Tag Archives: Malaysia

U Mobile adds UMI 38 Plan with Free Messaging

U Mobile today introduces new unlimited Internet prepaid plan UMI 38 with 500MB high-speed quota,200 minutes talking time and 30 sms for 30 days.It’s said to be the best balanced plan and should fit most people’s daily use.

Well,U Mobile also informed that a new service called ‘Free Messaging’ is available to all UMI 28, UMI 38 and UMI 48 subscribers. ‘Free Messaging’ service is based on the partnership with two popular mobile apps – Kakao Talk and WeChat. It allows KaKao Talk and WeChat users freely chat with friends,send photos or any other in-app features without reducing your data quota.Is that awesome?


U Mobile is very smart.As they are one of the smallest mobile service providers in Malaysia.They are really hard to compete against the giants such as Maxis/Celcom. The best way to attract more customers is to know the trend and produce innovative services .I think now they are on the right track.

U Mobile expands 3G network in East Malaysia

Months ago,U Mobile started to share with Maxis for its infrastructure in order to expand its 3G network to nationwide.Since then,the 3G coverage on U Mobile in West Malaysia came to be good.Well,recently it started the expansion in East Malaysia and the major cities and towns there had 3G service already.

The areas having 3G service are Kuching,Sibu,Bintulu,Miri.Labuan,Kota Kinabalu,Sandakan and Tawau.You can check the details of it coverage here


U Mobile’s 3G network supports up to 42Mbps DC-HSPA+ .The collaboration with Maxis will let U Mobile expand faster and save more capital.I believe it will also benefit on deploying 4G LTE network which U Mobile maybe will start the service in the year.

Anyway,as a user of U Mobile,I feel some service downgrade in terms of speed and downtime.I hope they could improve the service continuously with the growth of the number of users and don’t let me down.

4G spectrum had been allocated by MCMC in Malaysia

The telecommunication industry regulator in Malaysia,MCMC(the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Comission) announced last night that they had assigned 2600MHz(2.6GHz) to 8 companies for deploying 4G LTE(Long Term Evolution) wireless technology.

The 8 companies are Celcom Axiata Bhd, DiGi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd, Maxis Broadband Sdn Bhd, Packet One Networks (M) Sdn Bhd, Puncak Semangat Sdn Bhd, REDtone Marketing Sdn Bhd, U Mobile Sdn Bhd and YTL Communications Sdn Bhd.

From the aforementioned list,you could find that Celcom.DiGi,Maxis and U Mobile are the existing mobile telcos;P1 and YTL Communications(YES 4G) are running Wimax networks;REDtone is a MVNO(Mobile Virtual Network Operator) player currenting riding on Celcom network;Puncak Semangat is a new face in the industry,but the boss is well-known local billionaire,the richest Bumiputra corporate figure – Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary.

MCMC wants the existing telcos to take their experiences to build up reliable 4G networks while the new players may seek some innovative and create ways to compete with others.Well,the idea is good,but applying into Malaysia,I think it’s not good because Malaysia only has 28 million population.8 companies have to divide a small cake into tiny pieces and so perhaps no one could get full at last.

Anyway,they may go to consolidate the service later or share the infrastructures to improve the financial performance.At this moment,we could just wait for several months to see how they will make it done nicely.

 

Private Retirement Scheme launched in Malaysia

Yesterday,Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak announced the voluntary private retirement scheme(PRS) as an alternate employee pension scheme in addition to Employee Provident Fund(EPF) which is compulsory in Malaysia.

There will be a range of private investment funds to choose.Individuals depending on their own retirement goals,needs and risk appetite could choose several funds to invest in for a long term.

Like EPF,the total investments in PRS will also separate into two accounts.Account A could only be withdrawn on reaching the legal retirement age (currently it’s 55 years old) whilst Account B could be withdrawn once a year from one year after the first contribution of any approved fund.However,since the tax on the income contributed under the scheme is exempted,the pre-retirement withdraw will entitle a tax penalty of 8% on the withdrawal amount.

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New iPad will land in Malaysia on this Friday

After a month of waiting,Apple’s fans in Malaysia finally could get the new iPad in hand on this Friday(20 April 2012).

The prices in Ringgit haven’t been released yet.However,according to Apple’s tradition,they should be labeled from RM1599 for 4G LTE version and in the meantime,iPad 2 will reduce the price too.

Machines-the authorized Apple store in Malaysia just released the prices for the new iPads:

  • iPad 16GB WiFi RM1,499
  • iPad 32GB WiFi RM1,799
  • iPad 64GB WiFi RM2,099
  • iPad 16GB WiFi+4G RM1,899
  • iPad 32GB WiFi+4G RM2,199
  • iPad 64GB WiFi+4G RM2,499

Obviously,it’s a bit expensive than iPad 2.But according to some third party’s findings,the material costs for the new iPad is definitely higher than iPad 2,I think we could understand why Apple tags a higher price on the new ones.

There are some people waiting outside Machines over night.They all want to get the new iPad once it opens to sell tomorrow morning.

How many of you are waiting to get one?Will there be another long queue outside the authorized stores?Let’s see!

Get iPad2 in 2 days(CONFIRMED prices)

Dear Malaysians,if you’re willing to get iPad2 in the first place,you can now go for camping in front of those Apple Authorised stores to queue up the line getting the first batch of iPad2.Yes,anonymous source on the inside said iPad2 will definitely land in Malaysia on this Friday!

The estimated prices are as follow(UPDATED):

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