Over the past month, i’ve given P1 a positive review followed by this not so great review. My conclusion is that while WIMAX shows great potential in Malaysia’s broadband landscape, early adopters might need to bear with stability issues.

I’m blogging about P1 because from forums and postings some already see W1MAX as a local broadband salvation, some are already not happy, some can’t be bothered changing (from Streamyx), and some are … waiting for a sign. It is however my believe that they are the ONLY real competitor to tmnet NOW. Hence their unfolding is worth blogging space.

Interestingly, I find that PacketOne’s greatest strength lies with it’s parent company greenpacket. Why ? Here you have a parent company who’s core R&D is in wireless technologies and has an internal software development team that is capable of building carrier-grade applications. Through it’s partnerships in China, P1/GP also has the ability to swiftly bring converged WIMAX devices to the market. If that’s not a great synergy for an ISP startup aspiring to go beyond broadband, i don’t know what is ! When can we expect to see a converged WIMAX, WIFI, VoIP and IPTV device from them?

The greenpacket stock has taken a dip past year due to concerns over their WIMAX investments. The global economic gloom aside, P1’s future can only be assured if they continue to refine their brand of converged devices and applications for a wireless home. Being a smaller player, they have a marked advantage of speed to market, and that is crucial with TM looming over the horizon with HSBB. But that vision can only be solidified if they have the right device and applications to promote consumer stickiness. Otherwise it will turn out to be a tough fight with TMNet, where it’s an open secret that IPTV is poised as the killer app post HSBB rollout. It’s just a matter of time before TM debut and aggresively push an ADSL/IPTV/etc converged device for their vision of a digital home. Judging by the number of college students forgoing the idiot box for youtube (not any smarter), that really sticks like glue.

On a parting note, It is really good to see that at least P1 has their marketing priorities right – with a series of viral ads and from what i’ve heard, engaging the online community (bloggers) to share it’s vision and product roadmap. For “other” ISPs – It’s the internet stupid ! What better way to read your user’s mind than to sieve through the wealth of review, forums and user feedback of exactly those that use your services. I laud P1 for at least getting that part of the equation right.

So will WIMAX be a success in Malaysia? All i can say is that it is interesting times ahead for the broadband community … but only time will tell.

Related Post