KUALA LUMPUR: Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) will officially launch its much awaited high-speed broadband (HSBB) retail service in an event at Dataran Merdeka here on March 24.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is expected to launch the new National Broadband Initiative, of which HSBB is the flagship project.

TM will then reveal the new branding for its HSBB service as well as the pricing. "Our HSBB packages will be of premium service but not of premium pricing," TM group chief executive Datuk Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa said in a statement today.

The four initial areas that will be covered by TM HSBB are Shah Alam, Subang Jaya, Taman Tun Dr Ismail and Bangsar. By the end of 2012, TM's target under the first phase of the national HSBB rollout is 1.3 million premises.

According to TM, its total expenditure related to the HSBB project as of Dec 31, 2009 reached RM1.9 billion, which covered last mile access, IP (Internet protocol) core deployment and capacity expansion for international links. Total approved claims from the government up to December 2009 stood at RM990 million.

Signed in September 2008, the RM11.3 billion national HSBB project is a public-private-partnership agreement between TM and the government to develop next-generation high-speed broadband infrastructure and services for the nation.

TM is putting up RM8.9 billion while the government is contributing RM2.4 billion on an incurred claims basis based on project milestones reached by TM.