Wireless Federation

Maxis Communications Berhad (”Maxis”), Malaysia’s leading mobile telecommunications operator, and Transfer To™, a leading global airtime provider, have teamed up to launch two promotions to reward Maxis and Hotlink i-Share customers during the Aidil Adha (Hari Raya Qurban) festive holiday from 1 to 15 December 2008, and during Christmas week from 15 to 30 December 2008. Hotlink i-Share is a first-in-Malaysia service by Maxis that was launched in April this year and enables its prepaid subscribers to share airtime credit with their friends and family to several countries, including Indonesia and the Philippines through an easy-to-use “shared top-up” application developed jointly with Transfer To™. To celebrate Aidil Adha, which falls on 8 December this year, all new Hotlink i-Share customers will be rewarded with an additional 10,000 Indonesian Rupiah top-up sent directly to the first person they reloaded back in Indonesia. An equivalent promotion will be available during the Christmas period for all i-Share top-ups sent to the Philippines. After their collaboration to launch Hotlink i-Share to Indonesia and the Philippines, Maxis continues to work with Transfer To™ in offering value to overseas foreign workers in Malaysia. Maxis also offers Hotlink i-Share to Vietnam and Bangladesh. Through the Hotlink i-Share service, Maxis is able to address the needs of two million Indonesians and 650,000 Filipinos living and working in Malaysia. These migrant communities, who are mainly prepaid users, traditionally transfer part of their earnings every month directly to the household head in their home country. However, they have no appropriate solution for sending smaller amounts to the rest of their family on special occasions. The Hotlink i-Share service comes as the perfect solution for giving out prepaid credit as a gift for birthdays, festivals, religious celebrations and other occasions. “Hotlink i-Share is so simple to use that Maxis postpaid and prepaid customers need just follow a few steps to send airtime credit to their relatives. They can choose their top-up amount from a wide range of denominations depending on their home country: from 10,000 to 50,000 Rupiah (US $1 to US $5.25) and 30 to 300 in Pesos (US $0.60 to US $6.40). Transactions are processed in real-time through the Transfer To™ secure platform and both sender and receiver are immediately notified by SMS,” explained Claire Featherstone, Maxis’ Head of Mobile Commerce. “Seeing that our previous promotion for the month of Ramadan received a very good response from our Indonesian prepaid customers, we are confident the Hotlink i-Share Aidil Adha promotion will be a success,” Featherstone added. “As our partnership with Transfer To™ gives us access to the main mobile operators in Indonesia and the Philippines, we are looking forward to extending this promotion during other festive events, such as Christmas week.”

“A global network is required to aggregate the mobile operators’ airtime all around the world. As a trusted third party provider, Transfer To™ interconnects operators from developed and emerging countries with a mutually profitable business model,” said Eric Barbier, Managing Director of Transfer To™. “By joining this growing network, Maxis benefits from our global exposure, and is now able to extend i-Share service and promotion to other migrant communities in Malaysia.”

Hotlink i-Share is an extension of other Maxis mobile commerce initiatives in the M-money suite of services, including mobile remittance.

About Hotlink i-Share by Maxis M-money:
What it is:
a. Value-added service targeted for migrant workers: Maxis prepaid and postpaid subscribers (Malaysia) can send a top-up instantly to mobile subscribers in Indonesia and the Philippines
b. First in Malaysia; gives Maxis subscribers access to 95% of Indonesian mobile subscribers and 85% of Filipino mobile subscribers.

How it Works:
a. Send SMS “PULSA” (for Indonesia) OR “LOAD” (for the Philippines) to 27007.
b. The subscriber keys in the recipient’s mobile number and chooses the amount in Indonesian Rupiah or Filipino Pesos           (multiple denominations of 10,000- 50,000 Rupiah value and 30-300 Pesos value).
c. The Maxis subscriber’s airtime balance will be deducted together with the cost of the i-Share top-up.
d. The i-Share top-up is instantly credited in Rupiah or Pesos value to the recipient’s prepaid mobile account in the home country.

