YTL Comm not vying for stake in P1

PETALING JAYA: YTL Communications Sdn Bhd is out of the running for a controlling stake in Green Packets Bhd’s mobile broadband unit, Packet One Networks Sdn Bhd (P1).
Its CEO Wing K Lee (pix) quashed speculation that the telecommunications arm of YTL Corp Bhd was bidding for the WiMax operator.
“No, it’s not true,” Wing told SunBiz, when asked to comment on reports of its participation. However, he neither confirmed nor denied that the company was interested in a stake in P1.
Asked if YTL Communications conducted due diligence on P1, Wing said, “No comment.”
Green Packet Bhd is slated to announce the successful buyer of its 57% stake in P1 which owns valuable wireless spectrum this month.
YTL Communications was said to be among the frontrunners, which included DiGi.com Bhd and Telekom Malaysia Bhd, for the P1 stake.
P1 owns 30 megahertz (MHz) in the 2.3GHz band, currently used to roll out its WiMax broadband services, and was one of the nine companies awarded 20MHz of the 2.6GHz spectrum in 2012, which is fit for long-term evolution (LTE) or 4G-LTE type of services in the future.
LTE, commonly marketed as 4G LTE, is a standard for wireless communication of high-speed data for mobile phones and data terminals.
The other eight companies given the 2.6GHz licences by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission in 2012 were YTL Communications, Celcom Axiata Bhd, DiGi.com, Maxis Bhd, U Mobile Sdn Bhd, REDtone International Bhd, Asiaspace Broadband Sdn Bhd and newcomer Puncak Semangat, which is owned by local billionaire Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary.
YTL Communications, which has adopted WiMax since November 2010, is close to rolling out LTE technology.
Wing said YTL Communications has completed trial runs and will be rolling out its LTE soon, without giving a definitive date.
He denied that YTL Communications is eyeing a takeover of Asiaspace Broadband’s 30MHz allocation on the 2.3GHz band. Instead, Wing said, they will collaborate in infrastructure and spectrum sharing.
“With the collaboration, (we will avoid) duplicity of infrastructure and maximise the use of bandwidth for the wireless broadband services nationwide by both companies to provide quality and uninterrupted services,” Asiaspace stated in its website.
Collaboration among telcos is nothing new. For instance, Maxis has forged collaborations for spectrum-sharing with REDtone to provide 4G-LTE coverage, while Celcom Axiata will roll out 4G infrastructure jointly with Puncak Semangat.