YTL Com to sign pacts with several partners

PETALING JAYA: YTL Communications Sdn Bhd (YTL Com), which is planning a commercial nationwide roll-out of its WiMAX wireless service in July next year, will also use its network as a test bed for WiMAX-enabled devices and applications.

Tomorrow, the YTL Power Bhd unit is slated to sign agreements with several partners, including US-based chipmaker GCT Semiconductor Inc, to fund a global programme to get innovators and creators from all over the world to develop applications for WiMAX.

This move may also see device makers using Malaysia as their springboard to test their WiMAX-enabled devices.
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YTL fined RM1.9 million

KUALA LUMPUR–Malaysia’s telecommunications regulator has fined three of the country’s four WiMax licensees a total of 3.8 million ringgit (US$1.1 million) for failing to meet the required network coverage.

According to local media reports, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) earlier this month sent letters containing the result of its audit on network coverage by the four WiMax licensees. The regulator had reportedly instructed a drawdown of the performance bond or bank guarantee parked as a way to compel compliance.

The penalties are seen as a sign the government is losing patience with the mobile operators, which were awarded WiMax licenses in March 2007.

The MCMC then had given licensees until year-end to ensure their network coverage spanned 25 percent of the population in their allotted areas. It later extended the deadline to end-2008 and issued a warning that failure to comply could result in licenses being revoked. Information, Communications, Culture and Arts Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim also recently reminded the MCMC to ensure providers delivered on what they had promised.

Only Packet One Networks (P1) met the target and was spared the indignity of being sanctioned.

YTL E-Solutions, the only licensee that has yet to roll out commercial services, received the heftiest penalty of 1.9 million ringgit (US$555,190). Asiaspace was fined 1.7 million ringgit (US496,750), while REDtone International escaped with a lower 210,000 ringgit (US$61,363) penalty.
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YTL making its 4G move

GOOD NEWS: Lee speaking at a press briefing on the sidelines of the IAP meeting in Putrajaya last week.

A 4G Innovation Network will help facilitate YTL Communications Sdn Bhd’s 4G (fourth generation) wireless broadband service across the nation next year.

The network will be employed to develop applications and devices for use with its 4G mobile Internet service, said Wing K. Lee, chief executive officer of YTL Communications.

He was speaking at a press briefing on the sidelines of the International Advisory Panel meeting in Putrajaya last week.

One of the four WiMAX ­licensees in the country, YTL will design, build and operate the 4G infrastructure and network, which is scheduled to be ­operational by end 2010.

It has partnered with Cisco Systems Inc, Clearwire Communications, GCT Semiconductor Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd to develop the 4G Innovation Network.

YTL describes 4G as the next-generation mobile broadband technology that combines the convenience of a WiFi hotspot with the mobility of a cellular service, and provides high-speed connections at low cost.
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YTL forms new 4G network group

YTL Communications Sdn Bhd has led the formation of the 4G Innovation Network in Malaysia, with the aid of bigwig technology industry players Cisco, Clearwire, GCT Semiconductor and Samsung.

To inspire the developers who take part in the 4G Innovation Network to create exciting new products and services that address consumers’ needs, YTL Communications will sponsor a global competition—the mY Prize—in 2010. A total of Rs.4.88 crore ($1 million) will be awarded to help entrepreneurs and innovators realise their best ideas and then offer them to consumers on a nationwide level. More details will be announced by January.
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Lee is CEO of YTL Comm

MOBILE Internet service provider YTL Communications Sdn Bhd has appointed Wing K. Lee as its chief executive officer (CEO).

A graduate from the University of Texas at Austin, US, Lee has worked for 15 years at Sprint Nextel, where he held senior management positions driving product development for the company’s WiMAX division.

He also founded and managed Sprint’s Technology Innovation Programme, and led Enterprise Architecture for the launch of the first nationwide wireless data network in the US.

http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/20091105003121/Article/