Sep 13, 2012

Brunei - DST may roll out 4G in Q1 2013

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DST may roll out its Long Term Evolution (LTE) network by the first quarter of 2013, its CEO said.

Commercial trials will be held prior to the official launching of the LTE network, also known as 4G, said DST chief executive Idris Vasi.

"We are looking (at roll-out dates) and it's not finalised yet. We are now done with the technology trials, and what we want to do next is to have a proper commercial trial before we do the final launch," he told The Brunei Times on Tuesday.

Device availability will also be taken into consideration for the launch, the CEO said, with plans to offer bundled packages in the form of USB dongles, tablets and other devices also in the pipeline.

However, "nothing is certain for now", he said.

Vasi, who will be one of the speakers for the upcoming LTE Asia in Singapore on September 18-19, said the expo will be a chance for DST to get a glimpse of what other operators' 4G plans.

"Essentially we want to see the sharing of best practices, what operators are doing, the challenges in implementing LTE and what successes they've had since rolling out LTE," said Vasi.

The company will use this opportunity to understand pricing plans, tiering and differentiating 4G from 3G services, he said.

"The key thing is to understand best practices. I want to hear case studies, that's the key thing. On the technology side, it's important to understand from a deployment perspective, what are various spectrum of frequencies LTE is deployed at, and why certain decisions were made by operators."

"In terms of what we will launch with our bundles, we haven't looked at it yet, but certainly there will be something," he said.

DST is also expected to continue offering bundled packages as it had done for 3G in the past, said the CEO.

"Brunei is different than Singapore, for example, as the vast majority is still on prepaid whereas in Singapore, the majority is in post-paid. Having said that, we are doing it (bundled packages) in 3G already, so we may continue to do it with 4G. But of course, you won't have as wide a variety as 3G when it starts, but then it will begin to accelerate."

On the second day of LTE Asia, Idris will present a paper titled "Mobile Broadband Strategies in Emerging Markets".

"Basically, I'll be looking at global trends, Brunei mobile market trends and drivers, how you can deploy a smart network that differentiate services in the market, innovative packages, or how you can market this and enhance customer experience. In the end of the day, it's all about customer experience," he said, adding that those are the four main topics areas.

Despite presenting a paper on emerging market, Idris said Brunei cannot be classified as one due to 3G high penetration rates. Nevertheless, the country experiences challenges similar to those in emerging markets, he said.

"In terms of our services, Brunei is not emerging, but some of our challenges are similar to emerging markets, such as having a spread out population with no concentration, that makes deployment challenges different as there is a geographical and population spread," he said.

Ensuring that the population has equal access to its network will be part of DST's corporate social responsibility, he said.

"Not everything is about profits, but it's a telco's universal service obligation to see how you can cater to, as close as, 100 per cent of the population," he said.

Another aspect that makes Brunei similar to emerging markets is in the way many subscribers use mobile broadband as their primary Internet connection.

"Most developed markets essentially have Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH), Hybrid Fibre-Coaxial (HFC), DSL or a combination of all three. In Brunei, one of the reasons why our networks are getting congested because people are using mobile as their primary access technology."

Idris then assured that network congestion problems will be alleviated once FTTH is deployed.

"When you talk about first, second or third streams in developed markets, mobile would usually be a user's third stream whilst in emerging (markets), mobile would be the first. So FTTH will change the dynamics."

Currently, the typical scenario is that people would use mobile 3G connection to access the Internet from their laptops or desktops as there are little to no alternatives, he said.

"Although mobile broadband with 3G or 4G will continue growing because of its mobility, FTTH will help at home where if you want to download movies or large files. It will be faster with fibre as opposed to mobile which people are doing now which is clogging up network," he said.

Mobile broadband, in its current generation, is not designed for "heavy downloads", said the CEO, but LTE or 'LTE Advanced' networks will be able to handle heavier loads.

LTE Asia, currently in its seventh series, is a platform for Asian operators to discover new partners and learn from the market leaders about deployment experiences.

Dubbed as "Asia's Leading 4G event", more than 800 participants are expected to attend.

GOH DE NO
The Brunei Times


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