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since digi don't have to spend money on 3G, this would eventually means that they can reduce their calling rates since they don't have any expenses to cover.

come on, lower the rates digi, maxis and celcom are busy recovering from the 3G infrastructure they've just spend.

Dont think it'll be too much of a hurdle for them to bounce back despite the setback. With the culture that they have brought upon the local staff over the last few years, they should be more determined and 'hungrier' now.

If you look back, they have done it before breaking tougher monopolies like international and intra-nation calling rates. Its not impossible given the rate technology advances especially when one thinks out of the box instead of relying on crutches..oops licences alone.

Telecommunications system is an area that directly affects the national security of our country.

To grant those licenses to only Malaysian companies in the interest of national security should not be suprising.

For example, take a look at the current Dubai ports deal. Also do you know that non-American airlines are not allowed to fly across continental US?

It is common practice especially given Malaysia's reputation, it is possible that foreign countries have an interest to eavesdrop on Malaysians. Protection of telecommunications industry against foreigners should therefore be national interest.

Wow mahathir_Fan...

conspiracy and espiopnage theory huh?

Wow again....

i do agree that government should give protection to local company but giving a telecommunication related license to a non-telecomunication organisation is totally blind trust only.

mahathir_fan

why trying to defend an indefensible position hiding behind 'national interest'?

isn't a substancial shareholding to Telekom Malaysia a neighbouring country?

care to check where most of your Internet data (packets) are routed?

or whether your cellular calls are tapped - not just by foreigners but by local authorities?

come on, quit apologising on behalf of the government for obviously a not-so-wise decision!

Use up more tax payers dollars - perhaps the 4B from petrol subsidies - to bail out the two companies later?

I bet you Tun M, Kak Fidah and even Pak Lah is cringing from the statements made by the Minister! Arrogant and jingoistic at one moment and literally begging (for FDI) the next.

Come on - decision does not make sense.

ps .. if VT / MITV decide to allow gambling and buy Toto as one of the 3G apps, would that be in national interest?

peace

If its the case of locals only, why in the world did they not specify that as one of the pre-bid conditions? Was that an afterthought when things didnt go along as planned?

Anyway, whether the company was local or foreign is a matter for the Securities Commission to decide. The SC has already given the waiver when they needed the foreigner's money. Furthermore, the SC has given so many extensions when nobody could offer the correct price. They are still operating within the waiver's latest dateline, so why penalise? Or are the 'vultures' waiting for a lelong sale??

This topic has been raging for sometime but lets just step back and look at this!
Its a bidding that a company lost out ,so whats the big deal contracts and bids are lost everyday.If Digi is as smart as most of you believe ( you know world wide expetise, ang mor and all) they will know the next csuae of action.
Hey this is big business so we consumers don't need to emphatise with any of them like someone says it could only mean cheaper call Rates !!

I work in the telco (3G) industry. IMHO, DiGi can still pick up from this loss by venturing into other access technologies. There is still many technical issues (yet) to be ironed out in 3G, its rollout being too slow, market penetration sluggish due to high cost and lack of attractive services/applications etc etc. That's where WiMAX comes in - it's only a matter of time, and I'm pretty sure DiGi will have some extra revenue in its pockets to cash in on this new baby.

This is a small matter for Digi. a decade ago, Tenaga bid for broadband license and was rejected, despite tenaga having the longest fibre optic network in the country.Tenaga's fibreoptic network is laid along its high voltage lines, which means it crosses every urban and a huge swath of rural areas in the Peninsular.Add wifi into the picture and you could have got a broadband coverage ten years ago. Instead, the licenses were given to upstart companies who then tried to strangle tenaga with their license. Tenaga, like digi, decided against working with these upstarts and the millions spent on braodband infratrsucture is underutilised and is used for tenaga's own data communication.

mahathir_Fan,

your conspiracy theory is going too far...

to me it's more like favouring the local than a partly-foreign company.

in another words, our arrogance had just called off a foreign investment - good or bad?

Couldnt agree more with Art Chan and phantom78. DiGi has plenty of time to catch up because the connectivity is only covered at certain parts of the country and not all.

An inside source has told me that DiGi is actually prepared with their 3G team and ready to go already. But again, it's just rumours.

DiGi was the only participant who was able to provide all the requirements as per MCMC guidelines and they choose not to grant it to DiGi.

Very dissapointed indeed towards MCMC decision.

Shireen,

Isn't the decision was the minister's, as he aserted last night.

Vertebrato ! , you said "your conspiracy theory is going too far..." Belive me bro, Thats what i thought until i found out that singapore can jam our army comm till the kluang -mersing line.

I fully agree with the statement made by JustMe. If Petronas can tell a non-bumi that a license to operate a petrol station is only reserved for the bumis, why can't our people do the same with DiGi? It is the only ethical thing to do than to lead DiGi up the garden's path. Before other foreign start to shy away from investing in our country, our government had better made it clear right from the beginning the type of projects that foreigners can vy for and projects that they cannot. It is the only right thing to do.

Keep up all this bumi / non-bumi NEP crap and soon we will be the sick man of Asia when 2020 comes . Congratulations Malaysia - you are succeeding in keeping foreigners away and slowly getting rid of 3rd class Malaysians .

Sydput is right about TNB's fiber optic network. Coupled with PLC (power line communication) technology they could basically provide high speed bandwidths to every home that has electricity already. They should be given another shot for a service provider licence since they're supposedly one of the better organized GLC's. I moved into my house in Putra Heights (outside USJ) six months ago and am only getting my phone line connected this week. TM needs a kick up its a$#. They still think they're a govt. agency....(oh wait..they still are aren't they?? duhhh)

Telecommunications should be considered a national security matter for the Malaysian government to make it off limits to foreigners. I do agree that this should have been stated in the first place.

This is expected practice in many countries. For instance, in the US recently, a UAE company Dubai ports which won the contract to offer ports services in the US was later on the course of being denied the contract by the US congress. The reason? National security.

Do you think, if the Chinese government or the Soviet government wants to buy AT&T (American Telecom company) that it would be allowed by the US congress?

I don't think so.

Also, I do not see why it has been disadvantaged to Malaysia. When Digi invest in 3G infrastructure in Malaysia, it is going to generate more income from Malaysia than what they put in. Malaysians will lose.

