Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) will accelerate once the Bakun and Murum hydroelectric power plants are fully operational. The first turbine of the RM7.5bn Bakun project, which will be fully commissioned in 2011, will be able to supply power by the fourth quarter of this year, Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Jacob Dungau Sagan said. "Once fully operational, Bakun will produce 2,400MW while Murum will generate 944MW of power," he said. The RM3bn Murum project will be operational in early 2013. (BT)
Telekom Malaysia finally revealed the pricing for its High Speed Broadband (HSBB) access to industry players. This means that service providers, including mobile operators, broadband service providers and pay-TV operators will now know how much it will cost them to ride on TM's fibre optics network to offer services like video-on-demand, IPTV, voice call and Internet surfing.
- It is believed that most of the industry players came away feeling that the pricing offered by TM was "good" and "reasonable", but remained concerned on how the prices will affect them in the long run."I am concerned over the prices five years down the road. (That's because) the HSBB access pricing is not in the official access list under the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission. This means that TM may increase the pricing significantly in the future (if it wants to).
- "If it was in the access list, then there's a little bit more control," said an industry player who declined to be named. Meanwhile, TM executive VP Rafaai Samsi gave an assurance that the company would not abuse its "power"."From our understanding, the government/regulator will only step in when there's a market failure. So it is in our best interest to keep the pricing reasonable to all, to avoid a market failure." (BT)
Telekom Malaysia expects competition and participation from wholesale value-added partners for its High Speed Broadband (HSBB) to offer more variety and choice to consumers. "Internet Protocol television (IPTV), video-on-demand (VoD), voice and high bandwidth data services will be part of all TM consumer retail services subscriber packages.
- "TM is committed to make HSBB open to all qualified players and intends to work together with access seekers to ensure premium quality to customers," the company said in a statement after briefing industry players and service providers on its HSBB Access Indicative Terms and Conditions."Availability to access seekers is on a firstcome- first-served basis," it said, adding that the ports are open to access seekers who plan to offer at least dual-play services such as data and video to consumers."
- This is to protect consumers from service providers that only plan to resell bandwidth at a higher price without adding value to the network," said TM. (Bernama)
In a surprise move, the Indian government has postponed to the next fiscal auction of spectrum for
3G which was expected to bring in Rs350bn (US$7.6bn). According to senior officials in the Department of Telecom of India, Law Minister Veerappa Moily, who is member of the EGoM, has opined that the auction should he held when the spectrum is available.
- Telecom Minister A Raja could not be contacted immediately for his comments. Officials however, said that the auction is expected to take place in Aug-Sept this year. It is pertinent to mention that the Ministry of Defence had agreed to vacate the spectrum only during middle of this year. The Indian government has sufficient spectrum to auction two 3G licenses, while spectrum for the third license is expected to be available by Sept 10. The fourth license in those circles which can support it is may not be available until 2013. (Economic Times of India, Cellular News)
- The much-delayed 3G auctions in India are set to face fresh hurdles that can derail the entire process for good. Two internal wings off the department of telecom (DoT) of India have pointed out a slew of loopholes and in the proposed policy for the auction of 3G airwaves.
- Some of the loopholes include the legal implications of having the 3G auctions for CDMA operators in addition to raising concerns over the department’s move to restrict the CDMA auction only to existing players. They have also pointed out that for standalone players or new foreign players, who bag the airwaves in the auction, the amount of 3G spectrum that they get through the sale process ‘does not provide a viable business proposition’.
- They have also added that while the draft norms for the 3G auctions lists out the annual spectrum usage charges, which successful bidders will have to pay; this levy structure has not been formally approved by the government and hence cannot be part of the 3G policy. The finance wing has stated that the communications ministry’s plan to make the winning bids in each circle for the upcoming 3G auctions, as the base price for all airwaves sale in the future, must first be approved by the government.
- Asking the department for an explanation on this, the finance wing of DoT said: “For (CDMA), it is proposed to auction only one block and keep existing spectrum for future allocation, instead of auctioning the entire available blocks at present. The reason for this differential treatment is not clear.”
