TMI Cambodia to invest RM500m in upgrades

PHNOM PENH: TM International (TMI) Sdn Bhd’s unit Telekom Malaysia International (Cambodia) Co Ltd (TMIC) is investing more than US$150 million (RM500 million) in a rebranding exercise to upgrade its existing network capacity over a three-year period from 2007 to 2009, as part of its strategy to increase its subscriber base in Cambodia.
Under the rebranding exercise, TMIC will add 500 new base transceiver stations (BTS) in rural and provincial sites by 2009, besides doubling its roaming partners from 181 by 2008.
The mobile operator also gave its eight service outlets a facelift by unveiling a new logo for its “hello” brand, and renaming them to “hello points” here yesterday.
TMIC currently has 283,000 subscribers predominantly in the prepaid market. Over the last 12 months, TMIC has invested US$15 million to increase capacity, which can cater to 500,000 subscribers.
TMIC chief executive officer Yusoff Zamri said it expected a 55% growth in customer base in the current financial year 2007, and up to 70% growth in FY08, while the base grew 50% in FY06.
“We also plan to open an additional two “hello” points in the country to cater to the growing customer base,” he told reporters after launching TMIC’s “hello” brand identity here yesterday.
TMIC became TMI’s wholly owned subsidiary after the latter bought a 49% stake in the former company from Thailand-based Samart Corporation in 2006.
TMI chief executive officer Datuk Yusof Annuar Yaacob said: “The brand needs to be rejuvenated, as we want to take away people’s perception that it is still a Thai company.”
He said: “Apart from that, it is our strategy to increase market share in the country by fixing our distribution network outside Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, as our current customer base is only 15%, which is quite low.”
“Since Cambodia has a strong youth population and a booming tourism industry, we want to be able to capitalise on that, besides providing value-added services to customers including 3G and broadband services in the future,” Yusof said.
However, he said the mobile operator would have to wait for the market to mature first before venturing into providing these services.
On TMIC’s planned expansion into Vietnam, Yusof said: “The market in Vietnam is a must-have, by virtue that we are an Asian mobile operator.”
“As a Malaysian company, we also have some soft advantages over other players, as companies like Petronas has been in the country for some time,” he said.
He added that currently, there were only three Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) operators in the country, in which all were owned by the government.
However, the company had yet to enter into talks with the Vietnamese government over its expansion plans in the country, as it was waiting for the decision on opening the telecommunications industry to foreign players, which would be announced next January.
Asked whether TMIC would have strategic partnerships to fund its expansion plans, he said: “There are already some interested parties, but we have not made any decisions yet.”
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