NEWS: HSBB trial moving smoothly

KUALA LUMPUR: More than 122 households in Bangsar, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Subang Jaya and Shah Alam here are currently involved in a High Speed Broadband (HSBB) retail service trial.

The trial is part of Telekom Malaysia Bhd’s (TM) plan to roll out its commercial HSBB services in the four initial rollout areas by the end of Q1 in 2010.

TM said the trial will give it the opportunity to test its systems, processes, fibre installation methodology, etc, with an eye to providing an enhanced customer service experience when the commercial service is offered later in that quarter.

These “beta testers” are experiencing and enjoying network access speeds of 15Mbps (megabits per second) along with the related triple-play services of voice, video and high-speed Internet, TM announced.

TM has completed two pilot consumer studies to determine the best composition and pricing options for its proposed HSBB retail packages, which will comprise basic and add-on services.

“I want to reassure all interested early adopters out there that our upcoming HSBB retail packages will be attractive in terms of both value and pricing,” said Datuk Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa, group chief executive officer at TM.

“After all, we want to draw in as many early adopters in the four initial rollout areas as we can; and we hope their positive experience will be an endorsement for the rest of the country when HSBB comes to their doorstep.”

What you get

HSBB promises faster network access speeds (port speed) in excess of the current fastest available Broadband for the General Public (BBGP) speeds of 4Mbps offered by TM’s existing streamyx service.

HSBB also targets superior end-to-end network performance, including international bandwidth — given TM’s investment in international submarine linkages, including the recently activated Asia-America Gateway (AAG), which went live on Nov 10.

“Given the pioneering nature of our last-mile fibre installation in Malaysia and the sensitive nature of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) installation, which requires a high-degree of accuracy, the expected on-premise installation time will be about six to eight hours as it will involve site survey, drilling, ducting, piping, some electrical work and finally equipment reconfiguration.

“This is typical of the experience of many telcos around the world who have engaged in FTTH deployment,” said Zamzamzairani.

To date, TM has a “premises passed” achievement of 143,000 with a target completion of 150,000 premises passed by year end.

By Dec 31, TM also expects to complete 100% physical upgrade work in the four exchanges of Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Subang Jaya, Shah Alam and Bangsar.

Currently, physical fibre access work in 44 exchanges out of 95 exchanges earmarked for HSBB network rollout nationwide is ongoing.

On the horizon

By the end of 2012 — in accordance with the completion of the first phase of the national HSBB project rollout as agreed with the Government — about 1.3 million premises nationwide will have access to HSBB services.

The nationwide areas, identified as Zone 1 will include the Inner Klang Valley, Iskandar Malaysia, and key industrial sites around the nation.

Thus far, TM’s capital expenditure spent from Q4 2008 till Oct 30 has been RM1.4bil, covering last mile access, IP core deployment and capacity expansion for international links.

It has received government reimbursement on this, which is in line with the stated commitments under the Public Private Partnership agreement.

TM is Malaysia’s leading integrated information and communications group.