Applicable Charges:
a. For every i-Share top up, a fixed fee will be charged to the Maxis subscriber depending on the denomination selected by     the Maxis subscriber (between RM7 - RM26 for Indonesia and RM4 - RM27 for the Philippines).
b. No other charges will be charged to Sender during the transfer transaction.
c. Recipient will not be charged and airtime will be credited to their prepaid airtime balance.

About Transfer To™:
Transfer To™ operates a global airtime network interconnecting the mobile operators’ prepaid services. Foreign workers may now recharge the prepaid mobile phone of their relatives back home. Airtime remittance enables migrants to send small value amounts - 200 million migrants remit $300 billion every year. The solution is distributed by mobile operators as an innovative and differentiating service for their ethnic segment - an underserved market with a high telecom usage. Transfer To™ is also available at point of sales: proximity retailers, calling cards distributors, money transfer operators. Prepaid roamers can also use the solution to reload their phone while travelling abroad.

About Maxis Communications Berhad:
Named Asian Mobile Operator of the Year 2007, the Maxis Group currently operates in three key Asian markets - Malaysia, India and Indonesia - with a 5,000 strong workforce collectively serving over 24 million customers and offering a comprehensive range of communications services, including mobile and fixed line telecommunications, value-added data and content services, wireless and fixed line broadband services and international gateway services.  Its Malaysian operations, Maxis Communications Berhad (”Maxis”) is the country’s premier mobile telecommunications operator, with the lead in postpaid and prepaid (Hotlink) subscriber base. The Maxis Group operates in India through subsidiary Aircel Limited and in Indonesia through PT Natrindo Telepon Seluler.  Since it began operations in 1995, Maxis has won numerous awards. Recently, the company was recognised as “Malaysian Mobile Operator of the Year” by Asian Mobile News at the 2008 Asian Mobile News Awards and “Malaysia’s Service Provider of the Year” by Frost & Sullivan at the 2008 Malaysia Telecoms Awards, due to its clear demonstration of leadership in business performance, brand value, sustained service excellence, network quality and product innovation.

About Wireless Federation

Wireless Federation is an industry research conglomerate headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The mandate of the Wireless Federation is to provide its members and customers industry knowledge that can further enhance their understanding of the wireless industry. Wireless Federation conducts bespoke research and produces boxed reports in collabaration with Industry Bodies, Telecom Operators for Issues that revolve around ARPU, CHURN and Loyalty.
They have been associated with more than 225 mobile operators globally to set their Pricing/ Tariff Strategies, Go-To-Market Strategies for Mobile Advertising, Mobile Payments, Cutting VAS among others amongst 59 countries globally.

For more information please visit www.wirelessfederation.com
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Qatar Telecom is ready to pay original price offered by PT Indosat, Indonesia’s second-largest telephone company. Chairman of the Capital Market Regulator, Ahmad Fuad Rahmany, said, Qatar agreed to buy the stake at $0.6 a share as was announced in June after buying a 40.8 % stake in Indosat.

On Oct. 28, Qatar Telecom said, it would pay $0.5 a share to buy a 24.2 % stake in Indosat after getting approval from the government to raise its holding in the phone operator to 65%.

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PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom), looks for loans worth $756 million from local financial institutions for its expansion plans in 2009. It is understood Telkom may approach the likes of PT Bank Mandiri, PT Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) and PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) to cover as much as 40% percent of its entire $17.9 trillion CAPEX plan. The group’s mobile arm Telkomsel is investing around $10.7 million in order to boast its business after lowered quaterly profits from past two years.

