Transitory moments in life

DiGi not guaranteed to get 3G spectrum licence

Keng Yaik: TDC must seek permission for licence transfer

Wednesday November 21, 2007

KUALA LUMPUR: There is no guarantee that DiGi.Com Bhd, which proposed last week to pay more than RM700mil for Time dotCom Bhd’s (TDC) 3G spectrum, will receive the spectrum licence since the latter is non-transferable.Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik said TDC had to write to the ministry and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) for permission to transfer the licence.

“Spectrum licences are not transferable unless with special permission of the minister,” he told the media after opening the three-day ACM 2007 Expo and Forum, and Asean WiMAX Conference yesterday.

Lim said TDC had yet to apply for permission.

“At least it has to write to the minister, and the minister will decide whether to allow the transfer. (I can imagine him sitting on his desk, flipping a coin, “to give DiGi, or not…to give…or not…”)

“I am reminding players that they must get the minister’s permission for a licence transfer,” he said, adding that the ministry would have to know the reason and rationale for the transfer. (So what’s the rationale of leaving an unused spectrum to a service provider who doesn’t even bother/are not capable of using it effectively. As if he doesn’t know how precious spectrum is…Pft!)

Combined with DiGi’s mobility platform, strength and expertise, the two players can create new markets and new revenue streams.

Taken from The Star. Click on the title to continue reading.

Hopefully all goes well, and the deal goes on. *Fingers crossed*

DiGi Telecommunications made a few headlines in the past few days, although in a subtle way which only employees and those who flips to the Business section would know. Just to enlighten some of you, here’s what it’s about.

DiGi-TDC merger set to become a reality

Tie-up will see celco gaining access to 3G spectrum

Yes people, we’re getting the 3G spectrum. With a aggressive roll-out plan, a new increased CAPEX for next year, and apparently a brand new team formed, DiGi is hopeful to roll out their 3G services in Q2 2008. Throw MNP into the picture, and we’ll see a very interesting and fierce competition between the 4 mobile operators.

Contrary to some beliefs, apparently this tie-up is just a joint business development plan, in which most of the benefits comes from sharing of infrastructure or even services, and in no means that Telenor (whose stakes have been reduced to 49% in this move) will be losing it’s stand on DiGi. Both companies will still be separate entity, but will work together in any way that may benefit both sides.

TDC’s shares is now priced at 87 cents. Mom and I are contemplating to grab a few lots, wondering if this business move will actually contribute to some rise in the share price. You can forget about DiGi though, RM 23 something is just way too high.

Moving on…

DiGi named overall winner of PM’s CSR Awards

I’ve never heard of the Corporate Social Responsibility until the open announcement session we had this morning, but it’s great to know that DiGi bagged 3 awards at that event, winning the award for Overall winner, Culture and Heritage and Best Workplace Practice awards. I’ve not really been involved in their charity stuffs (yet), but as for the Best Workplace Practice, I must say they do kind of deserve it. From a company which was as traditional as can be several years ago, they’ve adopted a working culture which not many company in Malaysia adapted. Which brings me to my next story…

Did I ever tell you how comfortable I feel with the culture in DiGi, especially the one where we don’t really address people with Mr./En./Sir or likewise for the female? I can comfortably address people much older than me by just their name. Some people would probably shake their head and say I’m being disrespectful, but being in such environment actually breaks down the barrier of communication, and really just does create a much more conducive and comfortable (I’m using this word a lot) environment to work.

I’ve yet to tell my story…

So I was at this Project Management Office appreciation dinner, where this department invites people from all over DiGi who works directly and indirectly with them to this nice dinner. My colleagues and I reached a lil late, and ended up sitting in the front row table. Oddly enough, you don’t find the main table right in front of the stage with a ‘Reserved’ sign or what not for the big shots of the company, even if you’re expecting the Head of Departments, the Head of HR and also the CTO to come.

So dinner was served buffet style, and when we came back to our seat, lo and behold we found the Head of HR and the new CTO sitting at our table. Imagine the shock my new colleague who just joined less than a month ago had, having this (taller than me!) Norwegian lady sitting beside him. Our extra polite mode automatically came on, although I’ve succeeded in shooting a small chunk of potato (accidentally) to his hand. Imagine if it was me sitting beside the CTO.

Anyways, the night was fun, punctuated with cool lucky draws (2 Nokia phones, anyone?) and stickers (which depending on the number you collected, you’ll be able to choose from a selection of prizes) and funny self made clips by the committee (instead of boring traditional dances or what not) made the night a really enjoyable one. We all certainly went home with a filled stomach, a nice warm feeling knowing we mingle with the DiGi Management Team, and RM 100 richer (in terms of Jusco vouchers, that is).

Cc asked me earlier on the difference between 3G and WiMAX. So here’s a brief explanation on them both, since you might encounter both terms while reading up on the links above.

About 3G

“3G is the third generation of mobile phone standards and technology, after 2G. It is based on the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) family of standards under the International Mobile Telecommunications programme, “IMT-2000”. 3G technologies enable network operators to offer users a wider range of more advanced services while achieving greater network capacity through improved spectral efficiency. Services include wide-area wireless voice telephony and broadband wireless data, all in a mobile environment. Typically, they provide service at 5-10 Mb per second.

Unlike IEEE 802.11 networks, 3G networks are wide area cellular telephone networks which evolved to incorporate high-speed internet access and video telephony. IEEE 802.11 (common home Wi-Fi) networks are short range, high-bandwidth networks primarily developed for data.”

From Wikipedia (3G)

About WiMAX

“WiMAX, the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is a telecommunications technology aimed at providing wireless data over long distances in a variety of ways, from point-to-point links to full mobile cellular type access. It is based on the IEEE 802.16 standard, which is also called WirelessMAN. WiMAX allows a user, for example, to browse the Internet on a laptop computer without physically connecting the laptop to a router, hub or switch via an Ethernet cable. The name WiMAX was created by the WiMAX Forum, which was formed in June 2001 to promote conformance and interoperability of the standard. The forum describes WiMAX as “a standards-based technology enabling the delivery of last mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL.”

From Wikipedia (WiMAX)

Makes sense? Maybe I’ll comment further/or put it in more layman terms in the next post.