Rivals Celcom Axiata Bhd and DiGi Telecommunication Sdn Bhd expect a combined savings of about RM2.2bil over 10 years from their network-sharing collaboration.
The scope of the tie-up will initially focus on the sharing of telecommunication sites, access transmission (microwave links), aggregation transmission and trunk fibre transmission.
“The projected cash savings are premised on a combination of capital expenditure and operational expenditure
“For the first few years starting 2012, both parties can see RM100mil to RM200mil in savings while from 2015, they can see savings of RM200mil to RM250mil,” Axiata Bhd president and group CEO Datuk Seri Jamaludin Ibrahim said after an agreement signing for the collaboration yesterday.
He said Celcom might have to build its own network sites or lease from a third party if it did not have a network-sharing agreement with DiGi.
The network sharing will remove the duplication and optimise the deployment of base stations, avoid redeployment of equipment between redundant and new sites, reduce utility bills and transmission costs as well as address rising rental fees.
In June 2010, DiGi and its major shareholder, Telenor Asia Pte Ltd, and Axiata and Celcom signed a memorandum of understanding to explore the viability of long-term collaboration on network infrastructure sharing in Malaysia.
The agreement came on the back of a six-month technical and financial feasibility study aimed at a long-term economic and operational viability for both parties.
The collaboration will pave the way for improved operational efficiency, address increased data capacity requirements, reduce cost and improve asset utilisation.
“Our collaborative effort will help us advance the industry towards having a telecommunications infrastructure that is sustainable and supports data growth in the country.
“Ultimately, benefits derived from cost and operational efficiency will be channelled towards accelerating our reach and providing better quality service for our customers,” DiGi chief executive officer Henrik Clausen said.
He added that the journey had just begun for DiGi to realise the potential of this extensive network collaboration and also to pursue further operational efficiency.
However, he said, both parties would remain as competitors despite forming the collaboration.
Celcom and DiGi will initially share 218 telecommunication sites each. They will consolidate and upgrade over 4,000 sites along with fibre transmission network by 2015.
Celcom chief executive officer Datuk Seri Shazalli Ramly said the company now had about 7,000 sites while DiGi had about 6,000.
He said both companies would decommission a combined 2,000 sites to improve efficiency.
Jamaludin said the collaboration was part of Axiata's strategy to form similar tie-ups with other companies in countries it operated now.
Axiata and the Telenor group had embarked on similar network collaborations in Bangladesh, he said.
**Source From The Star Online**
