TM may not have to provide full services to other players until 2015

PETALING JAYA: The Government has deferred full access to the soon to be built high speed broadband (HSBB) network to industry players, except for Telekom Malaysia Bhd ™, by seven years to 2015.

The decision comes just a week after it inked a controversial RM11.3bil HSBB agreement with TM.

The deferment means that apart from bit streaming, full access, line sharing and sub-loop services will not be mandated in the access list which is up for review this year.

If these are not mandated, TM will not have to provide the services to the other players, a move seen by other industry players as protective of TM.

“The implementation of full access service, line sharing service and sub-loop service listed in the Commission Determination on Access List, ... where the facilities and services are provided over the HSBB network, shall be deferred for seven years from Sept 16, 2008 to Sept 15, 2015,’’ Energy, Water and Communications Minister said in a letter dated Sept 16, the same day the agreement with TM was inked.

Industry players who saw the letter, which was posted on the website of the Malaysian Communications & Multimedia Commission (MCMC) on Sept 19, were shocked.

“This effectively stops any other provider from accessing TM’s HSBB infrastructure to provide services to end users and this in my opinion is against the very principle of acting in the long term interest of the end user,’’ said an industry player who requested anonymity.

Another player said “the Government is protecting TM and this strengthens its monopoly in the market place.”

StarBiz has learned that TM wanted the open access deferred as it is forking out 80% or RM8.9bil of the RM11.3bil for the HSBB project. The Government’s portion in the public/private partnership is RM2.4bil.

“TM wants some breathing space as it is entering uncharted territory with the HSBB,’’ said a source.

The MCMC, in a media briefing yesterday, said the public could enquire about the access list which will be posted today on its website.

“These are technical definitions. It also does not preclude us to reviewing the access list every three years,’’ said MCMC chief operating officer Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi.

The MCMC said the deferment was to “create an environment where HSBB can be deployed efficiently by TM and to promote effective competition in the communications and multimedia industry in an orderly fashion.”

Worse still for industry players, a re-selling of bandwidth would also not be allowed.

“We are not looking at simple re-sale. What we want to promote is triple play, IPTV, video on demand and things like that which can add value to and enrichen the network. The HSBB should be used for higher value-added (purposes), otherwise there is no point in the Government investing in the network,’’ Sharil said.