25 July 2008

Regulation, competition and broadband key topics at South East Asia Com in Kuala Lumpur this week

After two days of intense discussion and networking, South East Asia Com closed its doors yesterday in Kuala Lumpur, not without confirming that this new annual event will reconvene in July 2009 for an update on the region's telecommunications market.

Over 150 participants representing operators, service provider, regulators, industry analysts and vendors attended the event. The high-level conference which was co-located with an exhibition included presentations from leading organisation and set the agenda for the region's telecommunications industry for the year to come.

Despite great disparities among the region's markets (from the saturated markets of Singapore and Malaysia to the under-developed Myanmar, via high-growth markets such as Vietnam and Indonesia), the next major growth opportunity resides in the development of internet services both in urban and under-served rural areas. Wireless broadband technologies are very promising in delivering such services cost-effectively. WiMAX was at the centre of the debates, thanks to regulatory developments and to the launch of new ISPs using the technology. The case study of Malaysia's first WiMAX operator Packet One, represented by CEO Michael Lai, provided valuable insights into deploying the network and launching attractive services. The regulatory implications of launching WiMAX where touched upon by representatives of the Malaysian Communications & Multimedia Commission (Toh Swee Hoe, Senior Director Research and Planning), and Indonesia's regulator BRTI (Koesmarihati Sugondo, Committee Member). Following years of mismanagement of spectrum frequencies, regulators from the region are getting smarter in imposing conditions for spectrum allocation and licences. As an example, one of the requirements imposed by BRTI to the first WiMAX licensees will be to use equipment provided by local manufacturers. Indeed, regulators and governments from the region are keen to ensure that telecommunications market developments are beneficial to their countries' economies. This principle was made clear by Dato' Joseph Salang, Malaysia’s Deputy Minister of Energy, Water and Communications, who gave an official opening address at the event. He highlighted the importance of ICT in the country's socio-economic development, and called for more regional cooperation on a number of issues, included WiMAX deployment, local content and universal access.

Another key issue affecting the region is the changing face of the telecommunications market in a number of its countries, with increased liberalisation and growing competition. Some of the region's most promising markets have introduced new licences, affecting ARPU and operator revenues as a result of the increased competition. Laos is one of them; the country was represented at the event by ETL's Deputy Director of Telecom Development Division Thavisak Manotham, who nonetheless expressed his hope that it can become an ICT hub in South East Asia. Vietnam is another example, with no less than 7 operators whose competition is creating challenges for incumbent VNPT, as its universal service obligations are tougher than its competitors'. The operator was represented by Phan Thao Nguyen Deputy Chief of Admin Bureau, and Bui Thien Ha, Director of Information and External Relations Division. However, competition can be managed thanks to an effective and well implemented strategy, as was shown by Willem Timmermans, Chief Financial Officer of Indonesia's PT Excelcomindo. He gave an excellent case study on how his business delivered on a strategy of simple and innovative commercial initiatives accompanied by clever cost-reduction to increase margins. After a successful implementation supported by the whole staff, results were positive: PT Excelcomindo gained market share, and is expecting to announce good Q208 results next week.

Other case studies included presentations from Indosat (on corporate services), Maxis (on network evolution), AIS (on market segmentation), Trivon (on investing in and setting up WiMAX operations), Astro (on mobile TV), PCCW (on quadruple play), and more.

The event was described as a good opportunity to understand the main issues in the region's market, to share best practices with colleagues and to network with potential business partners. It was supported by Smarttrust, Green Packet, Ulticom and Altobridge, and free to attend for the region's operators and regulators.

Next year's event will take place again in Kuala Lumpur on 22nd and 23rd July, with more representatives of the region's operators, and new updates on commercial, regulatory and technology evolution in the region.