First revealed on MalaysianWireless.com last week, U Mobile launched 3 new prepaid plans and 2 new postpaid plans, offering the same rates and benefits for both segments. In its own words, the Telco describe the new mobile plans as “stand out from the rest of the complicated and confusing offerings available in the market with its straightforward, uncluttered and simplified product features.”
The new #getclever U Mobile Prepaid and Postpaid Plans:
2015: Network expansion and customer experience focus
U Mobile is committed to investing in the network and adopting new technology. Wong Heang Tuck, the CEO of U Mobile said that “Telco is like a utility company that you need constant investment”.
He revealed that the mobile operator is expected to run LTE-Advanced trials this year to get feedback from customers. No further details were revealed however sources said that U Mobile is looking at the 800-85Mhz and 2.6Ghz spectrum for LTE-A deployment. To date, globally, twenty (20) operators have commercially launched 300 Mbps Category 6 LTE-Advanced service in 15 countries: Australia, Austria, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.
Sharing with the media on the latest development in U Mobile, he said that the company has replaced its old prepaid system with a new one. In terms of number of dealers, “We are already on par with DiGi”, adding that customer touchpoints will be increased this year.
Currently U Mobile has more than 4 million subscribers, 90% of them are prepaid users. 70% of the customer base are using smartphones. U Mobile said that it targets the user group age between 15-35 years old for its mobile services.
Coverage expansion will be the #1 focus in 2015.
U Mobile’s 95% population coverage is derived from a combination of over 10,000 sites of 3G and 4G LTE own-built, 3G RAN share and 2G Domestic Roaming with Maxis. To break it down, U Mobile currently has its own 2552 3G base station, 51 4G LTE sites, 1673 3G RAN sharing sites with Maxis and more than 4000 Maxis 2G sites for domestic roaming.
Too Tian Jen, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of U Mobile reveals that U Mobile has its own 3G base stations in Klang Valley including Negeri Sembilan and other states such as Johor, Penang and in Perak. The 3G RAN sharing networks (with Maxis) are located in selected towns in West Coast Malaysia, East Coast (Kuantan, Kota Bahru and Kuala Terrengannu) and major towns in East Malaysia (Sabah & Sarawak).
Moving forward in 2015, U Mobile intends to increase its own-built 3G sites to 3329 and it target to have 1051 4G LTE sites. As for the 3G RAN sharing, it plans to increase the number of sites to more 1800+.
In September last year, U Mobile said that it will roll out 1,000 new 3G sites and 1,000 new 4G LTE sites this year. Out of the 1,000 3G sites that it plans to deploy this year, some 250 sites are already active. The new 1,000 4G LTE sites are expected to go live by the 3rd quarter this year.
U Mobile believes prepaid and postpaid consumers have the right to choose their preferred payment method, and they should be treated with the same level of importance.
Jasmine Lee, Chief Marketing Officer of U Mobile said that the Telco wants to be more transparent with customers. “What we want to do this year is to start a crowd sourcing coverage map, where our users tell us where we are good and where we are bad (in terms of coverage).” Check out the video below.
“To be consumers advocate, we need to put ourselves in their position and think what concerns them and how we can provide better solutions to our customers,” Jasmine added. “We are not here to play safe. If we need to break status quo to meet consumers’ needs, we will not hesitate to do so.”
More videos:
For more information on the new #getclever postpaid and prepaid plans, visit the U Mobile website.