It is not critical or would there be a sudden measurable increase in our nation's GNP if we go 3G. 3G is only going to breed more people to play online games, or send text messages, or browse the internet for leisure on their mobile phones. Nothing really productive will significantly arise from it. 3G is like a casino. No real productive work is actually produced by the casino. The casino in the end wins and the profit is a zero sum game exploiting the gamblers.

How will 3G improve your productivity that would make it worthwhile for us to sacrifice and allow a foreign company to take a bite into our telecommunications market?

Serpico,

IMHO, we could simply treat Telenor's intention just to get the 3G business and brings benefits the Digi user, nothing much.

Just take an example

Why are Vodafone, O2 etc (both are UK company) so successful in European countries and even in Australia?

Is it because European ppl don't think telecommunication = security and simply give away the 3G license?

Another best example would be 3 (Three), a phone company which is under Hutchison Whampoa Group (owned by Hong Kong #1 billionaire Li Ka Shing) is operating as a pure 3G company in UK and many other countries.

If we think keep on thinking telecommunication = security, and closed the door for business, perhaps we may not even be able to use internet (needless to mention, the existance of jeffooi.com)

I agree with closing the telecommuncation industry to outsider for the reason of national interest.

Also close the automotive sector as well for national interest, so that our "national interest" will not be threaten by competition.

Since we are closing those, might as well we close the airline industry, close the high-tech industry(sensitive national interest),close the electronic and electrical industry, close the agriculture (they are our basic source of income), close the transport, close the oil and gas, close the power industry, since we are at that, might as well we close the border like myanmar, since then we will be king in our economy.

Also, since we are already at that, might as well close the whole industry to non-bumi, since they have no choice but being born non-bumi, we allowed them to be employed by us.

Then we will achive our national interest/national pride in 2020. Malaysia Boleh!

Dear mahathir_Fan,

the argument of the usage of technology is very subjective.

What's the usage of broadband?

Downloading mp3, movie etc? (it's illegal, warn u) does that bring productivity?

if you could think of other usage other than downloading mp3 with broadband - it's the same with the usage of 3G - the potential is yet to be unveiled.

if you think 3G is similar to casino, why, and base on what, that you think MiTV can make 3G a better service than a casino-like service?

it's all about globalisation now, if you don't open the door, foreigner can always go to other countries to start business. Period.

If DG was serious about getting a license, they would have got it. But first they will have to comply with telenor's 61% stake in DG. this company should be taken private by SC rules. Secondly, they would have lobbied hard for the license. I think they applied for a license and were not bothered if they were to get it or not.I suggest DG merge with Jaring to reduce telenor's stake and with the broadband license they obtained, make a deal with Tenaga for a broadband service network.

mahathir_Fan,

You said non American airlines are not allowed to fly across the US, what abotu Air France, Luft. British Air which have flights to chicago in the middle and some of which carry on to New York City and I am not talking about them using their American Partners planes. I am talking about the actual airplane owned by these company. I have been flying into Chicago and St Louis for more then 18 years at least once every three months. I usually fly any of these airlines: lufthansa, Air France, Britsh Air and Japan Air

mahathir_Fan,

You said non American airlines are not allowed to fly across the US, what abotu Air France, Luft. British Air which have flights to chicago in the middle and some of which carry on to New York City and I am not talking about them using their American Partners planes. I am talking about the actual airplane owned by these company. I have been flying into Chicago and St Louis for more then 18 years at least once every three months. I usually fly any of these airlines: lufthansa, Air France, Britsh Air and Japan Air

mahathir_Fan,

You said non American airlines are not allowed to fly across the US, what abotu Air France, Luft. British Air which have flights to chicago in the middle and some of which carry on to New York City and I am not talking about them using their American Partners planes. I am talking about the actual airplane owned by these company. I have been flying into Chicago and St Louis for more then 18 years at least once every three months. I usually fly any of these airlines: lufthansa, Air France, Britsh Air and Japan Air

I would not compare 3G with broadband.

I would rather compare 3G with the differences between coffee and wine.

If a person already has coffee, having wine is just a luxury step up. It is nice to have but not necessary.

We already have 2G and based on experiences in many other countries, 3G is just a small step up with hefty fees along the way.

Aside from that, we still cannot ascertain the advantages of giving the 3G licenses to local companies.

For instance, imagine if Malaysia had not developed Petronas, but instead gave rights to drill oil to foreign oil companies and passively collect oil royalties like Saudi Arabia.

Because we have developed Petronas, Petronas now travels the world to offer petroleum drilling services.

I believe the government's hope is that by giving local companies a chance, these companies will master the technology and eventually venture overseas and provide 3g services to countries in Africa or neighbouring nation and help us earn foreign currencies.

If we continue to rely on foreign companies, we will become passive consumers of their technology. This is called techological colonization.

Mahathir_fan,

I'm appaled by your arguments and understanding of the industry. You seem to have swayed really ofcourse without understanding enough to differentiate the telco industry and others!

First of all, to consider the telco industry a national industry is not only stupid but immature. Hence, i regard the minister who said it, immature and incompetent to comprehend the technology.

To connect this to dubai ports world is silly becoz the reasons are totally different. US congress is worried that they will loose control of what comes in and out the ports, which can include bombs, terrorist etc. This is NATIONAL SECURITY! They didnt deny the deal becoz of STUPID national interest but in the name of national security.

you DONT smuggle boms & terrorist over the telco network, though you can detonate them :) . So PLEASE, try to think and differentiate the matters before concluding.

Next: on
"AT&T (American Telecom company)being sold to chinese "
Its premature to say it cannot happen. IF at all there is an opposition to this, it is becoz of the comunist party ruling the chinese rather then becoz At&T is a national interest!

Next: on
"Also, I do not see why it has been disadvantaged to Malaysia. When Digi invest in 3G infrastructure in Malaysia, it is going to generate more income from Malaysia than what they put in. Malaysians will lose.
"

How did you come up with this conclution? It takes at least 1B USD or more to setup a full fledge startup 3G operator in malaysia if you talk about nationwide coverage. The capex re-collection for 3G is longer, thats why most countries issuing new licenses give the license out for a longer period, 10-15 yrs (like in egypt) lease!

