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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