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Michael speaking at the briefing yesterday
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27th May, 2008
KOTA KINABALU: Packet One Networks (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (P1) is set to change the broadband landscape in Sabah with plans to roll out its WiMAX service in Sabah by 2010.
The introduction of this revolutionary technology will facilitate significantly faster wireless communications and provide a strong foundation to support the further development and growth of information and communications technology in the State.
P1 Networks (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd CEO Michael Lai said they are now in talks with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) for the WiMAX spectrum allocation in East Malaysia to improve the broadband penetration rate in Sabah.
“As of last year, broadband penetration rate in Sabah was only 2.6 percent compared to Federal Territory at 11.8 percent,” Michael said in a briefing at here yesterday
Michael who is currently on a nationwide roadshow said with the rollout of WiMAX in Sabah, P1 hopes to introduce consumers, businesses and schools to a whole new world of content and connectivity.
“It will transform the way they live, work, learn and play. Sabahans soon have access to advanced services such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), high-speed Internet access, and other services via WiMAX,” he said.
According to him, recently P1 announced at the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) that it was in partnership with Intel to commercially deploy Malaysia’s first nationwide 802.16e WiMAX network by June 2008.
The deployment is already underway in the Klang Valley, Penang and Johor, and will expand rapidly throughout Peninsula Malaysia and East Malaysia in phases.
P1 plans to provide WiMAX coverage for 25 percent of the population in Malaysia by the end of 2008 and 40 percent by the end of 2010, followed by 60 percent by 2012,” he added.
Michael said that WiMAX will affect a sea-change in people’s lifestyles from connecting people and sharing content to mobilizing the Internet via Web 2.0.
WiMAX stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access and the purpose is to ensure that the broadband wireless radios manufactured for customer use interoperate from vendor to vendor.
It is a wireless digital communications system that is intended for wireless ‘metropolitan area networks’ and can provide broadband wireless access up to 30 miles for fixed stations and 3- 10 miles for mobile stations.
WiMAX is a second-generation protocol that allows for more efficient bandwidth use, interference avoidance, and is intended to allow higher data rates over longer distances.
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