KUALA LUMPUR: Maxis Bhd is looking at providing telecommunication services for at least 100 new commercial buildings this year in the Klang Valley, Johor and Penang, and sees partnership with developers as one of its key strategies.

“This is one of the key strategies for Maxis, as we see partnership with developers as a smart move and a win-win proposition (for Maxis and developers) that also benefits the tenants,” said its vice-president and head of enterprise and carrier business Fitri Abdullah.

He was speaking to reporters here yesterday after signing an agreement with Macro Lynx Sdn Bhd to provide end-to-end solutions for GTower, Malaysia’s first Grade A++ commercial building.

“We will continue to enrich our customers’ experience by investing in better quality coverage across more buildings nationwide. This year, we will extend our reach beyond the Klang Valley to Penang and Johor,” he said.

Fitri added that Maxis had connected 100 new buildings last year. A total of 340 buildings in the Klang Valley use its services. He added that Maxis had put in place direct fibre access into an additional 31% of buildings in the Klang Valley last year.

“At the end of last year, Maxis had also signed an agreement with Cyberjaya to provide end-to-end solutions,” he added.

Under the collaborative agreement inked yesterday, Maxis will work with Macro Lynx in providing a full suite of end-to-end fixed solutions for GTower which is located at the Kuala Lumpur City Centre.

GTower is the country’s first internationally certified green building and operates 24-7 in providing high-speed broadband up to 1Gbps, riding on a high-speed fibre optics backbone.

GTower executive director Colin Ng said the collaborative partnership would benefit the end-customers in GTower, and would attract multi-national companies given its 24-7 operations and multimedia convergence capability.

“We had developed GTower to become a niche player in the city’s commercial market. We have attracted mainly oil and gas companies, MSC-status companies as well as some from the finance sectors. Multi-national companies looking at setting up regional offices would be interested as we operate 24-7,” he said.

Ng added that GTower achieved a 40% occupancy from pre-leasing which is a “good figure for a new building.”


This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, February 9, 2010.