Alcatel-Lucent wins $US71m Malaysian mobile WiMAX deal

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 29 January 2008 14:47

Business IT - Networking

Malaysian telco Packet One Networks has selected Alcatel-Lucent to deploy and manage one of the world's first large-scale mobile WiMAX networks to date in the 2.3GHz band. The network is expected to cover 60 percent of the population within five years: further confirmation that WiMAX hype is being replaced by WiMAX reality. Alcatel-Lucent will supply P1 with a complete, turnkey, end-to-end integrated WiMAX wireless network including base stations, wireless access controllers, and an operation and maintenance centre Alcatel-Lucent will also be responsible for design and construction and for ongoing operation and maintenance of the network.

Deployment is already underway in Klang Valley, Penang and Johor and will expand rapidly throughout West Malaysia. P1 plans to provide WiMAX coverage for 25 percent of the population in Malaysia (6.5 million people) by the end of 2008, 40 percent by the end of 2010 and 60 percent of the nation's population - including urban, suburban and rural areas - within five years.

P1 is the first out of the four Malaysian WiMAX 2.3GHz license-holders to deliver on its commitment to deploy WiMAX following the four winning their licences in auction in March 2007.

The Malaysian market appears to be prime WiMAX territory. The Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER) released a report in July 2007 that indicated all was not well with the fixed broadband market. The report, the "Q1 2007 TEC-MIER CEO Confidence Index," said that the majority of business executives in Malaysia were dissatisfied with broadband services provided by incumbent telcos. The majority of CEOs "still felt that broadband service in [Malaysia] is slow due to inability of service providers to deliver access speed as promised, followed by inefficient service providers (64 percent), inadequate coverage (56 percent) and costly services (38 percent)."

The study said also that broadband had become an important tool for business in Malaysia with some seventy percent of the CEOs polled saying that broadband played an integral role in some part of their business operations.