Asia Pacific Watch

September 16, 2002
Alcatel names Malaysia as 3G launch pad

MALAYSIA -- Alcatel recently said it saw bright growth prospects in Southeast Asia and named Malaysia as its regional launch pad for its 3G mobile communications products.

Alcatel said growth opportunities in Southeast Asia were still strong compared to the stagnating markets in developed countries. It cited Malaysia, the second country in the region to bet on a commercially unproven service, as an example -- saying the number of Malaysian mobile customers was set to rise to the developed world's levels of 70 percent of population by 2006.

Constantin Scordidis, Alcatel's vice president of Southeast Asia and Pacific Islands, said adoption of the costly technology was poised to "accelerate" as economies recovered. He said: "The Asia-Pacific region is a real hotbed for proving viability of 3G mobile applications and services. We see a lot of opportunities in Southeast Asia, which is why we are choosing to open a center in Malaysia first, rather than in Korea or Japan."

Last Thursday, Alcatel opened a 3G "reality center" in Kuala Lumpur, where it also plans to carry out R&D and pre-launch testing work for the region. It currently has 3G centers in Shanghai and Taipei, serving North Asia. It plans to open one in Seoul and another in Japan by the first quarter of 2003.

Malaysia and Singapore have the best telecoms coverage within Southeast Asia. About 7.4 million or one-third of Malaysians carry cell phones, while over 70 percent of Singapore's four million people subscribe to mobile services. They are the only two nations to unveil 3G plans. Scordidis said that Kuala Lumpur was chosen over Singapore as an entry point into the region because of its bigger mobile market. He said there was more certainty on the start-date for 3G commercial launch in Malaysia.

Malaysia, which plans a full-launch in 2004, issued licenses to its two main telecoms firms -- Telekom Malaysia and Maxis Communications -- for 50 million ringgit ($13.2 million) each, a fraction of the $100 billion European carriers paid for theirs at the height of the 3G euphoria in 2000.