- The internal DoT wings have said auctioning 3G services for CDMA amounts to violating the department’s public and legal stance that 2G frequencies which are currently being used for offering mobile services are not being sold through a bidding process. Again, the finance wing and the wireless advisor have pointed out the new spectrum charges to raise fees to 4-9% of annual revenues were not in policy yet, and therefore, cannot be included in the 3G norms. (Economic Times of India)
Malaysian companies are the biggest foreign investors in the
plantation sector of resource-rich East Kalimantan, a Malaysia-Indonesia border province, says a senior Malaysian officia. Zairi Basri, the Malaysian Consul based in East Kalimantan, said the companies had invested a whopping RM8.2bn either through direct investments or via local companies. "The local authorities are extending good cooperation and support to Malaysian investors to facilitate investments and promptly solve problems arising," he added. (Bernama)
Sime Darby is in negotiations to acquire
Sapura Resources's BMW dealership held under wholly owned Sapura Auto, industry sources say. The price tag for the dealership is being bandied at about RM40m, says a source, adding that details of the acquisition are still being finalised. It is learnt that Munich-based Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, the parent company of BMW, has to give the nod for the acquisition to go through. (Edge Weekly)
IOI Corp’s property arm IOI Properties is confident of selling all 147 residential units offered under phase one of its Adenia project by tomorrow. IOI Corp (property division) general manager Teh Chin Guan said the two-phase Adenia was a component of its mega property project 16 Sierra in Puchong. To be completed by 2020, the project has a gross development value of RM2bil. Worth RM70m, phase 1 of Adenia had already recorded 50% booked sales, he said. Based on this encouraging response, the company expected the remaining available units to be taken up soon, Teh added. (Starbiz)
Chin Teck Plantations plans to buy more plantation land in Indonesia to grow its business. ED Wong Aun Phui said the company, which has a cash pile of RM200m, is eager to expand its landbank. Indonesia is a perfect target as it has more land available, the price is cheaper and the production cost is also lower.
- "We are in talks with several parties as part of our expansion plan and we have plenty of cash to look at suitable land. On the oil palm sector's outlook, Wong said this year will be a good year for oil palm to feed the growing world population, especially from China and India. However, 2011 will be difficult to predict due to changing economic conditions such as that experienced in 2009 due to the global economic crisis.
- "But 2010 will be a satisfactory year for us due to a stable crude palm oil price of between RM2,400 and RM2,600 a tonne which is more than double our average cost of production of RM1,200 a tonne," he added. (BT)
Wilmar International said it has no current plans to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange after a current listing application lapsed. Wilmar had planned to raise as much as US$3.5bn in a Hong Kong listing of its China unit last year, sources said, which was delayed due to its concern over valuations. (Reuters, BT)
Malaysia Airlines is offering six more destinations to
Britain and Ireland online.
- They are Aberdeen, Belfast, Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Manchester. MAS senior general manager (Network and Revenue Management) Dr Amin Khan said MAS already served these routes through a code-share with British Midlands (Bmi) but previously, these tickets could only be purchased from ticketing offices or travel agents.
- “We fly to London twice daily while Bmi offers many daily flights to these destinations. We will soon make available online all the European destinations that we are codesharing currently with KLM,” he said yesterday. Bmi connects to Glasgow 27 times weekly, Aberdeen 24 times, Dublin 21 times, Belfast 20 times, Edinburgh 19 times and Manchester 17 times weekly.
- Dr Amin said this was also in line with the MAS hub-and-spoke strategy to improve feeder traffic into their trunk routes. “We expect to generate more than RM10m annually through the partnership with Bmi,” he added. (Bernama, BT)
AirAsia X will temporarily suspend its flights to
Abu Dhabi beginning Feb 21 in a bid to realign its fleet to cover priority areas, contrary to market perception that it is pulling out due to stiff competition from
Etihad Airways.
- “No, not because of (competition). We are temporarily suspending the flights to prepare for other flights especially to India but we will revert back to Abu Dhabi at a later date,” AirAsia X chief executive officer Azran Osman-Rani said.
- AirAsia and AirAsia X have received approval to fly to five major destinations in India beginning April this year. “We cannot be flying five times weekly to Abu Dhabi, we need more frequencies, better airplanes and capacity before we get back there.” AirAsia X began flying to Abu Dhabi in November with load factors of over 65%, using its A340 aircraft.
