(U Mobile) and CEO is Japanese or Korean and it is natural for them do so(build their own phone) because the company they came from practices the same thing.

In Japan, NTT DoCoMo as an operator controls the mobile market there. It tells the mobile phone maker what type of phone to build and also has strong influence in the local mobile content market in Japan.

U Mobile Sou has the following specification:

• Dual Sim
• 3G
• FM
• Video Call
• 2.0 Megapixel camera
• MicroSD
• Bluetooth
• USB
• 16 million colors, TFT screen

The U Mobile Sou phone is price for as low as RM510 and as high as RM760(Refer to table below). You can also buy the Sou for RM988 without contract.

The U Mobile Sou is distributed by Mobile Distribution (M) Sdn Bhd.

U Mobile has not made any official announcement on the U Mobile Sou, please refer to the Mobile World website for the official announcement within the next few weeks.

As for now, you can read a short review of U Mobile Sou on the Fresh Gear Blog.

It is confirmed that it’s Executive Director,Kenneth Chang Yit Fei will no longer involve in U Mobile’s day to day business.

What is surprising, barely 3 months after the appointment of its new CEO Yun Hae-Jung, U Mobile now has appointed a new CEO again as it is believed that Mr.Yun Hae-Jung, who is not that old, resigned due to “health” problems.

The new CEO of U Mobile is Oh Kwang-Jin however Telco Talk Malaysia was not informed about his appointment, so I am not sure whether he is originated from the same company as Yun Hae-Jung, since 2 foreign companies has a joint 33% stake in U Mobile.

However, I believe the peoples from the earlier appointments remains in U Mobile including chief marketing officer Keisuke Yoshizawa who is from Japan’s NTT DoCoMo Inc., new chief technology officer Choi Kab Ryeol and chief strategy and planning officer Jason Lee Dong Ik from KTF, which is named in the Guiness Book of Records for having acquired the most number of subscribers in the shortest span of time.

Only time will tell whether U Mobile will live up to its promises as being a “consumer centric” brand or it will be just another company of the Berjaya Group of companies.

The prepaid starter pack is free, however, according to Malaysian law, a user can only have up to 10 mobile numbers.

The new U98 postpaid plan offers a free Motorola V9 phone or you can purchase other phone models at a special price, and a 18 months contract applies.

018 Prepaid

Rates

Cost of Starter Pack: Free
Voice & Video Calls* -0.8sen/sec (48sen/min)
SMS* -8sen/SMS
MMS* -25sen/MMS
Data Service (3G+HSDPA) -1sen/kb
Voice Mail -48sen/call
Video Mail -0.8sen/sec (48sen/min)
Free Value Added Services -CLIP (Caller Line Identification Presentation), Missed Call Notification, Call waiting/Call holding, Call forwarding, Multi-party Call Conferencing, IDD

*No peak/off-peak, all networks. Additional charges apply. International Roaming not available

Product Name: 018 Prepaid
Availability: July 1, 2008
Other Features: Video calls same rate as voice calls, per-second billing, nationwide domestic roaming(Celcom Network).

Update: U Mobile is giving out additional 20% bonus airtime for every successful top-up with effect 1st July 2008

U38 Postpaid Plan

Rates

Voice & Video Calls* -0.3sen/sec (18sen/min to 018), 0.4sen/sec (24sen/min to other networks)
SMS -5sen/SMS to 018, 15sen/SMS to other numbers
MMS -18sen/MMS to 018, 28sen/MMS to other numbers
Data Service (3G+HSDPA) -Free for first 2 months after that 1sen/kb (Capped at RM176)
VoiceMail -18sen/call
VideoMail -0.3sen/sec (18sen/min)
Free Value Added Services -CLIP (Caller Line Identification Presentation), Call Waiting/Call Holding, Call Forwarding, Multi-party Conferencing, Missed Call Notification

*No peak/off-peak. Additional charges apply. IDD and International Roaming available upon request

Product Name: U38 Plan
Pricing: RM38/Month (to offset voice/video calls, SMS, MMS)
Contract Period: No contract period
Availability: Now (new rates take affect July 1, 2008)
Other Features: Video calls same rate as voice calls, per-second billing, free U Mobile Broadband for two months, Mobile LiveTV (availability is phone dependent), nationwide domestic roaming

U68 Postpaid Plan

Rates

Voice & Video Calls* -0.2sen/sec (12sen/min)
SMS -5sen/SMS to 018, 15sen/SMS to other numbers
MMS -18sen/MMS to 018, 28sen/MMS to other numbers
Data Service (3G+HSDPA) -1sen/kb (Capped at RM176)
VoiceMail -12sen/call
VideoMail -0.2sen/sec (12sen/min)
Free Value Added Services -CLIP (Caller Line Identification Presentation), Call Waiting/Call Holding, Call Forwarding, Multi-party Conferencing, Missed Call Notification

* No peak/off-peak. Additional charges apply. IDD and International Roaming available upon request

Product Name: U68 Plan
Pricing: RM68/Month (to offset voice/video calls, SMS,MMS)
Contract Period: No contract period
Availability: July 1, 2008
Other Features: Video calls same rate as voice calls, per-second billing, Mobile LiveTV(??availability is phone dependent), nationwide domestic roaming

U98 Postpaid Plan

Rates

Voice & Video Calls* -0.2sen/sec (12sen/min)
SMS -5sen/SMS to 018, 15sen/SMS to other numbers
MMS -18sen/MMS to 018, 28sen/MMS to other numbers
Data Service (3G+HSDPA) -1sen/kb (Capped at RM176)
VoiceMail -12sen/call
VideoMail -0.2sen/sec (12sen/min)
Free Value Added Services -CLIP (Caller Line Identification Presentation), Call Waiting/Call Holding, Call Forwarding, Multi-party Conferencing, Missed Call Notification

