Celcom Axiata has entered into a Master Collaboration Agreement with Altel Communications Sdn Bhd for the purpose of collaborating to develop, establish, build, operate and manage shared infrastructure for 4G LTE service, according to a filling with Bursa Malaysia yesterday. MalaysianWireless understand that Altel is a company owned by Puncak Semangat and was formerly known as Puncak Semangat Technology Sdn Bhd.
The collaboration between both operators has been reported before via local media. In the latest development, Celcom and Altel will share their respective 2600MHz 4G LTE spectrum (2x10MHz from Celcom, 2x10MHz from Altel) for the establishment, deployment, building, construction, operation and maintenance of 4G LTE service.
Altel would also consider a request by Celcom to share the remaining 2x10MHz spectrum it had received from the SKMM. Puncak Semangat has a total of 40Mhz spectrum band for LTE service.
As part of the Master Collaboration Agreement, Altel plans to appoint Celcom as the exclusive infrastructure and wholesale provider of the Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) services to enable Altel to operate as a MVNO in Malaysia, for the provisions of domestic roaming services and RAN sharing arrangements, subject to further negotiations.
According to HwangDBS Research, Puncak Semangat is entering an already saturated market under challenging operating conditions.
“Puncak Semangat would likely have to offer services at competitive rates to grab some subscription market share, which would also dilute the incumbents’ subscription growth as well as revenue growth. The larger operators would likely need to rely more than ever on increasing usage of data, voice and SMS on existing subscriptions to fuel top line growth when Puncak Semangat rolls out its products”, it said.
Celcom said that the smart alliance is in line with the Government’s call for telecommunication companies/mobile operators to join forces to accelerate broadband penetration in the country and enhance the digital lifestyle of Malaysians.