During this period,you need hundreds of people to run these networks and YES it's bloody malaysians dude who works for Digi! So to come to a conclusion that malaysia will losee more then Digi's capex and opex is SO PREMATURE, if not immature! Please take into accoutn capex & opex and the fact the ones running these networks are locals!

Next: on
"How will 3G improve your productivity that would make it worthwhile for us to sacrifice and allow a foreign company to take a bite into our telecommunications market?"

I think you need to go back to school and the stone age ...do you have a handphone? If yes, what a hypocrate you are ...! With your given understanding above on 3G service, it clearly shows you lack the understanding of the technology and the services that run on 3G, if you think it's just about browsing the net and playing games!..you much to learn!
Please go read up on IMS and HSDPA! and u'll know what else can be offered over the 3G spectrum!

Finally on foreign companies tapping into our lines..>
FYI ...all countries usually have requirement for LEGAL INTERCEPT it's a standard telco feature that is there on all systems ...all operators have it ...though the protocols to execute it is very complex!

The brains behind Digi's day to day operations are Malaysians..not foreigners ... Digi feeds many lives ... who call themselves malaysians... so it's very premature and immature for anyone to say the foreigner will do things without the knowledge of our ppl to jeopardise malaysia ...

This stupid decission could also affect job creation in malaysia...telenor was to open it's regional RnD centre here and employ our ppl ...but i've yet to hear any update if this is going to happen..i personally doubt..why should they invest in a country that regards telenor's bread and butter as NATIONAL INTEREST!

This country is going to the pits the wway it's being run!

Also, TELENOr is not a dumb company ...to screw up their investment in malaysia by doing illegal wire taps ... If they get caught, they will lose so much around the world ....You can expect such stupid things from a amalsyain company but not a foreign company!

I'm frankly tired of ppl posting things in this blog without knowing facts or understanding the situations! Please think well before making conclucions in Jeff's blog!

JEFF OOI says: Admittedly, there are far too many loyar buruk in the Internet, Malaysia and my blog not excluded. I had lunch with TV Smith and Patrick teoh just now. What we encountered in the OKT on LRT caption contest further supports that. It's a land of loyar buruk.

Gok,

Turn the clock back to 1970s.

Do you think Malaysia should have created Petronas, or would it be better of auctioning licenses to foreign oil companies to drill our oil out?

Now fast forward the clock to present. Do you think we should give Malaysian companies 3G licenses, or give it out to foreign companies like Digi?

Do you think we should outright remain a British Colony? Surely, British Telecom would do a better job than Telekom Malaysia. Surely, Oxford University is far better than University Malaya and if we are British colonist subjects, they will give us admissions preference.

Btw, thanks to that someone for pointing out about the American airlines case. I stand corrected for my ignorance, however notice that the countries allowed to fly across continental US belong to the good friends of US club.

There are those who still subcribe to the textbook economics of win-win situation in free trade and globalization and they think they are geniuses for being able to recite those points.

Let me enlighten you that prominent economist like Paul Samuelson(Nobel winner) are already beginning to have 2nd thoughts about the benefits of free trade.

See: http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2004/09/20040927_b_main.asp
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2005/11/329297.shtml

Mahathir Fan,

First, You cannot compare the DPW (Dubai Ports World) case to Malaysia. This was flat out racism by a country that has been fueled by the fear of Arabs by their president for the past four years. If RUNNING (notice i dont mention owning because no one can own US ports) by foreign companies was not allowed due to national interest then why is almost every WEST COAST PORT run by CHINESE COMPANIES? Apples and Oranges.

Second, you still havent adequately explained exactly how OWNING a 3G license is deemed NATIONAL SECURITY.

mahathir_Fan,

you are comparing business as invasion - that's really bad.

1) We already have local telco company that run 3G (Celcom, Maxis)AND the petronas case you mentioned is a bad example, because at that time we don't have national drill company

2) Again, i have to stress, if you don't open the door, foreign company can carry their $$$ to other place to invest.

last but not least, if this country is relating foreign investment = invasion,

and at the same time foreign co. is thinking their technology = national interest

prepare to stick with the current technology beyond 2020

Jam,

I believe I said the entire telecommunications should be considered national security because of potential of foreign elements eavesdropping and not just 3G.

You can think of this deal's intention to be our 2nd Petronas. The market is there for profits to be made, just like oil. There is hardly any need for tech know-how as many of the telecommunication equipment will be bought instead of making them ourselves.

There will be temptations to compare this with Proton. But the difference between 3G and proton is that Proton required Malaysian made parts - Malaysian investment and Malaysian know how.

Even Digi themselves will buy equipment, install them. They will not make it themselves. They will rely on Nokia or Ericsson to help them setup the network. If so, why can't Malaysian companies also buy those same equipment and be trained by Nokia and Ericsson to do the job and that way we can keep the profits by bypassing the middle man?

RMO,

Maybe what MAHATHIR FAN meant was that no FOREIGN CARRIERS fly domestic routes in the US. This is because most if not all of the US domestic routes are unprofitable. It has nothing to do with NATIONAL INTEREST. In fact if you look at the shareholdings of the major airlines, a large percentage is owned by foreign companies.

What really strikes me is the criticism always levelled at the US by people like MAHATHIR FAN but when they can use the US to make a point they jump at the chance.

Sorry guys, I dont subscribe to the national security issue of being denied the 3G licience. If this were the case, the Goverment could still provide the 3G licience with a caveat on not to sell/rent to licience or sell its stake without the cabinet's permission. Also, the Implementors MUST be a Malaysian Telco., Only then they could control the security issue. Well, they already have implemtations of GSM everywhere & GSM was cracked 3 years ago but 2 israelis.

The real issue here is all about money & fear of competition. Period.

ops, 'license', me bad.

"2) Again, i have to stress, if you don't open the door, foreign company can carry their $$$ to other place to invest."

I do not see any issue with this specifically with DiGi. 3G is a luxury market and a zero sum market. Nothing really concrete comes out of 3G - our GNP will not significantly shoot up because of 3G. We already have cellular phones to ease our communication.

This isn't like intel where they bring in $$$$ from overseas and create productive jobs and using the profit that they generated worldwide distribute it in parts to Malaysia as wages.

