A recent agreement will soon allow Unifi Mobile customers to roam on Celcom’s 4G LTE network.
Telekom Malaysia Berhad has awarded a contract to Celcom Axiata Berhad (Celcom) for the provision of 4G Multi Operator Core Network services (4G MOCN) to webe digital Sdn Bhd (webe), a subsidiary of TM.
In an announcement to Bursa Malaysia on 21 February 2019, Axiata Group Berhad said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Celcom Axiata Berhad had accepted the letter of award from TM, dated 15 February 2019.
As part of the contract, Celcom shall provide 2G/3G/4G Domestic Roaming (DR) services and facilities to webe for a period of 3 years (until February 2022).
According to both Telcos, the 4G MOCN is an alternative network sharing technology which complements the existing DR services arrangement provided by Celcom through 2G and/or 3G DR Services and 2G and/or 3G DR Facilities Agreement dated 28 January 2016.
The 4G DR and/or 4G MOCN is said to further improve the network coverage of webe which is currently being offered as Unifi Mobile to consumers.
In a stock exchange filling, TM said “The 4G MOCN Award will enable Celcom to enhance the current collaboration by offering a complete (2G/3G/4G) wholesale services to webe. In return, this will accelerate webe’s ongoing effort of a continuous and rigorous roll-out of its Long-Term Evolution (“LTE”) services nationwide leveraging on Celcom’s high quality network and wide coverage.”
As of December 2018, Celcom claims that it has a 4G population coverage of 91% and 78% LTE-A. Unifi Mobile (webe) does not disclose its coverage statistic however it was reported by a research firm that Unifi Mobile has reached population coverage of 74% with a 2,900 towers early this year. TM is expected to increase the number of Unifi Mobile towers to 5,000 towers “in order to provide full coverage.”
webe shareholders include Mobikom Sdn Bhd (72.85%), a wholly-owned subsidiary of TM, Packet One Sdn Bhd (18.91%), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Green Packet Berhad and SK Telecom Co. Ltd. (8.24%).
Khazanah Nasional Berhad is a major shareholder of both Telcos. It holds approximately 37.16% and 26.21% in Axiata and TM respectively.
