TM: Broadband market big enough for all (4863)

KUALA LUMPUR: Telekom Malaysia Bhd's (TM) customer base for its Unifi
services has swelled to 393,000. But, with impending competition from
the cellular players that are entering its home services turf, its lion
market share of high-speed Internet broadband will come under pressure
soon.
“We will be affected by competition and we expect 10% to
20% of share going to other players in the medium to long term. It is
similar to what happens in other markets where there is competition,''
TM executive vice president of TM Consumer Imri Mokhtar said in an
interview yesterday.
But he also feels the market is big enough for all and this is evident from the “high take-up rate for TM's Unifi services.''
“Our
subscriber base is increasing and that is a reflection of how hungry
people are of high-speed Internet services. Looking at our current run
rate we would be able to able to breach the 400,000 target by this or
next month. There is strong demand for our services, even though more
players are coming into the market,'' he said, adding that “the entry
of new players would certainly be beneficial for the market.''
TM's internal target is to have 400,000 Unifi subscribers by year-end.
Under
the private/public partnership with the Government, TM is deploying
high-speed broadband (HSBB) access and by year-end it would have wired
up 1.3 million premises. Thus far it has provided access to 1.22
million premises.
Imri said of the 393,000 users, half were TM
Streamyx users who had migrated to HSBB and the remaining were new
subscribers that were not TM's customers.
“It is interesting times for us as we are seeing a new market (growing for us) out there,'' Imri said.
Maxis Bhd
is set to launch its IPTV services this month and there is speculation
that Maxis' rates will be very competitive. In May, Maxis launched
dropped rates for its high-speed Internet services (part of its home
services offering) to RM118 per month for 10Mbp, and had received
“overwhelming'' response.
To offer IPTV, Maxis will ride on TM's HSBB platform and so will rival Celcom Axiata Bhd, which intends to enter the home services market space later this year.
Competition
in the home services space will get hotter and the irony is that the
cellular players will ride on TM's HSBB to give competition to the
incumbent.
TM on its own offers retail services on its platform via Unifi, which was first launched in March 2010.
Asked
if TM was going to drop rates when Maxis launches its IPTV services,
Imri said TM already had a compelling proposition as it offered some
free channels and subscribers had the flexibility to opt to “pay for
what they want.''
“With HyppTV (TM's IPTV) you can pay for what
you want, or opt for 30 channels at RM30 a month. Our's is (certainly)
different from the rest of the players and we already have a high
take-up rate for our services ... (so it is compelling),'' he added.
Though
there is demand for its services, TM also needs to get into offering
sports content which it is lacking in its HyppTV offering and it wants
to create greater awareness of its voice offering besides IPTV and
access.
“We offer free calls from fixed to fixed and from fixed
to cellular it is only 10 sen if you are a Unifi subscriber on specific
plan. Those that are on the plan are maximising on our voice
services,'' he said, adding that it would continue to improve the
current line-up of its content offering, and “sports is an area that we
want to get into.''
TM has 2.8 million customers for all its range of products.

+1 TM so confident