After three launch events and 6 months of trial sessions, the mobile network arm of TM- Malaysia’s largest telecommunication company, Webe Digital is finally ready to go live nationwide from September 30th 2016.
The operator first rolled the service to Unifi users upon invitation to first experience its 850 bandwidth coupled with the RAN sharing partner Celcom’s extensive network. The response was overwhelming and now they are ready to have the mobile experience felt by the rest of the nation. Chief Marketing Office, Lai Shu Wei finds the whole simplicity model will be the future of how Malaysians will interact. Already mobile internet penetration in Malaysia is at 65% and is expected to hit 100% by 2020 data released by Google, with millions interacting on the net with their mobile phones, Webe wants to be the first to offer service to where the customers are.
Webe markets itself as a full digital carrier offering services completely online, customers can subscribe to the services via the Webe website and have the sim delivered within 24 hours depending on their location. With six simple steps, customers can self-register for the postpaid service, no waiting, no hassle at counters or looking for parking with payment be made via credit cards or direct debit. Once completed the user can manage his or her account thorough the app. Being all about data experience, if the area is poorly covered, then the customer service will advice against subscribing until the service level is satisfactory. An unorthodox approach, but Shu Wei believes customers should not be misled.
Coverage
As any new telco enters the market will face, the question of coverage is crucial to address. The CMO assures his network is expansive and have most of peninsular covered and will be available in East Malaysia as well. With Celcom as partner and having the best coverage with 4g LTE, 3G and 2G, users on the plan will get the best of both worlds while the 850 band can be found in major cities already. With regards to number of towers already established, Webe was coy to share but assured with the backing of parent company, the carrier will continue to build towers in its continues efforts to give users the seamless experience of using data on their mobile phones.
Plans
Keeping to their core theme, simplicity is applied to packages for the plans. Here, the network offers just 1 plan for its nationwide rollout. The original price is RM199, if you’re a Unifi customer you get RM60 off on top of that if you are using a phones listed (band 5) on the site which includes most of the brands and models, another RM60 discount is given for unlimited data, voice and sms which results in RM79 per month. For the rest who are not on Unifi the pricing moves up to the published rate of RM199 but with the specified device will drop to RM139 both packages allows up to 4 additional family members for as low as RM49 to be part of the plan (refer to chart below).
With no data lock on time or day of usage, how does webe manage abuse, Shu Wei clarified to those who tether will not be able to do so as the back-end system will recognise this and will notify the user to stop immediately. However, there are plans to allow tethering at a small fee in the coming days.
On roaming , the telco is working with regional operators to strike similar deals offering unlimited data, as for now most popular destinations are covered with cross border agreements.
The proposition offered by the latest telco will need time to digest, consumers are not used to deals without a catch, a single plan for unlimited usage is rather far fetched at first. But Webe is doing just that, while the entry cost may seem high for certain users but for those who have been on postpaid like myself have been paying RM150-200 per month for years, and this flat rate model makes complete sense.
The company will not neglect the prepaid segment with something coming up in the near term- moving forward, Shu Wei is confident the public will eventually GET webe’s brand philosophy and will embark on a digital journey together, after all its still early days.
