KTB to launch WiFi services in coaches
The Malaysian Reserve, March 15, 2013
By Shahril Bahrom
Local express bus operator Konsortium Transnasional Bhd (KTB) will extend its collaborations with YTL Communication Sdn Bhd on offering the latter’s Yes 4G Internet services in its upcoming new luxury coach brand NICE Imperial scheduled to be launched next month.
Currently, the Yes 4G Internet services is available on KTB’s existing luxury coaches — Nice and Plusliner. The investment for the Yes 4G Internet services in the new luxury coaches is estimated to be about RM20 million for 20 coaches.
At a launch ceremony for the Yes 4G Internet services in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, KTB chairman and managing director Datuk Seri Mohd Nadzmi Mohd Salleh said: “We want to have a differentiating factor to stay ahead of the competition. The Yes 4G services on our coaches will be one of our differentiating factors.”
The launch of the luxury liner will see a total of four buses operating on routes between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, as well as Kuala Lumpur and Penang.
KTB, in partnership with YTL Communications, will outfit its new coaches with the Yes 4G Internet service to offer passengers free Internet services. More routes will be available in the future depending on demand, according to the official.
NICE Imperial passengers will be offering free Internet service up to 30MB on any WiFi-enabled device including laptops, iPhones, iPads, and Android phones and tablets.
Currently, less than 5% of KTB’s buses offer the 4G Internet service but the service will eventually expand into all its buses, according to Mohd Nadzmi.
Meanwhile, YTL Communications will be building an additional 1,000 base stations in West Malaysia to a total of 5,000. YTL Communications executive director Datuk Yeoh Seok Hong, who also attended the event, said the company can bring in more customers with a more extensive network.
He added that they will be expanding their 4G network to east Malaysia, particularly the state of Sabah, by the end of this year.
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