Strengthening Unifi’s fixed-mobile convergence offering, TM aims to deliver seamless 5G transition and spur Malaysia’s 5G adoption and digital capabilities
Telekom Malaysia Berhad (“TM” or “the Group”) is uniquely positioned to accelerate Malaysia’s 5G adoption, as the Group leverages its convergence leadership in delivering seamless fixed and mobile services to customers and businesses.
Following the signing of DNB’s Access Agreement on 30 October 2022, TM launched the first phase of its 5G services today, offering unlimited 5G data to existing Unifi Mobile Postpaid customers, as well as new Postpaid and Prepaid customers.
“DNB’s Access Agreement provides a level playing field for telcos to access the single 5G network equally, to deliver a wider range of innovative services,” said Imri Mokhtar, TM’s Group CEO.
“Leveraging this equal entry into 5G plus our current suite of connectivity and digital solutions, TM will be better placed to drive innovation and digital transformation at a national level, aligning with key digital programmes such as JENDELA and MyDigital to competitively position Malaysia as a technology hub.”
“5G will reinforce TM’s leadership in fixed-mobile converged services for our consumer and MSME segments, strengthening our mobile capabilities to provide the widest and fastest all-in-one solution for fixed broadband, mobile service and digital content that meets today’s digital lifestyles and workstyles,” Imri added.
Acknowledging that one of the critical factors in 5G adoption is the willingness of customers to purchase new 5G-enabled devices, Unifi Mobile will also offer bundled 5G service-and-device plans, catering to a range of price points to ensure customer affordability from all backgrounds.
With 5G currently covering more than 33% of populated areas throughout Malaysia, this first phase is key to grow TM’s reach and presents the opportunity for a new push in Unifi’s convergence play, riding on its strength of 3 million households and close to 400,000 MSME customers. 5G will also strengthen Unifi’s proposition as a preferred digital partner for MSMEs, to provide complete one-stop services to accelerate their business growth.
Additionally, via TM One, its enterprise and Government sector arm, TM recently launched its 5G Sphere, a circle of leading technology and smart solution partners to form an ecosystem that will accelerate the co-creation of 5G innovative use-cases, taking enterprise 5G transformation from ideation to realisation. To date, there are 39 partners in this programme. TM’s nation-building efforts with the Government will also speed-up the availability of smart city, smart industry and 5G-enabled applications, creating a more sustainable and inclusive digital society and economy.
Simultaneously, TM continues to modernise the country’s fibre network architecture, integrating automation and virtualisation technologies to boost back-end infrastructures that will support the anticipated demand for 5G services and capabilities.
Ahead of this commercial launch, TM took strides to ramp up its 5G capabilities to grow its mobile and fixed-mobile convergence position, having recently appointed a seasoned industry leader, Jasmine Lee, as its Executive Vice President, Mobile and Chief Executive Officer of webe, as well as onboarding senior mobile talents to strengthen its innovation and competitiveness.
