SUBANG JAYA: CelcomDigi Bhd is spearheading one of the industry’s largest projects, its network overhaul consisting of modernising 24,000 existing sites and constructing an additional 16,000 to 18,000 new sites.
CEO Datuk Idham Nawawi said the company is committed to providing superior telecommunications services by modernising and expanding its network infrastructure.
“We have the fastest network. We are modernising the whole network. This is one of the largest, I would say, projects in the industry that is happening now throughout the whole ecosystem,” he told reporters at the unveiling of CelcomDigi all-in 5G and 4G postpaid plans today.
At the same time, he added the firm is also creating a lot of jobs in delivering this project.
“Imagine we are modernising 24,000 sites, and building brand new 16,000 to 18,000 sites. It’s huge. So what this has done is that this new network is expected to give much better experience to our customers. And we are, like I said, in the middle of optimising some of the networks that we have already.
“With that, coupled with the kind of packages that we offer to the market, both our existing customers and our future customers, we will be very competitive. We should be able to offer the best service to Malaysians, not only in 5G, but also a much better experience on our 4G network which will continue to be relevant,” said Idham.
He added that CelcomDigi’s primary objectives for next year will be to continue its network integration between Celcom and Digi, as well as improving the services and offering better packages for consumers.
“We will focus on integrating the network, focus on bringing the best service to our customers, and focus on bringing the best packages. That’s what you see today. We hope that we can continue to align with the expectations (in terms of growth consensus).”
He anticipated that 5G technology will boost the telecommunications market as in the past few years, the telco market has seen low-single digit growth.
“We look forward to 5G when it’s being introduced, and the new packages that we will be introducing will create a bit more excitement in the market,” he said.
On the outlook for next year, he mentioned that, based on current economic conditions telco industry growth does not necessarily correlate with gross domestic product growth.
“If you look at analysts and analysts’ consensus, 2-3% (growth) in terms of the market,” he said.
On the impact a of lower ringgit, he stated that while currency fluctuations affect many, CelcomDigi is shielded from the impact as the company’s operations are confined to only Malaysia although some of the technology is bought from international parties.
“Because number one, when we acquire some of our technology, we buy from external technologies from international parties. But once we have concluded the contract, most of our contracts are already in ringgit. So, most of the contract that we need to deploy our network is already concluded and it is done. So, the fluctuation of the ringgit does not affect us as much.
“Number two is our operations are only in Malaysia. So, we do not have any impact of any translation of currency loss etc. So, we are not exposed to that,” he said.
