01 Jun 2022
TM R&D’s Customer-focused innovations recognised at the Malaysia Technology Excellence Awards
In-house smart solutions for Fixed Wireless Access connectivity and customer experience platform for frontliners awarded under “Connectivity-Telecommunications” and “AI-IT Services” categories respectively
Telekom Research & Development Sdn Bhd (TM R&D), the innovation arm of Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM), recently bagged two awards at the Malaysia Technology Excellence Awards 2022, organised by the Singapore Business Review.
The Malaysia Technology Excellence Awards spotlights exceptional companies who are technology disruptors that boosts Malaysia’s economy. TM’s Fast Internet for All (FIRA) solution was bestowed the award under the “Connectivity-Telecommunications” category, while TM’s Single Platform on Intelligent Customer Experience (SPICE.ai) won the award in the “Artificial Intelligence (AI)-IT Services” category.
Commenting on these awards, Dr. Sharlene Thiagarajah, Chief Executive Officer, TM R&D said, “I couldn’t be prouder of my team as these awards reflect their commitment to meet the fast-evolving digital needs of today’s customers and strengthen our position as a research leader in these fields. This recognition also reaffirms our efforts in building smarter digital ecosystems to facilitate the ease with which Malaysians can embrace a more digital lifestyle, while also bringing progress to the nation.”
FIRA was introduced as a way to support the government in providing Malaysians with quality access to digital connectivity nationwide. Aimed at offering better internet service to underserved communities, FIRA uses Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) technologies to improve connectivity in rural areas across Malaysia. Since its first deployment in Malacca back in July 2020, the solution has demonstrated promising success in improving download and upload link speeds compared to other broadband services. The solution has since been implemented at a rural school in Selangor and at Pusat Komuniti Desa sites under the Ministry of Rural Development. It has also supported an IR4.0 use case in Terengganu.
“FIRA is formulated to address two common issues: coverage and speed. The solution is capable to deliver connectivity up to 50Mbps within 5-8km range, compared to a traditional 4G cell within 1km range. Furthermore, with its quick deployment procedures, FIRA can help mitigate customers’ connectivity concerns in a cost-effective and timely manner,” shared Dr. Sharlene.
SPICE.ai, on the other hand, aims to assist frontliners in their daily task of addressing customer service enquiries and requests.
Dr Sharlene explained, “SPICE.ai consists of multiple components that cover different parts of an existing customer experience system. By integrating these components, frontliners gain a more holistic view of each customers’ profiles. The solution then implements real-time analytics to improve customer experience, giving frontliners the right information at the right time which allows them to deliver a better experience to customers.”
This analytics system has been deployed nationwide for nearly two years and becomes the primary touchpoint for more than 5,000 TM frontliners in most customer interactions across multiple channels. The performance of SPICE.ai has proven to be reliable and seamless even when integrated with more than 20 existing, standalone systems and was still able to relay the processed information through one single platform, on top of providing analytics and advisory.
Established in 2001, TM R&D is the innovation arm of TM Group focusing on creating smarter ecosystems to make business and life easier for a better Malaysia. TM R&D’s solutions are clustered around four pillars namely Intelligent Platforms, Data Brokerage, Connectivity/Tools and IR4.0/Digital Solutions. Growing from strength to strength, TM R&D has won multiple global awards and generated more than 2,800 Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) and 1,400 digital assets to date. TM R&D’s innovations are developed in-house and cut across multiple industries such as Utilities, Retail, Agriculture, Healthcare and Education, with safety and productivity as its top priority.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
TM aspires towards a human-centred technology company in delivering digital Malaysia following successful 37th AGM
2021 a milestone first-year of the New TM Transformation Telekom Malaysia Berhad ("TM" or "the Group") today successfully concluded its 37th Annual General Meeting, with all 13 Ordinary Resolutions and one Special Resolution tabled duly approved by its shareholders. The Meeting was conducted online for a third consecutive year to allow maximum flexibility for engagement with shareholders. The event saw over 1,000 shareholders attending virtually. Hosting the proceedings for the first time, Tan Sri Mohammed Azlan Hashim, Chairman of TM's Board of Directors said, "2021 has been a milestone first-year in our New TM Transformation, with the Group setting a solid foundation as a growth-oriented PLC investing for optimum long-term returns for its shareholders, while also continuing its nation-building efforts to realise a truly Digital Malaysia." Alongside the Board of Directors, key senior leaders including Imri Mokhtar, Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer; and Razidan Ghazalli, Group Chief Financial Officer were also in attendance to offer insights into the 2021 Audited Financial Statements and the Group's moving forward business priorities. "In 2022, we aim to continue growing our operating revenue by strengthening our core business momentum to improve profitability, enabling us to invest for future growth. Our first quarter of 2022 recorded steady revenue growth at RM2.89 billion, an increase of 2.9% from this same period last year, despite heightened competition. We also ramped up our transformation initiatives and delivered profit after tax and non-controlling interests (PATAMI) at RM339.9 million, or 4.4% higher. We will continue to optimise cost and improve productivity in our effort to raise EBIT to more than RM1.8 billion," Imri explained. He added: "We are intensifying our efforts in the remaining seven months to deliver the next chapter of our Transformation. We will look at a total CAPEX spend between 14-18 per cent of revenue, with spending primarily focused on network expansion and modernisation together with enhancing customer experience." unifi will continue to maintain its leadership in fixed broadband and enhance its Fixed-Mobile Convergence (FMC) proposition, enriched with TV and streaming content. This reflects its commitment to improve its FMC customer