TM COLLABORATES WITH MILAN UTAMA FOR CONTENT ENHANCEMENT OF MALAYSIAN GPS NAVIGATION SOLUTION

Lokatoo GPS to include Yellow Pages listings and TM WiFi sites

True to its pledge of continuously supporting local SMEs, Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) today signed a Collaborative Agreement with Milan Utama Sdn Bhd (Milan Utama) for a strategic partnership between the two leading brands in their respective industries to provide enhanced content for a Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation solution.

Under the agreement, both parties will be collaborating in various initiatives to further enhance the content of Lokatoo, a GPS navigation system developed by Milan Utama; also touted as the first fully Malaysian made GPS. Through this partnership, Yellow Pages business listings and TM WiFi sites will also be embedded into the GPS navigation system; a synergy that will provide a richer content of directory information for Lokatoo users and bring a whole new meaning to navigating. With the easy access to more than 3,500 of the existing categories in Yellow Pages’ listing and extensive updated maps powered by TM detailing the whereabouts of more than 23,000 TM WiFi sites, the Lokatoo GPS Navigator is set to become a richer and more powerful navigation tool.Point me in the right direction!
A Yellow Pages representative with a Lokatoo GPS device. The device now contains embedded Yellow Pages business listings and TM WiFi sites.

Azizi A Hadi, Executive Vice President, SME, TM, represented TM at the signing ceremony while Dato' Wan Mohamad Saleh Wan Mahmood, Executive Chairman, Milan Utama Sdn Bhd signed the agreement on behalf of Milan Utama.

Speaking at the event, Azizi was pleased with the strategic partnership with Milan Utama and was optimistic on the potential benefits that this collaboration will bring, especially to the SME segment. This partnership adds another chapter for TM, in line with its aspiration to become the Preferred Communications and Solutions partner to SMEs in Malaysia.
(from left to right) Alfian Abu Talib, Chief Executive Officer, TM Info Media, Mohamad Yusman Ammeran, General Manager, SME, TM, Azizi A Hadi, Executive Vice President, SME, TM, Dato’ Wan Mohamad Saleh Wan Mahmood, Executive Chairman, Milan Utama Sdn Bhd and YTM Tunku Dato’ Seri Kamel Tunku Rijaludin, Chairman of Amtel Holdings Bhd. at the recent signing ceremony of collaborative agreement on content enhancement in Lokatoo GPS, at Menara TM, Kulala Lumpur.

“I believe that the partnership established between TM and Milan Utama will bring both parties closer towards the development of a complete navigational system in Malaysia. It is great to see that this venture has brought another local company to a new level - a step further to stay competitive in navigation industry.”

“TM is indeed proud to collaborate with Milan Utama, which happens to be one of our customers from the SME segment and also the first local company that produces a GPS navigational device. This collaboration portrays TM’s unwavering support to Malaysian companies in developing our own local brand with the spirit of ‘Malaysia Boleh!’ I would like to reiterate, with TM as your partner, our resources are your resources to grow and realise your potential,” added Azizi.

Commenting on the partnership, Dato’ Wan Mohamed Saleh shared, “Today, we are one of the few companies in the world to own a navigation engine and of course remain the only one in Malaysia. With the excellent partnership with TM and the support of our car makers, we would continuously improve and invest to ensure that we develop a world class product that can continue towards satisfy the demands of the car industry at all times.”

With this collaboration, subscribers of TM’s newly launched SME-centric product Marketing Tools will also benefit from more exposure through Yellow Pages’ directory listing. Their presence would no longer be bounded to the directory pages on the Internet, but are now extended to GPS screen in vehicles. Through a feature available on the Lokatoo GPS device, potential customers are routed straight to advertisers’ door steps upon a company name or telephone numbers search. Alternatively, users can search by categories to look for specific business listing that they need.

Adopting the navigation map powered by TM also offers additional unique advantage of being able to search a location in Lokatoo by telephone numbers. With TM being a major fixed line service provider, the Lokatoo now has close to 30,000 popular commercial telephone numbers in its database and more will be added over time via careful selection of commercial telephone numbers relevant to a GPS user. This new search feature allows users an alternative to the traditional way of searching by road names or Point of Interest (POI).

Another interesting feature of the map in the Lokatoo GPS navigation system is that it also indicates the locations equipped with TM WiFi access. In an increasingly connected world, this feature is indeed useful in identifying a WiFi site where you can get connected while on-the-go. Users can either search for the WiFi sites as a POI or refer to the WiFi indicators which will appear when you are in the vicinity of the coverage area. Incorporating this feature into the map is the first step towards making Lokatoo navigation GPS WiFi-enabled in the near future.

Currently, the Lokatoo GPS navigation system is developed specifically to cater to automakers and will be available for mass consumer segment by end of 2012.

For more information on Lokatoo, visit www.lokatoo.com. For more information on how TM’s services can enrich SME businesses, visit www.tm.com.my/sme.