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KUALA LUMPUR: Tricubes Bhd is set to launch the controversial 1Malaysia myemail service in September, its chief executive Khairun Mokhtar said.

“The project is in its final stages of implementation. The email product is done and the portal is ready,” he said, explaining that what’s left is the integration works. “We are ready to go live in August but we will wait until after Hari Raya for the launch. We will do testing during the fasting month [in August],” Khairun told The Edge Financial Daily when contacted.

Originally slated for launch in July, the myemail service, which is expected to cost Tricubes RM50 million in investments over 10 years, received much criticism when it was announced in April as the 1Malaysia e-mail project. One of the main contentions was the delivery service charge, expected to be 50 sen per email. Subscribers would incur additional charges for additional security features. Charges will also be imposed on payment transactions.

A GN3 company, because its shareholders’ funds have shrunk to less than 50% of its paid-up capital, Tricubes expects to pay for the project using internally generated funds as well as cash flow from on-going projects, Khairun said. “The [internal] funds should sustain us between 12 and 18 months. We are also doing a few simulations to see if we need more funds but there is no urgency,” he said.

As at Dec 31, 2010, the ACE Market-listed company had shareholders’ funds of RM6.43 million, versus its share capital of RM13.4 million.

Its net debt stood at RM1.75 million on the same date, translating into a 27.2% net gearing. Tricubes faces delisting if it fails to submit a regularisation plan to Bursa Malaysia by October.
Khairun did not dispute the project is a lifeline for the company.

In a press conference in April, Khairun did not deny that the project is a lifeline for the company. Tricubes has targeted about 5.4 million subscribers by year-end. The government has set a KPI (Key Performance Indicator) of 50% take-up rate for those above 18 years’ old by 2012 and 100% by 2015.

Analysts and observers have, however, questioned the need for such a project given the availability of a number of free email services. They reckon the service could well end up as just an inbox for official mail, at the expense of Pos Malaysia’s snail mail services. Analysts have also pointed out that My EG Services Bhd is already providing government-to-citizen (G2C) services.

Tricubes shares hit a 52-week high on April 21 at 45 sen when news of myemail emerged. It closed at 14.5 sen yesterday.