U Mobile

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Not to be confused with ümobile, a similarly named company in the Philippines.
U Mobile Sdn Bhd
Type Private
Industry Mobile Telecommunications
Mobile TV (discontinued)
Founded 1998 (As MiTV Networks Sdn Bhd)
Headquarters Berjaya Times Square, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Key people Tan Sri Vincent Tan
Products Mobile LiveTV™ (discontinued)
Mobile Data (U Broadband)
Mobile Telephony
Mobile Multimedia
Employees 700+
Website http://www.u.com.my

U Mobile Sdn Bhd is a Malaysian 3G mobile telecommunicaions service provider and was founded in 1998 as MiTV Networks Sdn Bhd. U Mobile is a wholly owned subsidiary of U Television Sdn Bhd, which was formerly known as U Telecom Media Holdings Sdn Bhd and MiTV Corporation Sdn Bhd.

The company utilises the 018 prefix allocated to the organisation by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).[1]

In addition to offering mobile telephony and mobile data, U Mobile offers a mobile TV service, Mobile LiveTV, that utilises Digital Video Broadcast – Handheld (DVB-H) technology.[2] U Mobile targets to commence its mobile service and Mobile LiveTV user trial before the end of 2007.[3]

History

In April 2007, U Television Sdn Bhd signed the country's first nationwide domestic roaming memorandum of understanding, which led to an agreement with the mobile network operator Celcom (M) Bhd allowing U Mobile’s customers nationwide coverage while U Mobile rolled out its own high-speed mobile 3G service nationwide.[4] The agreement was completed in June 2007.

In December 2007, the 3G communications operators KT Freetel and NTT DoCoMo jointly invested USD$200million (est. RM669 million) for a total of 33% stake in U Mobile.

In March 2008, U Mobile launched its first publicly available product called "Surf with U", a data-only plan for mobile users provided using U Mobile's HSDPA-driven mobile network. The following month, it rolled out its first mobile service, the postpaid U38 plan.[5] In July, U Mobile launched two new postpaid services, U68 and U98, and the 018 Prepaid service.

In 2009 KT Freetel, one of U Mobile's foreign investors, sold its 16.5% stake (62.6 million shares) to U Mobile’s major shareholder.[6]

Timeline

2006

  • March 2006: Awarded the IMT-2000 spectrum assignment by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC)
  • April 2006: Began operations at Bangunan Singer, recruited first employee
  • June 2006: Moved operations to KL Plaza
  • August 2006:
    • Presented detailed business plan to MCMC
    • Signed 3G Contract Award with Ericsson (HSPA Infrastructure & Managed Services) [7]
  • October 2006: Established operations headquarters at Berjaya Times Square and the technical operations centre at Lot 28, Subang Hi-Tech
  • November 2006: Completed first video call test on own network
  • December 2006: Commencement of internal trial with U Mobile employees

2007

  • March 2007: Spectrum Assignment issued and prefix allocation of 018
  • April 2007: Signed Nationwide Domestic Roaming MoU with Celcom (M) Bhd
  • June 2007:
    • Joint announcement with Nokia Siemens Networks to launch commercial DVB-H service (Mobile LiveTV) in Malaysia by second half of 2007. It is the first such announcement made in the country
    • Signed Malaysia’s first nationwide Domestic Roaming agreement with Celcom (M) Bhd
  • September 2007: U Mobile Sdn Bhd and U Mobile – the brand and logo – was unveiled to the Malaysian public for the very first time
  • November 2007: U Mobile introduces early-bird Friendly User Program to the public
  • December 2007: U Mobile announces strategic partnership with KT Freetel and NTT DoCoMo – a deal worth US$200million with KTF and DoCoMo taking 33% stake in U Mobile Sdn Bhd

2008

  • March: U Mobile launched Surf with U, the company's first high-speed mobile internet plan for the public [8]
  • April: U Mobile launched its postpaid mobile service, the U38 Plan.
  • July: U Mobile launched its prepaid mobile service, the 018 Prepaid, acquired total of 100,000 subscribers [9]
  • October: U Mobile launched its 3G content services.