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The CDMA Development Group (CDG) announced the successful conclusion of its third set of Open Market Handsets (OMH) trials in cooperation with CityCell in Bangladesh, PT. Telekomunikasi Indonesia, Tbk and PT. Indosat, Tbk in Indonesia, and HutchCAT in Thailand. The OMH program is part of the CDG’s Global Handset Requirements for CDMA (GHRC) initiative and specifies a common set of requirements based on standards to procure CDMA2000(r) devices in an open-network and open-device environment. The completed trials in Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Thailand now complement previously-announced trials with Reliance Communications and TATA Indicom in India as well as with Bakrie Telecom and Mobile-8 Telecom in Indonesia.
Open Market Handsets enable operator-specific network configuration and service provisioning information, as well as subscriber-specific device provisioning information to be moved from the CDMA handset’s onboard memory into a next-generation Removable User Identity Module (R-UIM) card. By doing so, the handset becomes a generic device that can be sold on the “open market” and used in multiple operator networks.
“In rapidly growing markets such as Bangladesh, Indonesia and Thailand, 3G will thrive in large part because of the availability of extremely affordable CDMA2000 handsets,” said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG. “The OMH initiative provides device procurement and distribution flexibility in a network-independent, open-market environment. OMH will serve as a model for CDMA markets with rapidly-growing subscriber growth.”
The trials in Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Thailand included OMH-enabled R-UIM cards provided by Eastcompeace, Gemalto, KSI, Oberthur or Watchdata and prototype devices developed by Huawei or ZTE. During the trials, Open Market Handsets were provisioned for full-fledged 3G data capabilities across the participating operators. Tested, proven features included backward compatibility, CDMA2000 1X packet data (SIP with CHAP and PAP), BREW, SMS, voice (with authentication), WAP/browser capabilities and R-UIM-based carrier customization.
Rather than storing all network, service and subscriber provisioning data on both the R-UIM cards and the devices, OMH trials have proven that data can be stored on OMH-capable R-UIM cards. The successfully-tested solution allows OMH-capable CDMA handsets to serve as open devices for any packet data application provisioned on the R-UIM card and on any CDMA2000 network, since user, network and service configuration data is stored on the R-UIM card.
Multiple operators benefit by offering the same “generic device” and differentiating themselves by selling and provisioning all of their data services on OMH-capable R-UIMs. Device OEMs benefit from larger distribution channels, enriched brand development and the ability to sell devices across many markets and regions. Consumers benefit by being able to transfer their identity and service configuration data to a new phone on the same network by simply moving the OMH-capable R-UIM card from the old phone to the new phone.
“Indonesia is a highly-competitive market with many operators, therefore the market must support a large selection of feature-rich, affordably-priced devices,” said Mr. Guntur S. Siboro, Marketing Director of PT. Indosat, Tbk. “The Open Market Handsets initiative is a mutually-beneficial scenario that allows Indonesian operators to reduce inventory and empowers consumers to choose from a wider variety of handset models and features.”
“These successful trials in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, and now Thailand mark another milestone for CDMA operators in emerging markets. The Open Market Handsets initiative brings excitement to the mobile phone market in Thailand as it will allow Hutch customers the choice of additional devices from independent sources, thus encouraging greater CDMA market expansion in the country,” said Mr. Panop Kasemsarn, Vice President Commercial Planning and Terminal Management, Hutchison CAT Wireless MultiMedia Ltd. (Hutch).
“The OMH initiative offers a flexible experience that exceeds that of today’s RUIM cards due to the advanced capabilities of 3G CDMA,” said Dr. Anand Rajasingham at CityCell. “Additionally, on one hand we reduce our inventory and testing costs while on the other hand CityCell seamlessly introduces new, lower-cost handsets to consumers.”

About CDG
The CDMA Development Group is a trade association formed to foster the worldwide development, implementation and use of CDMA2000 technologies. The more than 140 member companies of the CDG include many of the world’s largest wireless carriers and equipment manufacturers. The primary activities of the CDG include development of CDMA2000 features and services, public relations, education and seminars, regulatory affairs and international support. Currently, there are more than 500 individuals working within various CDG subcommittees on CDMA2000-related matters.

For more information please visit www.cdg.org

About Wireless Federation

Wireless Federation is an industry research conglomerate headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The mandate of the Wireless Federation is to provide its members and customers industry knowledge that can further enhance their understanding of the wireless industry. Wireless Federation conducts bespoke research and produces boxed reports in collabaration with Industry Bodies, Telecom Operators for Issues that revolve around ARPU, CHURN and Loyalty.
They have been associated with more than 225 mobile operators globally to set their Pricing/ Tariff Strategies, Go-To-Market Strategies for Mobile Advertising, Mobile Payments, Cutting VAS among others amongst 59 countries globally.