3G is more like a casino license. Foreign companies will only bring in $$$$ to open a big building and local Malaysians go in and lose their money which becomes their profit. These foreign companies collect the profits in X amount, and use an amount less than X as payouts to its Malaysian employees.

mahathir_fan,

u're a disgrace to mahathir's name...

[ DELETED ]

JEFF OOI says: Many commenters have gone off tangent on this blog topic. If you are looking for cheap fights over name-calling, please fart off and go else where. I do not tolerate fools who can't take on intellectual discussions on important issues, what more allowing cheapstake loyar buruk to spew hatred at each other in my blog space. if you did, you are wasting valuable bandwidth and resources tolerated by the silent majority.

You still don't get it do you? 3G or 4G is just a piece of licence accorded to operate a certain spectrum.

It's not your concern whether its luxuriuos or not. They most fundamental question will be will foreign investor view Malaysia something like Myanmar. Everything they invest here can be nationalised sometime in the future because of national pride. Would you invest here or Singapore?

Would you like to be jaguh kampung and close all your border like myanmar and let its people suffer?

It's pointless everything is state-own, national-own when its people is suffering. It would be like a communist state.

What is national interest anyway? I think its to take care of its people and their well-being.

"These foreign companies collect the profits in X amount, and use an amount less than X as payouts to its Malaysian employees."

well do u think they did not invest anything here in the frist place? where does the money needed to buy such equipment comes from? isn't it fair for a business to recoup its initial capital outlay through profits?

wat makes u think a local company can do any better than a foreign one in terms of giving back to society? Does all those rich local business man give their income to betterment of society? doesnt any foreign owned companies operating here in malaysia does also contributed to this nation's economy?

i have to say this that u're downright dumb to say urself a mahathir fan. without all these unrestricted foreign investments during mahathir's time, the industrial boom of malaysia in the 80's and 90's would never happen, and malaysia today would've been not as what it is today.

restrict the FDI now, and we're going backwards. continue this unfair business policies, many foreign investors will leave and/or maintain minimal presence here. "u can continue have ur own fun" says them.

u're an insult to mahathir's era.

Basically Digi should be thankful for being denied the license. The content is just not there yet to justify high-speed networks. I mean how many of u are actually going to want to watch a football game on your Nokia's? Not me that's for sure. But I think the main lesson to be learnt is how the whole issue is handled by the people in power. Instead of appearing to be against foreign ownership they need to be sensitive when trying to accomodate foreign investors without bending over backwards. There are many countries competing for the same pot of gold these days and I'm not just talking about the likes of S'pore, Taiwan and S. Korea but also Vietnam, Thailand etc. Intel just announced a chip assembly plant in Vietnam worth USD300 million...in Vietnam for heaven's sake!! Dr. Koh Tsu Koon's heart must have skipped a beat when he read that. You get the feeling that the people who're in charge of attracting investments to our country are just not savvy or dynamic enough to pass along the right kinda message (some old farts who got where they are by knowing the right ppl). The only jobs coming our way are for call centres in Cyberjaya...

Mahathir fan,

Your arguments still dont make sence, my appologies. You cant compare the Petronas story with Digi dude! thats the 70's and we've in the new millenium. Malaysia needs a good FDI to prosper economically.

By closing doors to digi, it sets a precendence. FDI's are nto stupid, today it's digi, tomorrow someone else! Why wasnt the government so strict about this in the first place when Telenor baught the stake in the loss making mutiara? At that time, the G wanted a sucker to buy their losses, now national interest pulak...but bloody hippocracy! Do u think FDI is like a fooball, open when u want, close whenu dont? Huloooo Wake up lah dei!

Also, nobody questins the ability for nokia and ericsson to staup operations to the other 2 nympho's! The question here is, the stupid and immature reason given by the G for denying Digi the license!

There more politics in this if you saw the previous post from jeff on this issue ...why will someone call telenor at the elevent hour and ask them to sell their stake to a dATUK?

U c this is so typical of Umno mentality, best should only go to bumi's, everyone else can go to hell and survivce themselves ..now the G brings this mentality in to the business world...license to local companies, everyone else goes to hell! typical NEP policy...

First world infrasturcture, 3rd world mentality! Race, religion and nationality matters in everything you do in malaysia! how sad!

mahathir_fan,

i wish to argue with you no more.

there are endless examples we can use to support our arguments.

How sure are you Digi will not create job opportunities like Intel, when they get 3G license?

I'm gonna stick with my ultimate point - GLOBALISATION

and mind you, if, i mean, only if, Digi is p*ssed off because it cannot own new technology - in the name of national interests, Digi will leave and how many jobless people will be created, instead?

and my last thought (i think i have said all i wanna say)

technology usage is a *VERY* subjective issue it really depends on how you wanna use it.

typical keris-waving umnoputra who knows nuts about businesses and trades

JEFF OOI says: This commenter is intent on flamming. I have decided to ban him from my blog.

sory jeffooi, i was just too worked up just now... i'll try my best not to in future...

I owe an appology to the site too :)

BTW, Vertebrato,
Dont have to worry about tons loosing jobs....as long as digi remain profitable, Telenor will keep it ... We only have to worry when ppl start leaving digi and jumping to other operators :) ...hahaha!

Maybe Digi should improve it's coverage beyond what the competitor have and i'll consider getting my dad a postpaid line from them...right now the digi prepaid he has too expensive la!

MARK MY WORDS '3G WILL FAIL'. Is 3G successful in USA? how's the subscription rates? To foresee the future, always look at USA or developed country because they're are 5-10 years ahead of us in anything. For example, do you think our Tony Airasia is so clever with his no frills airline? It's just a copy of what was in USA for years before he adapted it here in Malaysia. He's clever, no doubt, because he knew how and where to see the future of airline. fyi, i'm one of his ardent fans, because he worked hard to achieve the level of success now, not by using crutches.
and to deny telenor just because it's not 'local enough' (if i'm not mistaken, 31% are still held locals), it's stupid of the Minister or maybe the Cabinet as a whole since it's a collective decision. with maxis and celcom being local, shouldn't we try to court some much needed FDIs from overseas. even our foreign policy, Look East policy seemed so outdated and tunnel vision. for God sake, look at the whole world of developed countries. For example, has anyone watch watched Amazing Race before, which currently is in it's 9th season? from all the previous 8 seasons (12teams x 8 = 96 tourism attractions), we can see at least 96 tourism attractions from various countries till now. learn from it, copy it, refined it and use it in malaysia. that's how Malaysia can offer more to tourists, other than all the lame parades that waste so much money or coming out with policy that i'm very embarassed to be associated with...agriculture (ps: look at the future with me. did USA or any develop countries promoting this sector as a main engine of their economy?).

if govt already has this preset mind in not giving foreign owned companies a chance, then next time make sure dont include them in any tenders. u waste ppl's time aje. shame on u LKY.