“As we transform to become a human-centred TechCo, TM’s 5G commitment goes beyond connectivity to enabling our interconnected society reshape the way we live and work. We recognise the value that this next-gen technology will bring to communities, businesses and the Government, and will continue to explore new ways to make 5G and digital progress accessible to all,” Imri concluded.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

TM R&D’s Customer-focused innovations recognised at the Malaysia Technology Excellence Awards
In-house smart solutions for Fixed Wireless Access connectivity and customer experience platform for frontliners awarded under “Connectivity-Telecommunications” and “AI-IT Services” categories respectively Telekom Research & Development Sdn Bhd (TM R&D), the innovation arm of Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM), recently bagged two awards at the Malaysia Technology Excellence Awards 2022, organised by the Singapore Business Review. The Malaysia Technology Excellence Awards spotlights exceptional companies who are technology disruptors that boosts Malaysia’s economy. TM’s Fast Internet for All (FIRA) solution was bestowed the award under the “Connectivity-Telecommunications” category, while TM’s Single Platform on Intelligent Customer Experience (SPICE.ai) won the award in the “Artificial Intelligence (AI)-IT Services” category. Commenting on these awards, Dr. Sharlene Thiagarajah, Chief Executive Officer, TM R&D said, “I couldn’t be prouder of my team as these awards reflect their commitment to meet the fast-evolving digital needs of today’s customers and strengthen our position as a research leader in these fields. This recognition also reaffirms our efforts in building smarter digital ecosystems to facilitate the ease with which Malaysians can embrace a more digital lifestyle, while also bringing progress to the nation.” FIRA was introduced as a way to support the government in providing Malaysians with quality access to digital connectivity nationwide. Aimed at offering better internet service to underserved communities, FIRA uses Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) technologies to improve connectivity in rural areas across Malaysia. Since its first deployment in Malacca back in July 2020, the solution has demonstrated promising success in improving download and upload link speeds compared to other broadband services. The solution has since been implemented at a rural school in Selangor and at Pusat Komuniti Desa sites under the Ministry of Rural Development. It has also supported an IR4.0 use case in Terengganu. “FIRA is formulated to address two common issues: coverage and speed. The solution is capable to deliver connectivity up to 50Mbps within 5-8km range, compared to a traditional 4G cell within 1km range. Furthermore, with its quick deployment procedures, FIRA can help mitigate customers’ connectivity concerns in a cost-effective and timely manner,” shared Dr. Sharlene. SPICE.ai, on the other hand, aims to assist frontliners in their daily task of addressing customer service enquiries and requests. Dr Sharlene explained, “SPICE.ai consists of multiple components that cover different parts of an existing customer experience system. By integrating these components, frontliners gain a more holistic view of each customers’ profiles. The solution then implements real-time analytics to improve customer experience, giving frontliners the right information at the right time which allows them to deliver a better experience to customers.” This analytics system has been deployed nationwide for nearly two years and becomes the primary touchpoint for more than 5,000 TM frontliners in most customer interactions across multiple channels. The performance of SPICE.ai has proven to be reliable and seamless even when integrated with more than 20 existing, standalone systems and was still able to relay the processed information through one single platform, on top of providing analytics and advisory. Established in 2001, TM R&D is the innovation arm of TM Group focusing on creating smarter ecosystems to make business and life easier for a better Malaysia. TM R&D’s solutions are clustered around four pillars namely Intelligent Platforms, Data Brokerage, Connectivity/Tools and IR4.0/Digital Solutions. Growing from strength to strength, TM R&D has won multiple global awards and generated more than 2,800 Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) and 1,400 digital assets to date. TM R&D’s innovations are developed in-house and cut across multiple industries such as Utilities, Retail, Agriculture, Healthcare and Education, with safety and productivity as its top priority.

TM records steady performance in 1Q2022 with revenue & PATAMI up 2.9% & 4.4%; maintains focus on its growth strategies execution
In the second year of its Transformation, the Group is on track to achieve its 2022 market guidance, focusing on strengthening its core businesses and investing in new growth areas Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) continued its growth trajectory and long-term business sustainability, recording a steady performance in its First Quarter ended 31 March 2022 as compared to the same period last year (YoY). The Group's operating revenue increased by 2.9% to RM2.89 billion, compared to RM2.81 billion in the same quarter last year, driven primarily by increased demand for voice, Internet and multimedia. Despite rising competition to offer converged solutions among telco and other technology players, TM continued to deliver strong customer growth across its operations. Capitalising on its core businesses and investing into new growth areas, TM