Celcom confident of hitting broadband goal

KUALA LUMPUR: Celcom Axiata Bhd is confident of surpassing the one million target for mobile broadband users by year-end. Celcom chief executive officer Datuk Seri Shazalli Ramly said the target was achievable with its newly-launched instant prepaid broadband.

He expects the new plan to help Celcom get an extra 200 ,000 broadband subscribers by this year. "With the new prepaid broadband service, we expect our position to be further strengthened. "Currently, we have 10.5 million customers and prepaid subscribers account for more than 85 per cent our total subscriber base," he said at a press conference here yesterday.

Shazalli said Celcom was now leading in the mobile broadband sector with a market share of 51 per cent in the last quarter, translating to 876 ,000 subscribers. Second in line is Maxis with 650 ,000 odd users and Digi 200 ,000 odd users. "I don't see YES (by YTL) anywhere in this list here," he said in jest.

The instanet prepaid broadband offers Internet access to customers who do not have a USB modem, while customers with existing modem can enjoy immediate Internet access with the instant prepaid pack, both costing RM30 per month. The prepaid mobile broadband is also available for a daily subscription of RM5 and a weekly subscription of RM18.

Shazalli said the new prepaid broadband was designed to target users who earned "just enough" and were from the low-income group, in line with the government's call to help these users get affordable broadband services. "This plan is for students, low-income earners who cannot afford postpaid broadband services," he added.