I have said before in the past that I work both in American and in Moscow, Russia as well as here in Malaysia, managing regions for an international company. With that said, I understand the argument about national interests however this is flawed: Russia, has one of the largest collections of both national and foreign owened telecom companies. In 1991 when it opened it's doors the telephone system in Russia was archaic and horrible, good luck at having in lasting conversations. Now today there are more then 30 companies working there all offering the same service, local and internatioinal calls and cellular service. We can easily see the benefits, first you now have top rate service, cheaper prices from competition. Lastly on this topic of point, I would think Russia has much more reason to be worried about foreign governments ease dropping on them and about national security then Malaysia does. thnat is not to say there is no threat here, but lets put it into perspective.

As for flights in the US, the point was very well made by Jam. Domestic flights are not that profitable in American, keeping in mind there are literally more then 30 companies offering local flights there. International carriers fly to were the population is that would be flying to their respective countries or hubs. Same said here as many companies fly to Singapore but not to Malaysia or have canceled their flights to here.

As for all the profits going over seas, there is still a lot to be made form it, The US in the 80's were fantic about Japanese car companies coming to the US, they said they would take local jobs, that the Japanese would own too much in the US. However ti created thousands of jobs for people, invested more and more money into social programs etc. Why always concerned for local companies, I am sorry but I do not hold it, I would rather have a company, either local or foreign owned who offers me the best service and product. I have no loyalty to Proton, or MAs, if they can not offer a product cheap enough and in the same high quality as others then let them go out of business: natioanl pride, haha, that went out a long time ago, it is more like national embarresment with them. Same to for our local telcos, still do nto offer services like other countries or for the prices of them.

I have to wait up to 6 months sometimes to get a refund from them, where as over seas it takes me no more then 4 weeks.

JEFF OOI says: I am yelling. THIS IS OFF TOPIC! Take it off line, take it else where.

If there are more politics to this issue, then I can understand the outrage.

To grant Digi 3G license to spur competition is an argument that I can still accept as well. That's still valid.

However we cannot equate this to FDI. If we wish to, then we should at the very least distinguish between good FDI and bad FDI if we wish to call this FDI.

Traditional good FDI comes to Malaysia, build their factories and use the products of these factories to export overseas. Along the way, our people get trained, and get paid. In this case, we mutually benefit with these investors. They use our people, and we use their capital to export overseas and share the fruits.

Is Digi going to build a factory and use Malaysia as a base to expand overseas? So that along the way Malaysians become trained and given opportunities to export their management skills overseas? From what I understand they are a service provider. They buy their network equipment and start billing Malaysian customers. Its zero sum.

This is why I equate it with a casino license.

At least with a casino license, a rational for granting it to overseas companies is so that they can build better casinos to attract OVERSEAS tourists. I do not think Malaysia will ever award a casino license to an overseas company if their main customers will be Malaysians. They may do so only if those casinos can help attract more overseas gamblers to Malaysia in which case there would be mutual benefit. That is if they ever do.

deanng,
Althought I usually stand up for America all the time on here, the US is actually behind Europe and Asia in the Cell phone area. Most companies there do not offer sim chips thus if you want a differnt comapny you have to buy a locked telephone. Also you are locked into 2-3 year contracts, SMS use is still very very low and you also pay for all calls including calls you recieved, that is dcorrect, if someone calls you, you then pay for that call as well.

mahathir_Fan is right, rules are always rules.

Hey rmo,
SMS not popular in US coz' it's dirt cheap to call!! U can get 1000 minutes free including long-distance for about $60/mo. Sure u might need to sign a one-yr contract but u can get a free phone (not cheap ass kind one). After a year u can upgrade to better model for next to nothing. And the best part is number portability. If u don't like ur service provider u can change and still the same number..now that's what u would call empowering consumers!!

If rules are rules, they should have stated that foreign owned company are not allowed to tender for the license

Come on ler people, kesian Mahathir Fan. He has gotten enough beating although I do not quite agree to the standard government answers.

Digi can still do well when they price their rate at a very competitive level.

3G is not a very practical technolgy. Out of a whole nation of phone users, how many of us fully utilised 3G tech? Not many.

The cows really came home for this one. Nothing to do with national security as having EDGE can be that 'threat' already. Very little about creating more jobs either. FDI maybe as depends on how investors perceive this 'beauty contest'. It's just plain simple that a company is doing very well (which is getting very scarce for Bursa listed companies) and some people want to tumpang and share the success. Bingo ..... just the grease that makes the world turn. My advice to those that still want to win the argument is to follow our minister's step ...... silence ..... else you keep ludah to langit.

haha, enuff said on this national interest crap.

Let's see how this govt's timecom and vincent tan's mitv fare on this "national interest" tools for the benefit of the people of malaysia.

Hopefully they dont "pakat" with gomen and force a AP/quota/price fix to recoup their investment, or worse, ask for a bail-out package like so many of their peers.

I think I hate government for having this decision. Surely it will hurt FDI. Some more, consumer will not get high quality service at low price since there's no competition. The more I think about it, the more I don't like the way government do its stuff. Let's not vote for Barisan Nasional next time. I'll vote for opposition. I make a mistake to vote for barisan last time.

Dear rmo

You just do not possess the ability to debate and argue based on a confined topic

Please read the following book :
The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life and it argue that intelligence is largely genetic.