experience with better and seamless service. unifi will also grow its SME digital platform as a one-stop service centre for solutions catering especially to SMEs nationwide. TM Wholesale will continue to enable industry broadband and 4G network via its fibre infrastructure, with the ongoing 5G rollout further strengthening that role. On the international front, it will further serve other OTTs and hyperscalers with connectivity and data centres, moving towards establishing Malaysia as a digital hub for ASEAN via new submarine cables, enhanced data centre solutions, and edge computing. TM One, as the sole home-based cloud service provider will also offer end-to-end managed services with robust connectivity and infrastructure. In addition to ensuring data sovereignty and security for the MyGovCloud initiative, TM One will be ramping up its data centres to support the nation's Cloud First agenda. Recognising that the future is digital, TM has also invested in strengthening its digital services through Credence, a new arm that will focus on expanding the capabilities of enterprises in their digital transformation journey. Helmed by senior leaders from the technology sector, this new business will serve existing TM customers as an end-to-end Cloud and Services solution partner, offering services from tech infrastructure to business insights, IT landscape migration, SaaS, managed services as well as analytics. While improving connectivity and digitisation solutions to enable a better Malaysia, the human factor remains the true centre of TM's growth agenda. Imri concluded: "Our aspiration is to evolve towards becoming a human-centred technology company. From our beginnings as just a fixed telco, we are now a converged telco providing voice, internet and data through both fixed and mobile technology, which further delivers content, data centre and cloud services. The next step is to evolve from delivering converged connectivity into a human-centred technology company – delivering lifestyle and business solutions for our customers with innovative digital technology and applications. "In a market where telcos and other digital players now have a play in almost every solution, customer experience will be the true differentiator in attracting and retaining customers."
TM ONE COLLABORATES WITH PLANMALAYSIA TO ACCELERATE LOCAL SMART CITIES
KUALA LUMPUR, 29 NOVEMBER 2023 – TM One, the enterprise and government sector business solutions arm of TM, has entered into a collaboration with PLANMalaysia to enable local city councils harness smart innovations and create sustainable, efficient, and connected urban communities. The collaboration is the next phase in TM One’s efforts to accelerate the nation’s smart city aspirations and improve urban living across the country. As part of this collaboration, 29 local councils that were awarded as part of the Malaysia Smart City Recognition Programme during World Town Planning Day 2023, will have access to TM One’s Proof of Concept trials (POCs). Spanning a selection from TM One’s smart services suite, the POCs allow councils to test solutions suited to their localities, enabling them to make empowered decisions in their smart city development efforts. Shazurawati Abd Karim, TM One’s Executive Vice President said, “TM One has always been at the forefront of enabling the country’s smart city initiatives, helping councils nationwide push the boundaries of urban living through smart innovations. Among our recent success stories were Smart City projects in Ipoh, Pengerang, Seberang Prai, Kulai, Port Dickson and Subang Jaya, which experienced reduced time in traffic, lower carbon emissions, and improved response efficiency through solutions such as TM One’s Smart Traffic Management and Smart Surveillance.” Building on these successes, TM One will be offering POCs for the following services: 1. Unified Enforcement System – automation and insight analysis of various local council operation enforcement services that help local councils manage larger communities better; 2. Smart City App – a one stop app for local councils’ e-government services; and 3. Smart Workforce – a system that helps local councils manage field teams in real-time. These services will help councils in their journey towards becoming full-fledged smart cities, as well as improve overall efficiency in their operations and services to their communities. “Through these POCs, we aim to help the government implement Smart Services in more locations, bringing these technologies closer to everyday Malaysians and improving their way of life. This reflects TM’s role in powering a digital nation and enabling transformation for communities, businesses and Government,” concluded Shazurawati.
TM to enhance customer experience with 2600 MHz spectrum
Accepts offer from MCMC for total applicable fee of RM37 million over five (5) years Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) reaffirmed its commitment to enhancing customer experience, capacity and value with the 2600 MHz spectrum band acquired from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) recently. TM accepted the offer from MCMC for a 20 MHz spectrum block of the 2600 MHz spectrum band through its subsidiary, Webe Digital Sdn. Bhd. (“webe”). The allocated block of 2575 MHz to 2595 MHz is effective from 1 July 2022, with total applicable fee of RM37 million over a period of five (5) years and according to the following components: Upfront fee of RM7,060,000.00 Annual fee of RM5,984,000.00 to be paid by 15 December each year TM’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Imri Mokhtar said that the spectrum provides substantial value and leverage to TM as a leading convergence provider. “The increased capacity will enable TM to provide seamless fixed and wireless access, and content to its retail and enterprise customers at home, office or on the move.” “The acceptance of this spectrum offer is also aligned with our future direction in embarking into a dynamic digital space. With our strong and extensive fibre infrastructure, the spectrum will enable future expansion of telecommunication services to customers, for an end-to-end converged experience,” Imri added. “We would like to express our sincere appreciation to the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia as well as MCMC for extending the spectrum allocation to TM.” The allocation of the spectrum also allows TM to support the national agenda in delivering extensive telecommunications coverage with high service quality, especially through the Jalinan Digital Negara (JENDELA) and the Malaysian Digital Economy blueprint (MyDIGITAL).
NEWSLETTER
Just drop your details and stay updated with the world of Telekom Malaysia. We promise – no spam!