For more information please visit www.wirelessfederation.com

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Indosat, the Indonesian telco, has drawn down the $450 Mn loan from syndicate arranged by ING Bank and DBS Bank. The telco had in September withdrawn an amount of $150 Mn and $300Mn now. Indosat president Johnny Swandi Sjam says the loan will be used partly for CAPEX requirements and also to repay part of a debt bond maturing in 2010 and 2012.

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PT Excelcomindo Pratama Tbk, Indonesia’s third largest operator, say that it may miss its subscriber target for the year 2008, which stood at 25.1 million by September end driven by financial crunches.The operator further confirmed to sell its telecom towers for up to $900 million by the end of 2008 and to announce the winning bidder for its towers later this year and close the deal by early 2009.
“Challenges entering the fourth quarter are bigger due to heated competition and a less conducive economy,” Hasnul Suhaimi said. “We were targetting about 27-28 million subscribers by 2008 end, but looking at current conditions, it may slow to a range of 25-27 million.”

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PT Excelcomindo, the Indonesian mobile operator intends to invest $700Mn in its network and services in 2009. According to an official, the investment money will come from loans and internal resources rather than from IPOs. The monies will be used to expand network capacity by building new base transceiver stations (BTSs) across the country, an official said.

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AIRCOM International, the leading independent network planning and optimisation consultancy, announced that it has been selected by Indonesia’s AXIS, to support the operator”s drive for increased penetration across the country.
AXIS is the country’s newest network operator, having rolled out GSM cellular services across Java, Bali, Lombok and Sumatra in 2008. It is now rapidly expanding its 2G and 3G networks to major market and population centres throughout Indonesia, and has purchased the CONNECT microwave planning tool from AIRCOM”s ENTERPRISE suite to support the expansion.
CONNECT will provide additional site visibility across the AXIS microwave network, meaning it will be able to rapidly plan and optimise single or entire network links in both its 2G and 3G networks.
“It is our mission to provide the Indonesian public with innovative and affordable wireless communications services that can be accessed right across the country, at any time of day,” says Ikrema Hamzah, Head of Transmission Planning at AXIS. “In order to do this, we needed additional expertise that could help us plan our expansion quickly, without having an adverse effect on the service provided to our existing customers. As existing users of AIRCOMs radio planning tool, ASSET, we knew we could depend on AIRCOM to deliver a competitive, reliable solution.”
With AXIS offices distributed throughout Indonesia, remote access to the database was a necessary requirement to support the network expansion. With AIRCOM’s unique single database, Axis engineers can gain remote access from anywhere in the world, meaning any discrepancies from transferring data between islands is immediately eliminated. This gives AXIS the clearest view possible of its nationwide network.
Commenting on the deal, Nick Brown Managing Director, Asia Pacific at AIRCOM said: “With AXIS set to expand rapidly across the Indonesian archipelago, its biggest challenge will be maintaining service delivery while ensuring transmission networks are optimised to protect fragile financial margins. With CONNECT integrated into the networks, AXIS will be able to plan every minor detail of its expansion and drive efficiency by removing unnecessary costs. We look forward to working with them to deliver top-drawer communication services across the country.”
Implementation of CONNECT into the AXIS network is already underway, with engineer training set to be conducted later this month.

About AIRCOM International

AIRCOM is an independent provider of network and data management tools and services. The company specialises in end-to-end network planning, sharing, outsourcing and OSS optimisation for IP and cellular networks.
Headquartered in the UK with offices in 18 countries, AIRCOM has more than 10 years experience across 131 countries for over half the world’s mobile operators, including more than 3.5 million man hours working on 3G networks alone. Every day 19 out of the 20 top global operators depend upon AIRCOM”s tools and consultants to improve the coverage and customer experience for more than 1.1 billion subscribers.
AIRCOM continues to grow its customer base each year, offering advice, training and support services, backed by high performance tools designed to deliver real benefits for both subscribers and operators.
For more information please visit www.aircominternational.com

About AXIS
AXIS launched in February 2008 and is already available in over 90 cities across East Java, West Java, Jabodetabek, Banten, Central Java, Bali, Lombok, Medan, Riau Islands and Riau Mainland. With up to 80 base stations being built every week, AXIS national network expansion is progressing aggressively. AXIS” vision is to provide affordable communications to all Indonesians. AXIS is owned by Saudi Telecom Company (STC), the no. 1 GSM operator in Saudi Arabia, and by Maxis Communications, the no. 1 GSM operator in Malaysia. Together, these companies serve more than 45 million customers with operations in 9 countries.