May be you just do not have certain gen, can't blame you

Go to do some other thing , probably be a magician , acrobat or an artist but don't ever coem back to the debate

Goobye rmo, we won't miss you

erk.....too much flaming going on around here.

anyway i'm juz disappointed that digi didn't get the 3g license. i find that of all telco services, digi goes all the way to make customers happy and find ways to improve their service. should have thought that the gah-men should give the license based on merits and not because of so-called foreign ownership. how many ang-mohs do any of us see during any of digis' roadshows?

and if anyone wants to talk about national security let me say we have nothing that is probably worth taking a snoop in the gah-men sector. and secondly if national security is so bloody important as some ppl like to state here, please explain all the hi-tech electronics that have sprouted all over our country? next thing u know somebody here might say that there are conspiracy theories going on because all of these factories are foreign owned.

anyway digi has accepted the outcome gracefully (hopefully) and at least they don't lambast their competitors in public. just hope wawasan 2020 will be achieved by the fact that all companies are awarded with the good stuff base on merits and not on some (sometimes)stupid nationalistic pride....

my 2 sens worth...
kacang_inc

I sympathise with telenor and I think our minister made a stupid blunder which affects all malaysians.

I sympathise with telenor because thye took up a struggling Mutiara Telecom and turned it into a versatile mobile telecom company. They did it without help/assistance/cruthces from our G. They can even win over market share from the other two Giants, local companies with G approval and all. Now that they are reaping profits from their hardwork, skills and talents, somebody gets jealous and want a piece of their profits (thus the phone call from Datuk and LKY asking them to RENT from the other two "cripple" company (Typical Malaysian crutches mentality). Mind you, Digi has no obligation to do charity in Malaysia and did not owe it to Malaysians to help them. If Telenor were to hand over Digi now to another company, I think Digi will go into reverse gear and fall back into the red again... and give lots of lousy excuses. I respect Digi for its skill in managing a company and despise those who does not have the skills but want to jealous.

secondly, by shoving the licenses to the other local companies is a big mistake. How much do you think that will help Malaysians as a whole??? If they don't know how to manage and make lossess, it will result in humiliation (of MCMC) and maybe even bailouts. On the other hand, doing that will give a lasting bad press of Malaysia to the FDI community as a whole. This may mean lost FDIs, lost tech transfers and lost employment opportunities. In short, a major negative impact to ALL MALAYSIANS!!

First world infrastructure, thiird world govenment. The govt sould not complain about the rakyat having third world mentality, when they themself can't think first world.

Telenor's bone would probably be if the govt was excluding foreign parties from the tender, why accept their application in the first place?

The bigger rub would be they had proven themselves in the same market whose 3G services would now be mantled by two local companies without the same record of experience, with which Telenor would be required to be a subcontractor if it wants to do the service it has applied for as a principal.

Their conclusion would then be that between the time the govt invited the tender and the time it decided, it had no exclusion policy for foreign involvement in this technology which isn't taking off elsewhere in any big way anyway. So what had prompted the sudden playoff?

Now that would be like what one minister had said when asked to comment on the Shah Alam floods - there would now be more proactive measures.

Meaning, there hasn't be any in the past two decades? From policies on foreign involvement to proactive environment control?

One is left only to wonder why did tumasik proactively compensate Starhub and MobileOne some SG1Billion for having pulled forward the deadline for liberalisation of their telco market? Would the reason be because their entire national promotion front was predicating on delighting foreign investors because they had long ago realized that a state, whether city, nation or whatever, thrives in a global village by the cooperation and interaction between parties that subscribe to borderless invisible-continent win-win value-added activities? Especially so, when the local banking market will have to be liberalized soon too, in tandem with the auto, etc. markets.

There seems to be an inordinately large number of foot-trippings and antiquities lately in the way the country is being run.

As with one minister asking foreign visitors to beat it if they don't like the way things are handled here, this decision to exclude this telco company sure means one thing - no one in Putrajaya has a handle on how events have flowed to the detriment of Malaysia's image.

All the helicopters have been rented out to survey scotched-earth Selangor or to ferry ex-officers to golf courses, so no helicopter view available today.

Please, get those brains and eyes working again, Putrajaya.

PB,

Your comments are you own to make, fortunately you do not own this blog to tell me to leave. Secondly there is plenty out there that also suggest intelligence is also environmental constructed by our social contacts, funny how you assume I have been left without the gen and yet you have it. Didn't know you were my doctor. This sounds a bit like the message board at yahoo where ppl resort to name calling or insults.

Please do not lecture me on debates, etc, you do not know me nor know my past or history, however I assure you I am not a simple high school graduate, I have a couple of university degrees and have been working in international business professionally for more then 18 years

singapore government compensated non government owned telcos S$1billion probably due to good crony connections. DG did not get the license as the are not cronies. In business relationship matters. Nobody gives a business to a stranger. There are barriers everywhere. To invest in america, you have to be at least an european. Chinese companies cannot buy US oil companies as the recent CNOC's bid for a Californian based oil company for USD20bil, but was rejected by the authorities. Why blame Putrajaya in not giving 3G license to DG. It could have been a conspiracy by Celcom(telekom) and Maxis to limit the competition to themselves.
Yes support DG for the cheap call rates. But not getting a 3G license is not the end of their business. If I am Maxis or Celcom, definitely, I will try and stop more players from getting into 3G. But hatred instilled and name calling due to DG not getting a license more or less, apes the less abled politicians in parliament.

Heard from someone working within that the telenor RM 50 million R&D center is going to be established after all. So it seems that though they were unhappy with the decision by the Malaysian government, they are commited to the center.

I hope that they perform R&D on alternative mobile broadband technologies :)

Oh...and for those who think that all foreign companies operating in Malaysian soil are only out to reap rewards for themselves, I wonder how much of the business world do you actually know.

I've been involved for 2 decades in the technology industry and frequently travel to Singapore. In a particular Hewlett-Packard office in Alexandria road, there is a wall that is covered with US Patent plaques. Each one of them names a Singaporean (or a Malaysian- one can't really tell from 3 syllable Chinese names) as the inventor of such technologies. This is a fine example of how, in an opened and competitive knowledge-based economy, Singapore have managed to increase its human knowledge capital.

While undeniably there are price exploiters like Nike and GAP sweatshops in Asia, we shouldn't treat knowledge companies like Telenor like this.

It is not like they are exploiting cheap Malaysian labour to produce "scarce national" mobile spectrum to be exported back for use in Norway ;)

Wow things turned ugly while I was away. Here's my final take on the issue. You know why we are all on here giving our two sen? Because the Malaysian Govt does not believe in transparency. You want to award 2 3G licenses to unproven companies fine. You want to keep a 3G license away from a company that employs hundreds of Malaysians with a steady income and possible career, fine. But please be open and honest on how the decision was made and who made the decision. If you do that then there wont be a need for wild speculation and rumors. PERIOD.

