Nine players may get a slice of 4G

husagi — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 11:28:00 +0800

QUOTE

Nine players may get a slice of 4G

By B.K. SIDHU
bksidhu@thestar.com.my

A company linked to Syed Mokhtar likely to be a recipient

PETALING JAYA: The Government is expected to dish out nine blocks of spectrum for long-term evolution (LTE) or 4G to nine wireless players soon.

Apart from the four cellular and four WiMAX players each getting a 20Mhz block of 4G spectrum, it is learnt that a company linked to billionaire Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukary will also be a recipient of a block of the spectrum.

The entry of a new player into the telecoms scene is not new via the award of spectrum. When the last spectrum for the 2.3G WiMAX was offered, YTL Group got itself into the telecoms business and its unit, YTL Communications Bhd, is gearing for a November launch of its WiMAX-based services nationwide.

The 4G spectrum award would mark a major milestone for the sector as it would allow for the kind of rich applications currently enjoyed by wired broadband to be enjoyed on hand-held devices.

The award also puts Malaysia ahead of many countries as many are still grappling with 3G spectrum awards.

The players that might get the award were the four cellular players, namely Celcom Axiata Bhd, DiGi.Com Bhd, Maxis Bhd and U Mobile Sdn Bhd, and the four WiMAX players were Asiaspace Sdn Bhd, Packet One Network (M) Sdn Bhd, REDtone International Bhd and YTL Communications, according to sources.

Each player would get a 20Mhz block of the 2.5G and 2.6G spectrum, which comprise the 70Mhz and 120Mhz blocks respectively, or totalling 190Mhz.

The process of award is unclear and whether there will be a fee for the spectrum is also not known.

“The thinking of the Government this time around is not to deprive any player that is serious about rolling out next generation-type services of a spectrum which can help them offer rich applications for users. That is why all wireless players get a slice each,” a source said.

This new way of awarding spectrum is a huge contrast to the 3G spectrum bidding process. Unfortunately, even with a bidding process some deserving parties did not get the 3G spectrum. One party had to pay huge sums to buy a spectrum of the other.

The Government had earlier identified 2.6G for LTE. As for 2.5G, the regulator under the spectrum re-farming exercise had managed to get back the 2.5G spectrum from the spectrum holders and is now re-farming it for better usage.

How the players are going to use the additional spectrum is unclear but most of them are hoping for more spectrum given the robust growth of Internet penetration in the country.

The LTE is said to be the natural migration path to the 3G, whereas for WiMAX and even though there is a fight for 4G supremacy, LTE and WiMAX technologies complement each other in many ways.

Both Maxis and Celcom are undertaking trials to test this new 4G LTE technology to see how they can deploy richer offerings for their users. Maxis had worked with Huawei while Celcom is working with Huawei and Ericsson on the trials.

LTE is set to be the dawn of a new generation in mobile communications. It is expected to facilitate a device-to-device communication across mobile networks and if LTE truly lives up to the hype, consumers will be able to use their mobile phone in the same way they use their desktop computer. This will create a truly interactive and new experience for them, thus the need for the Government to give players the spectrum.

Note: When the writer refers to 2.3G, 2.5G, 2.6G et al, she really meant GHz, not G as in Generation... so not to be confused with 2.5G (GPRS/EDGE), 3G or 4G.

Suspicious PM in my Inbox

husagi — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 19:00:19 +0800

Moderator/Admin, please check my Inbox for message dated July 9 @ 1:04am. Appears that someone may have used my LYN account to cheat another user.

FYI, I have not logged into LYN for many many many moons already - if there had been recent "activities" prior to this, then my account has been compromised.

Possible Streamyx Webmail Phishing Attempt?

husagi — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 15:37:14 +0800

Did anyone receive an SMS this morning (timestamp 27 June 2007, around 9:15am), from short code 63333 (this is a TMNet-registered shortcode), stating the following?

QUOTE

TM Net: Important notice at your <az34k@streamyx.com>. Go to webmail.tm.net.my and and login with your streamyx password

What threw me off was that the account name az34k@streamyx.com is not my account, but it was stated as such, in my SMS.

Moreover, when I downloaded my Streamyx emails via POP3 protocol instead of via the Webmail interface, I found no such "Important Notice" from TMNet today.

Anyone else received similar SMS this morning?

Gaim is now Pidgin!

husagi — Wed, 16 May 2007 21:17:48 +0800

It's a week-old news, but for those unaware, Gaim (the ever popular multi-protocol IM client) has been renamed Pidgin, following a legal settlement with AOL recently.

http://www.pidgin.im/

Beastie retiring?

husagi — Tue, 15 Mar 2005 13:23:13 +0800

This is sorta old news (3 weeks old), but since I didn't see this posted anywhere here before, I'll do the honor.

http://logo-contest.freebsd.org/announce.txt

FreeBSD Foundation is calling for participation in designing a new logo. Looks like the beastie we BSD fans came to love _may_ be retiring... as a logo anyway. Thank heavens they're keeping beastie as their mascot!

Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by husagi

Nine players may get a slice of 4G

Suspicious PM in my Inbox

Possible Streamyx Webmail Phishing Attempt?

Gaim is now Pidgin!

Beastie retiring?