Studio Press

Celcom (M) Bhd will expand its third-generation (3G) coverage to the whole nation by mid-July, said chief executive officer Datuk Shazalli Ramly. He said by expanding the scope of the company's 3G services to other parts of the country, Celcom hoped to expose Malaysians to its full capabilities and, in turn, boost the take-up rate of 3G. “As of right now, certain areas are still undergoing testing, but Celcom 3G would be commercially available to all Malaysians on July 15,” he said at a media briefing yesterday. Shazalli said Celcom was also pioneering innovative mobile content, such as the world's first-ever short messaging system (SMS) in colour, SecretSMS and Xpax Legenda Tan Sri P. Ramlee. Celcom (Malaysia) Bhd CEO Datuk Shazalli Ramly at the launch of Celcom's new developments in 3G on Thursday. “Our 3G product roll-outs would also include Disney and Marvel Mobile content, all of which are one-of-its-kind in Malaysia,” he said. Shazalli added that Celcom planned to introduce the SMS service in colour to non-Celcom users by the third quarter. “Hopefully, it can even be in Chinese characters,” he said. In addition to the expansion of Celcom 3G and new development in content, the company will also be introducing 3GX, a technology which is said to be four or five times faster than 3G, and 15 times faster than the general packetradio service. “Via 3GX, Celcom customers would soon be among the first in the country to be empowered with the fastest mobile broadband access,” Shazalli said. He added that he hoped customers would “jump onto the 3G bandwagon” with all these additional services. Shazalli noted that Celcom was on track to achieving its target of 150,000 3G subscribers by year-end.