Digi Telecommunications is claiming that it now has Malaysia’s widest 4G LTE network, with a population coverage of 50%.
The company said it has already surpassed its year-end network coverage target of 45%, and “has aggressive plans to double site rollout for the year by adding more than 1,500 sites to solidify its stronger, more extensive network position by year-end.”
Digi’s Chief Executive Officer, Albern Murty said, “More and more customers across Malaysia now enjoy a strong, quality network experience with us. We’ve aggressively expanded our 4G LTE reach in 28 major cities and secondary towns nationwide, with key market centres enjoying a steady average of 80% population coverage, making the benefits of Digi’s 4G LTE services easily accessible to half the Malaysian population.”
Digi’s 4G LTE network is now available in major city areas including Langkawi (Kedah), Sungai Petani (Kedah), Ipoh (Perak), Kampar (Perak), Malacca, Port Dickson (Negeri Sembilan), Kuantan (Pahang), Labuan, Tawau (Sabah), Kota Kinabalu (Sabah), Bintulu (Sabah), Penang, Johor, Kuching (Sarawak), Miri (Sarawak). Digi said it now has a 85% human population coverage for 4G LTE coverage in Klang Valley.
In terms of download speeds, Kesavan Sivabalan, Digi’s Chief Network Officer told MalaysianWireless that customers can expect speeds between 25Mbps-30Mbps on its 4G LTE network, or at least 5Mbps download speed 80% of the time.
According to Christian Thrane, Chief Marketing of Digi, the Telco now has 1.3 million 4G LTE customers (Internet). Albern added that pricing of 4G LTE devices have dropped since 1 year ago which helped Digi gain more subscribers.
When asked about higher 4G LTE speeds that other Telcos are offering at the moment, Christian Thrane said that Digi is focused at delivering consistent Internet speed, instead of being the fastest.
Digi’s 4G LTE network runs on the 1800Mhz (band 3) and 2600Mhz (band 7) spectrum bands. In terms of 3G, it claims to cover 87% of Malaysia (human population areas).
“We aspire to build a world class network to enable more Malaysians to enjoy consistent high-speed internet services on-the-go. Our rapid expansion, both in 3G and now 4G, caters to the increasing appetite for advanced, next-generation applications that is fast becoming necessary for an increasing number of internet-savvy Malaysians. At the same time, our stable and reliable network experience will help encourage adoption among approximately 40% non-internet customers on our network in addition to attracting new ones, allowing Digi to reach and cater to a wide spectrum of internet users.’ Albern said.
“We are building the best infrastructure, talent and capabilities to realise our ambition of being the best mobile internet provider for Malaysia,” Albern concluded.
In the past three years, Digi said it invested RM2.3 billion in CAPEX primarily on its network, and has committed an additional RM900 million this year to further strengthen its network and to deliver internet for all Malaysians.