further ramped up its transformation initiatives, delivering profit after tax and non-controlling interests (PATAMI) for the quarter at RM339.9 million or 4.4% higher than the RM325.5 million recorded in 1Q2021. The Group also recorded lower financial costs subsequent to the early redemption of its RM2.0 billion sukuk in March 2021, as well as lower foreign exchange translation losses on borrowings. The Group has applied the Cukai Makmur statutory tax rate accordingly for the current quarter. Accelerating into the second year of its Transformation, TM brought forward its manpower optimisation to enable earlier realisation of expected benefits to the Group. This, along with foreign exchange impact on trade settlement has led to a 5.0% decrease in EBIT at RM560.4 million for 1Q2022 compared to RM589.7 million in the same quarter last year. Excluding these costs, the Group's underlying EBIT is 14.0% higher at RM650.2 million compared to RM570.5 million in 1Q 2021. Free Cash Flow is lower by 15.1% at RM658.8 million compared to RM775.7 million due to higher CAPEX as the Group continues to invest in business expansion and meeting customers' demands through technology refresh and network delivery, ensuring steady growth. unifi: Double-digit revenue and subscriber growth unifi continued its growth performance, recording revenue increase of 10.6% from RM1.25 billion to RM1.38 billion in the current quarter. Sustained by increasing demand from Internet, voice and sales of devices, with cumulative fixed Internet subscribers increasing by 17.5% against the corresponding quarter last year. unifi remains the largest growth contributor for the Group. unifi will continue to maintain its leadership in fixed broadband and enhance its Fixed-Mobile Convergence (FMC), enriched with TV and streaming content. This reflects its commitment to improve its FMC customer experience with better and seamless service. unifi will also grow its SME digital platform as a one-stop service centre for solutions catering especially to SMEs nationwide. TM Wholesale (TMW): Higher revenue from increased demand for data services TM Wholesale (TMW) also recorded a growth performance for 1Q2022, with revenue increasing by 1.2% from RM631.9 million in 1Q2021 to RM639.5 million, mainly contributed by higher revenue from voice and data services. This was underpinned by increasing demand from High-speed Broadband Access (HSBA) and higher International Voice and Data. To date, TMW continues to enable industry broadband and 4G network via its fibre infrastructure, with the ongoing 5G rollout further strengthening that role. On the international front, it will continue to serve other OTTs and hyperscalers with connectivity and data centres, while regionally, TM Wholesale aspires to establish Malaysia as a digital hub for ASEAN via new submarine cables, enhanced data centre solutions and edge computing. TM One: Renewed focus on growing B2B digital solutions market TM One, the Group's enterprise and public sector arm, recorded a 7.4% decrease in revenue from RM925.2 million to RM856.8 million in 1Q2022 due to decline in data services revenue. Strengthening and growing its B2B digital solutions, TM One has focused its efforts on high potential industry verticals, namely healthcare, manufacturing, education, oil & gas, banking, financial services & insurance (BFSI) and public sector. It has entered a partnership with Tune Protect and Huawei Malaysia that saw Tune Protect becoming the first organisation in Malaysia to host an insurance core system on public cloud (Cloud αEdge). Commentary and Outlook from Imri Mokhtar, TM Group Chief Executive Officer "With our economy and borders reopening, TM is powering Malaysia's journey on its road towards recovery, by ensuring the vision of an inclusive and extensive Digital Malaysia becomes a reality. "Into the second year of our Transformation, we are focused on strengthening our core business while investing into new growth areas to meet customers' demands. In ensuring sustainability in the long run, we continue to grow our profitability to invest and seize opportunities arising from digital acceleration. "One of these opportunities is in the exciting space of digital solutions and services for enterprises. Building on TM One's existing capability and relationships with enterprises and the public sector, we will deliver speed and agility through our new digital arm Credence: a corporate start-up led by technology leaders. "unifi continues to better its fixed broadband and Fixed-Mobile Convergence value proposition to improve customer experience, while expanding our offerings to provide quality entertainment to customers at home or on-the-go. "We have also achieved some key milestones in our sustainability efforts. TM One has successfully secured the Green Electricity Tariff from Tenaga Nasional Berhad for its data centres in Kuala Lumpur, Cyberjaya and Johor Bahru, contributing to a lower carbon footprint as the demand for cloud storage inevitably increases. This is in addition to the existing Green Building Index (GBI) certification earlier obtained for its core data centres. TM's broader ESG commitment also remains consistent with Malaysia's initiatives towards achieving net-zero Greenhouse Gas emission for the country by 2050. "Meanwhile, TM Wholesale continues to establish Malaysia as a regional digital hub via new submarine cables, edge computing, data centres and supporting international connectivity. On the domestic front, TM Wholesale continues performing its role as the enabler for industry broadband, 4G and 5G network via fibre infrastructure that will transform the nation's connectivity capabilities."

