SIMBA Telecom held an AGM on 1 December. CEO Richard Tan depicts SIMBA Telecom progress in 2023 and plans for 2024.
To date, SIMBA Telecom has around 900K subscribers (879K in Oct 2023). It has also increased it’s market share to 8.5% with an improving ARPU at Q1 FY24 (Oct – Dec 2023) at $9.53.
As for 5G, current deployment for n1 NSA already has 60% coverage in 2023 and is projected to have 95% covered by 2026.
Fibre Broadband Updates
As for Fibre broadband, invitations have been sent out to trialists and launch will be based on geographical locations.
Looking forward, this is what we feel that SIMBA will do in 2024 and beyond.
SIMBA is poised to adopt a dual-play model, connecting its mobile subscriber base with broadband to enhance its Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) for the year 2024. Additionally, there is a noticeable push in promoting its business plans for coporates.
The transition of the 5G mobile network to 5G Standalone is on the horizon, posing a potential challenge as SIMBA did not secure a band n78 in the initial round. The limited bandwidth of 10 MHz in n1 may not suffice for speed but could prove effective for low-latency applications. Uncertainty surrounds whether IMDA will conduct another auction for alternative bands or allocate an additional 60 MHz in band 40 for use as n40 in the 5G Standalone deployment alongside the n1 band.
Concerning SIMBA’s fiber broadband service, the absence of digital voice features may deter subscribers seeking a 6-series number at home. Furthermore, due to the scarcity of IPv4 addresses, the broadband service relies on CGNAT, lacking support for IPv6. While this might not be a significant concern for most subscribers, tech-savvy individuals requiring remote server functionality may encounter issues unless SIMBA offers a fixed IP or at least supports IPv6.
Anticipating future developments, we expect SIMBA to introduce an Over-The-Top (OTT) TV program bundled with their packages, featuring a 2.5 Gbps broadband router. It would be unfortunate if users couldn’t leverage the additional bandwidth due to the re use of existing GbE WIFI routers.
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