Asia Express - Data Communications
WiMAX Development in Asia December 28, 2009 - January 3, 2010
December 31, 2009
Malaysian WiMAX carrier Packet One Networks plans to roll out WiMAX services in East Malaysia in July 2010 at the earliest, Bernama reported on December 15. 48 cities in Sabah are expected to see WiMAX deployment and implementation in 2010 and 58 others are planned for 2011. The three largest Sabah cities Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, and Tawau are on the list. For 2010, Packet One Networks has earmarked a capital expenditure of between 200 million Ringgits (US$58.8 million; US$1=3.4 Ringgits) to 300 million Ringgits (US$88.2 million), including the spending on network expansion in Sabah and Sarawak.

Meanwhile, Green Packet, the parent company of Packet One Networks, announced that it has secured three WiMAX modem supply orders in the Asia-Pacific region, according to a press release by the company on December 21. The three customers are Vee Telecom of Taiwan, Globe Telecom of the Philippines, and Vividwireless of Australia. Vee Telecom will procure Green Packet's 2.5GHz WiMAX USB modem for trial service launch in Taichung, central Taiwan. Globe Telecom plans to purchase Green Packet's 2.5 GHz WiMAX indoor modem, while Vividwireless has ordered Green Packet's new Tower WiMAX indoor modem for its WiMAX network in Perth.