DiGi network to be LTE-ready network
by Justin Yap. Posted on July 2, 2011, Saturday
Benny Wee
KUCHING: DiGi.com Bhd (DiGi) is in the process of modernising its network with LTE-ready (Long Term Evolution) or 4G-ready equipment over the next 18 months to further enhance its value-added services.
“We are going through an entire network modernisation exercise over the next 18 months by upgrading all our 2G and 3G network with a much more efficient as well as energy-saving equipments,” DiGi head of Sarawak region Benny Wee told The Borneo Post in an interview recently.
“This modernisation exercise will make our network ready for 4G/LTE and when the spectrum becomes available to us, we can roll out our services much faster.”
Wee further said the next-generation mobile technology was capable of delivering download speeds of up to 42 megabytes per second (mbps) using HSPA and thereafter up to four times faster with 4G/LTE.
According to Wee, the nine telco players in the country had submitted their business plans for the 2.6GHz spectrum to the regulators.
“We have also submitted ours and now, we are trying our very best to provide the facilities needed in order to roll-out the value-added services when available.”
In April, DiGi went into collaboration with ZTE Corporation to build a unified mobile network that would provide DiGi with fully transformed 2G/3G/4G network starting third quarter of this year.
“At present, we have over 4.5 million internet users and we foresee that demand for data services will further continue to trend up,” said its chief executive officer Henrik Clausen.
Under the partnership, DiGi would modernise its nationwide network with ZTE’s Unified Radio Access Network (RAN) platform which was capable of delivering 2G, 3G and 4G/LTE from a single base station site.
In addition, the company would upgrade its core network, transmission network and part of its value-added services platform.
This exercise would involve over 5,000 existing sites in the next two years, with new ones being added for improved capacity and coverage.
Based on the released by DiGi, ZTE would also provide planning, roll-out, optimisation and operational readiness services up to final acceptance and handover to DiGi.
The new network would feature a simplified architecture and convergence in service platform, resulting in improved operational efficiency.
The company also continued to work on multiple operational efficiency initiatives, including the on-going execution of the initiatives agreed in the long-term network collaboration agreement with Celcom Axiata Bhd.
“DiGi had also recently announced its shareholding in Konsortium Rangkaian Sdn Bhd, formed with 23 other parties to secure lower cost of IP transit and domestic bandwidth by the aggregation of shareholders capacity,” said Wee.
“We will have the bargaining power from this formed.”
In the longer-run, DiGi expected to benefit from lower bandwidth costs, which would translate into more attractive data service offerings for its customers.
