Following the announcement in September, U Mobile has extended its partnership with ZTE Corporation and Huawei Technologies for the deployment of 2,000 new base station by the end of 2015.
Through the network partnership agreement signed yesterday, U Mobile, together with ZTE and Huawei, will rollout 1,000 3G and 1,000 4G LTE network sites nationwide. The new network investment is worth up to RM1.5 billion using vendor financing and internally generated funds. U Mobile told MalaysianWireless that some RM1 billion will be used to purchase network equipments while the rest (about RM500 million) will be used to execute the rollout of the network.
The Telco revealed that it signed a 3 years agreement with ZTE & Huawei.
As part of the network agreement, ZTE will be deploying their Uni-RAN technologies, utilising products from RAN, Microwave, IP Transmission and Core Network. As for Huawei, the company said it will deploy its SingleRAN DBS3900 equipment which can support multi-technology (3G and 4G LTE) under a single platform to increase network performance and provide better user experience.
U Mobile’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Too Tian Jen told MalaysianWireless that Huawei will focus in Johor Bahru (as the current 3G network in Johor is deployed by Huawei) and nearby areas while ZTE will improve the network coverage in Klang Valley and deploy new base station in other states.
In partnership with Maxis (3G RAN Sharing), U Mobile has more than 4,000 sites (majority of network sites owned by U Mobile) in key cities and highly populated regions across Malaysia. With the new agreement with ZTE & Huawei, U Mobile will have 6,000 3G and 4G LTE sites by the end of 2015.
U Mobile aims to provide “superior network capacity and coverage” that is at least on par, if not better, with the rest of the leading industrial players by the end of 2015. The Telco currently has over 5 million subscribers.
“U Mobile is looking forward to continue the partnership with ZTE and Huawei as both companies have demonstrated their capabilities in delivering innovative infrastructure projects timely for us. We are confident that having both entities as U Mobile’s preferred partners in deploying our unique network strategy will greatly contribute towards our ambition of becoming a major player in Malaysia’s fast-growing mobile service market.’ said Wong Heang Tuck, Chief Executive Officer of U Mobile.
Steven Ge, CEO of ZTE Malaysia said: “ZTE is excited and proud to be part of this project. Being named as the world’s fastest-growing 4G provider network infrastructure in 2013 and winning approximately 20% of all new network orders globally in 2013, ZTE is confident that this project will be completed within the provided timeframe.
“The collaborative partnership will build on the existing synergy between ZTE and U Mobile. Over the years, the collaboration has seen U Mobile’s subscriber base increasing exponentially. Rest assured that ZTE will be providing its unwavering support to U Mobile in order to provide better connectivity and uninterrupted services to all Malaysians,” added Steven Ge.
Abraham Liu, CEO of Huawei Malaysia said: “Our partnership with U Mobile is a step forward in building a fast ubiquitous broadband network in Malaysia. As a data-centric operator, U Mobile has shown great foresight in bringing connectivity within everyone’s reach. While Huawei continues to evolve its existing 4G network capabilities and partners with operators to strengthen their networks, we are already investing significantly on research and innovation for 5G mobile network technologies to ensure that we meet the consumers’ demands for increasingly faster and better connections. Clearly, both U Mobile and Huawei share the passion for researching and developing future technologies that help build better connected societies, businesses, and economies. We are excited to form this new partnership in order to support U Mobile in their network expansion plans.”
