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All four mobile WiMAX operators have been given a deadline of until August next month to commercially launch the WiMAX service in Malaysia.
“There will be a penalty imposed on the operators if they fail to meet
the deadline” said Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission
(MCMC) Senior Director for Technology and Standards Division, Mr.
Zamani Zakariah when queried on what will happen should the operators
not meet the deadline set.
He was responding to questions asked after
his presentation on the High Speed Broadband Project (HSBB) at the FTTH Council
Asia Pacific Kuala Lumpur Conference & Exhibition 2008 today. He also said
about RM30 million will be allocated initially by the Government for promotion
and awareness on HSBB.
Of the current status of the WiMAX rollout,
operator P1 was supposed to roll out their mobile WiMAX services last month but
was later delayed until further notice. According to its Chief Executive
Officer Michael Lai, P1 will launch the service once the current ongoing user
trial meets their expectations.
Last month, another operator, YTL
e-Solutions (YTLe) announced that it has partnered with Sprint Nextel from the
US for WiMAX, but did not reveal a specific launch time. The other two mobile
WiMAX operators, Asiaspace and Redtone, have not provided further details about
their launch plans.
When asked about other penalties that might
be considered, Zamani did not deny the possibility that the Government might cancel
the WiMAX license if the operators failed
to roll out the WiMAX service by the second deadline after paying the penalty.
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