DiGi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd (DiGi) launched two new mobile plans yeaterday: a weekly prepaid mobile Internet package and new DG SmartPlan.
[(L-R) Albern Murty, Chief Operation Officer of DiGi and Christian Thrane, Chief Marketing Officer of DiGi.]
With a choice of RM50, RM78, RM108 or RM148 per month, new DG SmartPlan customers can now enjoy more value on data and access to the following digital services applications: Opera Mini for unlimited Internet surfing, Whatsapp for unlimited messaging, and Deezer for on-demand access to over 30 million songs from top local and international artistes. The new offering is also bundled with free Norton Mobile Security protection as device security becomes increasingly important to customers today.
DiGi said that the new postpaid plans are tailored to complement the Internet-and feature-rich capabilities of smartphones in the market today, enabling customers to maximise usage of their devices. Details of the new DG Smartplan below:
Despite DiGi says that it is offering unlimited calls during the weekend, the mobile operator is actually limiting the usage. A Fair usage policy (FUP) of 1,000 minutes per month applies for Unlimited Weekend Calls on DG SmartPlan 78, 108 & 148. Upon exceeding the limit, DiGi said that it “reserves the right to charge subscribers for any excessive usage.”
DiGi also launched 3 new weekly prepaid mobile Internet plans. New and existing prepaid customers can now enjoy unlimited Internet surfing and social messaging by subscribing to the weekly package from RM3, RM5 or RM7.
More details on the DiGi website.
Commenting on its mobile network, DiGi said that its “brand new” 3G network has now improved. Albern Murty, DiGi’s Chief Operating Officer said “We have achieved significant milestones in building a brand new, stronger, and more stable network. We have swapped every electronic part in more than 5,500 sites with brand new equipment, expanded our HSPA+ 3G network to more than 80% population coverage, and increased our own and jointly built fibre network to more than 3,200 kilometres nationwide.”
The mobile operator is saying that drop call rate in the network is down by 36% and minutes per drop is 50%. It also claims that it has the best consistent average speed and the fastest growing mobile Internet service provider in the country, recording mobile Internet growth of 47.5% year-on-year(currently 6.7 million mobile Internet users). It has a 38% smartphone penetration in the network.
Albern added that the company has committed to invest up to RM900 million in capital expenditure this year to further strengthen its network position. This spend will be invested toward increasing its HSPA+ 3G coverage to 86% of population coverage, growing its LTE footprint up to 1,500 sites, and expanding its fibre network to ensure it continues bringing a high-speed Internet experience to customers nationwide.
On 4G LTE, DiGi said that all its current postpaid subscribers will be able to enjoy the high speed mobile service in April, however for prepaid customers, DiGi said “we are working on it”. DiGi did not share more details of its LTE rollout, but MalaysianWireless discovered that the company is trialling LTE on 1800Mhz Band 3 in its building (D’House), pending approval from SKMM for a possible nationwide roll out.
As of 2013, DiGi has about 11 million subscribers, consisting of 9.3 million prepaid and 1.7 million postpaid. 66% of its postpaid users and 34% of its prepaid are smartphone users.