It is proven times and times again that more competition leads to better value for consumer.

The government tries to deliver some good news to us for once, and yet we criticise them like that.

I don't really care if Maxis, Celcom, Digi, MiTV or TT would close down one day. Neither would I worry that the sky would fall down like some of you do. Because there are still other players in the market. What we need is more competition, what's better than new competition ? We, the consumers will win after all. Why the fuss, guys ?

Only those who works for Digi may worry because of threats of career stability in the near future, but why so ? You can join other telcos, you may get better treatment still for what you are in Digi. BTW, does anyone know why the departure of a few key managements in Digi (even before the 3G announcement was made) ?

Telenor is no doubt, here for profits, and there's nothing wrong or shameful about it. But some of you claimed Digi did this, and Digi did that. If they don't make money, do you think they will stay ? They did what they did to earn more from us ! Nothing else.

About the national security issue, it's nothing new and it's amazing you guys still want to deny and argue over it. Some countries might take more precaution, some don't; that doesn't make anyone wrong too !

What I want to say is, you guys have made your points, there are valid and good concern. But looking at the bigger picture, look at the end result, we'll benefit, the governement is doing us good, why argue still ?

And once more, we don't owe Telenor anything, they've been making good money from us.

Pentiumboy,

Debate is a debate. everyone here learn how to agree to disagree... but don't la until personal attack...

Cheers...

The commission has every right to deny DIGI the license. Why should they be surprised?

I am very surprised that some Malaysian people actually support free trade so blindly and starting to forget common sense.

How much money Telenor sends back home every year?

How much more are the "ang moh" executives paid compared to Malaysians.

Why do they refused to sell the shares to locals?

What is SOOOOOO SPECIAL that they offer that is beyond the capability of Malaysians?

If a Malaysian company has a small potential in this area, why don't we give chance to Malaysians? Why should be prefer the "white devils"

Imagine if the government did not buy back Guthrie or Sime Darby from the British, we will still be shipping money to London every year.

Malaysians for Malaysians.

Stop "ang moh" worship.

Those who don't like to play with us on our terms can go fly kite in their own backyards.

Sick dog,

Thanks for the fill in on the RND centre. I have yet to get a response on this the last time i asked around. Good on Telenor. Also, you are wating time explaining the basic here, some ppl just want to be heard regardless of how baseless their allegations are.

Kampongbouy,
again....while u raise some points...you dont seem to ask all the questions...

"How much money Telenor sends back home every year? "
-- Why not also ask how many malaysian earn a living from Digi instead ....

y do they refused to sell the shares to locals?
-- If you read the previous articles, it was mentioned that there wasnt a good price ...would you sell your digi share which trades at X dollar for X-3 dollars to satisfy some individual greed?

What is SOOOOOO SPECIAL that they offer that is beyond the capability of Malaysians?

-- Its a waste of time to even asnwer this. you obviously dont know what the subject matter is .. FYI, ppl are puzzled why a qualified operator is denied a license instead newbies with little track record is given it..trust me ..i've been in this line for some time..and i havent seen this time of things in other countries when it comes to 3G.

Nobody is workshipping ang mohs ...we're just asking for the best for all malaysians..Period...if you cant comprehend this, god bless you sir!

Gok,

If Digi is so good, why are Malaysians not paying the 60 dollars for 1000 minute price that US consumers are paying as one poster have mentioned?

Shouldn't we instead kick Digi out and invite these American companies in so that we too pay 60 dollars for 1000 minutes?

Besides, as another reader had pointed out, China's CNOC's bid for UNOCAL was rejected by the US government. The US also forbids any foreign companies from owning more than 49% share of its airlines. The US recently was going to deny Dubai Ports from gaining their ports contract until they voluntarily pulled out.
All in the name of national security. In fact, every major investment in the US is reviewed by the Commitee on Foreign Invesments.

Malaysia is simply making a step from 2nd world to 1st world towards vision 2020 by also having a commitee to review the ownership composition of vital key industries and ensuring that they do not fall on foreigners hands. Why should such actions be condemned when we are merely copying what the richest nation in the world is regularly doing? Shouldn't we learn from their example?

In any case, Digi should be happy that they are even allowed into our telco industry in the first place. It is a very lucrative market for them. Not many other countries in this world would allow another country with a racial composition of a different skin colour to run their telco like the way Malaysia has allowed Digi to become the LARGEST.

I guarantee you, if Digi wants to pull out from Malaysia, a long line of other nation's telco would be standing in line from Putrajaya all the way to your house to take their place. You have nothing to fear. It is Digi that needs to kow tow and be grateful to us for we allowed them to have a slice of our telco market. We could have given the market to a US company telco and enjoyed 60 dollars per 1000 minute service.

"some ppl just want to be heard regardless of how baseless their allegations are."
---Gok, you are very right :)

"How much money Telenor sends back home every year? "
--- Since when they declared profit ? It's not hard to find out. But I know it's been years...

-- Why not also ask how many malaysian earn a living from Digi instead ....
--- This one is even simplier, where does Digi get the money from ? From us of course, my friend. But it is right to appreciate.

y do they refused to sell the shares to locals?
-- If you read the previous articles, it was mentioned that there wasnt a good price ...would you sell your digi share which trades at X dollar for X-3 dollars to satisfy some individual greed?

--- It's not a surprise, they are here to make money, and more if they can.

What is SOOOOOO SPECIAL that they offer that is beyond the capability of Malaysians?

-- Its a waste of time to even asnwer this. you obviously dont know what the subject matter is .. FYI, ppl are puzzled why a qualified operator is denied a license instead newbies with little track record is given it..trust me ..i've been in this line for some time..and i havent seen this time of things in other countries when it comes to 3G.

--- our government's practise is not the one and only in this world. you may be in this line for long, but do you really know what happened in the rest of the countries ?

Nobody is workshipping ang mohs ...we're just asking for the best for all malaysians..Period...if you cant comprehend this, god bless you sir!

--- if it's for the best for all of us, we should be getting the most out of it, that's what we are getting now. Who's complaining ??

