U Mobile

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Not to be confused with ümobile, a similarly named company in the Philippines.
U Mobile Sdn Bhd
Private
Industry Mobile Telecommunications
Mobile TV (discontinued)
Founded 1998 (As MiTV Networks Sdn Bhd)
Headquarters Berjaya Times Square, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Key people
Tan Sri Vincent Tan
Products Mobile LiveTV™ (discontinued)
Mobile Data (U Broadband)
Mobile Telephony
Mobile Multimedia
Number of employees
700+
Website www.u.com.my

U Mobile Sdn Bhd is a Malaysian mobile telecommunications service provider and was founded in 1998 as MiTV Networks Sdn Bhd. U Mobile is a wholly owned subsidiary of U Television Sdn Bhd, which was formerly known as U Telecom Media Holdings Sdn Bhd and MiTV Corporation Sdn Bhd.

The company utilises the 018 and 010 prefix allocated to the organisation by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).[1]

In addition to offering mobile telephony and mobile data, U Mobile offers a mobile TV service, Mobile LiveTV, that utilises Digital Video Broadcast – Handheld (DVB-H) technology.[2] U Mobile commenced its mobile service and Mobile LiveTV user trial in 2007.[3]

History

In April 2007, U Television Sdn Bhd signed the country's first nationwide domestic roaming memorandum of understanding, which led to an agreement with the mobile network operator Celcom (M) Bhd allowing U Mobile’s customers nationwide coverage while U Mobile rolled out its own high-speed mobile 3G service nationwide.[4] The agreement was completed in June 2007.

In December 2007, the 3G communications operators KT Freetel and NTT DoCoMo jointly invested USD$200 million (est. RM669 million) for a total of 33% stake in U Mobile.

In March 2008, U Mobile launched its first publicly available product called "Surf with U", a data-only plan for mobile users provided using U Mobile's HSDPA-driven mobile network. The following month, it rolled out its first mobile service, the postpaid U38 plan.[5] In July, U Mobile launched two new postpaid services, U68 and U98, and the 018 Prepaid service.

In 2009, KT Freetel, one of U Mobile's foreign investors, sold its 16.5% stake (62.6 million shares) to U Mobile’s major shareholder.[6]

In November 2012, U Mobile activated RAN Sharing with Maxis and transitioned its 2G network provider from Celcom to Maxis

On 17 December 2013, U Mobile launched its LTE network on the 2600 MHz band that covers the Klang Valley. U Mobile has currently about 2 million subscribers as of 2014.

Stakeholders

The major shareholder of U Mobile includes Straits Mobile Investments Pte. Ltd (49%), followed by U Telemedia Sdn Bhd (21.46%), Sultan Ibrahim(15%), Magnum Bhd (6.33%), Tan Sri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun (6.2%) and Berjaya Infrastructure Sdn Bhd (2.01%)[7]

Network

Frequencies used on U Mobile Network in Malaysia
Frequency Frequency Width Protocol Notes
2100 MHz (1920~1935, 2110~2125) 2 * 15 MHz UMTS/HSPA
2600 MHz (2520~2530, 2640~2650) 2 * 10 MHz LTE

-U Mobile uses maxis 2G nationwide network

Partners

U Mobile's partners include:

  • Atos Origin: Integrator of the BSCS iX Release 2 Billing System.
  • LHS: Supplier of the BSCS iX Release 2 Billing System
  • Ericsson: High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) solutions and management provider
  • Nokia Siemens Networks: Implementation, integration, and application development of DVB-H services, including the maintenance of MiTV’s infrastructure on a turnkey basis
  • Maxis: Nationwide domestic roaming partner. U Mobile is roaming on Maxis' 2G network nationwide, shares the 2100 MHz spectrum/3G network on the area outside Klang Valley, Ipoh, Johor Bahru, Penang and Negeri Sembilan.
  • Rohde & Schwarz Malaysia: Supplier of low, medium and high powered digital television transmitters for the rollout implementation and coverage expansion of U Mobile’s Mobile LiveTV.
  • Huawei: Telecommunication equipment provider, from access layers to core transmissions.
  • ZTE: Telecommunication equipment provider

Subscribers

As of June 2015, U Mobile has over four million active customers.[8]

References

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External links