P1 LOOKS FORWARD TO NEXT GENERATION 4G TECHNOLOGY IN 2013

PETALING JAYA, (19th Dec. 2012) – South East Asia’s pioneer and Malaysia’s first 4G service provider, Packet One Networks (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. (“P1”) looks forward to another significant year ahead as the next generation 4G technology, Long-Term-Evolution (LTE), gears up momentum.

Summary 2012
The formation of Global TD-LTE Initiative (GTI) in February 2011 has gained tremendous support from the operators. In less than 2 years, over 50 operators have joined GTI and a total of 12 commercial TD-LTE networks were launched globally. The industry is clearly seeing a rapid adoption of this next generation 4G technology.

On the home front, 2012 was an exciting year where we saw exciting introduction of smart mobile devices such as Samsung Galaxy S3 and Note II; Apple’s Iphone 5 and Mini Ipad; Microsoft’s Windows 8 smartphone and many more. Simultaneously, we saw operators showcasing trials on 4G LTE technology as well as discussions amongst operators on further strategic collaborations.  

Michael Lai, Chief Executive Officer of P1 said, “For a four year old toddler in the broadband business, P1 has established itself as the leading 4G player in both Malaysia and South East Asia. Being appointed as one of the nine Steering Committee Members of GTI representing Malaysia and South East Asia, we look forward to continue playing a major role in contributing to TD-LTE development in the region.

2012 has been a significant year for P1 as we surpassed the half a million subscriber base mark; expanded network coverage to East Malaysia starting with the state of Sabah; were awarded the allocation on 20Mhz of 2.6Ghz spectrum to roll out 4G LTE.”

Outlook 2013
Next year will be an interesting and significant year, as we will see the next generation 4G technology – both Time-Division (TD) and Frequency-Division (FD) Long-Term-Evolution gear up momentum.

Lai elaborated, “The year 2013 will be an exciting year. Firstly, we will see an active movement for 4G LTE’s DNA (Device, Network and Application). Be it TD or FD version of 4G LTE, telecommunications operators will start to embrace the technology. Thus we will see active deployments worldwide.

Additionally, 4G-enabled smart devices will start making inroads from the second half of 2013 and small screen will continue to dominate the mobile broadband space. As IDC 2013 predictions reported, smart mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, eReaders), will grow by almost 20% in 2013 and generate nearly 57% of the industry's overall growth. While for mobile, broadband’s applications, it will continue to take advantage and push the limits of 4G network and devices.

Secondly, ‘co-opetition’ among operators will become even stronger due to the scarcity of spectrum. For operators to fully tap into the true potential of 4G LTE, spectrum will be key. For instance, you need at least 40MHz of spectrum to fully tap into the technology potential of LTE-Advanced which offers 1Gbps speed. Hence, without the luxury of unlimited spectrum, many operators would have to join forces to face the onslaught of what I called the perpetual data tsunami.

Thirdly Cloud, M2M (Man-to-Man, Man-to-Machine and Machine-to-Machine) and MobileApps services are poised to take-off in the new 4G world. All the above mentioned have been talked about but have yet to showcase its full potential due to one main reason: ubiquity of high-speed mobile broadband. With the launch of 4G LTE, it will truly bring the benefits of Cloud, M2M and MobileApps services to life. Imagine the joy of downloading a 50MB file into your smartphone in just a minute or watching a high-definition Psy’s Gangnam Style Youtube music video on-the-go. The availability of 4G LTE is set to eliminate the barriers of businesses to adopting ICT. In the near future businesses do not have to own costly IT equipment when cloud, M2M and MobileApps services are all they need. These services are available mostly on subscription basis, thus reducing their operation cost tremendously.

At P1, we will focus on three areas in 2013. First, we will continue to expand and enhance our nationwide 4G coverage and rolling out TD-LTE. Second, we aim to support and help mobilise local business community, especially SMEs, to fully tap into the convergence of ICT. This will give SMEs the competitive advantage locally and globally. Last but not least, we will continue to bring innovative services using 4G, Fiber, SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) and Wireless Internet Leased Line to benefit both consumers and businesses,” Lai concluded.

