Celcom: Nationwide 3G service by July 15

MOBILE operator Celcom (Malaysia) Bhd will expand its third-generation (3G) services coverage nationwide by July 15, chief executive officer Datuk Shazalli Ramly said.
The company recently added five new areas for its 3G coverage, namely Seremban, Ipoh, Alor Star, Kota Kinabalu and Kuching.

Celcom 3G services are already available in the Klang Valley, Malacca, Johor Baru, Penang, Sungai Petani, Kulim Hi-Tech Park and Genting Highlands.

Celcom has slightly below 100,000 customers using 3G and is confident of exceeding the initial target of 150,000 3G customers before year-end.

"By middle of July, all towns and cities nationwide will be able to enjoy our 3G services," Shazalli told reporters after launching Celcom's new GPRS and 3G mobile contents in Kuala Lumpur last night.

Celcom has pioneered several innovative mobile contents such as the world's first SMS (short messaging system) in colour, SecretSMS, Xpax Legenda Tan Sri P. Ramlee, Mobile Greetings, Disney Mobile, Mobile Video Content and Marvel Mobile.

"When we started, we only had about 15 contents, but now we have more than 123 contents," he said.

In addition to the expansion of Celcom 3G and the new developments in 3G and GPRS contents, the company will also be introducing 3GX, a cutting edge technology based on HSDPA (high-speed downlink packet access).

"The 3GX is four to five times faster than 3G and 15 times faster than GPRS.

"The advent of 3GX promises corporate users the ability to attain secure mobile access to corporate networks with fast retrieval and downloading of confidential corporate information," he added.