After investing more than two billion ringgit in building up the 4G infrastructure, product development and network, YTL Communications(YTLC) expects to incur only a limited capex when it rolls out its Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology soon.
According to its CEO, Wing K Lee, the current 4G WiMAX network has been 'future-proofed' as they have built a flat IP network enabling any IP-based technology to just plug in.
He said the company will not be abandoning its WiMax service which it has adopted since November 2010 to roll out its LTE technology. "No, we will not be migrating away from WiMax. Instead we will work hand-in-hand with LTE," he said.
Wing said YTLC's 4G network which covers 85% of the population with over 4,000 base stations, has proven to be robust and will continue to serve its customers well.
He added further that while the mobile WiMAX network has delivered favourable economics, adding LTE to its network would allow for an expanded array of device and service possibilities.
YTLC has completed trial runs and will be rolling out its LTE soon, without giving a definitive date.
Howevert, Wing was reluctant to reveal which LTE variant YTLC is planning to adopt except to say it is
a "newer version".
Wing had previously said that he liked the Time-division-LTE (TD-LTE) spectrum as it is more flexible and efficient compared to Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) spectrum, which is a different standard of LTE 4G technology.
He said the latest version offers faster speed, higher network capacity and at the same time present better quality of Internet multimedia experience.
Wing assured that YTLC should be in a good position to be the first company in Malaysia to launch the newer version of LTE.
"We are looking for the right time and point of entry to launch the new version of LTE," he said.
YTLC will collaborate with Asiaspace Broadband Sdn Bhd's 30MHz allocation on the 2.3GHz band in infrastructure and spectrum sharing.
This collaboration will help avoid duplicity of infrastructure and maximise the use of bandwidth for the wireless broadband services nationwide by both companies to provide quality and uninterrupted services.
YTLC was among the eight companies awarded the LTE spectrum in late 2012. The other companies include Celcom Axiata Bhd, DiGi.Com Bhd, Maxis Bhd, Packet One Networks (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Puncak Semangat Sdn Bhd, REDtone International Bhd and U Mobile Sdn Bhd.
Celcom Axiata, Maxis, DiGi and U Mobile were more aggressive in their LTE rollout. Celcom said it plans to have more than 2,000 LTE sites, while DiGi expressed its plans to have more than 1,500 LTE sites by end of this year. Maxis, which has set aside RM1.1 billion of capital expenditure (capex) this year, said it will spend a significant amount of this capex to expand its LTE coverage.
On another note, Wing said YTLC will be launching the 1BestariNet project in Sarawak this year.
So far, 90% of 10,101 primary and secondary government schools in Malaysia are connected through the cloud-based virtual learning.
So, it looks like YTL Power International may get more cash in its pocket through the advent of YTLC's LTE technologies when they are implemented.
Perhaps, it is time to collect some more YTL Power shares?