TM lauds the government’s national recovery plan; stays committed to serve customers
Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) lauds the Government on the announcement of the National Recovery Plan which outlines the four-phase exit strategy and conditions for Malaysia to overcome the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. TM is fully supportive of the recovery plan that is anchored on three conditions – the number of daily cases reported, the medical healthcare capacity (ICU) and the national vaccination rate. Commenting on the announcement, Imri Mokhtar, Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer, TM said: "We welcome the clarity provided by the Government on the National Recovery Plan. It is indeed a necessary response to the serious economic and social impact of the coronavirus pandemic. We hope that through the effective implementation of this plan, the nation will be able to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic to a reasonable level of normality by year end, revive the economy and place the country on a new growth trajectory." "TM as an essential services provider continues to ensure Malaysians remain connected in the safety of their homes and that all our customer support services remain in operation throughout each phase of the recovery plan. As the enabler of Digital Malaysia, TM is committed to playing our part to support all our customer segments across homes, businesses, industry as well as the public sector with connectivity and digital infrastructure and solutions towards economic recovery. All of us at TM pray for the safety and health of all Malaysians nationwide; stay safe and ensure that we get vaccinated - together may we return stronger," he concluded. TM is taking proactive measures in its operations to ensure homes and businesses stay connected; strictly adhering to the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and guidelines set by the National Security Council (MKN). TMpoint outlets and key partner stores are open for service applications and essential transactions subject to government and local authority regulations. Service installation and restoration activities remain available for customers with SOPs in place to ensure the safety of both TM personnel and its customers. TM customer care lines remain open. Additionally, customers are encouraged to utilise our 24/7 self-serve digital platforms for service registration, service diagnostics, account-related enquiries as well as payment. TM supports the National Immunisation Programme and encourages Malaysians to register for vaccination to ensure the country can achieve herd immunity. TM also runs its own internal vaccination drive and thus far, 65% of Warga TM has registered. TM will also be running an internal campaign to rally its TM Volunteers by participating in the Malaysia Vaccine Support Volunteers (MyVAC) programme for The Special Committee On COVID-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) to assist with the vaccination process at Vaccine Delivery Center (PPV) locations across the country. TM is also offering its suitable venues nationwide for PPV, drive through and mobile unit stations. Today, its Multimedia University Melaka campus begins its operations as a PPV facility for JKJAV. TM also connects PPVs nationwide with internet access services to enable the frontliners, medical teams, volunteers as well as members of the public to stay connected during the vaccination process. More than RM8.0 million has been channeled for nation building initiatives to date; in terms of medical and non-medical humanitarian aid for communities in need during the pandemic. Most recently, TM has also set up Tabung Solidarity COVID-19 TM as a continuation of the employee donation drive last year, which has already raised and disbursed RM800,000 to various causes. Thus far, TM Board members and Warga TM have pledged another RM600,000 for the fund through voluntary salary and allowance deduction. The contribution is matched by the company to total RM1.2 million to date. The donation will be channelled to the government's Akaun Amanah Bencana. TM also continues to support the nation and communities in need through connectivity initiatives such as Jaringan Prihatin, CERDIK and MYBAIKHATI. TM reiterates its commitment to ensure the safety and health of customers and Warga TM with special working arrangements implemented and enhanced SOPs towards business and customer service continuity. The Company will continually monitor for developments on the ongoing situation, adhere to the SOPs under the specific phases detailed out by MKN and adapt its services to help customers, whenever needed as the safety of its employees and members of the public are of paramount importance.