Telekom Malaysia is planning to spend the equivalent of $390 million on its 4G mobile operation, which it launched in August under the name Webe.
The company first invested in a 55% stake in the operator, then a fixed wireless service called Packet One Networks (P1), in 2014 and increased its stake to almost 73% in February 2016.
The new mobile service is already available to some Telekom Malaysia and P1 customers and will be opened up to new customers later in the year. Webe will face competition from three major operators in Malaysia, Celcom, Digi.com and Maxis, and well as a number of smaller companies.
Group CEO Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa said: "With Webe’s launch, it will extend our promise of life and business made easier into the mobile space, which perfectly fits into our converged suite of offerings."
The investment will show returns within three to five years, said the company. "When we acquired Webe, we mentioned that the capital expenditure was about RM1.6 billion [$390 million]," group CFO Bazlan Osman said at a press conference. This is the peak year of capital expenditure on Webe, the company said.