1Gbps in Malaysia!!

OMG!!

Finally some guy has launched 1Gbps speeds at RM199 although most likely it is for local usage if you want to get the max but still we have an option now.

Hopefully the international speeds won't be slow.

Syed Yusof buys into Vasseti, which is launching its broadband service today

KUALA LUMPUR: Businessman Tan Sri Syed Yusof Syed Nasir has bought a 30% stake in Vasseti Bhd, which is expected to launch its 1Gbps (gigabit per second) fixed line broadband service offering for residential users in select areas today.

“Telecommunications is a growing business. It has a lot of potential and I believe it is not too late for me to be part of a growing segment of the market,” Yusof told StarBizWeek in an interview yesterday.

Yusof has various business concerns and is well known for his interests in Hard Rock Cafe and Hotels and the Concorde Hotel chain. He is a partner alongside the Sultan of Selangor and Ipoh-born tycoon Ong Beng Seng in the RM2.5bil Four Seasons Place Kuala Lumpur which is being developed next to the Petronas Twin Towers.

Syed Yusof at Vasseti’s network operations centre in Kuala Lumpur.

With a paid-up capital of RM15mil, Vasseti has business interests in telecommunications and information technology, plantations, construction, tourism, real estate and human resource outsourcing services. Its other shareholders are Ranjeet Singh Sidhu and Datuk M. Harisharan Pal Singh.

“I came on board early this year,” said Yusof, who is Vasseti chairman.

Vasseti’s journey into telecoms began early this year when it undertook a corporate exercise to buy 80% equity stake in V Telecoms Bhd, which has a paid-up capital of RM502mil. V Telecoms holds network facilities provider and NSP network services provider licences.

Yusof said V Telecoms had thus far invested RM500mil to build a fibre optic network that spanned the length of Peninsular Malaysia. As it does not have enough fibre in the ground, the company also buys capacity from other telecoms providers to cater to the needs of its clients which are mostly multinational corporations and some telcos. “It is a 50:50 combination between our own fibre and what we lease from others now. We need to expand our network and our target is to invest RM1bil by the year-end for this purpose,” Yusof said.

V Telecoms’ investment far had been sourced via private equity and internal funding. The company has also just completed a fund-raising exercise for an additional RM100mil by issuing redeemable convertible cumulative preference shares.

“We will need to raise more funding in the market for our expansion and we intend to source funding via private equity funds and high net worth individuals,” said Yusof.

According to V Telecoms executive director Anthony Suppiah, wholesale makes up 70% of the company’s business and retail the remaining 30%. With the 1Gbps community broadband product, the company expects to reach out to more residential users to grow its retail business.

“With 1Gbps, the network is capable of delivering very high speed broadband and can even cater for video streaming and IPTV (Internet protocol TV) besides voice connectivity. The residential offering will be available in Capital Square in Kuala Lumpur, The Loft in Bangsar and KL Sentral. We are charging RM199 per month for the 1Gpbs,” he said.

Asked how the company could stand alongside bigger players with deep pockets and a much wider reach, Anthony said “we are not in competition with other fibre optic players, we see ourselves as complementing them. Our challenge is how we can brand ourselves to be a provider and expand at the speed the market demands. That, to us, is more crucial.”

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/21/business/6896284&sec=business

A tribute to all the 'bananas' out there

I found this comic at bolehland.net and the scene portrayed is very true in Malaysia.



Although I am embarrassed to say this but I'm partly one with the exception that I can still understand spoken Mandarin (okey, basic spoken Mandarin)

You can comment at the original site page
http://bolehland.net/post/singlepost.php?id=75

They also have many other comic strips at bolehland.net which are quite funny at times.

Talk more this Raya with iTalkWhoa!!

As we all know, this month is the holy fasting month for the Muslims, know

n as Ramadan, before they celebrate Hari Raya Puasa.

This is the time when we are encouraged to ask for forgiveness and I must say, even though I’m not a Muslim, I think it is also good to do so especially towards our parents and whoever who has helped us along our journey in life.

Although we may not have a chance to meet all of them in person, spare a thought and give them at least a phone call to appreciate what they have done.

