Malaysia’s mobile penetration to reach 96.8% in 2010 (Malaysia)The remarkable growth in Malaysia’s mobile market over the last few years cannot hide the fact that the industry had been overcrowded. Behind the strong growth, there has been considerable activity going on with the restructuring of the companies involved. The outcome was that the number of operators in Malaysia was reduced from five to three. With 3G licences having been awarded in a two stage process, next generation services are starting to be rolled out. Coming into 2008, growth in total subscribers had levelled off somewhat, as the market appeared to pause. But 3G was providing a new spark and a new operator, U Mobile was set to enter the market. This report looks at the developments in the Malaysian mobile market and reviews the changes taking place.
Telekom Malaysia is the country’s telecommunications incumbent. In April 2003, it acquired number two GSM mobile operator Celcom.
TM International, has telecom investments, mainly mobile, in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Cambodia, with evolving plans to expand into other parts of Asia.
OPERATOR SUBSCRIBERS
Maxis 10.5 million
Celcom 7.894 million
DiGi 6.637 million
Notable highlights of the Malaysia mobile market profile include:
- The wireless penetration level in Malaysia will continue to increase and will reach 96.8% in 2010. The number of subscribers in Malaysia will increase from our projected 25 million in 2008 to our forecasted 28.5 million in 2010.
- The level of market concentration in Malaysia, as measured by the HHI index, will stay the same over the next several years. However, we expect that Celcom will be losing its market share to Maxis and DiGi.Com. It is forecasted that Celcom’s market share will drop from 30.4% to 28.2% while that of DiGi.Com will increase from 28.4% to 30% over the forecast period from 2008 to 2010.
- The ARPU levels have stabilized in Malaysia. In 2010, Maxis will receive the highest ARPU of US$ 21.73 per month while DiGi.Com will receive the lowest ARPU in the country at US$18.83 per month.