- The low-cost carrier’s A330 seats are not as comfortable and to add more flights or use the A330 does not bode well for AirAsia X on that route, where passengers demand quality and comfort. It has embarked on a seat refurbishment exercise and would be grounding planes to fit the new seats. The re-alignment of its fleet to make way for the retrofit is necessary. AirAsia X will get back to Abu Dhabi when the new seats have been fitted into its aircraft, according to a source. (Star)
Emirates will operate a daily service between
KL-Melbourne and is offering a promotional fare of RM1,880 for an all-inclusive return economy class ticket. It offers three-class layout for this sector using an A340-500 aircraft. Its inaugural flight took off yesterday.
- Travellers now have an option of using Emirates, Malaysia Airlines or AirAsia X for the onward journey to Melbourne and back. Emirates began mounting flights on the Dubai- KL-Dubai route in 1996 and now flies twice daily but yesterday’s flight brings its daily frequency to three. With the Dubai-KL-Melbourne-KL-Dubai flight, KL is essentially a transit stop for the carrier.
- Currently, the bulk of the traffic will originate from Dubai and Europe but “when the route establishes, there will be more traffic going in and out of KL,” said senior vice-president (commercial operations Far East and Australasia) Richard Jewsbury. The new frequency from Dubai to Melbourne via KLIA would not have an impact on the carrier’s direct flights to Melbourne that used the ultra-long aircraft, Jewsbury said. (Star)
No less than 15 contractors have put in their bids for the third package of the
new LCCT. According to sources among the names bidding for the project, valued at RM1.3bn, are
IJM Corp, Putera Capital, Sunway Construction, WCT and Mitrajaya. Tenders are expected to be closed early this month. (Edge Weekly)
SPNB may issue new Islamic bonds by the middle of this year to raise some RM3bn for the Kelana Jaya and Ampang
light rail transit (LRT) extension projects. It will use the existing RM2bn funds to kick-start the first phase of construction as early as April 2010, industry sources said. Business Times understands that pre-qualified contractors will be issued the tender document by March 2010 and the decision on the award of contracts will be made in June 2010.
- A source said as many as 15 large corporations have been selected to bid for the civil and building works, which will be divided in seven packages. The source said while both the LRT line extension projects are expected to be completed by the end of 2012, there could be delays due to alignment issues. (BT)
PLUS Expressways expects slower traffic growth in the next few years after experiencing a boost in usage of highways last year due to exceptional factors. PLUS Expressways' MD Noorizah Abd Hamid expects traffic growth to slow to between 2% and 3% in the future, in line with the growth rate of matured highways around the world. She attributed last year's traffic growth to the global economic crisis and H1N1 flu outbreak, which have changed the lifestyle of Malaysians. (Malaysian Reserve)
Perodua and its principal Daihatsu Motor Co of Japan are studying plans to increase the production of high-value automotive parts here primarily for export. "These high-value parts are engine and transmission-related, and may be exported not only to Daihatsu's but also Toyota's production facilities around the world. This is our response to the National Automotive Policy (NAP) review, which has given good incentives for the local manufacture of high-value parts for export," he says. (The Edge Weekly)
Contraband cigarettes have become a major problem in Malaysia because of high cigarette prices, low penalties and lax enforcement. The Government is losing approximately RM1.5bn in revenue annually, disclosed industry players. “Present enforcement is just not strict enough to deter the smugglers,” said
British American Tobacco Malaysia (BAT) finance director Steve Rush.
- As of Dec 31, the Customs seized 490m illegal cigarette sticks valued at RM64.5m, a decrease compared with 2008 when 495m sticks worth RM58.2m were confiscated. Unpaid duties amounted to RM233.29m, almost the same as 2008’s RM233.7m. (The Star)
Consumer associations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and health experts have all slammed the argument by industry players that tax hikes lead to an automatic increase in smuggling. The Malaysia Council for Tobacco Control (MCTC) president Koris Atan argued that price hikes deterred youths from taking up smoking, and in some cases, even encouraged habitual smokers to kick the habit.
