KUALA LUMPUR (March 28): Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) has sealed an agreement with Laos’ state-owned internet agency to further extend its network reachability in the Indochina region, where the market is forecast to grow exponentially.
Under the agreement, the Lao National Internet Centre (LANIC), an affiliate of Laos’ Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, will be hosting and providing network infrastructure for TM’s Point-of-Presence (POP) in Laos.
Meanwhile, TM will be able to provide alternative connectivity solution to its customers, as well as addressing the growing demands for international internet bandwidth in Laos, TM said in a statement today.
The provisioning of the alternative connectivity solutions will be fulfilled through diverse routes, connecting to TM’s other POPs in Kuala Lumpur, Phnom Penh and Hong Kong.
The POP which is located in LANIC’s International Data Centre (IDC) in Vientiane, will be serving various services, including IPVPN, IP Transit and Global Ethernet services, which provides integrated, robust and seamless connectivity with low latency.
“This alliance will further strengthen our regional footprint in South East Asia and through the new POP, TM will be able to offer a vast range of services at a competitive price, going in and out from Laos through diversified routes via submarine and terrestrial cables, connecting to our existing on-net network presence.
“TM is constantly investing and partnering with regional and global providers to offer better reachability and connectivity to our global customers, through reciprocal business collaboration. This subsequently supports the realisation of the vision to establish ASEAN as a dynamic and competitive economic block,” said Asri Jaafar, TM’s vice president for Product Marketing & Operations, Global & Wholesale.
Besides further strengthening and expanding TM’s business internationally, this initiative is also in support of the government’s aspiration to make Malaysia, a regional hub for data communications, he said.
To date, TM has 22 POPs worldwide, spanning across five regions — Asia, Australia, North America, Europe and Middle East.
“Ultimately, this collaboration will enable TM’s end customers in the Indochina region to leverage on its international infrastructure and at the same time, strengthens TM’s presence globally.
“Customers/Internet users on the other end will be able to enjoy seamless and extensive connectivity, hence enhance their surfing experience with low latency,” said Asri.
TM shares were unchanged at RM6.60 today, for a market capitalisation of RM24.8 billion.