For those who wants to know, one of the key reason Telenor's r&d center was chosen to be located here was that M'sia is still the only operation among the group that is exporting technologies that are being implemented on a worldwide basis. Even Maxis has adopted some of this techniques. And yes, this center is entirely funded by Telenor, nothing to do with Digi's budget.

quoted mahathir_fan - Digi should be happy that they are even allowed into our telco industry in the first place

one last time i'll re-emphasise this - GLOBALISATION

Involvement of multi-national company in a country is VERY normal nowadays

I had already given example of 2 UK telco + 1 Hong Kong Telco (Three(3) - being a pure 3G company) involvement in Europe and Asia, (link: http://www.jeffooi.com/2006/03/3g_telenor_reacts.php#comment-2545)

you seemed to be ignorant of that.

+++++++++++++++++
perhaps we all should end all rants and whine with groo's opinion -

if we have such policy, next time please don't allow foreign company to tender, waste time aje

come on, you really believe globalisation is the best policy ever invented and we should follow it to the end of the world?

I am no economist and I am not "in the line". But I have some common sense and can reason for myself logically.

Like some people say, Telenor is not indespensible. They are replaceable, we are the boss in our own country.

Why some Malaysians just invoke free trade and globalisation like it is some powerful jampi? It is not a golden rule, we have to be smart and shrewd for it to work for us. Like how we got the plantations from the British.

We do not need to cry and stand up for Telenor, they are smart enough and shrewd enough. We Malaysians are the ones who should really wisen up and fend for ourselves, especially now in the ICT sector. Make the game work for us, not Telenor.

Anyone thinks they are here for the love of Malysian consumers or our climate? They are here for the love of money despite distaste for our climate.

I really can't believe Gok can ask such a stupid question.

JEFF OOI says: For three solid years, I have been positioning this blog commentary section as "CONVERSATIONS" among frioends in my living hall. Can we be more civil and leave out words like "stupid" to your grandmother's bloody kitchen?

how many Malaysians earn a living from Digi?
--> My answer zero. They are living off Malaysian consumers.

How many ang moh from telenor earn a living from Malaysian consumers?
-->this should be the question.

If we let them earn from us, we should make sure they
1. know who is the boss
2. deserve the pay
3. benefit us in the long run

plain and simple.
No "ang moh" worship. No "globalisation" worship.

Wow, I see this is getting out of hand.

"pre-merdeka nationalism" mentality coupled with little economic sense do make us look worse than a communist countries. Its lucky that Tun is only obsessed with the 1st quality.

Even the de facto communist country China, wants to get into WTO, APEC etc.

If you need to highlight to every single foreign heavyweight MNCs that

1. know who is the boss
2. deserve the pay
3. benefit us in the long run.
4. Give us your business in Malaysia bcoz that is ours in the 1st place.

They will tell you that you can go balik kampung tanam jagung.

They are being accorded a privillege to stay here, they are not being obligated to stay! MITI is offering tax free, pioneer status, great infrastructure for any investor which are interested. You think the whole govt. machinery is nuts?

If not for the foreign investor choose malaysia instead of Indonesia (thanks to the Tun), all those so-called "nationalist", will be the foreign worker in Indonesia, instead of them coming here.

Well here's another train of thought..someone in here earlier stated that Digi didn't try hard enough or were arrogant enough to believe that they would be given a 3G license automatically so they didin't lobby for it etc..Well... maybe they didn't really want it in the first place? They've already invested heavily in EDGE and for them to transition to 3G would be quite costly not to mention they haven't probably recouped the CAPEX they poured into their 2.5G network. Considering that content for 3G is still not there yet they can get by with 2.5G for few more years at least so maybe they weren't really interested after all. They still needed to show commitment to 3G coz' that's the buzz word these days, otherwise their stock would take a punishment due to them showing a perceived lack of interest in competition from 3G incumbents Maxis & Celcom...It's all about selling the right kind of story to the stock analysts!!

I totally agree with points made by “Voter”. “…It is proven times and times again that more competition leads to better value for consumer.”

And strange enough, competitive companies are usually good and well run companies who are making tons of money from us. I have no problem whatsoever on that as profits are not “dirty” word for me. These companies are highly profitable because they using newer, better and faster technologies, not because they are merely holding a “licence” of “AP”. They are also having better people who run a “corruption free” organization without the “rent seekers”, unlike others who always claim who they know and what connections they have.

These sorts of good companies should rightly be rewarded and supported. I think Digi/ Telenor is one example of these companies and I really do not care whether they are Malaysian or foreign own. Just like I think most Malaysians don’t really care who own Dell, Intel, Nokia, Samsung, LG, Sony, Lenovo, Cisco, Junipter, Huiwei, Toyota, Honda, Produa, Proton (even !!?), TM (some aspects..), Maxis, etc, etc. After all, NOT all things foreign are bad. Similarly, NOT all things Malaysian (i.e. Malay, Chinese, Indian, etc) are bad either.

In an increasing globalised and borderless world, there is less and less “National Interests” or concerns, especially in the knowledge and ICT related field. For telecommunications sectors, I think Malaysia should NOT slow down or reverse the move to open up or deregulate as there are more to gain for ALL Malaysians from deregulation than to selected few “licence” holders with tight regulation.

I think many “goyang kaki” fellows (i.e. NOT just referring to any particularly race, mind you….) who just want to have a “free ride” from us the majority "common folks"-Malaysians, will not like views like these. I just hope that these group of "wise" Malaysians need to realise that globalisation or "opening up " is an unstoppable trend. It is better for us to accept and follow these trends that to resist them. Malaysia is just too small a kampung in a globalised world for us to worry about. We must go out to create more new markets as well as getting more foreign investors to come and invest in Malaysia. We need to show to the world that we Malaysians can run good clean companies, make hugh profits and create wealth by our knowledge, ingenuity and hard work.... and not by merely knowing how to print “licences” or “APs”.

Could agree more as with Chong318.
I don’t have a problem concerning any failure in tenders due to national interest.
The issue I see here is with Malaysian government. If high foreign ownership is an issue with the government, then spell it out clearly first in the requirements that this would be one of the key considerations.
This clearly point out Malaysian government is lacking transparency. It clearly has put a huge dent on what our PM is driving to achieve a better transparent government.