Product Name: U98 Plan
Pricing: RM98/Month (to offset voice/video calls, SMS, MMS)
Contract Period: 18 Months with phone bundling (subsidised)
Availability: July 1, 2008
Other Features: Video calls same rate as voice calls, per-second billing, Mobile LiveTV?(availability is phone dependent), nationwide domestic roaming, phone bundling
Mobile Phone Options: Nokia N77, Nokia N78, Nokia 3120 Classic, Nokia E51, Sony Ericsson G502, Sony Ericsson C702, Samsung i780, Samsung Z140, LG KU970 Shine, Motorola V9 Free

New Surf With U Package

Monthly Fee- RM68/month (promotional fee RM58/month applicable till December 31, 2008)
USIM Card- Included (for standalone subscriptions only)
USB Modem- Not included

*phone dependent and recommended for use in USB modems only.

Add-On
Upon request users can add-on Surf with U service to U Mobile postpaid plan subscription.

Standalone
A standalone data plan with a SIM card* to use with the user’s own HSDPA modem. Subscription to U Mobile postpaid plan not required.

Do you know that some broadband plans out there, which are so called “unlimited plans” but has a cap or maximum use limit in it?

Maxis

One of the mobile company that redefines the word “unlimited” is MAXIS which offers UNLIMITED Internet2Go browsing package that comes with a 3GB browsing limit.

According to Dictionary.com, the word “Unlimited” refers to:

• not limited; unrestricted; unconfined: unlimited trade
• boundless; infinite; vast: the unlimited skies
• without any qualification or exception; unconditional

Celcom

As for Celcom, they do not claim their broadband limited or unlimited leaving their users in the dark.

In small letters, located at the terms and conditions section, under Fair Usage Policy, Celcom says that it will manage the users bandwidth if their usage exceeds 5GB within the month. In other words, from getting up to 3.6Mbps on Celcom Broadband, you will be getting, for an example up to 100Kbps if you exceed the 5GB limit on Celcom Broadband.

U Mobile

U Mobile does not claim its Surf With U as limited, in the same time, it does not mention unlimited either. But according to its Fair Usage Policy, in small letters, customers should not exceed a 5GB data usage in a month.

However, it does not mention what happens if the customer exceeds the 5GB usage in a particular month. This is somehow confusing.

Conclusion

So, either the Government should send these people back to school or the consumer should take them to court.

If you want to make a complaint, contact:

Malaysian Communications & Multimedia Commission (MCMC)
Email: aduanskmm@cmc.gov.my
Hotline: 1800-888-030 (8.30 am – 5.30 p.m, Mondays-Friday)
Fax: 03-8688 1880
Or make an online complaint here.

Meeting up with these 3 key people in the 3 main telcos, I have got a strong feeling that all three telcos are now moving towards the right direction in the industry.

Maxis, in my own opinion, is a company that is hard to approach but things seems to change with Sandip Das leading the company. I hope “some” of these people in Maxis who pride them self for being number 1 will start by changing their attitude and focus in maintaining and provide better service to their customers. And this is what I see in Sandip Das- that being number 1 does not matter to him.

While Celcom has a good corporate “environment”, I am predict that Celcom will have stronger branding and more mobile offering this year compared to the other 2 players.

DiGi, on the other hand has a good CEO. Since Johan worked as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) in DiGi, it shouldn’t be a problem for him to carry the CEO’s task, plus I believe he is the man for the task with his expertise on marketing and finance. While DiGi has been quiet(marketing & product) for more than a year, things will change since DiGi NOW HAS A 3G LICENSE OFFICIALLY.

U Mobile now gets a new Korean CEO which I believe is a bad move since its Executive Director, Kenneth Chang will no longer involve in U Mobile’s day to day business.

I think that things are going to change with Keng Yaik‘s exit. I still don’t see any WiMAX player launching their service, plus the 3.5 GHz players are now officially out of business, again I doubt that we will see WiMAX at all with the earliest one to be on June. The Government at any time, could say “interference” and pull back all the 4 licenses.

With Mobile Number Portability, expected to launch by August this year, it will definitely heat up competition between telcos and benefit the consumers like you and me.

Now I see better telcos out there, but do I see a weak Ministry and a weak Commission?

The Surf With U is a little bit faster today.

Probably will have to re-do the test.

Last year, U Mobile confirmed a strategic partnership with KT Freetel and NTT DoCoMo resulting a 33% stake purchased in U Mobile.(More here)

Stay tuned for the official update on the Mobile World website.

Below is 5 reasons from U Mobile on why you should subscribe to Surf with U:

1. It’s Fast—Over our unique HSDPA-Driven network, Surf with U delivers a best average speed of 1.8Mbps. When conditions are right, you can expect up to 3.6Mbps of internet surfing bliss!
2. It’s Affordable—Only RM78/month over a 24 month contract (plus a one-time activation fee of RM50). On top of that, Surf with U includes one of the smallest HSDPA USB modems in the market today (ZTE MF622 worth RM799.00.
3. It’s Simple—Just one plan to choose from and it comes with all the bells and whistles. No additional charges for the modem, no performance restrictions and you get unlimited access to the internet. Excellent!
4. It’s Easy to Use—Surf with U comes with a petite HSDPA USB modem that’s big on style already preconfigured with U Mobile’s data settings. All you need to do is plug it in your computer’s USB port and you’re all set to explore the cyber universe anywhere, anytime!
5. No Worries—Give Surf with U a try. With the 8-Day Money Back and Early Termination options, you’re free to opt out if the service is not for you.