If you are afraid that the phone call is going to cost a lot especially when you or the other person is overseas, fret not as iTalk has come up with iTalkWhoa to help you.

As a special offer during this Ramadan, iTalk is having a special promotion for those who activate their iTalk cards gets 20% free talk time and get additional talk time up to RM7 when you buy it online during the promotion period which is from 1st September to 31st October 2010.

Denomination	Free Airtime
RM50	RM10
RM30	RM6
RM20	RM4

And not forgetting the hardworking Muslim workers who can’t go back home, iTalk also has a promo for them to call back home and greet their loved ones which are much cheaper than other telcos.

The offer starting from 10th August 2010 until 30th September 2010 starts as low as 9sen/30second to 3 selected countries namely Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan and the best part is that the calls cost the same whether you are calling a mobile phone or a fixed line.

For those who haven’t called their loved ones for a while, now there is no excuse not to do so and to the Muslims all around the world, I wish you “Selamat berpuasa”.

USD $35 Laptop!!!

Ever thought of having an iPad but the price seems to be too far away?

India has some sort of solution to it by releasing the USD$35 laptop which actually looks kinda like the iPad (although a lot smaller in size)

India’s Rs.1500 Laptop: IIT, IISc unveil Cheapest Laptop at $35 for Students

Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for human resource development (HRD) has recently announced the laptop, which is even cheaper than a mobile phone. The laptop has been specially designed keeping the students and teachers in mind, and has been brought out with a price tag of just Rs.1500/- , that is about $35. The laptop has been provided with all the functions which a normal laptop has, but it has lesser speed and memory.

The laptop is a touch-screen access cum computing device and is expected to arrive at the Indian market by the early phase of the year 2011. The operating system provided along with it is Linux OS, with multimedia content viewer (pdf, docx, ods, adp, xls, jpeg, gif,png, bmp, odt, zip, AVCHD, AVI, AC3), and the other computing capabilities such as the Open Office, SciLab for printing support, USB port, video-web conferencing facility, searchable Pdf reader, unzip tool for unzipping files etc. The media player provided along with it is capable of playing streamed as well as stored media files.

The laptop is even Wi-Fi enabled, and is provided with remote device management capability and solar panel. “We have made the breakthrough and are now ready to capture the market. The price of these devices will be around $35 per piece. We expect it to go down to $20-$10,” said Sibal. In the first phase, thegovernment is even planning to place orders for about 10 lakh such laptops mainly for the college students.

But the government has not decided anything on the distribution aspect of such laptops, thus the students might as well have to wait for the same. This new and affordable laptop is just an upgraded version of the $10 laptop which had to be used with a projector, launched in Tirupati in last February. But, however the device failed to reach the market as its cost rose to $54 in quite a less time.

An MHRD official has revealed that in the past one year, quite a number of IITs had made progress on such devices. MHRD has even held discussions on the concept with experts from IIT Kanpur, IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur and IISc Bangalore. Both B-Tech and M-Tech students were even guided to produce the motherboard for such laptops at low cost, which would have the flexibility to change the inner components.

One motherboard design was generated under MHRD’s guidance in the B-Tech project of a student from VIT, Vellore. The cost of the material used in the laptop amounted to up to $47, but this was brought down massively by an exercise, which even included a 50% government subsidy. ”Initially manufacturing might be done in Taiwan or some other place but eventually it will be done in India,” Sibal said.

The $35 price, he said, is inclusive of cost of manufacturing abroad.The cost of the solar panel has not been considered into the price yet, and the ministry is trying to talk to a company in bringing down the cost of the solar panels. But, one limitation is that the device is not accompanied by a hard drive.

http://b4tea.com/information/gadgets/indias-rs-1500-laptop-iit-iisc-unveil-cheapest-laptop-at-35-for-students

iPhone 4 by Digi

For people who are hoping for the iPhone 4, there is good news for you guys as Digi may release it soon.

Hopefully by the end of this year we can see them.

Manwhile check out the site below for information.

http://www.digi.com.my/iphone/getone_iphone4.html

My 2nd Nuffnang Cheque has arrived

I received my cheque on second July and the postage was quite fast this time although it took a while to process the cheque in the first place.




Sorry for the picture quality. I just remembered to snap these when I was about to deposit the cheque.