The South Korea telecommunication and regulator (Korea Communication Commission or KCC) Chairman Seejoong Choi visited the Packet One (P1) headquarters today to congratulate P1 and its Korean partner SK Telecom(SKT) on securing 280,000 subscribers.
Chairman Choi said that the P1-SKT partnership is enhancing Korea and Malaysia’s competitiveness in wireless broadband through innovation, creativity and the free flow of information. In June 2010, SKT invested USD100 million in P1 for a 25.8% stake.
Commenting on the partnership, Green Packet CEO, CC Puan said that there are currently about 30 SKT employees in the P1 team. Michael Lai who is the CEO of P1 added that the SKT-P1 partnership allows the knowledge and expertise sharing in terms of marketing, network, operation and experience.
As of the fourth quarter of 2010, P1 had about 35% nomadic users(mobile) and some 65% fixed broadband(home) users. According to CC Puan, its past marketing campaign such as “Potong” helped added about 42,000 subscribers while the recent “Super Kid” campaign allowed the WiMAX operator to gain some 55,000 subscribers.
2.6Ghz spectrum– CC Puan said that P1 will trial the Long Term Evolution Time Division Duplex (LTE TDD) technology on the 2.6Ghz spectrum in the Klang Valley sometime this quarter. P1 currently has about 1,000 base station/sites in the country representing about 40-45% WiMAX coverage. It has a target of 1,600 base stations by the end of 2011.
On average a P1 customers consumes about 10GB of data every month. “About 60% of our subscribers are using rich media application such as Youtube”, CC Puan said.
Official press release below:
PETALING JAYA, Tuesday- Minister of South Korea telecommunications and regulator; the Korea Communications Commission (“KCC”) Chairman Seejoong Choi today made a special visit to the headquarters of Packet One Networks (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (“P1”) today to congratulate P1 and its Korean business partner SK Telecom (“SKT”) on reaching the important milestone of securing 280,000 subscribers for its P1 4G broadband service.
In just six months since SKT; Korea’s largest national mobile telco entered into a strategic partnership with P1, the partnership has achieved this performance milestone. P1 increased its subscriber base by approximately 60,000 subscribers in the last quarter of 2010. This is the highest net add per quarter in P1’s history, the second highest being 43,000 in the fourth quarter of 2009 as a result of the highly effective but controversial “Sudah Potong?” advertising campaign. The increase in subscriber numbers also came about at a time of intense competition amongst broadband players and despite the entry of a new player in the 4G space.
Chairman Choi said that the P1-SKT partnership is enhancing Korea and Malaysia’s competitiveness in 4G wireless broadband through innovation, creativity and the free flow of information. He commended P1 and SKTs’ commitment to ensuring that 4G broadband access for all is as widespread as possible and that consumers enjoy a good level of 4G broadband services at affordable prices. South Korea has offered the world a glimpse of wired societies, with fast Internet connections, successfully adding ease to information access, to help lift productivity and create new opportunities. Chairman Choi said he is pleased with Korea’s strength in information and communications technology initiatives; and programs that are being shared with the local ICT industry in Malaysia.
“Malaysia was one of the first countries in the world to issue 4G licenses in 2007. It was the government’s visionary move to ensure that more Malaysians had wider choices for quality and cost-effective wireless broadband access. The country’s home broadband penetration exceeded the national target of 50 percent last year. For P1, partnering with the world’s most advanced broadband provider has been most fruitful. The P1-SKT alliance part of which; is to accelerate P1 4G deployment to 65 per cent of the Malaysian population by 2012. Together with SKT, P1 remains committed to providing wider 4G broadband coverage, greater capacity and quality of service for all Malaysians,” said Michael Lai, CEO of P1.
“SKT adds value to P1 through the implementation of operations efficiency programs that have made a significant improvement in the way we operate the 4G broadband business,” Dr Ahn Hoekyun, Chief Strategy Officer and Deputy CEO of P1 said. “Behind the scenes we have been working very hard to improve the P1 4G network and customer service and the results speak for themselves. P1 4G is the best value wireless broadband provider for a rich media experience and continues to be the largest 4G operator in the nation.”
P1 and SK Telecom entered into a strategic alliance in June 2010, whereby SK Telecom invested USD100 million in P1 for a 25.8 per cent equity stake. Through the alliance, SK Telecom would contribute to enhancing P1’s network and operations, accelerate customer acquisition and also expand its customer offerings.