2009

  • March: U Mobile launched IDD Bonanza, the company's first IDD plan for its prepaid subscribers. Later, the service was extended until 30 June 2009 and includes Bangladesh in its country list. Again, U Mobile extended its IDD Bonanza to 31 August 2009.[10]
  • May: U Mobile launched two services, U10 Supplementary Plan[11] & U Buddy Service.[12]
  • October: U Mobile re-launched broadband plans called U Broadband.

2010

  • January: U Mobile's first 3G network expansion to Johor Bahru.
  • September: U Mobile revamped its Prepaid plan.[13]
  • September: U Mobile announced their HSPA+ networks at Berjaya Times Square, Kuala Lumpur with theoretical download speeds of 42 Mbits using Dual-Carrier High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) connections.[14] 42Mbit/s HSPA+ was planned to be in commercial service by 2011, and has been rolled out in Berjaya Times Square and in Subang Jaya and Sunway.[15]

Partners

  • Atos Origin: integrator of the BSCS iX Release 2 Billing System.
  • LHS: supplier of the BSCS iX Release 2 Billing System
  • Ericsson: High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) solutions and management provider
  • Nokia Siemens Networks: implementation, integration, and application development of DVB-H services, including the maintenance of MiTV’s infrastructure on a turnkey basis
  • Maxis: nationwide domestic roaming partner. Roaming on Maxis 2G (nationwide), share 2100 MHz spectrum/(3G network) on the area outside Klang Valley, Ipoh, Johor Bharu, Penang, Negeri Sembilan. share 2600Mhz spectrum with Maxis
  • Rohde & Schwarz Malaysia: Supplier of low, medium and high powered digital television transmitters for the rollout implementation and coverage expansion of U Mobile’s Mobile LiveTV
  • Huawei: telecommunication equipment provider, from access layer to core transmission

References

  1. ↑ Jeff, Ooi (April 11, 2007). "018 mobile prefix put to better use". CNET Asia. Retrieved 2007-10-10. 
  2. ↑ Clement, Teo (June 18, 2007). "MiTV and Nokia announce live DVB-H mobile TV service for Malaysia". Nokia MobileTV Forum. Archived from the original on 2007-06-30. Retrieved 2007-10-10. 
  3. ↑ Jo, Timbuong (September 20, 2007). "U Mobile is newest cellular service provider". TheStar Online: Tech Central. Retrieved 2007-10-10. 
  4. ↑ Surin, Murugiah (April 10, 2007). "MiTV to offer 3G service in 2H". The Edge Daily. Archived from the original on 2007-11-21. Retrieved 2007-10-10. 
  5. ↑ "U Mobile Launches its Post Paid Service – U38 Plan". 2008-04-15. Retrieved 2008-04-17. 
  6. ↑ "KT Freetel will sell 16.5% stake in U Mobile". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2009-04-19. 
  7. ↑ "Ericsson to build and manage MiTV's HSPA network in Malaysia". August 21, 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-10. 
  8. ↑ "U Mobile Launches Surf with U". March 12, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-12. 
  9. ↑ "U Mobile now has 100,000 subscribers". July 27, 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-01. 
  10. ↑ "U Mobile's IDD Bonanza". March 26, 2009. 
  11. ↑ "U Mobile's U10 Supplementary Plan". May 1, 2009. 
  12. ↑ "U Mobile's U Buddy Service". May 1, 2009. 
  13. ↑ "U Mobile's New U Prepaid Plan". Retrieved 2010-09-22. 
  14. ↑ "U Mobile the first telecommunication service provider in Malaysia to deploy HSPA+ technology to support 42Mbps". Retrieved 2010-09-27. 
  15. ↑ "42Mbps Mobile Broadband Service". Retrieved 2010-11-03. 

External links

PSTN operators
Mobile network operators
Mobile virtual network operators
Mobile WiMAX operators
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