- The Federation of Malaysian Consumer Associations secretary-general Muhammad Shaani Abdullah reportedly said the argument of tobacco players was more akin to a “ransom weapon”, to deter the Government from increasing tobacco taxes, while the Malaysian Medical Association had called it a “laughable” excuse. (Starbiz)
SapuraCrest Petroleum announced the retirement of CEO Zainol Izzet Ishak, 48, effective 31 Jan. His career with Sapura Group spanned almost two decades. Former COO Rohaizad Darus, 44, is the new CEO. A mechanical engineer by training, Rohaizad has been in the
oil & gas industry for 22 years. (BMSB)
Datuk Shamsul Azhar Abbas, the former MD of MISC, is believed to be the frontrunner for the post of
CEO of Petronas. "He remains the frontrunner but the Prime Minister (who has met all three internal candidates last week) has still to make a formal announcement," a source said.
- In a report yesterday, the Singapore Business Times said the current president and CEO Tan Sri Hassan Merican's replacement was likely to be Shamsul. Hassan's contract ends next week and speculation is gathering steam on whether he would be reappointed to helm Petronas, a company that he has headed since 1995. (Starbiz)
The board of
Ho Hup Construction Co Bhd, embroiled in a tussle with some of its substantial holders, say they could prevail at a shareholders' meeting on Thursday as they have made progress to turn around the company.
- Financially strained Ho Hup has been struggling, having been served 23 winding-up petitions over a five-year period for failing to pay RM5.1m. It has debts of RM110m in addition to late delivery charges of RM23m. The board, led by Ho Hup deputy executive chairman Datuk Vincent Lye Ek Seang and group managing director Lim Ching Choy, has restructured loans and resolved problems with creditors and buyers, with settlements in instalments over the next two to three years.
- Ho Hup has built 225 houses in Jalil Sutera that were abandoned since 2006. It also launched last week 20 semi-detached homes in Jalil Sutera worth RM30m. Ho Hup is also bidding for new building, construction and road infrastructure development projects in Peninsular Malaysia worth more than RM500m to replenish its order book. (BT)
The string of
China-based companies seeking a listing on
Bursa Malaysia are finding it difficult to interest local institutions to take up placements of their shares.
- Malaysian investment banks are working on at least 10 IPOs of China companies keen to get listed here. The difficulty in securing these investors in turn is the main reason for the delay in the listing of these China companies on Bursa. This could likely lead to one or two of the planned China IPOs on Bursa to pull out.
- The lack of interest among local funds comes as no surprise, considering the funds that did take up shares in the three China listings on Bursa since last year are sitting on a total paper loss of close to RM100m.
- A party familiar with the impending listing of Sozo Global Ltd, one of the Chinese companies approved to list on Bursa, said its promoters were focusing on the fact that Khazanah Nasional had been a pre-IPO investor and secondly, that Sozo planned to build a global halal hub in Malaysia from its listing proceeds. (Star)
Hong Leong Financial Group (HLFG) has announced plans to raise RM2bn in funds via the issuance of medium term notes (MTN). The money will be raised by wholly-owned HLA Holdings for its working capital and investment purposes. (Malaysian Reserve)
A Middle Eastern consortium may become the partner for the RM2.5bn
Four Seasons Place Kuala Lumpur, which will occupy a site next to the Petronas Twin Towers. Sources said the group is one of the largest investors in the Gulf region and it is now in talks with project developer Venus Assets. Officials from Venus Assets could not be reached for comment. (BT)
Silk Holdings subsidiary Jasa Merin is selling a vessel for RM30m. The sales proceeds would be partially utilised to retire an existing loan of the vessel of about RM14.1m while the balance would be retained for working capital purposes. The exercise was expected to be completed by the 1H10. (Malaysian Reserve)
Genetec Technology has secured new orders from two international hard disk drive manufacturers totalling RM15.8m. The orders were for the manufacturing of machinery and equipment. (Malaysian Reserve)
OldTown Bhd, which owns and operates the OldTown White Coffee brand and cafe outlets, plans to issue 59.5m new shares of RM1 each and offer for sale 30m shares under its proposed IPO pursuant to its listing on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia Securities. According to the draft prospectus, OldTown plans to use the gross proceeds from th IPO to acquire companies, for capital expenditure, for working capital, for repayment of bank borrowings and to cover listing expenses. (Financial Daily)
