Oct 14 2015, 06:08 PM
The All New Unifi
Remember the news that we carried about TM coming up with new plans for its UniFi subscribers? Prior to that, remember the quiet rollout of its UniFi 30 Mbps residential plan (with 50 Mbps Add-Ons) that was limited to only certain locations? Now, TM has come clean on its new long-term plan (and thinking) with its ‘The All New UniFi’ initiative.
TM organised a media briefing yesterday to give us a peek into what they’ve been cooking up for us but didn’t actually provide us the whole picture but rest assured, more announcements will be coming our way. Besides, the organising team did hint at something new within the next two weeks. Maybe even sooner.
Looking at the plans themselves, the very first change comes with the way that they will be called. Going forward, the current VIP prefix will be dropped and it looks like TM is even doing away with the speed suffix after ‘UniFi’. This would mean that even the newly minted ‘UniFi 30’ will be getting a new name. This is in line with TM’s strategy of providing an ‘Unlimited Experience’ without thinking about speeds. This will also bode well for TM when it starts offering free speed bumps down the line, without having to actually rename the plans to whatever the current speeds that are being offered.
During the presentation, TM actually showed us media representatives two sets of plans but we can only talk about one for now. The plan will be called UniFi Advance, it will be for residential use and, as we’ve seen before, it will come with a 30 Mbps download speed. TM also said there will be a higher and lower tiers with different levels of pricing but details of those weren’t shared. TM opines that power users could always upgrade to its other offerings, and that these residential plans are not meant for that group anyway.
See image below for more details of and a comparison between the current VIP 10 and the new UniFi Advance:
Looking at the slide above, the first question that comes to mind was the reduction in upload speed. TM assured us that it did an extensive analysis on the current usage trends and shared with us that almost 90% of its UniFi users do not even hit the 5 Mbps limit. TM believes that the 30 Mbps is what would matter in the end for customers when they decide on a plan.
Apart from speeds, TM is also confident of its HyppTV bundling as well as what it dubs as the ‘enhanced triple play’ Add-ons offerings (which consists of UniFi 50 Mbps speed bump, P1 ToGo plan, and Voice Pack), and hopes that these will be strong determining factors when customers decide on an internet plan. TM believes that by bundling the content with the plans, they offer better value compared to other ISP or even IPTV players in the market. TM also claims that it offers the best in the market in terms of the RM/Mbps pricing, and of the content bundling (which also includes sports as part of its channels). Adding further to the list of claims, TM feels that its content-selection are the most flexible in the industry. On a side note, the unbundling of HyppTV from the core internet plans was also something TM had discussed about in the planning stages.
For business customers, TM will be offering retail solutions in the form of SurePay and SurePay POS, Microsoft Office 360, and more importantly, voice packages to go along with the internet plans. As with the residential plan above, business subscribers will also be able to get additional speed upgrades if necessary. To show that it means business, TM has also improved its money-back guarantee with a promise of restoring services within 12 hours; which applies to even major breakdowns.
Talking a bit more on future plans, TM’s investment in P1 has already made inroads and the service will feature more prominently in TM’s infrastructure. This is already evident in the UniFi 30 plan/UniFi Advance plan with its P1 ToGo add-on offer. TM will be leveraging on P1 when the former starts rolling out to locations where going wireless would be a much more feasible option. This is important for TM to grow its coverage area as UniFi is not available even in some parts of the Klang Valley. This is partly because of how some developers have gone ahead and laid out fiber networks without even consulting TM. The issue about not following the correct guidelines is already being looked into and TM is actively working with developers right from the planning stages. Another feature that customers can expect to see in the future is a unified support as well as billing services for all of TM’s products, including UniFi and P1.
As with all new rollouts, when the new packages become available, users will still be able to hold on to their current plans, but only for as long as its life-cycle. When that comes to an end, customers will be informed of their options and TM promises to make the switch to the new plan as painless as possible. When queried about the issue of current subscribers moving to the new set-top-boxes, TM confirmed that it is possible to upgrade for about RM 400 (the exact price is still unconfirmed) but TM does not have any plans in place yet for a trade-in of the older device.
On a personal note, the decision to reduce the upload speed does seem like a downgrade (since the current plan already gives 10 Mbps) but I’m sure that TM did the research it needed to come to that conclusion. Even then, when one considers that everyone you know is walking around with a camera (or two) in their hands, which would mean that everyone single one of them a content creator, the current explosion of video and image uploads is only going to trend upwards. Hopefully, there will be upgrades made to the speeds before it becomes a bottleneck.
Another point that I have to pick is about the content. With VOD services such as iflix, the number of channels available won’t matter anymore. People will be able to watch watch they want, when they want, and not be restricted to schedules. TM’s HyppTV Everywhere can already do that but it looks like this VOD service has gone completely under the radar. I’m assuming of course that this is because TM is concentrating on bigger pay TV opponents, which could already become irrelevant with the newer generation. We’re looking at people who consume on the go with whatever device they have with them. All said, here’s to hoping that consumer demands will push for the right upgrade path in future rollouts.
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There is a chance you might get free calls
Guess you have to tell them and show them this promo sheet. 
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