Celcom, Broadcast Australia To Bid For Tv Project, Foresee RM500 Mln Investment

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 12 (Bernama) -- Celcom Axiata Bhd, which signed a consortium agreement Monday with Broadcast Australia to bid for the much-awaited digital terrestrial television broadcasting (DTTB) project, foresees RM500 million (US$161.29 million) potential investment over three to five years. "If Celcom wins the bid for the design, construction and long-term operations of the digital television infrastructure project, we foresee the investment to be somewhere around RM500 million. "However, it would be subjected to tender specifications," Celcom chief executive officer Shazalli Ramly said after the signing. Other industry players eyeing for the project are Telekom Malaysia, Maxis Communications and YTL Corporation. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) is expected to announce the tender soon. The deadline to migrate from analogue to digital is 2015. While waiting for the tender announcement, both parties would continue to work "behind the scene", he said. "We are confident we have a strong partnership with Broadcast Australia on board, given their success record in the digitalising industry," he said, adding that Celcom would not be involved in providing the content. Broadcast Australia, equipped with the technology know-how for the delivery of terrestrial digital TV, will be backed by Celcom's largest network and engineering presence across Malaysia. Shazalli said both parties would offer a guaranteed roll-out of the nation's DTTB, on-budget, on-time and with quality. He said the partnership would be the first step towards Celcom's objective to diversify its business to move beyond voice. Going forward, Celcom estimates data and solutions would contribute 50 per cent to its revenue by 2015. Currently, data contributes 30 per cent, while voice the remaining. On another matter, Shazalli said Celcom received the letter of intent from MCMC last week for the fourth generation spectrum and "it is in the midst of preparing the business plan." -- BERNAMA