Newspaper Cutting of Asiaspace's Soft launchin in Seri Beringin
31st July 2008

"With our experience in infrastructure, we will be in a good position to succeed in our WiMAX roll-out," he told reporters after the launch of the wireless broadband service at Seri Beringin, Damansara Heights, here Thursday.

The launch was officiated by Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission's chief operating officer Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi, Island & Peninsular Bhd's group managing director Datuk Jamaludin Osman and Asiaspace's chairman Datuk Abdul Ghani Abdullah.

Masron said Asiaspace, which planned to invest RM500 million over the next three to five years, is set to launch its first WiMAX coverage next month.

He said that the investment will take less than five years because of the bundled gadgets such as wireless modem, wireless access point/wireless bridge client (CPE), wireless or WiMAX personal digital assistant will flood the market next year.

Amid the growing demand for access, this will encourage Asiaspace to spend more to expand its coverage, he added.

Asiaspace, established in 1996, was appointed by the government to build telecommunications towers for cellular companies under the sharing of infrastructure concept.

According to Masron, Asiaspace's advantage is that the company erects, owns and leases the telecommunication infrastructure, adding it currently owns about 100 telecommunications towers nationwide.

WiMAX or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, functions similarly like WiFi technology. The difference is that WiMAX covers a wider range up to tens of kilometres.

"Asiaspace is currently making significant progress on its WiMAX initiative, which is branded 'amax'," Abdul Ghani said.

"We will begin with deploying 10 sites in the Klang Valley and this will be extended to 128 sites covering 25 percent of the Malaysian population by year-end," he said.

The partnership between Asiaspace and Island & Peninsular was to provide wireless broadband coverage for about 600 residents in the 42-acre Seri Beringin development.

Under phase one of the Seri Beringin wireless broadband project, Asiaspace is providing Seri Beringin residents with WiFi service and it plans to upgrade this to a full-fledged WiMAX service over the next few months.

The current WiFi service is made available for free for the next 12 months.

He said the aim is to provide house buyers with the added advantage of having integrated wireless broadband access in all I&P developments. Asiaspace’s wireless broadband access service is already available to Seri Beringin residents.

Seri Beringin, a much sought after address in Bukit Damansara, nestles between Jalan Setiabistari and Jalan Beringin. Spread out on 42 acres of rolling land, the development offers limited units of semi-detached houses, bungalow lots and exclusive bungalow homes. In addition, it offers an elite gated and guarded precinct housing 14 bungalows and eight semi-detached homes for rent.

Under phase one of the Seri Beringin wireless broadband project, Asiaspace is offering Seri Beringin residents with WiFi service, but the company plans to upgrade this service to a full fledged WiMAX service over the next few months. The current WiFi service will be made available for free for the next 12 months.

“The Seri Beringin project will use WiFi technology operating on the 2.4GHz frequency at 512 kilobits per second. We will provide other options in the future if there is a need for higher access speeds,” said Asiaspace chairman Datuk Abdul Ghani Abdullah.

Asiaspace is currently making significant progress on its WiMAX initiative, which is branded “amax”. “We are currently finalizing our pricing strategy and are planning a soft launch soon. We will begin with deploying 10 sites in the Klang Valley and this will be extended to 128 sites covering 25 per cent of the country’s population by year-end,” Abdul Ghani said.

Meanwhile, apart from the sought after Seri Beringin development, I&P is also developing 10 townships in the Klang Valley and Negeri Sembilan. One of them is the popular and equally sought after Bandar Kinrara in Puchong. Sitting on 1,904 acres of undulating land this freehold township offers a variety of homes priced from RM368,888 and the commercial units from RM1.6 million.

Another I&P’s township that is fast gaining recognition is Alam Impian. Resting on 1,235 acres of elevated land in Shah Alam, Alam Impian is the first I&P development that carries a definite theme throughout its township. Dubbed the ‘Township of The Arts’, the project incorporates art themes in most of its buildings, design layout and facilities. A highway is currently being constructed to connect the township with other locales in Shah Alam. The Lebuhraya Kemuning – Shah Alam (LKSA) will provide the public access to the township from the KESAS and Federal Highways. Homes in Alam Impian are priced from RM325,000.

The latest I&P township launched is Alam Sari in Bangi. A successor to Alam Impian, this 432 freehold development carries the theme of academia, complimenting its surroundings in the academic area of Bangi. Alam Sari is expected to attract house buyers from the neighbouring institutions and individuals eager to be part of the ‘Neighbourhood of Academia’. Homes in Alam Sari are priced from RM285,110.

