U Mobile today announced that it will invest a total of RM1.5 billion to expand its network with an additional 2,000 new 3G and 4G LTE sites. The operator aims to complete its network expansion by the end of 2015 and will involve 1,000 3G and 1,000 4G LTE sites as part of its commitment to deliver what it says is the best mobile user experience to its customers. The rollout is planned to cover Wilayah Persekutuan, Selangor, Seremban, Port Dickson, Nilai, Ipoh, Lumut, Penang, Johor Bahru, Muar, Kluang, Segamat and Batu Pahat.
Speaking at a press conference today, U Mobile CEO, Wong Heang Tuck said,
“While we may be the youngest among all the telcos, our commitment to innovation and bringing the best mobile and user experience to all our customers have certainly pushed us to achieve more in a shorter duration of time. We love being the challenger brand as it makes us move forward without losing sight of our goal of continuously reinvesting into our customers, people and infrastructure”.
U Mobile hopes that the expansion will increase its network capacity to meet the demand for faster data speeds, a more stable network and wider network coverage. U Mobile is expecting to aggressively grow to a targeted market share of 10% and revenue increase of 50% by the end of 2015 when the sites are fully completed.
While no network is perfect, U Mobile has consistently shown that it can stick it to the big boys (Celcom, DiGi, Maxis) when it comes to offering plans that combine generous data allowances and good value for money effectively creating a niche for itself in a crowded marketplace. If the network expansion goes according to plan, you can expect good things from U Mobile.
