U-Mobile launches its mobile broadband services in Malaysia

U-Mobile, the subsidiary of Malaysia’s MiTV Corporation has reportedly launched its mobile broadband services, thus becoming the latest mobile network operator to enter the broadband market. The service marketed as XFone and U-Mobile Broadband is aimed at providing consumers with an alternative option for experiencing internet on the go. This new offer enables customers to choose between five different broadband plans ranging from a minimum of RM6 ($1.8) per day to RM68 ($20) for an unlimited monthly data plan.

It is worth recalling here that U-Mobile gained a 3G licence in March 2006 and launched in September 2007 under the “U” brand. The operator commercially launched postpaid service plans in April 2008 and prepaid ones followed in July 2008. In the same month, the company announced to have reached the 100,000 subscribers milestone, only 4 months after the rollout. As of September 2009, Dataxis Intelligence estimates that the company serviced over 200,000 customers.

By launching its hSPA-based mobile broadband offerings, U-Mobile has definitely jumped in the Malaysian mobile broadband market, which is currently dominated by Celcom with nearly 70% share of the 682,000 nationwide subscribers, followed far behind by Maxis and DiGi with respectively 28% and 2% according to Dataxis Intelligence’s last updates.