Asiaspace awards WiMAX contract to Huawei
18th June 2008 - Singapore


From left, Huawei Vice President (South Pacific) Mr Leon He,
Director Commercial Banking HSBC (M) Berhad Mr Beh Wee kee,
Huawei WiMAX Director Mr Wu Hui, Asiaspace Chairman Datuk Abdul Ghani Abdullah,
Asiaspace Director Tengku Mustaffa Kamel, Asiaspace Director Dato' Ismail Osman,
Senior Regional Credit Manager HSBC (M) Berhad Mr Lee Chin Eng.

Asiaspace Chairman, Datuk Abdul Ghani Abdullah (right)
shakes hand with Huawei Vice President (South Pacific)
Mr Leon He (centre), Huawei WiMAX Director Mr Wu Hui (left).

Asiaspace Sdn Bhd, one of four companies awarded with the 2.3 GHz WiMAX spectrum in Malaysia, has awarded Huawei Technologies Co Ltd with a contract to supply the company with an end-to-end WiMAX solution.
The contract means that Asiaspace will work closely with Huawei to deploy a commercial WiMAX network throughout Malaysia. WiMAX is a technology standard that uses radio frequencies to blanket large areas with high-speed Internet access.

"I am pleased to pick Huawei as our WiMAX equipment supplier. Huawei has exhibited total commitment to the project throughout our selection process, and the company has proven itself to be one of the leaders in this fast-developing technology," said Asiaspace chairman, Datuk Abdul Ghani Abdullah.

He said that Asiaspace was impressed with Huawei's localized engineering and delivery capability and this was one of the main reasons why the company has been contracted to design and install a network including base stations, gateways and management systems for Asiaspace.

Asiaspace announced its partnership with Huawei at CommunicAsia 2008, the region's premier Information and Communications Technology event.

Huawei's WiMAX solution integrates the most advanced technologies such as multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), which features high bandwidth, wide area coverage, large capacity, as well as providing better mobility.

“Huawei's new base stations, will enable Asiaspace to quickly roll out innovative new services to its customers, while reducing Total Cost of Ownership (TCO),” said Huawei South Pacific Vice President, Mr. Leon He.
He said that with Huawei’s rich delivery experience and professional localized engineering team, we are confident that we can help Asiaspace to provide an excellent wireless broadband service.

As a leading WiMAX solution supplier, Huawei actively promotes the development of WiMAX and has more than 1500 engineers engaged in WiMAX R&D. The company has more than 200 engineers dedicated to the Malaysian market. With Huawei as its technology partner, Asiaspace aims to become a leading WiMAX player in Malaysia within five years, as it offers affordable and reliable broadband services to homes and offices.

"We plan to spend about RM500 million over the next three to five years to roll out our wireless broadband service. We hope to become Malaysia's top WiMAX player by 2012 in terms of revenue and number of subscribers," Abdul Ghani said.

Asiaspace, known for its capability of building telecommunication towers for mobile operators throughout Malaysia aims to provide 40 per cent of the Malaysian population with Internet broadband access through its WiMAX service by 2010.
The company is all set to roll out its service in the third quarter of this year with the target of covering 25 per cent of the population in Peninsular Malaysia by year-end.This will then be increased to 30 per cent in the following year before hitting 40 per cent in 2010.

"The rollout will start in the Klang Valley and expanded to major cities, urban and suburban areas to the north and south of the West Coast of the peninsula. We will be covering the East Coast next year," Abdul Ghani said.

Telco Towers for Asiaspace WiMAX - Wireless Broadband Services by Year-End
3rd April 2007 - StarBiz

Asiaspace Sdn Bhd, one of the four WiMax licence winners, will use all the 82 telecommunications towers that it has installed in the country to offer wireless broadband access in Peninsular Malaysia by year-end.
Chairman Datuk Abdul Ghani Abdullah told StarBiz:

"We intend to roll out the services both in the rural areas and urban centres, and having the towers in place is advantageous to our roll-out plan."

"We are taking steps to speed up the process so we can offer services by year-end in some areas."

Established five years ago, Asiaspace was appointed by the Government to build telecommunications towers for cellular companies under the sharing of infrastructure concept. Of the towers it has built since 2003, most are in the Klang Valley. While it will start with the towers as its network infrastructure for its WiMax 2.3GHz offering, Asiaspace also intends to ride on the existing fibre-optic networks to offer wireless broadband access. Ghani said Asiaspace would work with any company to meet fibre-optic infrastructure requirements. Companies such as Time dotCom Bhd, Telekom Malaysia Bhd and Fiberail have planted vast tracks of fibre optics; even cellular companies such as Maxis Communications Bhd and DiGi.Com have their own fibre networks.