P1 to Champion 4G TD-LTE in South-East Asia

Kuala Lumpur,  6 September 2012 – South-East Asia’s 4G leading provider Packet One Networks (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (“P1”) has been appointed to the Global TD-LTE* Initiative (“GTI”) Steering Committee which is the decision-making board for the 4G TD-LTE technology global movement.

GTI was founded by leading international mobile network operators in February 2011 to meet the demands for growing mobile broadband and explore new opportunities across industry and public segments. The five founding members of GTI are China Mobile, Clearwire in the US, Bharti Airtel from India, Vodafone headquartered in the UK and Softbank in Japan. These countries combined make up more than half of the world’s population.

Craig Ehrlich, Chairman of the GTI Steering Committee said with P1’s appointment to the GTI Steering Committee, GTI aims to further bring together the leading operators to steer the TD-LTE ecosystem as a major standard in mobile broadband technology and drive early development of next generation mobile broadband networks.

Michael Lai, Chief Executive Officer of P1 delightedly informed that the appointment is a great honour from GTI and another major milestone for P1 in taking the lead in the 4G TD-LTE movement particularly in Southeast Asia. “Since 2008, P1 has been working tirelessly to shape the 4G broadband industry first with WiMAX**. Now, P1 joins the ranks among the highest decision-making board in TD-LTE technology. Thanks to the team at GTI and P1, we will not rest on our laurels as this is just the tip of the iceberg in man to man, man to machine and ultimately machine to machine communications.”

The GTI Steering Committee consists of representatives from telecommunications operators from around the world. P1 CEO Michael Lai’s appointment to the GTI Steering Committee is alongside Korea Telecom’s Sung Man Kim, Senior Executive Vice President, Head of Network Business Group and Dirk Poppen, Managing Director WiMee (an E-Plus company); adding to the existing Steering Committee Members who are: Craig Ehrlich, Chairman of GTI Steering Committee, Jagbir Singh, CTO & Director of Networks, Bharti Airtel, Li Zhengmao, Executive Vice President of China Mobile, Dr. John Saw, Chief Technology Officer of Clearwire, Ted Matsumoto, Chief Strategic Advisor to CEO and Member of Board of Softbank Mobile, and Andy Macleod, Director of VF Network of Vodafone.

Nokia Siemens Networks launches industry’s first TD-LTE ‘6 pipes’ remote radio head

Nokia Siemens Networks has introduced a Liquid Radio-based ‘6 pipes’ remote radio head* that uses the company’s unique pipe approach to offer unprecedented flexibility in delivering TD-LTE.

“Our new, high-capacity 6 pipes remote radio head is a great addition to our TD-LTE RAN (Radio Access Network) portfolio and promises to take the TD-LTE experience to the next level,” said Tommi Uitto, head of the LTE radio access business line at Nokia Siemens Networks. “In addition to enabling a more flexible approach to TD-LTE, the new product delivers much higher throughput and lower latency than other offerings, to enable higher data speeds. Subscribers can thus enjoy the same level of mobile broadband, anywhere and everywhere, no matter what applications they’re using.”

By covering three sectors with a single radio head**, operators can reduce site costs by up to one-third. It is the first remote radio head that can support a 6-sector TD-LTE site to deliver 80% more capacity and 40% more coverage as compared to traditional 3-sector sites. This enables higher data speeds, and reduces total cost of ownership by 40%.

Nokia Siemens Networks’ pipe concept offers a cost-effective, future-proof alternative to the current ‘path’-based approaches, allowing more flexible allocation of sectors, carriers and transmit and receive channels by a base station. It can do multiple configurations, starting with a simple, low-cost, 3-sector site configuration and scaling to a high-capacity, 6-sector site configuration, when needed. Further, a simple software upgrade offers a smooth evolution path to LTE-Advanced.

Nokia Siemens Networks’ 6 pipes remote radio head is based on the company’s Liquid Radio*** architecture, which self-adapts coverage and capacity based on subscriber demand. The offering’s unique 6 pipes beamforming feature mitigates signal loss due to interference****. This helps deliver up to 50% higher data speeds and improved coverage, compared to 4 path radio heads, for subscribers in high-density areas, both indoors and outdoors. This feature also eliminates the need for additional sites, and reduces CAPEX, OPEX and site costs.

The offering is 3GPP standardized and is now commercially available globally.