About Wireless Federation

Wireless Federation is an industry research conglomerate headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The mandate of the Wireless Federation is to provide its members and customers industry knowledge that can further enhance their understanding of the wireless industry. Wireless Federation conducts bespoke research and produces boxed reports in collabaration with Industry Bodies, Telecom Operators for Issues that revolve around ARPU, CHURN and Loyalty.
They have been associated with more than 225 mobile operators globally to set their Pricing/ Tariff Strategies, Go-To-Market Strategies for Mobile Advertising, Mobile Payments, Cutting VAS among others amongst 59 countries globally.

For more information you can log on to www.wirelessfederation.com

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Indonesia’s PT Bakrie Telecom is seeking $32.50 million from the sale of its telecommunication towers. Chief Social Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie, said, the move to sell 543 towers was aimed at improving efficiency by reducing the firm’s holdings of fix assets. According to the firm, “We want to focus our business to be a provider of telecommunication services and networks.”

As per the recent telecommunication regulations, mobile phone operators have to share the telecommunication towers of their base transceiver stations (BTS) with others, to avoid towers crowding out the country’s landscape.

PT Excelcomindo Pratama Tbk, third largest mobile phone operator of Indonesia is also aiming to raise $1 billion from the sale of its towers.

Indonesia has strong potential for growth where the number of mobile phone subscribers is anticipated to reach 120 million by the end of this year.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

Indonesian Mobile Market flying the rating chart, subsequently the mobile operators are busy positioning themselves as growth starts to slow and competition becomes more stiff. The operators have to offer best of its price to expand its subscriber base as well as to build market share. It is anticipated that new entrants in alliance with foreign partners will bring a change in the shape of the market.

According to sources, Indonesia has by far the highest level of CHURN, 11.2%. ARPU in 2Q, 2008 was USD 5.70, among the lowest in the world and ARPU declines accelerated to 23% YoY in 2Q, 2008, compared to -15.3% in 1Q, 2008. The Indonesia mobile market scenario is one of the most challenging in the world, with operators caught in a low-ARPU, high churn market environment. It posted EBITDA margins at 56 % in 2Q, 2008.

“With Cost of Acquisition increasing and increasing CHURN levels in Indonesia, There is a continuous need to insert most innovative LOYALTY programs and Strategies” Himanshu Jay, Senior Manager Global Operations added”.

If an Operator sets the RIGHT STRATEGY in terms of Innovative Data ( a little more than SMS ), Enhanced VAS Initiatives, Customized Tariffs, Services and reduced CHURN, We’ve forecasted an average EBITDA margin of 64.2% by 2010. Hence in mid-long term it’s not only important to ATTRACT niche customer segments through innovative services but also to RETAIN the existing base through effective LOYALTY strategies considering the direct impact of CHURN on EBITDA margins & revenue.

Notable Highlights:

• 95 % Prepaid Market represents High level of CHURN (>11%) with Increase in Figure by 2010.

• It is expected that, subscriber base in Indonesia to augment from the present 116.4 million in 2Q.2008 to 130.5 million in 2010.

• Average margins in the industry are now forecasted to be 64.2 % in 2010.

• The service revenue growth among Indonesian operators is anticipated by 17% in 2008 and gradually decline to 9.8% in 2010.

• Need of Innovative Data Strategies since mobile penetration is high and voice revenue totals approx. 85%.

For Best Practices/Case Studies on ARPU, CHURN and Loyalty. Please contact christina@wirelessfederation.com
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