Ghani added:” We will follow our plans submitted to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, which outline in detail our network rollout and how we want to reach out in terms of sales and marketing as we have identified our target market”.  He declined to elaborate on the business and network plans, merely saying that these would be unveiled in due time.
“We at Asiaspace will try to make our service offerings as cheap as possible,” he said.
On the funding to build the network to offer wireless broadband access, he said: ‘We will have to raise the money to fund the rollout and are in talks with several parties.” The peninsula-wide rollout could cost the company RM300mil to RM400mil depending on the speed, coverage and quality. WiMAX, or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is an emerging technology that helps telcos offer high speed Internet access, enabling faster downloads for laptops, mobile phones and other devices.

Asiaspace, TNB in landmark deal - Firm to Provide Broadband Services via Optic Fibre Network 
16th September 2006 -  NST: Biznews

Asiaspace DotCom Sdn Bhd, a company led by businessman Datuk Abdul Ghani Abdullah, has entered into a landmark agreement with Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB), enabling it to provide broadband services by using the latter's fibre optic network.

Business Times was told that the agreement enables Asiaspace to utilise TNB's vast fibre optic network - believed to be around 10,000km, as well as its facilities to offer duct fibre services and lease line services to businesses and eventually home users. When contacted at his office in Kuala Lumpur, Asiaspace's general manager Muhd Yusof Arifin confirmed that Asiaspace will be offering competitively priced broadband services by using TNB's vast fibre optic network.

However, he declined to reveal the commercial arrangements between Asiaspace and TNB. Industry players believe that the TNB-Asiaspace alliance is a step in the right direction for TNB as the only way the state-owned utility company can leverage on its extensive fibre optic network is by leasing it to a Network Facilities Provider (NFP) licencee like Asiaspace and splitting the revenue.

An NFP licence, issued by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, gives the licence holder the right to provide, construct and maintain facilities like earth stations, satellite hubs, towers, poles, ducts and pits.

Asiaspace is among several companies which have an NFP licence, but the former's licence is a special kind that does not have restrictions, which makes it attractive to TNB.
With such a licence, the door will be open for Asiaspace to penetrate further into the information and communications technology (ICT) services industry, and even become one of the members of the proposed national telecommunications infrastructure and management company.

Last month, Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik said a telecommunications infrastructure and management company was in the works.
The minister said the company may be formed with the ultimate aim of ensuring every home is wired by fibre optic that allows faster broadband Internet speed. The company, possibly to be called the National Infocomm Infrastructure Management Corp (Niimco), will be responsible for building and managing telecommunications infrastructure. While the details of Niimco have yet to be finalised, the company may be owned by a consortium that may comprise the Government, Telekom Malaysia Bhd and other industry players. The infrastructure company will become industry neutral. "The Government feels that there is a need for Niimco because it is the Governmen's intention to bring fibre optics to homes in order to get the maximum speed available to move forward into the future," a telco executive said.
He said TNB, in its own right, has the required infrastructure and land base be a big player in the ICT business. "TNB can utilise technologies  which will enable the company to send data and voice using its existing power  lines and grid," the telco executive said, but added that it will need the NFP licence  to do so.

He said there is no disputing that Asiaspace and TNB can generate massive synergy from the business  not least in leveraging new technologies to off consumers high-spec broadband access to the internet.
With its huge customer  base, TNB already has a captive market for a host of ICT services.

Land Directive Set To Boost Phone Coverage
20th December 2003 - Business Times

The Minister Of Energy, Communications and Multimedia, Yang Berhormat Datuk Amar Leo Moggie acknowledged that land issues, such as delays in securing sites and approvals to erect base transceiver stations (BTS) are some of the hiccups toward attaining blanket mobile phone coverage.

Telcos, Asiaspace Sign Pact On Sharing Of Towers
24th May 2003 - Business Times

Yang Berhormat Datuk Amar Leo Moggie and Datuk Dr. Halim Shafie (Chief Secretary to The Ministry Of Energy, Communications and Multimedia) witnessed the signing of the License Agreeement between Asiaspace and Celcom, Maxis and Digi to speed up nationwide cellular coverage. He further added that " As far as the government policy is concerned, we want to have one company building the infrastructure"

Meanwhile, Maxis Communications Berhad which was represented by it's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Datuk Jamaluddin Ibrahim said that he expects the common-sharing of towers to help Maxis reduce its capital expenditure. "In terms of cost savings, it's very much difficult to quantify how much we will save as all operators have different plans, but our upfront cost will be reduced".

Telcos Seal Agreement To Share Infrastructure
3rd May 2003 - Business Times

Yang Berhormat Datuk Amar Leo Moggie witnessed the signing of The Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) between Asiaspace Dotcom Sdn Bhd and Celcom Malaysia Berhad, Maxis Mobile Sdn Bhd and Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd.

The Telcos provided locations for 100 towers and these locations included strategic areas such as The Multimedia Super Corridor ( MSC) main highways and tourist areas throughout the country.