Maxis CEO Goh Seow Eng
KUCHING (Sept 2): As a key telco player contributing towards the National Digital Network Plan (Jendela) with both mobile and fixed commitments, Maxis is motivated in increasing their coverage and service for both their mobile and fixed segments, especially towards rural underserved areas through Malaysia.
Besides an average RM1 billion dedicated to network investments each year, Maxis chief executive officer Goh Seow Eng said that the group’s mobile coverage expansion in rural locations utilises funds of the Universal Service Provision (USP) fund while further enhancements in urban areas are funded by their own capital expenditure.
Additionally, the group is also in constant communication with Sabah and Sarawak state governments and are actively working together to address the geographical challenges of installing telco infrastructure within the region.
“Maxis has dedicated 50 per cent of its new mobile base stations investment for East Malaysia and have been actively working with access providers CT Sabah and Sacofa to expand their fibre footprint and better support customers in East Malaysia,” he said during a recent exclusive interview.
And living up to their status as an integrated telco, Goh added that Maxis would also be looking into laying their own fibre networks within Sarawak.
While laying fibre networks can be a huge undertaking, Goh is adamant that it would be a time tested investment for both Maxis and Sarawak.
“Fibre is a technology that never expires. If you observe 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G, they always have a renewal but fibre is an infrastructure that you can always increase more speed by changing the electronics.
“And in our case, we have proven our ability to maximise our fibre with our partners,” he explained.
Maxis has dedicated 50 per cent of its new mobile base stations investment for East Malaysia and has been actively working with access providers CT Sabah and Sacofa to expand their fibre footprint and better support customers in East Malaysia.
He also expressed confidence in undertaking such a project as Maxis has a well proven track record of working with federal and state regulators to successfully lay and own over 700,000 fibre connections nationwide.
When asked about how Maxis intends to keep prices for these new products lower and attractive, Goh explained that Maxis has always been very aggressive in trying to keep prices low for consumers and have been supportive of regulatory initiatives like the Mandatory Standard on Access Pricing (MSAP) which was introduced back in 2018 with the aim of keeping broadband prices accessible for Malaysians.
However, he highlights that low prices are not the key focus of their market capture plan in the Eastern region.
“With the products and services that we offer, we factor in the combination price, speed, reliability and quality. A telco can charge the lowest price possible but if the reliability is not good or coverage is bad, there’s no point.”
“We look at all these factors to come up with a package that’s suitable for customers,” he expanded.
And to better service current and new customers alike in the region, Goh guided that the group’s wide retail footprint with 165 distribution touch points in Sabah and Sarawak would continue to play a pivotal role in allowing Maxis to better service customers in secondary towns and rural areas.
However, in the longer term as internet coverage and accessibility steadily improves within the nation, Goh guided that the telco will be more focused on expanding their digital touchpoints as more and more customers now prefer the ease of access, improved fulfilment process and faster turnaround times that it provides.
“Our Digital touchpoints are important as we work with state-specific platforms or e-wallets such as Sarawak Pay and we plan to expand in the future.
“For example, we have expanded our presence through digital partners such as Touch n’ Go, and we have our official Maxis online store on Lazada and are looking to onboard more partners in the near future,” he added.