Maxis Brings Students Latest in Mobile Data Services

Maxis Launches Hotlink Mobile Playground in Six Colleges

Kuala Lumpur, 30 April 2009 – With the launch of Hotlink Mobile Playground at selected private institutions of higher learning within the Klang Valley, students can now experience first-hand the latest in mobile data services from Maxis Communications Berhad (“Maxis”). Hotlink Mobile Playground is part of the recently launched Hotlink Youth Club, a new prepaid and rewards plan that offers a host of exciting benefits exclusively for college students.

Hotlink Mobile Playground is an experiential mobile data service area which allows students to browse the internet, games, and music on specially set-up mobile phones for free. It is established at six private institutions of higher learning, namely Stamford College and Kolej Damansara Utama in Petaling Jaya, Binary University College in Puchong, Inti University College in Subang, Universiti Tun Abdul Razak (UNITAR) in Kelana Jaya and Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN) in Puchong-Kajang. It will be up for up to six-months from February to July 2009 and two Hotlink ambassadors are permanently stationed at each venue to assist students and to demonstrate Maxis mobile data services.
Lai Shu Wei, Maxis Head of Product Marketing, said at the launch of Hotlink Mobile Playground in Stamford College today, ”Maxis subscribers today form the largest base of mobile data users in Malaysia, with an astounding 4.4 million accessing mobile internet services and sites on a regular basis. Many of these subscribers are youths within the under-25 age bracket who use their mobile phones for social interaction and expression. Maxis is introducing Hotlink Mobile Playground to reach out to them and meet their demands for more engagement and information, helping them to be more mobile in their internet experiences.”

Andrew Choo, Chief Operating Officer of Stamford College, said, "Hotlink Mobile Playground provides a new frontier to education, enabling students to communicate and learn beyond textbook education.”

Selva Rajan, publisher of PC.com magazine, added, “In our quest to drive ICT and broadband penetration even further than the 22% we are at currently, it is efforts like Hotlink Mobile Playground that will spike and sustain the interest of the technology users of tomorrow - students. Furthermore, during this period, PC.com magazine will be engaging students in various activities to enable them to have an enhanced mobile experience through demonstrations of the latest tech gadgets and game shows. There will also be loads of free gifts to be won. PC.com magazine will be offering special magazine subscription packages targeted specifically for students. Apart from this, PC.com magazine will be offering all students from these six colleges a concise version of our magazine for free. All this excitement and engagement is zeroed in on you, the students!”

At Hotlink Mobile Playground, students will be taught how to access the internet on their mobile phones. There are just three easy steps to surf on the mobile phone. To access the Maxis WAP portal, just press and hold ‘O’ for Nokia phones, or press the web button for other phones. Then use either Yahoo search to enter the website address, or select “Surf the Web” and click on a favourite website link.

Lai Shu Wei said, “We have made it as easy and simple as possible for students to access mobile data services from Maxis. We are confident that Hotlink Mobile Playground will be popular. We hope to bring the Hotlink Mobile Playground experience to four more colleges by year end.

“We would like to thank our partners, PC.com magazine and Stamford College, for their strong support in this initiative. PC.com magazine and Maxis share a common objective in reaching out to the student community via mobile technology platforms. In educating students about mobile data and technology, PC.com magazine focuses on the print platform while Maxis brings students first hand experiences of mobile data services.”

Maxis launched Hotlink Youth Club a short time ago and the prepaid and rewards plan provides college students with special voice and SMS rates, special benefits, rewards and discounts. Any person with a valid student identification card from any of Malaysia’s institutes of higher learning can sign up for the plan. There are no restrictions in age or campus location for students to enjoy all the benefits of this new plan, whether the lowest voice rate (12 sen per minute for calls to any Maxis or Hotlink number) or the 1 sen per SMS charge. In line with Hotlink Youth Club’s spirit of freedom, there is also no credit expiry for four years as long as subscribers perform a minimum top-up of RM10 annually.

For details, please visit www.hotlink.com.my